Sweet Cat Has Left the Building

- The saga of Sweet Catomine has gone from glory to great anticipation to disappointment to controversy to tales of late night intrigue, and, with the lawsuit filed by someone who bet on her in the SA Derby, to farce....and now to just a plain bummer, as the champion filly has been retired.

"After the Santa Anita Derby, I had Sweet Catomine evaluated when she was in the barn of John Shirreffs," owner and breeder Marty Wygod told The Blood-Horse Wednesday. "Based on what the veterinarian said, I have decided to retire her and breed her to A.P. Indy . I wanted to retire her while she was sound.” [Bloodhorse]

If everyone retires their star horses because they’re sound, we’re not going to have much quality racing left. Perhaps Wygod has just known all along that she’s just not quite the same filly as she was at 2 - before this whole mess, he spoke about how she had changed physically from last year. She would not be the first to just not come back the same at 3. If that’s the case, maybe everyone who bet her in any of her races this year or in the futures pools should file a lawsuit!

The resulting foal from a mating with A.P. Indy would have quite an interesting, and inbred pedigree: 3x4 to Secretariat, 5x5 to Hail to Reason and Princequillo, 5x4x5 to Bold Ruler; and he/she would have a dosage index of 2.67.

- Survivalist is unlikely for the Derby after working a half-mile in :51.61 on Wednesday at Belmont Park. [Thoroughbred Times] Shug says he’ll get another shot Sunday or Monday.