RaceHorseHeroes

jejquade · Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:17 pm Post subject: Gone West

By Bloodstock World Staff7.15PM 8 SEP 2009

GONE WEST, one of the most influential stallions of recent times, was put down on Monday evening after suffering complications from colic surgery. He was 25.

The son of Mr Prospector, whose retirement from stud duties at Mill Ridge Farm in Kentucky was announced earlier this year, was an outstanding source of top-class runners, siring the likes of brilliant 2,000 Guineas winner Zafonic.

However, it is his achievement as a sire of sires which has secured his legendary status.

His sons at stud include Zafonic's brother Zamindar, sire of the brilliant Zarkava, Elusive Quality, whose progeny includes Raven's Pass, Mr Greeley, sire of Finsceal Beo, and Speightstown, sire of Lord Shanakill. Zafonic too proved an excellent sire, providing the likes of Xaar and Iffraaj.

Purchased for $1.9 million at the Keeneland July yearling sale, Gone West entered stud in 1988 as the winner of six races, including the Grade 1 Dwyer Stakes.

He also ran a nose second to Gulch in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial for trainer Woody Stephens and owner Hickory Tree Stable.

Gone West, who is out of the stakes-winning Secretariat mare Secrettame, stood for a high of $150,000 in 2005.

jejquade · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:15 pm Post subject:

By Tony Morris6.38PM 10 SEP 2009

GONE WEST was a good racehorse, a Grade 1 winner and one of the best three-year-olds of his generation in the States. But if that was all he had been, he would hardly be remembered now, over 20 years since his exploits at the track.

It was what came after his racing career that made Gone West stand out from the crowd of horses who have one season in the sun andall too quickly fade from the memory. The fact that at the age of 25, drawing to the close of his long innings at Mill Ridge Farm, he was still able to command a fee of $85,000 tells a tale of remarkable achievement that far exceeded his record as a runner.

Gone West has been a significant contributor to the breed, wielding potent influence as sire, broodmare sire, and remarkably, in his own lifetime, as a sire of sires. Among all the successful sons of Mr Prospector, it is he who hasestablished the branch that promises to endure longer than the rest, his impact recognised on both sides of the Atlantic and in the southern hemisphere.

Zamindar already has a sires' title in France to his credit; Mr Greeley, known here for such as Finsceal Beo and Saoirse Abu, has an emerging sire-son in El Corredor in the States; Elusive Quality has given Smarty Jones, Raven's Pass and Elusive City; and while Grand Slam, Proud Citizen and Speightstown thrive in Kentucky, Western Winter enjoys success in South Africa.

Gone West currently has 98 individual stakes-winners among his own progeny, and as there are three crops yet to race, his final tally will surely be well into three figures. There is no doubt that hewill be a fixture in prominent pedigrees for decades to come.