Stopchargingmaria retired from racing

Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria, an earner of more than $3 million, has been retired from racing according to her owner, Town and Country Racing of Georgetown, Ky.

The 5-year-old mare by Tale of the Cat out of Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook, was trained her entire career by Todd Pletcher, and she won half of her 18 career starts while racing from ages 2 to 5, winning or placing in 13 stakes. Her biggest triumph came last October when she won the BC Distaff at Keeneland by a head over Stellar Wind. She won three of five starts last year, but the Eclipse Award for older female went to Beholder.

“Stopchargingmaria is not only one of the best fillies we have had in our barn, she has become part of the family,” Pletcher said. “We are sending her home sound and happy. After a Breeders’ Cup Championship, three Grade 1 wins, and over $3 million in earnings, she deserves a great retirement.”

Bred in Kentucky by Harvey Clarke and Brookdale Farm, Stopchargingmaria was sold for $47,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale, purchased by Woodford Thoroughbreds. That outfit then sold her for $200,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale Co. March 2-year-olds in training sale, purchased by Mike Repole’s Repole Stable.

Campaigned by Repole at 2 and 3, Stopchargingmaria was a stakes winner each year, taking the Grade 2 Demoiselle at 2 and the Grade 1 Alabama and CCA Oaks at 3.

Repole offered her for sale at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale, but he bought her back for $3,150,000. After the sale, she was sold privately to Town and Country, of which Shannon Potter is president.

For Town and Country, Stopchargingmaria won 3 of 7 starts and earned $1,520,000, including two Grade 3 triumphs in addition to the Breeders’ Cup. She made her last start on June 11 when finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park.

No breeding plans were announced for the mare when she was retired.

“While we were hoping Stopchargingmaria would be able to defend her Breeders’ Cup title, she is giving us signs that she is ready to start the next phase of her life,” said Town and Country Racing CEO Kiki Courtelis. “We are thrilled to have her home sound.”