Apropos euthanized after suffering head injury prior to Chicago Handicap

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The 5-year-old mare Apropos suffered a serious head injury and had to be euthanized when she flipped in the paddock Saturday before the Chicago Handicap at Arlington.

Apropos was in her saddling stall when she reared up, became entangled in the wall of the stall, and fell hard to the ground. The mare bled badly as Arlington personnel rushed to raise a screen and hide the scene from the crowd gathered before the Saturday stakes race here.

Apropos lay on the ground for more than a half-hour, struggling at one point to rise, and delaying the start of the following race. Her bleeding had subsided when she finally was transported out of the paddock and onto the backstretch in a horse ambulance. The mare was given time to attempt to stand on her own but apparently had suffered neurological damage when she fell.

Dr. Ramley Borderlon, an attending private-practice veterinarian, said Apropos probably suffered hemorrhaging somewhere in her body and that injury might have contributed to her untenable condition. She was humanely destroyed Saturday evening.

Apropos, a First Samurai mare, was trained by Al Stall. She was bred and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.