Star-Crossed Mare Life At Ten Retired

Life At Ten, the star-crossed multiple grade I winner whose career will likely be best remembered for a race she did not win, has been retired following a last-place finish in the $350,000 Beldame Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park on Oct. 1.

“We just feel like it’s time,” David Vance, racing manager for owner Candy DeBartolo, said Oct. 3, adding that the 6-year-old mare will be sold at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. “She’s had a remarkable career. She’s still a multiple grade I winning millionaire and that term doesn’t apply to many horses. She’s probably the prettiest horse I have seen since Secretariat, but I’m not very objective.”

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Life At Ten won eight races—six in stakes--from 22 starts and earned $1,277,515. In 2010, the daughter of Malibu Moon won the Sixty Sails Handicap (gr. III), Ogden Phipps (gr. I), Delaware Handicap (gr. II), and Beldame (gr. I) leading up to the Ladies’ Classic. She was winless in five starts this year, with third-place efforts in the Delaware Handicap and Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (gr. III).