Eclipse Award champion and leading money-winner Arrogate has been euthanized after an unspecified illness caused neurological issues. The son of Unbridled's Song was 7 and was completing his third breeding season at Juddmonte Farm outside of Lexington, Ky. In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, the farm said that the stallion had a successful season until last week, when he was suspended from the breeding shed due to a sore neck. Later in the week, he fell in his stall and was unable to rise. He was transported to the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, for treatment and extensive testing, including spinal tap evaluation, X-ray, ultrasound, CT scans, and many blood tests. The stallion was still unable to stand after four days and was euthanized Tuesday morning. "His will to fight, so valuable to him on the racetrack, became a challenge in his care," a statement from Juddmonte read. "When serious secondary health issues set in, the decision was made to put him to sleep." It is still unclear what the illness was that affected Arrogate. A necropsy is currently being conducted. “This is very hard on everyone at Juddmonte, most especially on Steve Dotsey, stallion manager, and Jorge Chavarria, who cared for Arrogate daily and who had such a great rapport with him," Juddmonte Group CEO Douglas Erskine said. "Arrogate has bred three crops at stud, has his first yearlings to present to the sales this year, and his physical and personality traits are passing very strongly to his offspring.” Arrogate won 7 of 11 career starts, including four Grade/Group 1 races, and retired with earnings of $17,422,600, a record for a North American-based racehorse. The gray son of the Distorted Humor mare Bubbler was bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farm. He was purchased for $560,000 out of the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale by the Juddmonte Farms of Prince Khalid Abdullah, which was seeking horses bred to run on dirt who would fit trainer Bob Baffert's program in California. It was a solid match. After finishing third in his debut, Arrogate went on to win his next three starts in California, taking a maiden special weight and then a pair of allowance races. He made his stakes debut in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes and was somewhat dismissed on the board thanks to the presence in the race of Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator, Belmont Stakes winner Creator, and others. Arrogate set the pace and drew off to win by 13 1/2 lengths, completing the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.36 to smash the track record of 2:00 established by General Assembly in 1979. Also finishing behind Arrogate, who returned $25.40 that day, were eventual Grade 1 winners Gun Runner, Gift Box, and Connect. In his next start, Arrogate edged two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, a dual classic winner and Dubai World Cup winner, by a half-length in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita, securing himself the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old male. He then contested the inaugural edition of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational, which sported a $12 million purse, at Gulfstream Park. With California Chrome fading to ninth, Arrogate defeated Canadian champion and Grade 1 winner Shaman Ghost by 4 3/4 lengths, establishing another track record as he ran the 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.83. In what would prove his final victory, Arrogate traveled across the globe to stretch his winning streak to seven races in the $10 million Dubai World Cup, in what many consider his finest hour. Away slowly, the colt made a dramatic last-to-first rally under regular rider Mike Smith to defeat Gun Runner by 2 1/4 lengths, going away. Arrogate returned to the races in the summer at Del Mar, where the Breeders' Cup was to be held, but never recaptured his brilliance, perhaps due to a distaste for the track. He finished fourth in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap, second in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, and in a dead heat for fifth as the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Classic, won by Gun Runner. “We will never forget the ride Arrogate took us on," said Garrett O'Rourke, general manager for Juddmonte's American operation. "Those four amazing races established him as one of the great racehorses of our time, breaking two track records, taking down champion California Chrome in a battle for the ages, and then running by Gun Runner in an otherworldly performance in Dubai. We hope that the heartbreak of losing him so young can be soothed by proudly watching the achievement of his runners." Arrogate retired to Juddmonte for a fee of $75,000, the most expensive of his incoming sire class, which also included Horse of the Year Gun Runner, for $70,000 at Three Chimneys. The young stallion was seen as one of the heirs apparent to Unbridled's Song, a leading racetrack and commercial sire who died in 2013 at the age of 20. Juddmonte slated some of its star American mares for his book, including multiple Grade 1 winner Sightseek, Kentucky Oaks winner Flute, the latter's stakes-performing daughter Filimbi, and Rising Tornado, dam of champion Close Hatches. It also actively sought out and acquired additional high-quality mares who would fit his profile, such as Grade 1 winner Paulassilverlining. Arrogate also was supported by some of Kentucky's other top breeding operations, including Mandy Pope, who sent two-time Eclipse Award champion Songbird and Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty from her star-studded broodmare band. Clearsky also supported its graduate with Grade 2 winner Justwhistledixie, the dam of Grade 1 winner New Year's Day and graded stakes winners Enforceable, Kingly, and Mohaymen. In all, the young stallion covered 145 mares in his first season, according to The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred, also including Eclipse Award champion She Be Wild; Grade 1 winners Artemis Agrotera, By the Moon, Centre Court, Coffee Clique, Funny Moon, Lady of Fifty, Megahertz, and Shop Again; Stormy Sunday, dam of champion Hansen; Beer Baroness, the dam of Canadian champion Ria Antonia; Lucas Street, dam of Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue; Deceptive, dam of two-time Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Mizdirection; and the dams of Grade 1 winners Denman's Call, Iotapa, Mani Bhavan, Weep No More, and Zazu. Arrogate covered another stellar book, numbering 149 mares, in his second season in 2019, with Beer Baroness, Coffee Clique, Filimbi, and She Be Wild returning to his court. He also covered Eclipse Award champion Folklore; French Oaks winner Nebraska Tornado; Grade 1 winners Executiveprivilege, Her Smile, and Got Lucky; and Speed Succeeds, dam of Grade 1 winner Brilliant Speed. With many of the operations supporting him generally breed-to-race outfits, Arrogate was represented by just four first-crop weanlings sold at public auction last year, for an average price of $311,250. That group was led by Lucas Street's filly, purchased for $425,000 at Keeneland November by the McMahon and Hill bloodstock agency. Arrogate's first of his three crops left behind will be seen at the sales as yearlings this year, and at the races in 2021.