Florida Derby winner Materiality retired

Florida Derby (G1) winner Materiality has been retired due to a soft tissue injury he sustained while training, owner Alto Racing LLC announced Friday.

“Materiality was a very special racehorse, winning from 6 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles against the best of his generation,” Alto Racing’s bloodstock advisor Steven W. Young said in a release.

“He is a good-looking individual and we expect the breeders will like him as much as we do.”

Materiality romped in his career opener at Gulfstream Park on January 11 over a sloppy track, and returned two months later to take the Islamorada H. by 5 3/4 lengths.

The Todd Pletcher trainee made his graded debut in the Florida Derby, nearly wiring the nine-furlong event over Upstart. That one recently returned to be third behind Triple Crown champion American Pharoah in the Haskell Invitational (G1) at Monmouth Park.

 “Materiality was a strong, robust horse with a great disposition,” Pletcher. “He had sprinter speed with the ability to carry that speed to 1 1/8 miles.”

Materiality’s Florida Derby score earned him a shot at Kentucky Derby (G1) glory, but the colt could only manage a sixth-placing in the Run for the Roses. The Kentucky-bred son of Afleet Alex bypassed the Preakness S. (G1) and ended his career with an eighth-place run in the Belmont S. (G1) on June 6.

Materiality retires with a 5-3-0-0 career mark having banked $686,028 in lifetime earnings. He is out of Grade 2-placed stakes winner Wildwood Flower and is a half-brother to Grade 2 heroine My Miss Sophia, who finished second in the 2014 Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Stallion arrangements have not yet been finalized.

Materiality photo courtesy of NYRA/Susie Raisher/Adam Coglianese Photography

Materiality maiden 

Islamorada Handicap