Here Comes Ben retired from racing
Marianne and Brandon Chase’s Group 1 Stables announced today that their home-bred son of Street Cry (Ire), Here Comes Ben, out of the Dayjur mare Chasetheragingwind, has been retired from racing. The Charles Lopresti trainee won the 2010 Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga last year giving his trainer his first Gr. I victory. A very rewarding victory for all, as the Chases have long been associated with Lopresti, going back to Irgun, as well as Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Albertus Maximus.
The Forego was Here Comes Ben’s graded stakes debut and fourth consecutive victory at the seven furlong distance where he defeated a stellar field including Grade I winners Big Drama, Vineyard Haven, Warrior’s Reward and Bribon.
Here Comes Ben won two races as a three-year-old, but really came into his own at four. His four race winning streak started with a six-length allowance win at Keeneland in April 2010, followed by an equally impressive victory in May and the Kelly’s Landing Stakes in June, both run at Churchill Downs.
Here Comes Ben took his second Kelly’s Landing Stakes at Churchill in 2011. Coming off that impressive 3 ¼-length victory Here Comes Ben and Lopresti returned to Saratoga for the James Marvin Stakes for older sprinters run on opening day. The race was all the talk, as the field of 11 included other Grade I winners Gayego and Jersey Town, as well as accomplished sprinters Aikenite, D’Funnybone and the eventual winner Jackson Bend, who went on to win the 2011 Forego.
After the fourth place finish Lopresti told the Chases that it is time to retire the five-year-old from racing, so that he can be properly marketed for stallion duty next year. The son of Street Cry was one of three Grade I stakes winners for his sire in 2010, including Horse of the Year Zenyatta.
Here Comes Ben descends from a family produced and nurtured by Marianne and Brandon Chase. His second dam is Grade I winner Race the Wild Wind, by Sunny’s Halo. She is the dam of a pair of Nureyev Group stakes winning sires, King Charlemagne and Meshaheer, as well as, is the granddam of G1 record setter Albertus Maximus, now a sire standing at Shadwell Farm.
Grade I winner Here Comes Ben retires with a race record of 17 starts, 7 wins, once second, three times third and earnings of $410,764. Stud duty plans are not yet final and will be announced at a later date.
