by Jeff Lowe

Four-time Grade 1 winner Astra was euthanized on June 13 at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington due to complications from a bout with colic. She was 11.

The Theatrical (Ire) mare out of multiple graded stakes winner Savannah Slew, by Seattle Slew, delivered an El Prado (Ire) filly in April that has been placed with a nurse mare, said Michael Paulson, manager of the Allen Paulson Living Trust.

“We did everything we could for her for two weeks—we put her in a hyperbaric chamber—and thought she was going to make it, but she took a turn for the worse and we had to put her down,” Paulson said.

Astra was one of the leading turf females in the nation between 2000 and ’02, scoring repeat wins in three major stakes in Southern California—the Gamely Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G1) in 2000 and ’02, Beverly Hills Handicap (G1) in ’01 and ’02, and Santa Barbara Handicap (G2) in ’01 and ’02. She was retired after finishing second to eventual champion turf female Golden Apples (Ire) in the 2002 Beverly D. Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park.

“She was a very special horse. When we retired her, she was the top-ranked female turf horse in the world,” Paulson said, referring to the World Thoroughbred Rankings.

“At the same time we had Azeri, and she was the top-ranked female on the dirt. So it was a very special time,” Paulson continued. “We’ve still got her bloodline—we’ve got two of her fillies, and the new one is a real beauty. But it’s a major loss. I’m very upset about it.”

Bred by Michael Paulson's father, Allen Paulson, Astra won 11 of 16 career starts and earned $1,378,424.

Astra’s first foal, a Giant’s Causeway filly named Starastra, is a maiden three-year-old in Ireland with trainer Dermot Weld. She produced an Awesome Again colt in 2006.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer