Richly Blended is retired

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Graded stakes winner Richly Blended has been retired.

A 3-year-old Rizzi colt owned by Raymond Dweck, Richly Blended has a stress fracture on his right front cannon bone. The injury was discovered after he trained on Aug. 4, according to Dweck's advisor, Buzz Chace. Richly Blended had been pointing for the Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25.

Richly Blended has undergone surgery to insert a screw in his right front leg, and is recuperating at Jones Anderson Farm in Colt's Neck, N. J., Chace said. The colt's stud plans have yet to be determined.

"He was a very fast racehorse," Chace said Saturday. "It's a shame that this happened as he was prepping for a race that would have made him a top sire in anybody's stable."

Richly Blended is the first stakes winner for his dam, the Valid Appeal mare Valid Blend. Bred in Florida by Mockingbird Farm, he won two Grade 3 stakes this year, the Gotham and the Withers, and finished third in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes. Richly Blended, trained by Ben Perkins, Jr., won four of his six career starts and earned a total of $323,280.