By Emily Shields
Millionaire multiple graded stakes winner Halo Dolly has been retired from racing.
Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer saddled the hard-knocking 6-year-old mare for 37 of her 40 starts.
The California-bred daughter of Popular—Spanish Halo, by Comic Strip, won 18 times. Ten of those victories came in stakes company, including the Yellow Ribbon Handicap (gr. IIT) at Del Mar in 2012 and the Wilshire Handicap (gr. IIIT) at Hollywood Park in 2013. She also won three consecutive editions of Del Mar's Solana Beach Handicap and finished in the top three 31 times.
Rod and Lorraine Rodriguez bred Halo Dolly from their unraced mare Spanish Halo, who is also the dam of Russian group II-placed Oksistka. Halo Dolly will be offered as a broodmare prospect at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale this fall.
"This kind of horse that is real consistent quickly becomes a barn favorite," Hollendorfer said. "She did all she was supposed to do and one hundred times more. She deserves to be a broodmare."
California-bred Halo Dolly earned $1,016,466, the majority of which came for an ownership group that includes Hollendorfer, Dan and Yolanda Hoefflin, Michael O'Farrell, Charlie Robin, George Todaro, and Joseph Schneider. They purchased her from Greg James after she broke her maiden by four lengths in 2011.
Halo Dolly went on to win at six different racetracks and on dirt, turfm and synthetic surfaces. She was named California's champion older female in 2012.
In her final start July 27, Halo Dolly ran second in the Luther Burbank Handicap at Santa Rosa.
"Winning a million dollars with her is not something we were looking for originally," said co-owner Dan Hoefflin. "At first we thought just getting black type would be great, then maybe getting a graded placing. She kept pushing us higher and higher. Surpassing that million-dollar mark was beyond anything we ever imagined. She's been real healthy and Jerry treated her like the gem that she is."
