Top Illinois-bred Wynn Time retired

NEW ORLEANS – Wynn Time, one of the better Illinois-bred racehorses of recent years and a three-time stakes winner last season at Fair Grounds, has been retired.

Wynn Time had chronic knee problems, trainer Hugh Robertson said, and after finishing fifth as the odds-on favorite in an Illinois-bred stakes in November, his first start back from a long layoff, it became clear he was never going to regain his best form.

“He could still run, but I’d have to run him cheap, and I’m not going to do that,” Robertson said.

Wynn Time is owned and was bred by John Mentz and is by Three Hour Nap, an Illinois stallion that Robertson still owns. Wynn Time won eight of 12 starts and has gone to Arkansas to be trained for a second career as a stable pony for Robertson.

News is better for the Robertson-trained Hotshot Anna, who suffered an eye injury while winning the Richard Scherer Memorial on Nov. 30. Hotshot Anna has recovered, is working steadily, and is slated to race Jan. 25 in the Nelson Menard Memorial over 5 ½ furlongs on turf. Hotshot Anna does her best work on synthetic surfaces and has won the last two renewals of the $400,000 Presque Isle Masters.

◗ Marcelino Pedroza is expected to miss from six to eight weeks, said his agent, Richie Price, after fracturing his collarbone in a spill Thursday at Fair Grounds. Pedroza was injured when his mount, Jim’s Silverbullet, broke down at the sixteenth pole in a maiden-claiming dirt sprint.