Fans react to Justify’s retirement
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » There were few winners around Saratoga Race Course when word spread that this year’s Triple Crown winner Justify had been retired from racing due to swelling around his left front ankle.
Fans at Saratoga Race Course were hoping to see the threeyear-old champion run here locally, whether in person or at their homes away from the track.
“It’s surprising, I thought he would race more,” Tony Caruso said after he and his wife, Debbie, had finished placing an afternoon bet. “It’s more disappointment that he’s not running.
“You always like to see a big horse, especially a Triple Crown winner, you want to see him run a couple times after it.”
The couple, originally from Long Island, have homes in Florida and Summit (near Cobleskill) make several trips to Saratoga Race Course each year.
“I love Mike Smith, I’m happy from him (Justify), I hope Mike Smith continues,” Debbie Caruso said.
“I was hoping to see him, that’s a shame,” Tony Caruso said. “If I was the owner, I would do the same thing, retire him.”
The undefeated champion finishes with $3.8 million in career earnings and his breeding rights, estimated north of $60 million are set to be sold to Coolmore Farm giving his ownership even more reasons to allow him to re-
tire to the breeding shed.
“You want to see him in the Travers and these upcoming races at Santa Anita and these different places,” Shelton, Conn. resident Ron Taraska said after putting down a copy of Wednesday’s Pink Sheet. “You want to see the best horses that ran in the Derby and ran in the Preakness and you want to see them come together, but the money dictates ‘Well I can make this much money here (racing), I can make this much money here (breeding), I’m doing this.
“That’s the bottom line. It’s unfortunate, but that’s what it boils down to.”
His wife Mary was also disappointed that his successful racing career officially ended on Wednesday.
“It’s sad, I would have liked to have seen him continue on too,” Mary Taraska said. “I would have hoped that he would have run again, definitely.”
A Travers appearance by Justify could have led to a return trip to Saratoga for Barbara Collins and her husband from Point Lookout on Long Island.
“We have a friend who built a house here, so we were kind of hoping, maybe, if we ever to come we’ll stay at her house,” Barbara Collins said. “I was hoping he would run in Saratoga because then we might be likely to come up and see him. That was very exciting (Triple Crown) and I actually won money on those races.”