American and English champion Conduit (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}-Well Head {Ire}, by Sadler’s Wells) passed away last week after a short illness at Tullyraine House Stud, Racing Post reported on Wednesday. The Ballymacoll Stud homebred was 15.
“Three weeks ago he was bouncing and his usual self, but within a short space of time it became apparent he had suffered a very acute brain injury, ” Hugh Suffern, principal of Tullyraine House Stud, told Racing Post. “He fought very hard for around three weeks, but eventually he succumbed in the middle of last week.”
A winner of the 2008 G1 St. Leger and GI Breeders’ Cup Turf for trainer Sir Michael Stoute, he was named the 2008 English Highweighted 3-year-old from 10 1/2-13 1/2 furlongs and 13 1/2 furlongs and up and the Eclipse Champion Grass Horse Stateside that year, too.
The chestnut returned as a 4-year-old and added Ascot’s G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S. and another edition of the Breeders’ Cup Turf to his resume and was awarded another championship in England, as the Highweighted Older Horse from 11-14 furlongs, while he was also third in the 2009 G1 Coral-Eclipse S.
Breeding rights in Conduit had been acquired by Big Red Farm prior to his second Breeders’ Cup win. Retired after a fourth-place finish in the G1 Japan Cup with a mark of 15-7-2-3 and $5,815,813 in earnings, Conduit served six seasons at Big Red Farm (2010-2015) before moving to Tullyraine House Stud in Ireland from 2016 onwards. At stud, he sired the GSP Daiichi Terminal (Jpn) and SP Kineo Pegasus (Jpn) in Japan, but his offspring have so far found more success in the jumping sphere.
Already responsible for G2 Great Voltigeur S. hero Hard Top (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}), MSP Spray Gun (Ire) (Octagonal {NZ}) and the dams of G1 MacKinnon S. hero Glass Harmonium (Ire) (Verglas {Ire}), MGSW Arab Spring (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}), and G3 Tattersalls Musidora S. heroine Liber Nauticus (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), as well as the granddam of English highweight, GI E. P. Taylor S. and G2 Middleton S. winner Blond Me (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Well Head produced Conduit as her final foal.
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