Equine Obituaries

 In the past couple of days, a couple of well-known racehorses had passed away.  Both of them were American classic winners.

Lemon Drop Kid, 28, died at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky.  He won the 1999 Belmont Stakes, a race where Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Charismatic was injured at the end of the race but survived.  

Blood Horse:

Scotty Schulhofer trained Lemon Drop Kid for Jeanne Vance, who acquired him for $200,000 during the 1997 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He hinted at tremendous talent at 2, when he was in the money in five of six starts. He won the 1998 Futurity Stakes (G1) and was runner-up in the Champagne Stakes (G1). At 3, he was victorious in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and followed his classic victory with a win in the Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. At 4, he strung together four consecutive victories in the storied Brooklyn Handicap (G2), Suburban Handicap (G2), Whitney Handicap (G1), and Woodward Stakes (G1) by a combined 12 lengths and earned Eclipse Award honors as champion older horse. He retired with 10 wins from 24 starts and earned $3,245,370.

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2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming has also passed away.  He was just 10 years old when he died from colic, which is an all-too-common, life-threatening illness of horses.  He died in Oklahoma, where he was to stand stud after being acquired from Win Star Farm in Kentucky, but he never had a chance to do stud duty there.

Snip:

Bred in Kentucky by Santa Rosa Partners, Always Dreaming sold for $350,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and he was placed in the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher to race for a partnership that eventually swelled to include Brooklyn Boyz Stables, Teresa Viola Racing Stables, Siena Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds, MeB Racing Stables, and St. Elias Stables.

Always Dreaming broke his maiden in his third career start, and the first of his 3-year-old season, demolishing a Tampa Bay Downs maiden special weight field by 11 1/2 lengths. He then headed south to take an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park by four lengths before acing his stakes debut with a five-length drubbing of the Grade 1 Florida Derby, clinching a spot in the Kentucky Derby in the process.

He and Lemon Drop Kid will always be fondly remembered.