Obituaries | Horse Racing Free Tips

Champion Sprinter Big Drama Dies At Age 15

Big Drama, the champion sprinter of 2010, was euthanized over the weekend due to complications from a stomach issue, BloodHorse reports. He was 15.

The son of Montbrook last stood at Stormborne Stallions in Citra, Fla., where he was set to stand the upcoming breeding season for an advertised fee of $5,000.

Since entering stud in 2012, Big Drama has spent two separate stints at Florida Stonewall Farm, once under the HallMarc Stallions banner and later under Prestige Stallions, with two seasons at Bridlewood Farm sandwiched between them. He began standing for Oakton Farm Stallions in 2019, and the operation renamed itself Stormborne Stallions ahead of this year's breeding season.

Big Drama has sired seven crops of racing age, with 136 winners and combined progeny earnings of just under $9 million. He has sired four stakes winners, with R Kinsley Doll and Tribal Drama earning their black type in Florida, Miss Deplorable at Monmouth Park, and General Council in New Mexico.

Racing as a homebred for Harold Queen and trained by David Fawkes, Big Drama won 11 of 19 starts and earned $2,746,060.

Big Drama started fast as a 2-year-old, sweeping the three races in his division of the Florida Sire Stakes, then capping off his season with a victory in the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot Stakes. He finished second in the G2 Swale Stakes in his 3-year-old bow, and the remainder of his season saw him run fifth in the 2009 Preakness Stakes, win the listed Red Legend Stakes at Charles Town, and finish second in the G2 West Virginia Derby.

The horse's championship season came at age four, starting in the summer with wins in the Ponche Handicap and G2 Smile Stakes at Calder Race Course. After second-place efforts in the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and G1 Forego Stakes in Saratoga, he secured the champion sprinter Eclipse Award with a strong, front-running victory in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs.

Big Drama raced for one more season after his Eclipse-winning campaign, taking the G3 Mr. Prospector Stakes and the non-graded Whippleton Stakes before finishing seventh in that season's Breeders' Cup Sprint.

European Horse Of The Year Dalakhani Dies At Age 21

The Aga Khan Studs are saddened to announce that homebred champion Dalakhani has passed away on Jan. 15 at the age of 21.

Bred in Ireland, Dalakhani was a pure product of the Aga Khan Studs operation, being a son of the Aga Khan's Prix du Jockey Club winner Darshaan out of the Miswaki, blue hen mare, Daltawa.

Through his exceptional race career, Dalakhani won eight of his nine races. He remained unbeaten at two, winning notably the Group 1 Critérium International before going on to win the G1 Prix Lupin, Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at three under the training of Alain de Royer-Dupré and the ride of Christophe Soumillon. Dalakhani was crowned European Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old in 2003.

H.H. the Aga Khan declared after his final run in Longchamp: “He's outstanding on the basis of what we've seen as a 2-year-old, 3-year-old, over all distances and on all going. It's very difficult to make comparisons, but this horse has a concentration of unusual talents, and that's what gives him the ability to accelerate when he needs to accelerate, to follow a pace when he needs to follow a pace, and to handle all goings.”

Retired to Gilltown Stud in Ireland in 2004, Dalakhani sired 10 Group 1 winners, including classic winners Moonstone (Irish Oaks) and Reliable Man (Prix du Jockey Club), Chinese White (Pretty Polly Stakes), Integral (Falmouth and Sun Chariot Stakes), dual Breeders' Cup Turf winner Conduit and more recently, Coronation Stakes winner Defoe. He is now leaving his mark as a broodmare sire, with notable examples such as recent champion 2-year-old Pinatubo.

Dalakhani was retired from covering duties in 2016 and was enjoying a peaceful retirement at Haras d'Ouilly in Normandy, France.

