Trot Insider has learned that double millionaire and multiple award-winning pacing mare Lyons Sentinel has been retired from racing and sold to begin her broodmare career.
"You know, to do what she did as a two-year-old, we were just obviously ecstatic," said Joseph Lyons Mound of Threelyonsracing, the owners of Lyons Sentinel during her racing days. "To come back as a three-year-old, she was good. But we felt that she came back so much better as a four-year-old, and we were really [nervous] about the four-year-old season because you’re racing with aged mares but she really held her own. She became mare of the year which, for me, was phenomenal."
In 2019, as a two-year-old, Lyons Sentinel made her racing debut for trainer Jim King Jr. a winning one in 1:53 in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes (PASS). The filly continued to dominate during her freshman campaign in the PASS, winning three legs of the stakes and finishing second by only a neck in the second leg. Lyons Sentinel then went on to win the $252,000 PASS Championship in 1:52 with her regular driver Tim Tetrick in the bike. She concluded her two-year-old year with wins in the Shes A Great Lady elimination and final, Simpson, Breeders Crown elimination and Matron while finishing second in the Breeders Crown final en route to divisional honours stateside.
In her sophomore year, the daughter of Captaintreacherous never missed the board in 14 starts. She averaged sub-1:50 miles in most of those starts that included the Mistletoe Shalee, PASS, Adioo Volo, Jugette, Breeders Crown elimination and final, and Matron.
She began her four-year-old year in late April of 2021 racing in the top class for mares before winning in the Artiscape in her career mark of 1:48. After a fourth-place finish in the Dorothy Haughton, the mare went on a seven-race win streak in races including the Clara Barton, Lady Liberty, Roses Are Red, Milton elimination and final, and the Dayton Distaff. She picked up her third Breeders Crown runner-up finish before concluding her season with a win in the TVG Mares Open Pace. That race is the one that resonates the most with Lyons Mound.
"You know, I was in Canada with family when she won the Milton and the Roses Are Red. That was a great time. I was there when she won the Shes A Great Lady. For me, possibly the way she won the TVG Final last year, you know, if you look at the way she had done that...she was first up, she ground them down, she was seventh on the pylons then she just made a move, never had cover. She raced against all the top, top mares and she just ground them all down and she got up and still won by a length. For me, that was the one that really stood out and for me, that was just proof at that point what type of mare she was. We finished on a real high with her last year, that was really good."
Lyons Sentinel made nine starts in her five-year-old campaign, picking up wins in the Clara Barton and a Roses Are Red elim before suffering an injury in her final start at Scioto Downs in the Cleopatra.
"We have had some decent horses in the past, about one or two real good ones. This was just the one, I don’t think these come by very often, you know," said Lyons Mound when asked about Lyons Sentinel's career. "Jim retired Shartin whilst we had Sentinel as a two-year-old and it just seemed to fill that stall pretty good for him. They kept the buzz going for a couple of years, it was just incredible times, every single race she raced…the toughness... I’ve been around horses all my life, I’ve yet to see a horse being capable of doing all this. She’s probably got more :52 and change and :53 and change back halves than any other horse you would probably ever see."
The ownership group spoke highly Team King — Jim and Joann — on how they managed this high-performing competitor.
"Listen, it’s just outstanding the job that they do. You know, we’ve got this coming season, we’ll probably be having hopefully about 15-16 horses with Jim and Joann. It just shows you the confidence I’ve got in those guys. For me, they are just so transparent, so honest and very easy-going. They have done an exceptional job for us, they conditioned Sentinel so well. You know, they kept her so good, they kept her so fresh. Even coming back at four, they just kept her going, we couldn’t have been any more pleased."
“We enjoyed every minute with her,” said Joann King, who conditioned the mare along with her husband, trainer Jim King Jr. “She was a super mare with a super personality. I will miss her; I doubt I have any to replace her...horses like her are hard to come by.”
Lyons Sentinel retires with $2,325,124 in career earnings and a record of 25-14-5 from 56 lifetime starts. She was awarded the Dan Patch Award as a two-year-old in 2019, the O’Brien Award for Older Pacing Mares in 2021 and holds the all-time track record at Plainridge Park in 1:48.1 -- equalling the record set by her former stablemate Shartin N. She's now reunited with Shartin in the broodmare band of Ohio's Euro Stall SE. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Dean Miller put the deal together. He bought Shartin and he always wanted to buy this mare too. I’m a fair guy, so Jim said if there’s any opportunity to come about can we give [Dean] first refusal? And I thought about it for a while and, you know what? I did. I reached out to him. He was so happy that I did. We met at Harrisburg and we had done the deal not so long after.
"These guys are the best in the industry and, really, the way they breed, the way they do it, the way they raise their horses, the way they raise the foals. We thought, you know, it’s more of a hobby for us but they take it more of a business to them," Lyons Mound continued. "So, I’m happy to see her [taken care of] like that."