Multiple graded-stakes winner Smooth Like Strait is retired at 6

Smooth Like Strait, winner of five graded stakes, has been retired, trainer Michael McCarthy confirmed Wednesday.

Owner Michael Cannon told Daily Racing Form that the 6-year-old son of Midnight Lute will be sent to his farm in Nevada and might stand stud in 2024.

Smooth Like Strait has a career record of 26: 7-9-3 and earnings of $1,813,863. His last start was a fifth-place finish in the Cotton Fitzsimmons Handicap at Turf Paradise on March 11. It was his 11th consecutive loss since winning the Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita in May 2021, though he finished in the money in seven of those losses, all graded stakes.

Smooth Like Strait ran twice in the Breeders' Cup Mile, finishing second by a half-length at Del Mar in 2021 and ninth in 2022 at Keeneland.

“He’s done enough in his career," Cannon told DRF. "He looks like he doesn’t want to run anymore.”

Cannon, who also bred Smooth Like Strait, said he might breed some of his mares to him next year.