Balance retired

Balance was unplaced only three times during her career (Benoit Photo)

Trainer David Hofmans announced on Thursday that multiple Grade 1 heroine
BALANCE (Thunder Gulch) has been retired. The four-year-old miss makes her exit
from the racetrack after finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup
Distaff (G1) last Saturday.

“She’ll go to Mill Ridge (Farm near Lexington, Kentucky), but we have no
studs lined up yet,” explained Hofmans before quipping, “We lost our Balance.”

Balance was a dominant force in California for the past three seasons,
beginning her stakes acquisitions with the 2005 Sharp Cat S. and placings in
that year’s Hollywood Starlet S. (G1) and Hidden Light S. Her other four
black-type scores all came at Santa Anita, including the 2006 editions of the
Santa Anita Oaks (G1) and Las Virgenes S. (G1), and she also added a pair of
thirds in the Ashland S. (G1) and La Brea S. (G1) that season. The lone blemish
of the bay’s sophomore campaign was her 11th-place effort in the Kentucky Oaks
(G1), but she exited that race with a bone chip in her ankle and had to undergo
surgery.

Returning as a four-year-old this year, Balance immediately got back to her
winning ways with victories in the La Canada S. (G2) and Santa Margarita
Invitational H. (G1). She tailed off a bit when forced to compete on the newly
installed synthetic tracks in California, running second in the Vanity
Invitational H. (G1) and third in the Milady Breeders’ Cup H. (G2) and Clement
L. Hirsch H. (G2).