Stryker Phd, two-time Longacres Mile winner, retired at 8

Two-time Longacres Mile winner Stryker Phd has been retired. With $631,011 in earnings, he is third all time among Washington-breds in money won.

Stryker Phd won the Muckleshoot Tribal Classic three times, and trainer Larry Ross was planning on running the 8-year-old gelded son of Bertrando in Sunday’s edition of the race.

“We were looking forward to the race, but he seemed a little off coming out of his stall a couple of mornings,” Ross said. “He appears to have a small foot issue, maybe some kind of bruise. We decided that was enough. We will take him home to our farm to let him wind down. I am not sure he is the kind of horse that will want to just hang around in a field though. He is a beautiful animal, so maybe he’ll become a show horse.”

Stryker Phd raced exclusively for owners Jim and Mona Hour, who purchased him for $45,000 out of the 2010 Washington yearling sale. He was bred by Char Clark Thoroughbreds and Todd Havens.

He started out with trainer Margo Lloyd as a 2-year-old in 2012, and she was his trainer when he won his first Muckleshoot Tribal Classic in 2013.

Stryker Phd was moved to Ross’s barn in 2014. With Leslie Mawing aboard, he reeled off three straight stakes wins, including the 2014 Longacres Mile. His final win at Emerald was in the 2015 Muckleshoot Tribal Classic, where he rallied to edge Noosito by three-quarters of a length. Beginning with his victory in the 2013 Muckleshoot Tribal Classic, he won eight straight stakes races at Emerald. Stopshoppingdebbie is the only other horse to accomplish the feat.

“He’s been an amazing horse,” said Ross. “He’s always been sound and never missed a beat. Horses like that just don’t come around very often. It has been fun to be around him.”

Stryker Phd also was accomplished on turf and Tapeta at Golden Gate Fields. His final victory was on Tapeta in the Grade 3 Berkley Handicap last November. His first of 11 wins came on turf in a maiden special weight race at Golden Gate in 2012.

One of the most popular horses at Emerald, he gave the fans a thrill with his big kick. In both of his wins in the Longacres Mile, he was 13 lengths behind at the first call.

Opportunistic returns in sprint

Saturday’s feature is a good betting race and marks the return of last year’s Emerald Downs Derby winner, Opportunistic. After winning the $50,000 Sir Winston Churchill Derby Trial in his next start at Hastings, he went off form, and he figures to be a longshot in the $40,000 optional-claiming race for 3-year-olds and up.

Togrammashousewego is a strong possibility in the 6 1/2-furlong dash that drew seven horses. The Charlie Essex-trained son of Houseofroyalhearts will appreciate the easier company after going unplaced in the Longacres Mile. The last time he sprinted, he finished third going 6 1/2 furlongs in the $50,000 Budweiser Stakes, won by Mach One Rules on June 18.