Bates Motel euthanized at 25

Bates Motel, champion older male horse of 1983, was euthanized Oct. 12 at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky., the Thoroughbred Times reported.

A son of Sir Ivor, Bates Motel was 25 and had been pensioned at Gainesway since last year.

Campaigned by Mrs. Jacqueline Getty Phillips and Michael Riordan, Bates Motel consecutively won three Grade 1 stakes and one Grade 3 during his championship season. Those stakes victories came in the Santa Anita, Monmouth, San Antonio, and San Diego handicaps. He also finished second in the Woodward Stakes and third in the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap, both Grade 1 races.

Bates Motel ran up a record of 8-5-1-1 in 1983 and earned more than $780,000 toward his career total of $851,050. He was trained by John Gosden.

Bates Motel has sired 18 crops to race and more than 30 stakes winners. He has sired four champions: Batuka, in Peru; Mactuta, in Mexico; Resting Motel, also in Mexico; and She's on Wheels, in Jamaica. In North America, his best runners include Grade 2 winners Private School, Rare Blend, Barbarika, and Girl on a Mission, and Grade 3 winners Mysterious Moll and Grits'n Hard Toast.