NEWS
Dubai star Victory Moon dies in South Africa
Posted: Monday, July 27, 2009 7:01 PM
Victory Moon, the first of trainer Michael de Kock’s four winners in the United Arab Emirates Derby (UAE-G2), was euthanized on Sunday in South Africa after fracturing a leg in a stall accident.
One of the country’s most popular young stallions, Victory Moon was found with a broken hind leg at Maine Chance Farms on the Western Cape, where he had covered more than 100 mares in each of his four seasons.
“We’re not sure exactly what happened, but the injury to his leg was a long fracture consistent with horses getting up from the floor of their barns,” John Slade, the farm’s stud manager, told South Africa’s Racing Web. “They get up in an awkward way which can lead to a leg snapping.”
The ten-year-old by Al Mufti out of Dancing Flower, by Dancing Champ, is the sire of seven winners from 21 starters in his first crop of racing age, including Group 3 winner Nocturnal Affair.
Bred in South Africa, Victory Moon helped launch de Kock’s presence in Dubai by winning the 2003 United Emirates Two Thousand Guineas (UAE-G3) and UAE Derby at Nad al Sheba racecourse.
The next year, Victory Moon prevailed in the Burjuman Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (UAE-G3) and Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (UAE-G2) and finished third behind Pleasantly Perfect and Medaglia d’Oro in the Emirates Airline Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1).
Bred in South Africa by Litchfield Stud Closed Corp., Victory Moon won seven of 13 career starts and earned $2,414,974.
