By Tom White
7/11/04

Dan Patch Award winner I Am A Fool has been retired and will stand stud in New Zealand before returning to North America to continue his career as a stallion, trainer Brett Pelling said last night at the Meadowlands.

The two-year-old pacing colt of the year in 2003, I Am A Fool last raced May 29 in the New Jersey Classic Final at the Meadowlands, and finished ninth. A slight tendon injury was later discovered and prompted the decision to retire the horse.

I Am A Fool raced just three times this year, recording a second and third-place finish. For his career, he won nine of 18 starts and earned $1.16 million. His top wins came in the Governor's Cup, Breeders Crown and Matron.

"He's going straight down to New Zealand in the next couple weeks and he's going to stand the season down there," Pelling said. "We really felt he could turn around and race at the end of the season, in another six or seven weeks, but if something went wrong, he's already had a slight soft tissue problem, and he's such a valuable horse. He's the best horse I've ever had. When I evaluate him and the other horses I've had that have gone to stud, I just put him on top.

"It really devastated me. I actually couldn't believe it at first. He was training unbelievable. I can't even tell you why. Nothing went wrong, he just came up with a soft tissue problem. He had done a little bit of leaping and lunging there because he was feeling that good for a while about a month before we recognized the problem. I wouldn't be shocked if something little happened then. In one of his races, Ronny [driver Ron Pierce] got bumped sideways there and he put a bad step in; maybe it happened then. But that's water under the bridge and you can't do anything about it. You just have to move on with the best you have."

I Am A Fool is owned by David and Terry Brooks' Perfect World Enterprises. Pelling and Perfect World watched their gelding Timesareachanging qualify Saturday night for the $1 million Meadowlands Pace with a 1:48.4 victory that equaled the fastest mile ever by a three-year-old gelding on a mile track.