Air Support, a multiple Grade 2 winner, was one of two stallions killed by a swarm of bees last week at Kunigal Stud Farm, The Times of India reports.
According to The Times of India, the two stallions, which also included Irish-born Group 3 winner Sanus Per Aquam, became panicked by the sound of swarming bees overhead on the afternoon of Jan. 5, and their movement made them a target for the swarm. By the time farm security saw what was going on, Zeyn Mirza of farm management group United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders Limited said the stallions had already collapsed.
“The security called the vets who arrived in about 10 minutes, but since thousands of bees had attacked them, both had too much toxins in their bodies and couldn't survive,” Mirza told The Times of India. “One of them died at 10 p.m. and the other died Friday Morning.”
Air Support, a 15-year-old son of Smart Strike retired to Kunigal Stud Farm for the 2014 breeding season, and he had become a rousing success in India, highlighted by 2020 Indian Horse of the Year and Indian Derby winner War Hammer. In total, he has sired five group stakes winners in India, including a trio of Group 1 winners.
Racing as a homebred for Stuart Janney III and trained by Shug McGaughey, Air Support won five of 21 starts and earned $937,619.
Air Support won the Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes as a 2-year-old, and he competed in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs. His most successful season came at age three, where he tallied victories in the G2 Virginia Derby and G3 Transylvania Stakes. At four, he won the G2 Bowling Green Stakes.
Sanus Per Aquam, a 10-year-old son of Teofilo, won the G3 Somerville Tattersall Stakes in England during his on-track career, and he has sired a trio of Group 3 winners in India.
Kunigal Stud Farm is India's oldest stud farm in India, with its roots tracing back to owner Tipu Sultan, who bred horses for his calvary to fight the British in the 1790s. The farm became home to the first Thoroughbred imported into the country with the arrival of Pero Gomez in 1886.
Indian businessman Vijay Mallya leased the farm in 1992 to be managed by his United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders Limited. Mallya has been active in importing U.S. and European runners to stand in India, including graded stakes winners Brave Act and Tejano, and the farm is a perennial leader within its region and the country as a whole.
Read more at The Times of India.
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