Donn winner Mshawish retired to due to injury
Multiple Grade 1 winner Mshawish has been retired from racing due to a minor soft tissue injury that was discovered Friday morning at Belmont Park.
After conferring with veterinarian Duncan Moir, it was determined by the team of owner Al Shaqab Racing that it was in the best interest of Mshawish for him to be retired, since the timing would likely call for the son of Medaglia d'Oro to miss the key prep races leading up to his year-end goal -- the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita. Mshawish will now be sent to his new home at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Kentucky, where he's set to stand stud in 2017.
"Although it's sad to miss the Met Mile (G1) next Saturday and to not finish out the rest of 2016, it's hard to do anything but smile looking back at Mshawish's long career," said Bradley Weisbord, U.S. advisor to Al Shaqab Racing.
"It's extremely unfortunate because he had been training so well up to next Saturday's Met Mile, and the entire team was very confident and looking forward to a big second-half of the year," said Ben Taylor, Vice President of Taylor Made Stallions. "The positive is that Mshawish is an exciting stallion prospect that's had a tremendous racing career, which he was able to take to another level when he switched to the dirt. The injury is a relatively minor one that he'll get over, and if he were a three-year-old, you wouldn't even hesitate about bringing him back."
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Mshawish was a Grade 1 winner on both dirt and turf, and captured a total of seven stakes, five of which were graded. His signature win occurred in February when he captured the $500,000 Donn H. (G1) in just his third lifetime start on the dirt. A year prior, Mshawish captured his first Grade 1 win in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf H. (G1).
Mshawish also owns graded wins in the Zabeel Mile (G2) on turf at Meydan, Fort Lauderdale (G2) on turf at Gulfstream, and Hal's Hope (G3) in his second career dirt start He also won the Prix de Tourgeville at Deauville, El Prado at Gulfstream, and placed in the $6 million Dubai Turf (G1) on World Cup day.
Mshawish retires with eight wins from 24 starts and earnings of $2,421,351, making him the most accomplished son of leading sire Medaglia d'Oro to retire to stud. He is out of the Thunder Gulch mare Thunder Bayou.
(Adam Coglianese Photography)
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