Euthanized yesterday at the age of 26 due to the infirmities of old age.
Truly one of the greats.
RIP, He was wonderful, with many wonderful kids. There is something about a HB horse, I can tell the eye and the look from anywhere.
As a spin-off, I sure do wish when they announced a prolific sire’s death, that for the interest of all who own or have shares in his get, that they were not so vague with the reason of death.
Infirmities of “old age” could be anything and in this day and age, I consider 26 advanced but not necessarily on death’s door, especially when in a top class facility. A horse with top class care and good, healthy bloodlines should be able to live to that age just fine. Not suggesting anything shady about any connections, just hope someone, somewhere, is keeping track of who dies of what, at what age, for the safety and future projection of the sport. EX Broodmare sire DLB has an inordinate amount of sons that died before 14 years of age… Does anyone track that?
Especially since a lot of malignant things that are heritable tend to crop up in the latter half of their life, not during their racing years.
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RIP Holy Bull… I had a Holy Bull baby back in the day. He passed two years ago at 17 from melanoma complications. Also a grey. He was a beautiful horse, more WB looking than TB and had the kindest heart. I never so much as saw him pin an ear in the years I had him! I’ve got my fingers crossed to one day have another Holy Bull baby.
The one stat that is amazing to me these days is his Beyer average figure of 115 for his three year old year and it might also be his lifetime average.
tremendous sire and so many of his offspring are coveted for sport horses as well. He has a son, perhaps his last foal, racing on Belmont Day at Belmont. He has career earnings over 800,000 and I believe he is Holy Bulls highest earning offspring. He is, unfortunately, a gelding. But I am sure he is a stunning individual
Such a wonderful horse, I am sad to hear of his passing.
