Warrior's Club retired with knee chip

Warrior’s Club, whose career debut in June 2016 made him the first horse campaigned by the Churchill Downs Racing Club, has been retired after being diagnosed with a knee chip that will not require surgery, said Gary Palmisano, who managed the 200-member partnership.

“It’s the kind of racing injury where he could’ve raced next year, but he’s been so good to us that we just decided it’s time,” said Palmisano.

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas after being privately purchased for $55,000, the 5-year-old horse had 33 starts and five wins, most notably the Grade 3 Commonwealth at Keeneland in April 2018, and earned $856,504. Future stud arrangements preferably will include his owners being exempted from having to pay a stud fee, said Palmisano.

The unqualified success of Warrior’s Club, by Warrior’s Reward, spurred interest not only in other horse-owning partnerships at Churchill – the program now includes seven separate syndicates and about 1,000 individual members – but also sparked similar initiatives at other tracks, including Arlington, Fair Grounds, Canterbury Park, and Emerald Downs.

“He was a home-run horse,” said Palmisano.

◗ The richest race of the 11-day September meet (Sept. 13-29) at Churchill, the $250,000 Lukas Classic on Sept. 28, likely will get Seeking the Soul, who is back at his Churchill base after finishing seventh as the favorite in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar last Saturday. Trainer Dallas Stewart said the 6-year-old horse was suffering from the “thumps,” an equine version of hiccups, during the race.

Stewart had hoped a big race in the Pacific Classic would not necessitate another prep leading into the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, but the subpar effort has led him to alter plans.

◗ First post Friday at Ellis is 2:50 p.m. Central, two hours later than normal. No stakes remain, but there are still plenty of maiden-specials (three Friday and three Saturday) and allowances (three Saturday) to be run. Ellis will be dark Aug. 31 to accommodate the Kentucky Downs opener.

◗ Mr. Money, pointing to the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 21, had his first breeze since winning the Aug. 3 West Virginia Derby, going a half-mile in 47.20 seconds early Friday at Churchill.