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Juddmonte Farms Owner Prince Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Saud Dies

It is with great sadness that Juddmonte announces the death of His Highness Prince Khalid bin Abdullah. He died peacefully on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

One of the greatest ever owner/breeders in the history of the thoroughbred, his famous green, pink and white silks were carried by such immortals as Frankel, Dancing Brave, Arrogate and Enable. His colours were carried to victory by over 500 stakes winners, of which he bred over 440, including 118 Group/Grade 1 winners, of which he bred 102.

Douglas Erskine Crum, CEO Juddmonte, said: “The whole of Juddmonte feels a huge sense of loss. Prince Khalid will always be remembered as a quiet, dignified, benevolent family man, whose horses spoke for him.

“He leaves a legacy that will stand the test of time. His contribution to the development of the thoroughbred will have long-lasting effects.”

The post Juddmonte Farms Owner Prince Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Saud Dies appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Global Superstar Goldikova Dies At Age 16

Goldikova, one of the world's top racehorses of any sex or surface preference over the past decade and a half, has died at age 16, Racing Post and the French publication Jour de Galop report.

Pierre-Yves Bureau, racing manager for Goldikova's owner and breeder Wertheimer et Frere, made the announcement via text to Jour de Galop on Wednesday morning, which read after translation; “It is with immense sadness that we inform you of the death of our champion Goldikova on Jan. 5, 2021. Goldikova will be remembered as the best racing mare on the team with her 14 Group 1 victories, including a splendid Prix Jacques le Marois in 2009 and her historic treble in the Breeders' Cup Mile. ”

Goldikova was nothing short of a dominant force over the course of her five seasons on the racetrack, winning 17 of 27 starts for earnings of $7,176,551. She was trained by Freddy Head.

After winning her first two starts as a juvenile at Deauville in France, the daughter of Anabaa soon climbed up the ranks at three, finishing second in the Group 1 French 1,000 Guineas and third in the G1 French Oaks. She earned her first taste of group stakes success in the Group 3 Prix Chloe, which kicked off a four-race winning streak in major races that included Group 1 scores in the Prix Rothschild and Prix du Moulin de Longchamp before making her first international start in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita Park, where she bested male competition by 1 1/4 lengths.

Goldikova's 3-year-old campaign was just a taste of what the Irish-born filly had to offer, and that was proven the following season, when she locked down Europe's champion older horse honors with four Group 1 wins in France, England, and the U.S., capped off by her second Breeders' Cup Mile score, once again at Santa Anita. Though she only made one start in the U.S. that year, her campaign wowed voters enough to give her the Eclipse Award as champion turf female.

The mare's 5-year-old campaign saw more of the same, once again earning Europe's championship as champion grass mare, and the Eclipse in the same category. What made this campaign unique was her debut at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet, where she conquered the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, adding to her five total Group 1 victories that season. Once again, the season finished in the Breeders' Cup winner's circle, this time 1 3/4 lengths at Churchill Downs.

Goldikova's final season came during her 6-year-old campaign, which saw her win her fourth edition of the G1 Prix Rothschild and her second renewal of the G1 Prix d'Ispahan, both in France. She finished second in that season's Queen Anne at Royal Ascot, and her chase for a fourth consecutive Breeders' Cup Mile in her career finale came up short, finishing third to massive upset Court Vision at Churchill Downs.

Her legacy in the U.S. is apparent by the mark she left in the Breeders' Cup. Her $3,508,200 in Breeders' Cup earnings ranks fifth all-time, and the most by a horse to have never won the Classic. She was third on the all-time earnings list when she retired.

Additionally, Goldikova is the only horse in the event's history to win the same race three times, and only champion Beholder joins her as three-time Breeders' Cup winners, with the latter having taken the Juvenile Fillies before winning two editions of the Distaff.

Those Breeders' Cup efforts, paired with her outstanding global resume, earned Goldikova admission into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 2017.

Goldikova was retired to the Wertheimer broodmare band in Ireland, where she produced six foals. She was not pregnant at the time of her death.

She has had two winners from four starters as a broodmare, highlighted by the Galileo filly Terrakova, who won the G3 Prix Cleopatre and finished third in the G1 Prix de Diane Longines, both in France.