Hall of Famer Safely Kept dead at 28

Champion sprinter Safely Kept has been euthanized at Burleson Farms near Midway, Ky., due to the infirmities of old age. The Horatius mare, who was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2011, was 28. Her death was reported by Blood-Horse.

Safely Kept won 24 of 31 starts for Richard Santulli and Barry Weisbord and trainer Alan Goldberg, earning $2,194,206. Her record included 22 stakes victories.

She earned the Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding sprinter in 1989, when she won the Grade 1 Test Stakes, Grade 2 Prioress Stakes, and Grade 2 Genuine Risk Stakes – her first of three consecutive wins in the latter. Her only loss that season was a runner-up effort by a neck to Dancing Spree in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

In 1990, Safely Kept won seven stakes races, and concluded the season with a memorable victory over Dayjur in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Belmont Park.

Safely Kept's résumé included three consecutive victories in the Grade 3 Garden State Park Breeders' Cup Handicap; three straight wins in the State of Maryland Distaff Handicap; two wins in the Grade 3 Meadowlands Breeders' Cup Handicap; and a win in the Grade 3 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes.

As a broodmare, Safely Kept produced eight winners from as many starters, highlighted by stakes winners Peace Chant and Contrast, who were both graded stakes-placed. She was also the dam of stakes producers Safe Return and Alinechka.

Bred in Maryland by David and JoAnn Hayden’s Dark Hollow Farm, Safely Kept was a half-sister to Grade 2 winner and sire Partner's Hero, stakes-placed Safe At the Plate, and multiple stakes producers Slide and Safe Salute. It is the family of current Kentucky Derby contender Vinceremos.