Popular gelding Soi Phet might call it a career

CYPRESS, Calif. – Soi Phet finished sixth in Saturday’s $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos in what may have been the final start for the popular 10-year-old gelding.

Trainer Leonard Powell said on Sunday that Soi Phet will be turned out for the rest of the year. A decision on whether Soi Phet races in 2019 will depend on how he trains next spring.

Regarding a potential retirement, Powell said, “There is a possibility.”

“We’ll see if he wants to do it,” Powell said. “He’ll go on vacation. That was his last race of the year.”

Soi Phet, a two-time stakes winner this year in California-bred stakes here and at Santa Anita, was the 4-1 second choice in the Johnston. Soi Phet was last of seven for the first quarter-mile of the one-mile race and was never closer than fourth, eventually finishing 5 1/2 lengths behind 80-1 Shades of Victory, who led throughout.

“The track was speed-favoring, but his heart wasn’t into it,” Powell said.

Soi Phet has won 15 of 61 starts and earned $1,022,364. He was claimed for $16,000 in 2013 and has since earned $984,784 for Powell’s wife, Mathilde, Paul Viskovich, and Gerald Benowitz.

Earlier this year, Soi Phet won the Crystal Water Stakes at a mile on turf by a head in a 47-1 upset at Santa Anita and followed with a nose win in the Bertrando Stakes at a mile here on July 4 at 7-2. At Del Mar, Soi Phet was fourth in the Harry Brubaker Stakes at a mile against open company on Aug. 22.

The Johnston Stakes was the first time Soi Phet finished out of the first five in 11 starts since a sixth in the Big Bear Stakes at Santa Anita in November 2016.

“The main thing is, of course, I’m disappointed that he didn’t run better than that,” Leonard Powell said, reflecting on Saturday’s race.

“I don’t want to be disappointed because what he’s done this year is beyond what we expected.”