by Jeff Lowe

Fit to Fight, the last horse to sweep the New York Handicap Triple and the sire of 40 stakes winners, was euthanized on Friday due to the infirmities of old age. He was 29.

Along with Dixieland Band and Hero’s Honor, Fit to Fight was one of the three original stallions at William S. Farish’s Lane’s End in Versailles, Kentucky, beginning in 1985. He was pensioned in 2005 after his 21st season and resided at Blue Ridge Farm in Upperville, Virginia.

Fit to Fight’s top runners include Grade 1 winners Key Contender and Fit to Scout, and millionaire Grade 2 winner Fit for a Queen. Through Thursday, he sired 561 winners from 723 starters who earned $39,416,101.

“The terrific thing about him is that every year he kept coming up with a good stakes winner and [did] so consistently despite a relatively limited book,” Farish said in 2005.

Daughters of Fit to Fight have produced 43 stakes winners, including Grade 1 winners Dreams Gallore and Greg’s Gold.

Fit to Fight reeled off victories in the Metropolitan (G1), Suburban (G1), and Brooklyn (G1) Handicaps at Belmont Park in 1984 for owner Paul Mellon and Racing Hall of Fame trainer Mack Miller, capping the series sweep with a 12 ½-length romp in the Brooklyn. The only other horses to secure the Triple were Whisk Broom II in 1913, Tom Fool in 1953, and Kelso in 1961. 

Bred in Kentucky by Robert Courtney and Bob Congleton, Fit to Fight also captured the 1982 Jerome (G2) and ’83 Stuyvesant (G2) Handicaps among 14 wins in 26 starts. He earned $1,042,075.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer