Riboletta comeback called off

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - An attempted racing comeback by Riboletta, the champion 2000 older filly or mare, has ended because of a recurrence of the ankle injury that forced her initial retirement last fall, according to owner Aaron Jones.

Riboletta was put back in training with Eduardo Inda at Santa Anita in late May, approximately a month after she aborted a Forestry foal in Kentucky. A 6-year-old, Riboletta was one of the more prominent mares to be affected by the mare reproductive loss syndrome that plagued the Kentucky breeding industry this spring.

While in training with Inda, she had begun to breeze for an expected return to racing at Del Mar when an ankle injury surfaced, Jones said.

Dr. Rick Arthur inspected Riboletta and recommended that she be retired, Jones said.

"He was well aware of the mare," Jones said of Arthur. "He's been taking care of her. He said it's back like it was when we recommended that she be retired. I'm not a believer in abusing a horse.

"We had her thoroughly vetted and she was walking sound, but the ankle is starting to puff again. Taking that into consideration, the veterinarians say she should be retired."

Jones on Friday said that Riboletta will be sent from California to Kentucky in the near future and bred to Forestry in 2002.

Riboletta won seven of 11 starts in 2000, including six stakes, and $1,394,860.