Telling, two-time winner of the Sword Dancer, is retired

Telling, who won back-to-back runnings of the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga in 2009 and 2010, has been retired, said Alex Lieblong, the Arkansas-based businessman who owns the horse with his wife, JoAnn.

Telling, an 8-year-old by A.P. Indy out of the Grade 1-winning mare Well Chosen, won 6 of 28 starts and $848,409. He had been pointing for a start in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream Park last Sunday, but passed on the race because of a suspensory issue. Telling was trained for most of his career by Steve Hobby.

“There’s some interest from a couple of places putting him to stud, and it looks like that’s what we’re probably going to do,” said Lieblong, who was going over offers from Florida, Kentucky, and New Zealand on Wednesday.

Lieblong said one of his favorite races from Telling was the 2010 Sword Dancer.

“Coming back and being able to repeat, that was pretty sweet,” he said.

The Lieblongs also race Junebugred, winner of the $100,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn in January who has been sidelined with a bone chip, said Hobby. The horse last raced Feb. 20, and finished in a triple dead heat for sixth in a division of the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest at Oaklawn.

“We got a little tiny chip in an ankle, the left front,” Hobby said. “I’m sure it happened in the race the other day. Sometimes those things take a few days to show up.”

Hobby said the horse would ship to Kentucky for surgery.

“I would think the prognosis would be really, really good,” he said. “I think we’ll have a fresh 3-year-old for the summer.”

* Win Willy, a multiple Grade 2 winner who breezed five furlongs Wednesday at Oaklawn, is being pointed for the track’s Grade 3, $125,000 Razorback Handicap on March 10, said his trainer, Mac Robertson. Win Willy worked first after the renovation break, in 1:02.20 under Cliff Berry. Robertson said Win Willy will have one more work before a final decision is made on the Razorback.