NEWS
Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Wild Again euthanized
Posted: Friday, December 05, 2008 3:53 PM
WILD AGAIN IN EARLY 2008
Photo courtesy of Three Chimneys Farm
by Steve Bailey
Inaugural Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner and prominent sire Wild Again was euthanized on Friday at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky, due to infirmities of old age. He was 28.
The Icecapade horse out of the *Khaled mare Bushel-n-Peck will be buried in the farm’s stallion cemetery next to the main stallion barn, Three Chimneys owner Robert Clay said.
“We all knew this day would come, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept,” Clay said. “At 28 years old, he lived a long and fruitful life. Wild Again was integral to the success of Three Chimneys and proved to be a highly significant sire and broodmare sire both in the U.S. and abroad.”
Bred in Kentucky by W. Paul Little, Wild Again sold for $35,000 as a yearling at the 1981 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale to William Allen, a partner in Black Chip Stable, which raced Wild Again.
A two-time Grade 1 winner who earned 2,204,829 in four racing seasons, Wild Again was best remembered for his front-running, longshot (31.30-to-1) victory over Gate Dancer and Slew o’ Gold in the 1984 Breeders’ Cup Classic for trainer Vincent Timphony.
Supplemented for $360,000, the four-year-old triumphed by a head following a battle in deep stretch that included significant bumping among the three horses and a nearly ten-minute steward’s inquiry.
Wild Again won six of 16 starts during the 1984 season, including the Meadowlands Cup (G1), Oaklawn (G2) and New Orleans (G2) Handicaps. Overall, he won eight of 28 starts with seven second- and four third-place finishes
As good as he was on the track, he proved to be even better in the breeding shed.
Wild Again came to Three Chimneys in 1991, following the dissolution of Calumet Farm, with three crops of racing age. Through December 4, he had sired four champions, 88 stakes winners—including 11 Grade 1 winners from 19 crops of racing age—148 two-year-old winners, and runners with total progeny earnings of $80,835,185.
He was among the top ten North American sires five times, ranking second in 1997 and third in 2002, and his 88 stakes winners had more than 80 different broodmare sires. He also has sired champions in four countries and has 32 sons currently at stud worldwide. He is the broodmare sire of six champions and 69 stakes winners.
“The combination of his athleticism, bloodlines, and personality made him a one-in-a-million kind of horse,” said Sandy Hatfield, Three Chimneys stallion manager. “He was my favorite. Until the very end he was happy, healthy, and energetic, but above all else he was a gentleman.”
Wild Again’s leading runners are Canadian champion older female Wilderness Song, two-time Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Milwaukee Brew, two-time Grade 1 winners Wild Rush and Shine Again, 1997 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) winner Elmhurst, 2002 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Sarava, and Grade 1 winners Offlee Wild, Wild Event, Vicar, and A Wild Ride, among others.
Clay said Wild Again would be buried next to Capote, his barnmate at both Calumet and at Three Chimneys.
“This year, the 25th anniversary of his inaugural Breeders’ Cup Classic victory, he rose to prominence once again,” Clay said. ”Even after being pensioned for four years, he still had an enormous fan following and was always willing to greet each visitor as they came to his stall.”
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times
