08 December 2010

Real Quiet Dies In Paddock Accident At 15


Former Vinery Stud shuttler & 1998 Gr1 Kentucky Derby winner Real Quiet (Quiet American-Really Blue, by Believe It) died in a paddock accident at Michael Jester's Penn Ridge Farm in Pennsylvania aged 15. Jester told bloodhorse.com: "He broke 5 cervical vertebrae from C-5 through C-9, which is basically from his withers to his head." Real Quiet (purchased at auction for just US$17,000 by owner Mike Pegram) was "nosed out of becoming US racing's 12th Triple Crown winner" in 1998: after winning both the Gr1 Kentucky Derby & Gr1 Preakness Stakes, he "led by 4-lengths at the eighth pole (in the Gr1 Belmont Stakes) but succumbed to Victory Gallop's relentless drive & was beaten a nose". He also won the Gr1 Hollywood Futurity (as a 2YO) & both the Gr1 Pimlico Special Handicap & Gr1 Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap (as a 4YO); shortly after the Gold Cup victory, Real Quiet "suffered a fractured sprint bone in his right front leg & never raced again".
Overall he notched 6 wins & 11 placings from 20 starts for US$3,271,802 earnings. Real Quiet entered stud for a fee of US$25,000 in 2000 at Vinery Kentucky & later stood at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky, then Regal Heir Farm & Pin Oak Lane Farm (both in Pennsylvania), before heading to Penn Ridge. He also shuttled to Australia & Uruguay. Real Quiet has sired 15 stakes-winners & the earners of US$18.1 million. His best runner Midnight Lute was voted US 2007 Champion Sprinter after winning the Gr1 Breeders' Cup Sprint & won that race again in 2008; Real Quiet's other star gallopers include US triple Gr1-winner Pussycat Doll & US Gr1-winner Wonder Lady Anne L. (Sep 29)

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