Preakness winner Rombauer retired from racing
Rombauer, last year’s Preakness winner, was announced as retired Monday in a press release by John Fradkin, who bred and owns the colt with his wife, Diane.
According to Fradkin, Rombauer had filling in his ankles following his last start, the Belmont Stakes, necessitating time off, and the issues flared anew following recent workouts at Santa Anita.
“His condition got worse to the point where we feel it’s best to stop on him,” Fradkin said in the release.
Fradkin said he was hoping to hear from some Kentucky farms soon regarding breeding, but admitted “the timing is not great.”
Rombauer, by Twirling Candy out of the Cowboy Cal mare Cashmere, won three times in eight starts. He was 1 for 4 at age 2 in 2020, finishing second in the Grade 1 American Pharoah. Last year, at age 3, he won the listed El Camino Real Derby and was third in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes prior to his greatest achievements.
The Fradkins chose to bypass the Kentucky Derby and point to the Preakness, which Rombauer won by 3 1/2 lengths over Midnight Bourbon, with Medina Spirit, the first-place finisher in the Derby, finishing third.
Rombauer subsequently was third in the Belmont behind Essential Quality and Hot Rod Charlie in what wound up being the final start of his career. He had five works on the comeback trail at Santa Anita, most recently a half-mile in 48.20 seconds on Dec. 27.
“It’s not the ending we would have liked, but at the end of the day he’s an American classic winner and he ran third in a second American classic, and he provided me with my first classic winner,” Michael McCarthy, who trained Rombauer, said in a telephone interview Monday morning.
Rombauer’s retirement means that all the first-place finishers in last year’s Triple Crown races are done racing. Essential Quality was retired after the Breeders’ Cup Classic to begin stud duty this spring in Kentucky, and Medina Spirit collapsed and died after a workout last month at Santa Anita. Both Medina Spirit and Rombauer were intended to race this year at age 4.