RaceHorseHeroes

jejquade · Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:48 pm Post subject: Strike Smartly

By Michael Clower6.44PM 2 SEP 2009

STRIKE Smartly, who filled eighth position in the South African leading sires' list during the past season, has died after suffering a heart attack.

The 12-year-old brother to Smart Strike died on Monday at owner Bridget Oppenheimer's Mauritzfontein Stud at Kimberley where he stood alongside the Andre Fabre-trained 1993 Grand Prix de Paris winner Fort Wood.

Manager Gavin Schafer said: "I'd seen him only three minutes before it happened. He was bouncing up and down, and standing on his hind legs, as he was getting excited about mares coming close to his enclosure.

"One of the men said ‘Come quick, the horse is staggering.' He hit the ground and that was it. His heart had stopped but what caused that we don't know. His death is a great loss to the industry."

From his first two crops of racing age, Strike Smartly sired the Group 1 winners Smart Banker, winner of the Horse Chestnut Stakes and the Champion Challenge for Charles Laird in April, and Bouquet-Garni, who won the South African Derby for Mike de Kock. Not surprisingly,he was in great demand and was set to cover a full book in the current season.

Strike Smartly won five races in the US led by the Grade 2 Chinese Cultural Centre Stakes over 1m3f on turf.

As well as being a brotherto leading US sire Smart Strike, the sire of Curlin, and Grade 1 winner Full Of Wonder, Strike Smartly was a half-brother to Breeder's Cup Distaff winner Dance Smartly. He was out of the Canadian champion Classy ‘n Smart, a half-sister to Grade1 winners Sky Classic and Always A Classic.