Raging Fever retired from racing

Raging Fever, a multiple graded-stakes-winning daughter of Storm Cat, has been retired from racing, trainer Mark Hennig said Wednesday.

Bred and owned by Edward Evans, Raging Fever won 11 of 26 races and banked $1,458,198. Of her 11 victories, 10 came in stakes, including eight graded events. At age 2, Raging Fever won the Grade 1 Matron, Grade 1 Frizette, and at 4 she won the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Handicap.

Despite her accomplishments as a 2-year-old, Raging Fever was denied an Eclipse Award after she lost the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies as the favorite.

Raging Fever also won two Grade 2 events, the Adirondack and Distaff Breeders' Cup, and two runnings of the Grade 3 Bed o' Roses Breeders' Cup. She also won the Grade 3 First Lady Handicap. Raging Fever also won the Astoria and Garland of Roses, both listed races.

Recently, Raging Fever's form began to slip, as she won just once in her last 11 starts. Her final race came last Saturday when she finished fifth of six in the Grade 3 Floral Park Handicap.

"She doesn't look as good as she did, she's kind of heavier," Hennig said. "She seems ready for her next occupation. We hope she does as well as she did in this one."

Hennig said Raging Fever would be sent to Evans's Spring Hill Farm near Casanova, Va., after Hurricane Isabel goes through the area.