=== Shackleford not yet retired ===
 
 Louisville,  KY (Sports  Network) - Former Preakness Stakes winner Shackleford
 is  being prepared  to enter retirement but  has not run his final race on the
 track. The 4-year-old colt is a likely  starter in this month's Clark Handicap
 at Churchill Downs.
 
 "We might run him in the Clark," trainer Dale Romans said. "We'll see how he's
 going  into the race,  but the plan right now is to go into (the Clark) or the
 Cigar Mile (at Aqueduct on Nov. 24). As long as he trains well, he'll have one
 more race."
 
 First on Shackleford's calendar is a visit to Darby Dan Farm this weekend when
 breeders  will have  an opportunity  to  check out  the 4-year-old  colt as  a
 potential stallion.
 
 "We  wanted to give breeders the opportunity to see him," said Robert Hammond,
 General  Manager of Darby  Dan. "Ever since his Met Mile win, the interest has
 been  gratifying, and  we  anticipate  a strong  initial  book  of mares  from
 accomplished breeders."
 
 Owned  by Michael  Lauffer,  Bill Cubbedge  and  Phillips Racing  Partnership,
 Shackleford  is  coming off a  seventh-place finish  in the Breeders' Cup Dirt
 Mile  as the  5-2 co-favorite.  Last year  he was  second in  the race  behind
 Caleb's Posse.
 
 Shackleford has posted five wins in 19 career starts for $2,824,047  with five
 seconds and a third.
 
 After winning two of three races as a 2-year-old, the colt hit the 2011 Triple
 Crown  trail and registered a fifth in the Fountain of Youth and was runner-up
 to Dialed In in the Florida Derby.
 
 With Jesus Castanon riding, Shackleford was  fourth in the Kentucky Derby as a
 23-1  longshot behind  Animal Kingdom. He won the Preakness as a 12-1 outsider
 over  favorite Animal  Kingdom. Three weeks later Shackleford was sixth in the
 Belmont Stakes with Animal Kingdom right behind in seventh.
 
 He  closed  out his 2011  campaign with  second-place finishes in the Haskell,
 Indiana Derby and Dirt Mile, and an eighth-place result in the Travers.
 
 This year, Shackleford has wins in the Churchill Downs Stakes and Met Mile.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11/08 16:11:31 ET

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