Icon Project retired

Icon Project captured two of her three dirt starts in double-digit fashion (EquiSport Photos) Andrew Rosen’s ICON PROJECT (Empire Maker), last seen crushing the August 30 Personal Ensign S. (G1) at Saratoga by 13 1/2 lengths, has been retired after sustaining a tendon injury. “She’s had a small lesion in her tendon since running over a muddy racetrack winning the New York (G3) earlier this year,” trainer Marty Wolfson told Daily Racing Form. “But the area really changed significantly since she returned here (to Calder) and worked a couple of times following her victory in the Personal Ensign.” Icon Project’s schedule had been in flux in recent weeks. Originally scheduled to run in the October 3 Beldame S. (G1) at Belmont, the four-year-old was instead aimed at the October 11 Spinster S. (G1) on Keeneland’s Polytrack. Her connections explained that they wanted to test her on a synthetic surface in advance of the November 6 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1) at Santa Anita. Icon Project ultimately missed the Spinster, however, after bleeding during a workout. In the wake of that setback, her status for the Breeders’ Cup was considered doubtful. She retires with a mark of 11-4-2-2, $661,128.

Originally campaigned in Europe, Icon Project finished second to the classy Dar
Re Mi (Singspiel [Ire]) in her career debut before breaking her maiden next time
out. She got much closer to Dar Re Mi when third in the Aphrodite S., and her
resume also includes a respectable fourth in the Ribblesdale S. (Eng-G2) at
Royal Ascot last summer.

Icon Project was repatriated for 2009 and initially
stayed on the turf. A troubled fifth in an allowance in her
four-year-old bow, she bolted to a 4 3/4-length allowance score at Gulfstream
Park in April. Icon Project wheeled back 13 days later in the La Prevoyante H.
(G2),
where she was a non-threatening third to Criticism (GB) (Machiavellian).

Icon Project’s career took off when the New York S. was rained off the turf
and transferred to the muddy main track. Relishing the surface switch, she
romped by 13 1/4 lengths and established herself as a rising star in the
division. The bay was confounded by tactics next time out in the lucrative Delaware H. (G2),
where she was held up off a dawdling pace but rallied to finish second to Swift
Temper (Giant’s Causeway). Under a more forwardly-placed trip in the Personal
Ensign, Icon Project easily routed Swift Temper.

Bred by the Ronald Carter Family Trust in Kentucky, Icon Project was
purchased for $775,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September. She is out of Grade
1 heroine La Gueriere (Lord at War [Arg]), who is also responsible for Grade 2
victor Lasting Approval (With Approval), the stakes-placed pair of Warrior Song
(Unbridled’s Song) and Taiki Zillion (Twining), and La Comete (Holy Bull),
herself the dam of Woody Stephens S. (G2) and Tom Fool H. (G2) star Munnings (Speightstown),
who has finished third in the Haskell Invitational (G1), King’s Bishop S. (G1)
and Vosburgh S. (G1).

La Gueriere is herself a half-sister to five stakes winners, most notably
Grade 1-winning millionaire Al Mamoon (Believe It), Austrian highweight Born
Wild (Wild Again) and Grade 3 scorer Lost Soldier (Danzig). This is also the
family of millionaires Honor in War (Lord at War [Arg]), a Grade 1 hero, and
Master Command (A.P. Indy), a multiple Grade 2 winner. Icon Project’s third dam,
Futurity S. and Frizette S. queen Priceless Gem (Hail to Reason), produced the
legendary Allez France (*Sea-Bird).

La Gueriere has also produced a yearling full brother to Icon Project named
Empiricist (Empire Maker) and a 2009 colt by Corinthian.

Plans call for Icon Project to visit Giant’s Causeway in 2010, according to
the DRF.