Tribute to the 7-year-old mare for 37 years^e Maryland Million October 23

BALTIMORE, MD. – Anna’s Bandit, the 7-year-old No Guts No Glory Farm mare, whose resume includes 11 betting wins on three different tracks in two states as well as earnings of $ 806,655 over six seasons, has been taken out of races and will become a brood mare.

Raised and owned and coached by Maryland-based John ‘Jerry’ Robb and his wife, Gina, and ridden in 33 of his 39 lifetime starts by Xavier Perez, Anna’s Bandit retires with a career-high 17 wins , five seconds and eight thirds.

The Maryland Jockey Club will honor Anna’s Bandit with a retirement ceremony between races during the 37^e Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program on October 23 at Laurel Park.

“We are very excited. It’s always difficult, especially with a horse like Anna who has done so much, that you have to make this decision, ”said Gina Robb. We couldn’t be prouder of her. Now she’s coming home and I’m so grateful, I really am.

“She represents the world to us. She’s like one of our kids, basically. I think anyone who raises horses can kind of relate to that, especially when he’s kind of a mom and dad like we are, ”she added. “We are a small operation. They are all there with us on the farm and bringing her home to the farm we have built means a lot to us. I’m really happy for her that she has had such an amazing career, and now she’s able to start over in a new chapter.

In her most recent race, the daughter of Great Notion and No Armistice mare Onearmedbandit finished fifth in an optional six-stadium claiming allowance on July 26 at Colonial Downs behind her compatriot multi-stakes winner Never Enough Time.

“We were pretty much decided this would be her last year, it doesn’t matter if it was good, bad or indifferent,” said Gina Robb. “She came out of that colonial race a little tired, and we kind of shook our heads because we thought it was one of her easiest places.

“When she came back from Colonial we just didn’t like the way she was doing,” she added. “She didn’t have anything major where we had to stop her, but I think in all of our minds and hearts and how much she means to us, we really didn’t want to take any chances anymore.”

Perez, who reached 1,000^e Career wins in June at Delaware Park, climbed Anna’s Bandit to 14 wins, four seconds and seven thirds and all but $ 114,540 of her stock market earnings. The other jockeys to ride Anna’s Bandit were Eric Camacho and Katie Davis in 2016 and 2017 and Gerald Almodovar in the Original Gold of May 29, 2020 in Charles Town, his last victory.

“She deserves it,” Perez said of the retirement. “She doesn’t owe anyone anything. She did her job and she made us proud. She’s safe and in her place. I’m happy for her.

In 2019, Anna’s Bandit won nine of 11 starts and over $ 400,000 in purses, tied for the most wins of any horse in North America. His victories in career stakes included the 2018 and 2019 Conniver, the 2019 Maryland Million Distaff and the 2019 Politely at Laurel Park and the 2019 Timonium Distaff.

In West Virginia, where she was raised, Anna’s Bandit won the Down Town Allen and Sadie Hawkins in 2018; Original Gold, Sadie Hawkins and West Virgina Cavada Breeders’ Classic in 2019; and Original Gold in 2020.

Her Maryland Million victory came just a week after Anna’s Bandit won the Cavada, a feat that Gina Robb deemed to be at the top of a list of accomplishments.

“This year where she won all these bets, it was a bit of a blur,” she said. “After she won the West Virginia Breeding Race and came back in seven days… I get goosebumps thinking about it. It had to be the most incredible of all races.

Anna’s Bandit also ranked in 10 other stakes, including a third behind Majestic Reason and Victim of Love in the 2020 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3), her only attempt at graduated stakes. Majestic Reason was a three-time bet winner who retired after the race, while Victim of Love won back-to-back editions of the Vagrancy (G3) in 2020 and 2021 and finished third in the 2020 Ballerina (G1).

“She’s amazing. She will always be one of the best horses I have ever ridden, or anyone has ridden,” said Perez. “They don’t come too often. You have to be lucky and being in the right place at the right time It worked for me.

The success of Anna’s Bandit is simply remarkable. She showed she was special from the start, making her debut with a 6 ¾ length special weight triumph on May 6, 2016 at Laurel and jumping straight into the company of the stakes. She was third at Astoria in Belmont and second at Debutante at Churchill Downs, the latter in July, before sidelining.

She spent 14 and a half months between races, the result of several operations to repair leg injuries that went undiagnosed during her formative years.

Anna’s Bandit was limited to four starts in 2020, due both to the coronavirus pandemic that interrupted live races in Maryland for 2.5 months from mid-March to the end of May, and a problem minor footing at the end of the summer that prompted Robb to give him the rest of the gap year. She started this year finishing fifth at the Shine Again on June 13 at the historic Pimlico racetrack and second at the Dashing Beauty on July 10 in Delaware.

Plans call for breeding Anna’s Bandit in 2022, although details have yet to be worked out.

“We’re just trying to get over the fact that she’s retired. We have time to discuss where we’re going on February 15th^e, because we’re planning on trying to get it full early, ”said Gina Robb. “We would like to ship her and bring her home and not have her stay anywhere else. I don’t know if I’m ready to let her go. I just got it back.

“I think the first year we could keep her local, at a dad’s house in Maryland or on the east coast somewhere nearby so we can ship and go and keep her at home where I don’t have to worry. anything else. I am very excited to be a part of her broodmare career, and having her first foal on this farm is going to be a remarkable day.

Maryland Jockey Club Press Release

Photo: Anna’s Bandit, (MJC)