Grade I Winner Island Sand Retired; Will be Bred to A.P. Indy

Millionaire grade I winner Island Sand, owned by Jim Osborne's B A Man Stable, has been retired and will be bred in 2006 to A.P. Indy.

The 4-year-old Tabasco Cat filly was to have made one more start, in the Oct. 29 Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), but she displaced her soft palate pulling up following a workout at Belmont Sunday.

It has been an ongoing problem for Island Sand, who previously had surgery to stop an entrapment.

"Her epiglottis took so much damage when it became entrapped and it displaced again," trainer Larry Jones said from Keeneland. "There is a huge polyp on it. It is restricting her air and we can't keep it from displacing.

"It is something we've had to deal with, and if we had two more weeks, we might be able to get the size of the polyp down. It is just a case of bad timing."

Island Sand will remain with Jones at Keeneland through the meeting, and then ship to Richard Maynard's farm near Lexington. She was bred by Maynard and raised at his farm.

Maynard sold Island Sand through David and Ginger Mullins to Mike Ryan for $82,000 at the 2002 Keeneland September yearling sale. Osborne bought her privately after seeing her listed for sale online.

In her first start for Osborne, Island Sand won the Busanda Stakes and was then transferred to Jones' barn. She ran second in both the Fantasy (gr. II) and Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) before becoming the first grade I winner for her owner and trainer when she took the Acorn Stakes (gr. I).

This year, she became the first horse for her connections to win a million-dollar race when she won the Delaware Handicap (gr. II).

Out of the Forty Niner mare Sue's Last Dance, Island Sand won five of 19 starts with five seconds and two thirds. She earned $1,182,777.

"She's the best we've had, and she took us places we'd never been before," Jones said. "She put my name out there. I've been contacted by many new clients because of her."