Arrogate was euthanized this morning. I remember commenting to a friend and fellow student of the game I thought he was a special horse after I saw his debut. It turned out I was correct. He was special and when he was on, he could run with the best of them. To run the fastest Travers in the storied history of the race, at the grandest racetrack of them all is a remarkable feat that shows just how talented and fast he was.
Following is the Press Release issued by Juddmonte Farm this morning:
It is with great sadness that Juddmonte confirms that ARROGATE was euthanized this morning, after a battle to save him after an illness that began last week. It is still unclear what the illness was and a post-mortem is currently being carried out.
ARROGATE had a very successful breeding season this year until last week when his breeding was suspended due to an initial suspected sore neck. Later in the week he fell to the ground in his stall and efforts to get him back up proved unsuccessful. He was transported to the Hagyard Clinic under the care of Dr. Bob Hunt and Dr. Nathan Slovis with Dr. Steve Reed representing the insurance company.
They worked tirelessly with the staff from the Hagyard Clinic eliminating all the obvious causes and performing all available tests, including spinal tap evaluation, x-ray, ultrasound, CT Scan and many blood tests.
Unfortunately, ARROGATE was still unable to stand after four exhausting days for him. His will to fight, so valuable to him on the racetrack, became a challenge in his care. When serious secondary health issues set in, the decision was made to put him to sleep.
Douglas Erskine Crum, CEO Juddmonte Group said:
“This is very hard on everyone at Juddmonte, most especially on Steve Dotsey, Stallion Manager, and Jorge Chavarria who cared for ARROGATE daily and who had such a great rapport with him. It was a bold decision to ask Bob Baffert to purchase and train top dirt horses for Prince Khalid and, assisted by Donato Lanni, the selection of ARROGATE was one of the success stories of the decade on the racetrack. ARROGATE has bred three crops at stud, has his first yearlings to present to sales this year and his physical and personality traits are passing very strongly to his offspring.”
Garrett O’Rourke, General Manager Juddmonte USA said:
“We will never forget the ride ARROGATE took us on. Those four amazing races established him as one of the great racehorses of our time, breaking two track records, taking down champion California Chrome in a battle for the ages and then running by Gun Runner in another worldly performance in Dubai. We hope that the heartbreak of losing him so young can be soothed by proudly watching the achievement of his runners.”
About ARROGATE
Four-time Grade 1 winner ARROGATE, the richest North American racehorse in history, had a four-year racing campaign that saw him win the Breeder’s Cup Classic in 2016, the 2017 Pegasus World Cup (that saw him set a track record) and the 2017 Dubai World Cup.
Juddmonte Farm Press Release
Photo; Juddmonte Farm
