OCEANPORT, N.J. − Kiss the Kid has been retired at age 7, a blow to owner-trainer Amy Tarrant, who had hoped to run him Sunday at Monmouth Park in the Oceanport. A multiple graded stakes winner, Kiss the Kid finished with a record of 8-7-7 in 40 starts and earnings of $820,873. He last ran in the Elkwood Stakes here on opening day, finishing third before being elevated one spot on a disqualification. Kiss the Kid has battled a sesamoid injury since then, and Tarrant said the decision to retire him was made Wednesday. “He has a problem, and it wasn’t getting better,” Tarrant said. “It’s sad news for us, but now he’s going to become a daddy.” Tarrant said she is negotiating to find Kiss the Kid a stallion position. Kiss the Kid captured a pair of Grade 3 stakes, the 2008 Cliff Hanger at the Meadowlands and the 2009 Appleton at Gulfstream Park. He also ran twice in the Oceanport, finishing second both times. He missed by a neck last year in the slop when the race came off the turf. Oceanport, Matchmaker also on card The Oceanport and the $1 million Haskell Invitational will be shown live in a one-hour broadcast on ABC starting at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Oceanport and the Matchmaker are the main events on the undercard. Both are Grade 3 stakes worth $200,000. The Oceanport is run at 1 1/16 miles, and the Matchmaker is for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles. The Oceanport lineup is unsettled, with four of the eight horses in the field also cross-entered in the Fourstardave Handicap the same afternoon at Saratoga. Get Serious is the likely favorite and the probable pacesetter. He won the Monmouth Stakes in front-running fashion and most recently finished fifth after setting a pressured pace in the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes at 1 3/8 miles. Strike a Deal, Roman Tiger, and Tybalt also are committed to the Oceanport. In the Matchmaker, Cherokee Queen goes for her third stakes win of the year. Most recently, Cherokee Queen was a three-length winner in the Dr. Penny Memorial at Philadelphia Park. Earlier this year, she took the Hollywood Wildcat Stakes at Calder. The four remaining stakes are each worth $150,000. Roaring Lion shaded Wildcat Brief by a nose in the Mr Prospector Stakes here July 5. They will square off again in the Teddy Drone at six furlongs. Lady Alexander, 4-1-0 in six races at Monmouth, comes home for the Regret for filly and mare sprinters after running fourth in the Grade 3 Bed O’ Roses Handicap at Belmont. Arson Squad, already the winner of two Grade 3 stakes this year, finds an easier spot in the Majestic Light at 1 1/16 miles after finishing sixth to Blame in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. With Kiss the Kid retired, Amy Tarrant is pinning her hopes on The Cognac Kid in the Jersey Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf. A chestnut son of Hennessy, The Cognac Kid picked up his game in his two starts at the meet on the turf, scoring a maiden upset at 104-1 in late May and rallying to finish third in a first level allowance July 3. He is making his stakes debut in his fifth start. “We tried him on the grass at Palm Meadows over the winter, and he was fabulous,” Tarrant said. “I think he belongs in the race as much as anyone else in there.”