New England star Ask Queenie retired

Ask Queenie, the richest-ever Massachusetts-bred racehorse and 20-time stakes winner, has been retired and will be recognized with a day in her honor at Suffolk Downs on Oct. 30.

Owned by Laurine Barreira, bred by her grandfather, Lloyd Lockhart, and trained by her mother, Lori Lockhart, Ask Queenie won 27 of her 63 starts and banked $780,365. She won the James B. Moseley New England Horse of the Year in 2005 as a 4-year-old and won other regional awards every year from 2004-2007 and again last year.

“Ask Queenie has meant everything to us,” said Barreira. “Our family went through some tough times, emotionally and financially, and she picked us all up and carried us for the last seven years. She’s supported our family. Whenever we go shopping or go out to eat, we say, ‘Thank you Queenie.’ Now we’re excited to have her bred and have babies. That’ll be fun.”

Ask Queenie will be retired to one of the Lockharts’ Cedar Lock Farm locations in Massachusetts or Florida.

A daughter of Key Contender out of Time to Ask, Ask Queenie demonstrated tremendous versatility throughout her career. She was successful sprinting, going long, and running on turf, recording eight wins at six furlongs or less and 19 going a mile or longer, six of which were on grass.

Ask Queenie competed in 32 Mass.-bred stakes, winning 20 of them and hitting the board in 11 of the other 12 with seven seconds and four thirds. Seven of those wins came against males. She is a five-time winner of the Isadorable Stakes, a four-time winner of the Thomas Moran Stakes, and a three-time winner of both the First Episode and Sunset Gun Stakes.