NEWS
Jade Hunter, sire of Azeri, dies at 27
Posted: Monday, January 24, 2011 11:18 AM
JADE HUNTER
courtesy Old Friends Equine
Jade Hunter, a multiple Grade 1 winner and the sire of Racing Hall of Fame inductee, 2002 Horse of the Year, and three-time champion older female Azeri, was euthanized on Sunday at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington. He was 27.
According to a statement from Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Facility, the pensioned stallion suffered complications from colic. Jade Hunter had resided at the farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, since 2009.
Jade Hunter, by Mr. Prospector out of the Pharly mare Jadana (Ire), stood at owner Allen Paulson’s Brookside Farms in Versailles, Kentucky, and later at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Lexington and for Questroyal Stud in New York, where he stood his final season for an advertised fee of $5,000 in 2009.
“Jade Hunter was a very proud and confident stallion with an intelligence that matched his beauty,” Old Friends President Michael Blowen said. “It's very hard on all his caretakers to lose him and Polish Navy so close together.”
A memorial service for Jade Hunter and Polish Navy, another pensioned stallion at Old Friends who died on January 6, is planned for the spring.
Bred in Kentucky by E. A. Cox, Jade Hunter won the 1988 Donn Handicap (G1) and Gulfstream Park Handicap (G1) in what turned out to be his final two starts for Paulson and co-owner Bruce McNall.
From his first crop, Jade Hunter sired Stuka, who scored for Paulson in the 1994 Santa Anita Handicap (G1). Paulson also bred and raced Jade Hunter’s multiple Grade 1 winner Yagli, but he died before he could see the exploits of Azeri.
Raced by the Allen Paulson Living Trust, Azeri won 11 Grade 1 races and was honored as 2002 Horse of the Year in the middle of an 11-race win streak that included the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). She also garnered three Eclipse Awards as champion older female.
In 2010, Azeri was sold to a breeder from Japan, where Jade Hunter stood for a single season in 1996.
He also sired Grade 1 winner Global Hunter (Arg) and was the broodmare sire of multiple Grade 1 winner and Japanese sire Kicken Kris.
E. A. Cox bred Jade Hunter in Kentucky.
Below is a video Old Friends captured of Jade Hunter at the Central Kentucky farm:
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: amy, arlington park, IL on January 26, 2011 at 10:39 AM
RIP!! o sweet jade!!
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Posted by: Nick, Louisville, KY on January 25, 2011 at 05:46 PM
Azeri retired from racing in December, 2004. In her first attempt at breeding in Kentucky, she proved barren to Storm Cat for 2005 but successfully delivered a chestnut colt by A.P. Indy on February 14, 2007. This colt, named Take Control, is the rare product of two Horses of the Year. Take Control won his first race, a maiden special weight event at Santa Anita on Dec. 30, 2009.
Azeri currently resides at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Lexington, Kentucky along with some other leading racing broodmares, including Silverbulletday and Better Than Honour, the dam of Belmont Stakes winners Jazil and Rags to Riches. Azeri was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2010. [2]
She delivered a Giant's Causeway foal in 2008 and a Ghostzapper foal in 2009 and is currently in foal to Distorted Humor. Azeri was sold to Japan ownership fall 2009, she no longer resides at Hill N' Dale.
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Posted by: Jason, Los Angeles , CA on January 25, 2011 at 04:22 PM
Judy- unfortunately, it seems as if Azeri has been forgotten already. It happens to a lot of horses- good on the track, can't reproduce that in the breeding shed and so no one seems to remember them anymore. It's sad, really.
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Posted by: Judy, Dollard des Ormeaux, QC on January 25, 2011 at 11:24 AM
I, too, worry about Azeri as her reproductive career apparently has not been very successful. One hopes that she will not be summarily dismissed one day as appears to have been the case with Ferdinand.
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Posted by: Cynthia, Lexington, KY on January 24, 2011 at 05:22 PM
The beautiful photo is by Rick Capone, who photographs many of the Old Friends retirees. Jade Hunter was a wonderful stallion and will be missed by his many fans.
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