Joyce Robsham's homebred Awesome Maria, a New York grade I winner, has been retired from racing because of a tendon injury discovered after her last race, the Delaware Handicap (gr. II) July 21, in which she finished third. By Maria's Mon, Awesome Maria is out of the unraced Awesome Again mare Discreetly Awesome.
"It's a minor injury," said Robsham's representative Anna Ford. "We feel fortunate that she had raced successfully at 2, 3, 4, and 5, and had come back after an injury (a condylar fracture) last year. She won two graded stakes this year. We would have loved for her to finish out the year, but that's not the case. The only horse that Mrs. Robsham enjoyed more than Awesome Maria was her granddam, (grade I winner) Pretty Discreet."
Campaigned in the name of E. Paul Robsham Stables, Awesome Maria won eight stakes, seven of which were graded: the Ogden Phipps Handicap (gr. I), the Shuvee Handicap (gr. II), and the Matron Stakes (gr. II), plus this year's Rampart Stakes (gr. III) and the Sabin Stakes (gr. III) for the second consecutive year. Six of the graded events were won in succession.
Trained first by Stanley Hough and then by Todd Pletcher, Awesome Maria exited racing with a record of 9-3-3 from 16 starts and earnings of $1,114,875.
Discreetly Awesome, who produced a Bernardini colt this year, is a half sister to grade I winners Discreet Cat and Discreetly Mine.