Spoken Fur hurt, retired

Spoken Fur, one of the nation's top 3-year-old fillies this year, has been retired after suffering a recent injury, trainer Bobby Frankel said Thursday.

Owned by Amerman Racing, Spoken Fur will be bred to a Kentucky-based stallion in 2004. A decision has not been made on the stallion, Frankel said.

By Notebook, Spoken Fur won 5 of 12 starts and $675,880, but made only five starts for John and Jerry Amerman and Frankel, who acquired her privately during the spring.

Spoken Fur previously raced for a partnership and was trained by Austin Smith. During the spring, she won three consecutive starts - a maiden race at Keeneland and two allowance races at Churchill Downs - before being sold.

Spoken Fur's five starts for the Amermans and Frankel came in Grade 1 stakes. She won the Mother Goose and Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park and finished third in the Alabama at Saratoga and the Gazelle at Belmont Park.

In her final start, she finished seventh in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. Frankel said she emerged from that race with an injury.