Louisiana Downs: Star Guitar retired from racing, will stand at Clear Creek

Star Guitar, the all-time richest Louisiana-bred whose connections had been debating his retirement, is calling it a career after winning 22 stakes and $1.7 million. His trainer, Al Stall Jr., said Friday that Star Guitar has been retired and will stand stud next year at Clear Creek in Folsom, La.

“That’s where he was born,” Stall said.

Star Guitar will continue to be owned by Evelyn and Maurice Benoit, who bred and raced the 7-year-old horse by Quiet American.

Star Guitar was forced to miss the $125,000 Evangeline Mile being run Saturday night at Evangeline Downs due to a quarter crack in one of his hind hooves. Its location in the same area as a 2011 quarter crack, coupled with the timing of the injury as the breeding season gets closer, prompted the discussions of retirement.

“We just did the math – and not the dollars and cents math, the calendar math – and decided it wasn’t worth putting him through getting back ready to run,” Stall said.

Stall said Star Guitar will remain at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., for the immediate future. The horse has been walking twice a day as part of his rehab. Star Guitar last raced June 30 and won the $100,000 Louisiana Legends Classic at Evangeline Downs. It was his 10th straight win, all stakes, in a streak that started in December 2010.

“He’s meant a lot to us,” Stall said. “He’s a horse that was there everyday, always healthy, always sound, and delivered every time we led him over there. Everything positive you can say about a horse, he had that trait and that quality.

“If he passes anything good that he’s got along, I think he’s a can’t-miss” stallion.

Star Guitar surpassed Happy Ticket as the all-time richest Louisiana-bred on April 1, when he won the $90,000 Costa Rising at Fair Grounds. His journey to that point began on Nov. 27, 2007, when he won a maiden special weight for Louisiana-breds at Fair Grounds. Overall, Star Guitar won 24 of 30 starts. He is out of the stakes-winning Malagra mare Minit Towinit.