Belong to Me dies at age 31

Successful sire Belong to Me has died due to the infirmities of old age, his longtime home, Lane’s End Farm, announced Thursday evening. The New Jersey-bred son of Danzig was 31.

Belong to Me spent his first four seasons at stud in New York before being relocated to Lane’s End in 1998. This is the second recent loss of a prominent pensioner for the Versailles, Ky., farm, which on Feb. 21 said farewell to Hall of Famer and breed-shaping sire A.P. Indy, also 31. Belong to Me had been pensioned since 2013.

Belong to Me won 7 of his 16 career starts during his own racing career, including the Grade 3 Best Turn Stakes and the Grade 3 Boojum Handicap, both at Aqueduct, as a 3-year-old in 1992. He also won the Clarinet King Stakes that year at Saratoga and the Ilex Stakes at Philadelphia Park, and placed in three other stakes for Middletown Stables and legendary trainer Allen Jerkens.

As a stallion, Belong to Me was represented by the likes of Forever Together, the Eclipse Award champion turf mare of 2008, when she won three Grade 1 events – the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, Diana Stakes, and First Lady Stakes. She repeated in the Diana in 2009 and retired with more than $2.9 million in career earnings.

Belong to Me also sired Grade 1 winners Circle of Life, Jersey Girl, Lucky Roberto, and Miss Houdini, and graded/group stakes-winning millionaires Ebony Breeze, Jack Sullivan, and Mister Marti Gras. From his years of shuttling to Australia, he sired Group 1 winners All Silent, Bon Hoffa, Bulla Borghese, and Proprietor; his other international standouts included Brazilian champion Pippa and Peruvian champion Gautier.

Belong to Me also was a prominent broodmare sire, led by his daughter Private Feeling, who produced two-time Eclipse Award champion Lookin At Lucky, now a successful sire. Jersey Girl produced Grade 1 winner Jersey Town, while Circle of Life produced Grade 1 winner Circular Quay.