Nates Mineshaft retired

The multiple graded stakes winner Nates Mineshaft, who holds the track record for 1 1/8 miles at Fair Grounds, has been retired, trainer Anne Smith said. He’s 9.

Nates Mineshaft, who was a ridgling, has been gelded. How and where Nates Mineshaft, who is owned by Windy Hill Farm, will spend his retirement hasn’t been decided, Smith said.

Nates Mineshaft, who won 9 of 39 starts and earned $858,975, piled up $560,490 in earnings in an impressive run through the first half of 2012. After winning when racing for a $25,000 claiming price at Fair Grounds in his last start in 2011, he opened his 2012 season with three dominating victories in a steady ascent in class. An optional-claiming win set him up for romps in the Grade 3 Mineshaft (named for his sire) and the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap.

Leading all the way in the latter race, he ran 1 1/8 miles in a track-record 1:47.64, winning by 7 1/4 lengths.

Two starts later, Nates Mineshaft won the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap. In his last start in 2012, he finished third in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster, three-quarters of a length behind winner Ron the Greek and runner-up Wise Dan.

Battling injuries for the rest of his career, Nates Mineshaft won 2 of 23 starts from 2013 through this year. His last two graded placings came last spring at Churchill Downs, where he ran second in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes and third in the Grade 3 Aristides.

“It’s amazing he’s performed with all the physical issues that came up,” Smith said. “I’ve never been around a horse like that ... with all that heart. He’s been retired three times. He just didn’t want to be retired.”