Joyful Victory retired, to sell at Fasig-Tipton

Grade 1 winner Joyful Victory has been retired from racing and will be offered at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected fall mixed sale in November.

The 5-year-old Tapit mare made her final start on Saturday in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita, in which she finished third behind Beholder and Authenticity. Joyful Victory retires with seven wins from 20 starts, including four wins in graded stakes company, for earnings of $1,252,679.

A stunning gray mare, Joyful Victory raced for owner Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms and was trained by Larry Jones. Her showcase victory came in this year’s Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes at Santa Anita, in which she prevailed by four lengths.

She was among the leading contenders on the 2011 Kentucky Oaks trail, with wins in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes and Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes en route to a fourth-place finish in the filly classic at Churchill Downs. Later in her career, Joyful Victory won the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher Stakes at Monmouth Park and set a new track record for 1 1/16 miles in the Houston Ladies Classic Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park. In total, she won or finished in the money in 11 graded stakes races.

“I have been very proud to race Joyful Victory in the red and white silks of Fox Hill Farm but it is time for her to begin her career in the breeding shed,” Porter wrote on the Fox Hill Farm Facebook page. “She will fit right in with any of the top broodmare bands worldwide. … I sure will miss watching this gorgeous gray mare race at the top of the sport.”

Joyful Victory will be consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, to be held Nov. 4 in Lexington, Ky. Fox Hill Farms and Taylor Made teamed up last year to top the sale when 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace sold to Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm for a record $10 million.

Bred in Ontario by William D. Graham, Joyful Victory is out of the winning Wild Again mare Wild Lucy Black, who is the dam of four winners from five foals to race. She was a $60,000 purchase as a short yearling at the 2009 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale, then was picked up by Fox Hill Farms at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Florida selected sale of 2-year-olds in training for $400,000.