Chance It is retired after Kelso injury, will stand in Florida

Chance It, a multiple stakes winner and Grade 1-placed for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., has been retired and will stand the upcoming breeding season in Florida.

The 4-year-old Currency Swap colt's retirement, reported earlier by Thoroughbred Daily News, comes after he was eased in the Kelso Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park when chasing Life Is Good on the front end Saturday. The race chart reports that the injury occurred with 5 1/2 furlongs remaining in the one-mile race and that Chance It was pulled up and vanned off.

Last year, Chance It came out of the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) with a tendon injury in his left front leg. Joseph told Horse Racing Nation Thursday that this latest injury occurred in a different area of the same leg.

"It's kind of similar, it's just something that's unexpected because he looked so perfect I never thought he ever would have a problem with that again," Joseph said. "But that's horses, you don't know what caused it."

Mary Lightner, who leads the Shooting Star Thoroughbreds syndicate that owns Chance It, said he will stand stud at Ocala, Fla.-based Journeyman Stallions.

"I think it's a great spot for him," she told HRN. "They stand Khozan, who is probably right now doing the best."

Lightner noted that the only horses to beat Chance It as a 2-year-old were both Khozan colts.

Journeyman co-owner Brent Furnung said he is "excited" to add Chance It to his operation.

"They're going to get him down here to me pretty soon, and we'll get him relaxed and out to the paddock and introduce him to a few girlfriends and see what we can get done," Furnung said. "He has a following down here because he was a really nice horse and probably didn't get an opportunity to show how good he really was."

Lightner said, "I think a lot of people called him the working man's horse when he was a 2-year-old because they weren't so sure about him. He beat all the horses that he wasn't supposed to beat and did it in such a fashion that I think he kind of got popular."

As a juvenile, Chance It won the first and third legs in the Florida Sire series at Gulfstream and placed in the middle leg. He started his 3-year-old campaign last year with a win in the listed Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream.

"He's just the coolest horse," Lighter said. "He just does everything you ask him. He's got a heart like, just unbelievable. So I'm happy that Brent's happy to have him, and we're going to do everything we can to get as many mares to him as we can."

Joseph also described Chance It is "a cool horse. A lot of ability and just a cool personality to be around. Around the barn, he can be a bad boy if he wants, but when he comes in to the stall he's so kind with you. He'll nibble at you a little bit, but just smart, very smart, intelligent."

After the Tampa Bay Derby, Chance It was off for 14 months. He came back to finish second in an allowance race at Gulfstream in May. He then finished second in the Smile Sprint (G3) and third in the Forego (G1) at Saratoga, a nose behind Firenze Fire and 2 1/2 lengths behind Yaupon. That was his last race until the Kelso.

Chance It had a career record of 11: 4-4-1 and earnings of $583,330.