World of Trouble retired a year earlier than planned

World of Trouble, a Grade 1 winner on both dirt and turf this year, has been retired and will enter stud at Hill 'n' Dale Farm a year earlier than planned.

Hill 'n' Dale announced in June that it had acquired the rights to the 4-year-old colt, who was campaigned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Bethlehem Stables, and said that the partnership would continue to race the horse through 2020. However, the son of Hill 'n' Dale stallion Kantharos was sidelined over the summer, and with the Breeders' Cup and other major targets off the table, it was opted to retire him.

"He's the fastest horse I ever owned," Dubb said in a release. "My jaw dropped every time he raced. He was such an easy horse, as he could run on anything. He won Grade 1 races on both dirt and turf in New York this season, something that probably will not happen for me ever again. Since we couldn't make the Breeders’ Cup due to a foot bruise, we decided it's best for him to start making babies."

World of Trouble retires with a record of 13-9-2-1 and earnings of $1,263,300. The colt won seven of his last eight starts for trainer Jason Servis, all in stakes. The only loss in that span was a neck defeat to Stormy Liberal in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs. Stormy Liberal, who was subsequently voted Eclipse Award champion turf male, earned an eye-popping Beyer Speed Figure of 119, while World of Trouble was awarded a 118. Those figures trailed only Gun Runner’s 2018 figure of 120, earned in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

World of Trouble won all four of his starts this year. After winning an off-the-turf edition of the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, he remained on the main track to win the Grade 1 Carter Handicap. He then moved back to turf, winning the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.

He became a Grade 1 winner on grass by taking the Jaipur Invitational on the Belmont Stakes undercard. That proved to be his final start. He turned in only one official work afterward, on July 22 at Saratoga.