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Union Rags retired

Union Rags rewarded Michael Matz's faith in the Belmont, but sadly it turned out to be his final start (NYRA/Adam Coglianese) Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags has been retired from racing, Dick Jerardi reported Friday on philly.com. Owner/breeder Phyllis Wyeth made the decision just about a week after the colt was sidelined by a minor tendon injury. The news comes six weeks after the bombshell retirement of Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero I'll Have Another, whose career ended the day before an anticipated bid for history in the June 9 Belmont. Russell Jones, Wyeth's adviser, told Jerardi that they were currently pursuing a deal to stand Union Rags at a Kentucky farm. "This is the right time of the year to be talking to these guys," Jones said, "so she wants to have the word out there that we're moving ahead, that the decision has been made. "I don't know what the numbers might look like (regarding a deal). I do know she's made the decision to go forward with this decision for the rest of his life."

It wasn't so long ago that Union Rags sparked heady talk of being a potential Triple Crown champion, and among his most committed believers was trainer Michael Matz.

As a juvenile, the son of Dixie Union won his first three career starts in eye-catching style, graduating from a Delaware Park maiden to a 7 1/4-length romp in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and a 5 1/4-length conquest of the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes. The strapping bay suffered his first loss in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, where a wide trip throughout, and a stubborn Hansen, foiled him by a head.

Union Rags was regarded in many quarters as the early Kentucky Derby favorite, and rated as the leading individual choice at 7-1 in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. He confirmed his status with an impressive four-length victory in his reappearance in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, and his odds shortened to 4-1 at the conclusion of Pool 2.

Using the Grade 1 Florida Derby as his final prep, Union Rags endured a problematic trip and could do no better than a belated third. The upset was not enough to topple him from Kentucky Derby favoritism that weekend, for he closed as the overall 9-2 favorite in Pool 3 of the Future Wager.

Union Rags was eclipsed in the betting on Derby Day, however, as Bodemeister was bet down as the 4-1 choice. Union Rags got off to a troubled start, was shuffled back, and the 5-1 second pick found himself near the rear in 18th. After finding further trouble and having to steady on the far turn, Union Rags made late headway for a non-threatening seventh.

The 17-hand Union Rags cut a statuesque figure in Florida this winter (Adam Coglianese Photography) Matz was heartsick over what might have been with a decent trip. Choosing to skip the Preakness, he set his sights on redemption in the Belmont. And in the aftermath of two poor trips with Julien Leparoux, connections opted to make a rider switch. John Velazquez picked up the mount for the "Test of the Champion," and engineered a textbook passage. After drafting just off the pace, he found room along the rail when the front-running Paynter drifted out. Union Rags dove through the gap, stayed on gamely, and outfinished Paynter by a neck. With the retirement of I'll Have Another, the door seemed ajar for Union Rags to stake an alternate claim to divisional leadership. If he could build on the Belmont, and ultimately prove himself against older horses, he might snatch the Eclipse Award. The second half of his season was to begin in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 29, but those plans -- and his wider ambitions -- were dashed by news of the tendon problem. Hopes were still entertained that Union Rags could return for a four-year-old campaign in 2013, but those too came to an end on Friday.

Union Rags retires with a record of 8-5-1-1, $1,798,800. The Kentucky-bred handsomely repaid Wyeth's investment in him. Wyeth had sold her homebred as a yearling for $145,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, only to have second thoughts. Regretting the decision to let him go, she famously went back and purchased him for $390,000 as a two-year-old in training at Fasig-Tipton's Florida Sale.

His family has plenty of Wyeth connections. His third dam, Irish champion filly and English One Thousand Guineas heroine *Glad Rags II, was owned by Wyeth's parents, James and Alice duPont Mills. They bred and campaigned his second dam, Grade 2 victress Terpsichorist. To the cover of another Mills runner, Gone West, Terpsichorist produced Tempo, the dam of Union Rags.

Union Rags' name contains elements of both sire Dixie Union and his great grand-dam Glad Rags. Now he himself will likely go full circle, back to the Bluegrass State, for his stud career.

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