Grade I Winner Splendid Blended Retired

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(from Gulfstream Park notes)
Peter Vegso's grade I winning 5-year-old mare Splendid Blended has been retired, trainer Bill Mott said Saturday.

The Florida homebred daughter of Unbridled’s Song was being considered for the $100,000 First Lady Handicap (gr. III) Jan. 20 or the $300,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint Jan. 27.

Splendid Blended goes home after winning seven of just 13 career starts, earning $772,000. The versatile chestnut scored her most important victories at Hollywood Park -- in the Hollywood Starlet Stakes (gr. I) as a 2-year-old in 2004 and the Vanity Handicap (gr. I) seven months later, both for trainer Neil Drysdale.

She was initially announced as retired when leg problems sent her to the sidelines after the Vanity, but re-emerged last winter at Gulfstream with Mott and captured the Shirley Jones Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. II) in March in her second start back after a seven-month layoff.

“It's absolutely sad to see her go,” said Mott. “But she deserves it.”

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