Star-crossed sprinter Masochistic retired

ARCADIA, Calif. – The star-crossed sprinter Masochistic has been retired and will be transitioned to a pleasure horse, co-owner Will Shamlian said.

Masochistic, a gelding, finished eighth of nine in the Sensational Star Stakes on Sunday, the third straight race in which he beat one horse. Shamlian, who owned Masochistic most recently with Samanatha Siegel, said trainer Kristin Mulhall “will take him home and let him down, make a trail horse out of him.”

“Then she will see if he’d like to do something more athletic,” Shamlian said. “Basically, she will let him do what he wants to do with his life. My guess, knowing him, is it will be something athletic.”

Now age 8, Masochistic was one of the nation’s best sprinters when at his best, highlighted by a victory in the Grade 1 Triple Bend in 2015. But he also was surrounded by controversy. He was disqualified from a second-place finish in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Sprint for a trace amount of a steroid when trained by Ron Ellis and was the subject of a major betting coup at Churchill Downs in his second start in May 2014, following a dull try in his debut, when trained by A.C. Avila.

Masochistic most recently was trained by Bob Baffert. He won 8 times in 18 starts and earned $860,895.