Yaupon injured, retired from racing
Yaupon, who won a memorable running of the Grade 1 Forego last month at Saratoga, suffered a fractured sesamoid in his left hind leg training Friday morning at Santa Anita and has been retired from racing, his connections said Friday.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said Yaupon returned from his morning training session a bit off and subsequent X-rays revealed an apical fracture of the left hind medial sesamoid, he said. Upon further consultation with veterinarians, no surgery will be required to repair the injury.
Yaupon, a 4-year-old son of Uncle Mo, raced for Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt. A stallion deal had already been made with Spendthrift Farm, where Yaupon’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint-winning stablemate Mitole also stands stud.
Asmussen earlier this week shipped Yaupon and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Max Player to Santa Anita to get acclimated to the conditions on the West Coast in advance of their respective Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Yaupon, who finished eighth as the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last year, was likely headed to that race again this year, though Bill Heiligbrodt said some consideration was being given to the Dirt Mile as well.
Yaupon won 6 of 8 starts and earned $703,264. In his last race, he won the Forego by a head over Firenze Fire, despite that horse trying to savage Yaupon for several strides in midstretch.
“He’s absolutely a beautiful horse that showed brilliance and retired a Grade 1 winner who went six for eight with good excuses in his only two losses,” Asmussen said.
Yaupon’s stakes wins included the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga and Grade 3 Chick Lang at Pimlico at 3, and the Lite the Fuse at Pimlico and Forego at 4. His only two losses came in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint and this year’s Dubai Golden Shaheen.
“He’s probably the fastest horse I’ve seen at a 2-year-old-in training sale,” said Heiligbrodt, who purchased the horse for $255,000 at the OBS sale in 2019. “He’s a very good prospect for what his job is going to be. He was a very good racehorse, I think he’ll be a very good stud.”
Mark Toothaker, sales manager at Spendthrift Farm, said he was inundated at the recent Keeneland yearling sales by people wanting to obtain a breeding season to Yaupon even though his stud fee had not been set. Spendthrift had planned to wait until after the Breeders’ Cup to set a price.
“I must have had 100 people unsolicited say put me on the list for Yaupon,” Toothaker said. “He sold out immediately. Now, the main thing is we want to get him well and healthy. He’s such a cool horse, a beautiful horse. Thank goodness that he won the Grade 1 last time out and what a memorable race that was.”