ROUNDUP : Brown Bess Is Retired

Brown Bess, an Eclipse Award-winning mare in 1989, has been retired.

Brown Bess, an eight-year-old daughter of Petrone, was originally scheduled to run in the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes Nov. 4 at Oak Tree.

“She suffered a stifle injury,” trainer Chuck Jenda said from Bay Meadows. “Although it isn’t a serious injury, it will interrupt her training, and since the Yellow Ribbon was going to be her last race anyway, we’ve retired her.”

Unbeaten in five races against her own sex last year, Brown Bess, won only one of six starts in 1990. In what turned out to be her 36th and final start, she was second in the California Jockey Club Handicap Oct. 6 at Bay Meadows.

Brown Bess will be sent to Harris Farms in Coalinga.

Ruhlmann, the 23-1 upset winner in the Santa Anita Handicap last winter, has also been retired. He will stand in California at Cardiff Stud Farm.

Ruhlmann, a 5-year-old son of Mr. Leader, ended his career with a fifth-place finish as the favorite in the Goodwood Handicap Oct. 13. He finished with 10 victories in 27 starts, earning more than $1.8 million.

Sondeed, the even-money favorite, easily won the $100,000 Desert Wine Sales Stakes Wednesday at Santa Anita.

Sondeed didn’t have much to beat--Play the Odds, a maiden claimer, was second--as he covered the seven furlongs in 1:23 and paid $4.20.