Arienza, a regally bred filly out of 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri, has been retired from racing and has been moved to Lexington with plans to be bred to a yet to be determined stallion.
Owned by Robert and Lawana Low, Arienza won the first two starts of her career at Oaklawn Park last year and was second in the Fantasy Stakes (gr. II) to Joyful Victory. In her final start, an allowance optional claiming race Jan. 26 at Oaklawn, the 4-year-old chestnut filly finished fifth.
Arienza retires with a 6-2-1-0 racing record and $113,418 in earnings.
She worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 flat Feb. 26 but trainer Dan Peitz said he could tell that something was wrong.
“She just wasn’t as happy coming out of her last workout as we wanted,” he said March 8. “We didn’t want to mess around too much longer and miss the (breeding) season.”
The filly vanned to Kentucky March 7 and will move into the Low’s broodmare band kept at Diamond A Farm near Lexington.
Purchased by the Lows for $800,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sales, Arienza is by Giant's Causeway .
According to Peitz, breathing problems, wet tracks, and other ailments kept Arienza from her true potential.
“We were hoping she would come back and develop into a really nice 4-year-old,” he said. “She just never came back to the good form she had last year and she had the breathing issue last year, too. We just got to the point where we knew it was time to go home.”
Azeri's 3-year-old filly, Wine Princess (by Ghostzapper ), debuted March 8 at Fair Grounds, finishing second in the fifth race (VIDEO).