Grade 2 Winner Slammed Retired Due to Foot Issues

Slammed , the winner of last year's edition of the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) and contender in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), will be retired due to reoccurring foot issues said co-owner/ breeder Brad King July 3.

"She had a couple of abscesses in it and one of the abscesses busted out really close to where the old quarter crack is and kind of re-started the whole process again," King said. "Rather than to try to take the chance that she might not be where she was, we thought we'll just get her fixed and let everything grow out and let her start her next career."

The 5-year-old daughter of Marking , who was bred in New Mexico by King and trainer Todd Fincher (who also conditions the mare), has battled foot issues for most of her life, including a serious accident in the pasture as a juvenile which pushed back her career.

Despite her setbacks, she threw down a monster of a 3-year-old season and won four stakes races back-to-back including the Sierra Starlet Stakes, Carlos Salazar Stakes, Petticoat Stakes, and the Peppers Pride New Mexico Classic Cup Championship Fillies and Mares Stakes.

However, her 2022 season may have been her biggest yet with wins in the La Coneja Stakes and Thoroughbred Club of America, along with a second in the Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3). She capped her season with a 12th-place finish at the World Championships.

"She got really good for about a six-month period and stayed to that ability. We were very fortunate it lasted as long as it did," King said. "It's sure not what we wanted (to retire her) but she gave us a big thrill, that's for sure, and that's just what you have to remember."

Slammed, who is owned in partnership by King, Suzanne, and Stan Kirby, and Barbara Coleman, was also only the second horse bred in New Mexico to compete in the Breeders' Cup in history, which by anyone's standards is quite remarkable. 

"Can't say too many have done that," King said. 

Next up for the mare will be some rest and relaxation to get her healthy before she heads to Kentucky to be sold in November.

"We haven't decided if she'll go to Fasig-Tipton or Keeneland, we're working those details out. ...She'll stay here for another 60 days or so and then she'll go to Cove Springs (Farm) the first of September and we'll finish getting her ready for the sale," King said.

"At the end of the day, we do run it like a business and that's probably the business decision for sure. It'll depend on what she brings, we won't let her fall through the cracks by any means. I don't think that she will, the way she looks and the way her record is, I think there will be a list after her."

Though Slammed's days on the track may be over, King still has much to look forward to in his other talented fillies Flying Connection  and Olivia Twist . Both Fincher trainees are preparing for their next race after a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), and fifth in the Eight Belles Stakes (G2), respectively. 

"I think we'll send Flying Connection and maybe Olivia Twist back out to Keeneland for the Fall Meet," King said. "They'll go to Del Mar and run at that meet and we'll see how everything goes at that point but I think they're both planning to run on the 22nd of this month so getting them fired up. ...We're getting a few more bullets ready to go again."