Phoenix Thoroughbreds' multiple graded stakes winner Lady Apple has been retired to the owner's broodmare band.
A visit to be covered by Lane's End's super sire Quality Road lies in the immediate future for the daughter of Curlin, who signed off her racing career with a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic on Sunday.
A winner of six of her 19 starts, she banked over $1 million in prize money thanks largely to her four successes at Grade 3 level.
Raced in partnership with KatieRich Farm for the early part of her career, she got off the mark at the fifth time of asking with victory in a maiden special weight at Oaklawn Park. From there, the Steve Asmussen trainee didn't look back, winning her next two starts culminating in the G3 Fantasy Stakes. That success qualified her for the Kentucky Oaks where she ran a stormer to finish in third.
She returned to winning ways on her very next outing by taking the G3 Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows before again bouncing back from defeat to claim the Remington Park Oaks, another Grade 3. Arguably her best win was her last as she beat Grade 1 winners Serengeti Empress and Street Band to win the 2020 running of Houston Ladies Classic. Although that proved to be her final trip to the winners' circle she placed twice more in stakes races before her owners called time on her career on Monday.
“She has been a fantastic race mare for us and she'll be an excellent addition to our breeding operation,” said Phoenix Thoroughbreds CEO Amer Abdulaziz. “She has a top-class pedigree with a race record to match while the cross with Quality Road looks very exciting. We are seeing some excellent results from our breeding operation around the globe and adding horses such as Lady Apple can only add to that.”
By Curlin, Lady Apple is the highest-profile of 10 winners produced by her dam Miss Mary Apples. The 5-year-old is also from the same family as Kentucky Derby winner Affirmed and Grade 1 winner Senor Pete.
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