by Ed DeRosa

Moscow Ballet, a Group 3 winner who sired three Grade 1 winners in his first 19 crops of racing age, was euthanized on Monday at age 26 because of instability in his hind quarters.

Moscow Ballet arrived at John Harris’s Harris Farms in 1986 and remained there through his death. His top horses on the track were Grade 1 winners Dancing Edie, Golden Ballet, and Dominant Dancer, and he is the broodmare sire of Grade 1 winner Leave Me Alone.

“Moscow Ballet was the first top stallion that stood at our farm,” Harris said. “It’s very rewarding that he just kept siring top racehorses, especially fillies and mares. They could run short or long, dirt or turf. He had a great personality and presence and will be missed but never forgotten.”

Moscow Ballet has sired 357 winners from 525 starters that have earned $20,144,612 through Sunday. His 20 stakes winners include the aforementioned three Grade 1 winners plus Grade 2 winner and $1,417,800 earner Moscow Burning and Grade 3 winner and 1994 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) runner-up Soviet Problem. His final crop was born this year.

Swettenham Stud and Partners bred Moscow Ballet in Kentucky, and the son of Nijinsky II raced in Ireland, where he won two of four starts, including the P. J. Prendergast Railway Stakes (Ire-G3).

Out of the unraced Cornish Prince mare Millicent, Moscow Ballet was a full brother to Group 3 winner Western Symphony and a half brother to Group 3 winner Peterhof. His half sister, the stakes-placed In Reality mare Marston’s Mill, is the second dam of Japanese champion and prominent Japanese sire Fuji Kiseki. Moscow Ballet is from the female family of Mane Minister, who finished third in all three 1991 American Triple Crown races, and European Horse of the Year and sire Mill Reef.

Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times