Hall of Famer Azeri, who earned the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year in 2002, has been pensioned from broodmare duty, per a video released by Japan's Northern Horse Park.
The 23-year-old daughter of Jade Hunter will spend her retirement as a “lead horse,” turned out with young horses after they've been weaned to watch over them as they develop. The video shows that Azeri is one of several former broodmares employed by Northern Horse Park to watch over the youngsters, also including Biwa Heidi, the dam of Japanese Horse of the Year Buena Vista.
Azeri had 12 foals during her broodmare career, producing nine winners from as many runners. Her most successful foal on the racetrack to date is Wine Princess, a daughter of Ghostzapper who won the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap and the G3 Monmouth Oaks.
Before selling to Japan's Katsumi Yoshida for $2.25 million at the 2009 Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale, Azeri also produced the Giant's Causeway filly Arienza, who was Grade 2-placed. Once she was relocated to Japan, the mare's top runners have included Group 2-placed Leukerbad and Shirvanshah, both by Deep Impact.
Azeri's final foal was a filly born last year from the second crop of Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Drefong.
On the racetrack, Azeri was the most dominant North American racemare of the early 2000s. A winner in 17 of 24 starts, and an earner of $4,079,820, Azeri earned champion older female honors each year from 2002 to 2004.
Her strongest season came during her 2002 campaign, when she earned Horse of the Year honors with a resume that featured seven graded stakes victories, including the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She tallied 14 graded wins over the course of her career, 11 of which were in Grade 1 company. Azeri was named to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 2010.
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