Bred by KatieRich Farms in Kentucky, the 5-year-old was a debut second at Keeneland in April of 2018 for trainer Mark Hubley after RNAing for $100,000 during the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Phoenix bought into the mare afterward and raced her with KatieRich in all of her starts barring her final two. They bought out KatieRich when going to $1.2 million during the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale last autumn. Lady Apple was third in December's Joseph E. Spanky Broussard Memorial S. at Fair Grounds and in Sunday's GIII Houston Ladies Classic S. in her final two starts and retires with a mark of 19-6-2-4 and $1,078,324 in earnings.

“She has been a fantastic race mare for us and she'll be an excellent addition to our breeding operation,” Phoenix Thoroughbreds CEO Amer Abdulaziz said in a statement. “She has a top-class pedigree with a race record to match while the cross with Quality Road looks very exciting.”

A daughter of GII Schuylerville S. bridesmaid Miss Mary Apples, Lady Apple is a half-sister to SW and GII Hendrie S. second Dr. Diamonds Prize (Pure Prize) and MSW Miss Red Delicious (Empire Maker). The latter has already thrown GIII Soaring Softly S. heroine Nootka Sound (Lonhro {Aus}); while yet another half-sister has produced GI Maker's Mark Mile runner-up Parlor (Lonhro {Aus}). GI Futurity S. winner Senor Pete (Green Dancer) is also under the fourth dam.

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“We have the horses in the stable but we're not able to run them,” trainer Satish Seemar, who trains for Phoenix in Dubai, told Racing Post.

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Despite a declaration last month that it would no longer race in Great Britain, Phoenix did still have runners in the country, including Deja and Frankenstella running at York since the announcement. Runners for either Phoenix Thoroughbreds or Phoenix Ladies are not permitted “until further notice.”

The BHA released the following statement about the decision:

“Following Phoenix Thoroughbreds' recent decision to leave UK racing, the BHA can today confirm that effective as of Monday, September 7, Phoenix Thoroughbreds are no longer able to have runners in races in Great Britain until further notice. Any horse currently entered will not be permitted to be declared in its current ownership.

“The racing administration accounts of all registered ownership entities that involve Phoenix Thoroughbreds have been suspended.

“Whilst the BHA can confirm that they are in regular correspondence with Phoenix Thoroughbreds, having reviewed the information available to date, the BHA has taken the decision to suspend the relevant accounts meaning Phoenix Thoroughbreds are unable to make entries until further notice.”

Read more at The Racing Post

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Last November, Phoenix principal Amer Abdulaziz was named in a U.S. federal court trial as being involved in a money-laundering operation. Abdulaziz was also alleged to have stolen money from sham cryptocurrency OneCoin. Phoenix’s U.S. Head of Operations Tom Ludt left the company in August.

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Racing Australia chair Greg Nichols told the Herald racing authorities had concerns the group's involvement could “compromise public confidence in our sport.”

Phoenix Fund Investments has denied all allegations against Abdulaziz, and he has not been charged with a crime or named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Phoenix Thoroughbreds came onto the American racing scene in 2017, with Abdulaziz spending huge amounts for horses at public auction on the group's behalf. Phoenix was billed by Abdulaziz as the world's first investment fund for Thoroughbreds, designed to operate like a mutual fund. Abdulaziz would later admit the fund, which had been registered in Luxembourg, had been dissolved and never had any actual investors.

French racing authorities banned the ownership group from participating in racing there, and Phoenix announced in August it would voluntarily stop racing in Great Britain. Phoenix still has active racing licenses in the United States.

Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald

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“This has not been a decision we have taken lightly,” said Phoenix's founder Amer Abdulaziz Salman. “However, for the growth and wellbeing of our business and our partners internationally, we have taken the decision to leave the UK for the foreseeable future. It saddens me greatly to have to do this but at this juncture, we believe it is necessary. We would like to thank everyone who has helped us achieve our dreams so far.”

Prominent racing figures to have distanced themselves from Phoenix include: Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, trainer Martyn Meade, bloodstock advisor Dermot Farrington, and former vice-president and head of equine investments Tom Ludt.

Also on Tuesday, the Racing Post published a list of questions Phoenix has refused to answer, including queries about the money laundering allegations and the Luxembourg fund. Phoenix responded with a categorical denial of all the allegations against it, insisting they would “vigorously contest all allegations of wrongdoing.”

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Abdulaziz allegedly stole €100 million from sham cryptocurrency OneCoin-which he allegedly helped operate as an international Ponzi scheme-and reinvested those funds into thoroughbreds through Phoenix. The November investigation resulted in a guilty verdict for former lawyer Mark Scott on charges of fraud and laundering $400 million in illegal funds for OneCoin. Scott created Fenero Funds allegedly to route money between destinations.

Both Abdulaziz and Phoenix Thoroughbreds deny all allegations. After news of the investigation broke, Ludt asked Abdulaziz about the veracity of the allegations.

“[The Racing Post story] was the first I heard of [the allegations], so I was shocked,” Ludt told Racing Post. We had discussions afterwards and he [Abdulaziz] completely denied that he had anything to do with it. I don’t remember the exact dates but there was some dialogue and I point blank asked what the heck was going on because I’d spent the last two and a half years of my life travelling the world for this company and I didn’t want to get dragged down with a bad reputation.

“He’s continually denied it and he’s indicated he had investors from that company [Fenero] but never OneCoin. I’ve never been involved [in the fund], so I don’t know, but everything’s changed since then. I continued to ask him to do some interviews with the press to talk about it and he just wouldn’t do it. Everything changed when that came out.

“He told me that Mark Scott invested [in Phoenix] through Fenero, but that’s all I knew. He did not deny Fenero funds had gone into Phoenix.”

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