[TouchOfGrey]

DRF|Jackson Bend, multiple Grade 1 winner, retired at 5

Fred Brei, the breeder and co-owner of Jackson Bend, said the horse did not appear to mentally recover from a training accident at Saratoga on Aug. 18 when a horse barreled into him on the Oklahoma training track, Zito said.

Shortly after running last in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga on Sept. 1, Jackson Bend was sent to Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm in Reddick, Fla. for a vacation. Zito said that Brei called him on Wednesday and said that he didn’t feel Jackson Bend’s mental attitude was where it needed to be to return to racing.

“It’s an emotional thing for me,” Zito said by phone from Saratoga. “You can’t put a price on what that horse has given us over the years, all the big races he’s taken us too. He would have been right there in the Forego if that accident didn’t happen. I guess it took its toll mentally. Fred said it’s like a concussion for an athlete. He knows the horse pretty good.”