Aqlaam, a first-crop sire for Shadwell Stud, dies

Aqlaam, a Group 1 winner and a promising first-crop stallion for Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum’s Shadwell Stud, died Saturday after treatments for an infection proved unsuccessful. The Oasis Dream horse was 8.

Bred in England by Granham Farm and out of the unraced Rainbow Quest mare Bourbonella, Aqlaam was purchased by Shadwell for about $445,000 as a weanling at the Tattersalls November sale in 2005. Racing for Bill Haggas, he won four of nine starts and earned $777,906 in three seasons. He won the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp in 2009 and also annexed a Group 2 race and Group 3 race in England.

Aqlaam stood for $8,275 (7,000 pounds) in 2013 at Shadwell’s Nunnery Stud in England. His first crop of foals are 2-year-olds this year; through Oct. 4, he has sired six winners and earners of over $88,000.

"This is an enormous blow to everyone involved with Aqlaam as it has come just as he was establishing himself as an exciting young stallion,” Shadwell director Richard Lancaster said in Racing Post.