“This is the greatest horse we have seen since Secretariat. Unbelievable” – Trainer Bob Baffert on Arrogate after the 2017 Dubai World Cup (G1)
The racing world was hit hard on Tuesday June 2 when news came out that ARROGATE, one of the most talented racehorses to be seen in decades, had to be put down after coming up with a neck injury that caused neurological damage.
The horse had been suspended from breeding recently with a sore neck and then fell in his stall and had been transferred to Hagyard Clinic. After several days, the horse went through many tests but never recovered.
He was just seven years old.
The big grey earned over $17 million winning races such as the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), Dubai World Cup (G1) , Pegasus World Cup (G1) and Travers Stakes (G1).
Arrogate entered stud in 2018 and his weanlings averaged over $300,000 at the Keeneland November sale. He stood at Juddmonte Farms for an initial fee of $75,000 and was standing for $50,000 this year.
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.”
Juddmonte Farms issued the following release June 2:
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.”
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
