Millionaire, Graded Stakes Winner Alsvid Retired

Millionaire and multiple stakes winner Alsvid has been retired, trainer Chris Hartman said Feb. 14

Hartman said the 8-year-old Officer gelding emerged from a bullet half-mile workout at Oaklawn Park Feb. 11 a "little ginger" and the decision was immediately made to retire him.

Hartman was targeting the $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes March 11 for Alsvid, who won a Jan. 26 optional claiming allowance race at Oaklawn in what would be his 47th and final start.

"He came back out of the work and wasn't 100%," said Hartman, who trained Alsvid for the Black Hawk Stable of James Rogers, an oil and gas businessman in Elk City, Okla. "We decided it was time for him to quit. He's got a little minor injury to his leg. Actually, the horse is perfect today, but it's one of those situations where he can't go forward. He is a fast horse and we don't want to have anything happen to him. We're not going to risk the horse in any fashion."

Hartman said Alsvid is now at nearby Step Ahead Farm, where he will wind down for approximately 45 days before shipping to Rogers' ranch in Oklahoma.

"He's got a paddock with his name on it waiting for him in Elk City," Hartman said.

Alsvid retired with 16 victories and earnings of $1,372,815. The gelding was an 11-time stakes winner, including back-to-back editions of the Aristides Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in 2015-16 and the 2015 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) at Oaklawn. The Count Fleet was among eight consecutive winners Hartman saddled for Black Hawk during the 2015 Oaklawn meeting, helping Hartman secure his first Oaklawn training title.

BALAN: Alsvid Repeats in Aristides Stakes

Among the horses Alsvid toppled in the 2015 Aristides was eventual Breeders' Cup winner and divisional champion Work All Week.

"He gave us a lot of good memories," Hartman said. "(He) took us a lot of places—me and the Black Hawk Stable. Both of our families went on a ride. (We've) been coast to coast with him. It's been a wonderful ride, all because of him."

On behalf of Rogers, Hartman unearthed one of the biggest bargains ($55,000) at the 2011 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training. Hartman said he loved the way Alsvid breezed in his OBS under tack preview work (a furlong in :10), but noted some potential buyers were probably turned off because he was a cribber. He was the only horse Rogers bought at the sale.

"He was an awesome horse, and he's going to retire in one piece," Hartman said. "We knew this day was going to come someday, just not as quickly as it did. I wasn't ready for it. I'm not really sure the horse is, either. My wife was telling me he was pretty upset. He was still wanting to do some things."