NEWS
Meadowlake, sire of champion filly Meadow Star, dies
Posted: Monday, November 07, 2005
Veteran Central Kentucky sire Meadowlake, the sire of 1990 champion two-year-old filly Meadow Star who stood at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, was euthanized on November 6 after rupturing his intestinal tract."It was sudden and he didn't suffer at all," Darby Dan Managing Partner T. Wayne Sweezey said on Monday. "We found him early in the morning and took him to the clinic and had to put him to sleep soon thereafter."
The 22-year-old son of Hold Your Peace is the sire of 18 crops, 54 stakes winners, and the earners of $41,918,529 through Sunday. He stood at Darby Dan since 1988 and was scheduled to stand for an advertised fee of $15,000 in 2006.
"He was our main horse for many years and always threw a great horse," Sweezey said. "I know that a lot of people on our farm were sad to hear he'd passed because he'd become part of the family."
Meadow Star, out of the In Reality mare Inreality Star, completed an undefeated season in 1990 when she won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Belmont Park. She also won the Frizette (G1) and Matron (G1) Stakes at Belmont and the Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course that season.
She continued her brilliance at age three, taking the Mother Goose (G1) and Acorn (G1) Stakes at Belmont. Meadow Star won ten stakes events during her career, including six Grade 1 scores, and earned $1,445,740 over three seasons of racing.
Other top progeny for Meadowlake include 1999 Champagne Stakes (G1) winner Greenwood Lake, multiple Grade 3 winner Meafara, Grade 2 winners Meadow Flight and Meadow Monster, and Japanese stakes winner Siberian Meadow.
Meadowlake ranks 47th on the North American broodmare sire list through November 5, led by this year's Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) runner-up Henny Hughes, a son of Hennessy out of the Meadowlake daughter Meadow Flyer.
"By our estimations he's certainly going to be a nice broodmare sire," Sweezey said.
Out of the Raise a Native mare Suspicious Native, Meadowlake is a half brother to Grade 2 winner and sire Leo Castelli and two stakes-placed winners. He is from the family of leading sire and Grade 1 winner Hail to Reason.
On the track, Meadowlake won all three of his starts, including a victory in the 1985 Arlington-Washington Futurity (G1) at Hawthorne Race Course.—Jeff Lowe
