Champion and sire Dehere dies in Turkey

Dehere, the champion 2-year-old male of 1993 and a prominent global sire, died of a heart attack on Friday at age 23, according to a release from the Jockey Club of Turkey.

The son of Deputy Minister had stood in Turkey since 2011 after previously standing at Ashford Stud in Kentucky as well as in Japan and Australia during a lengthy stud career.

Homebred in Kentucky by Robert Brennan’s Due Process Stable, Dehere fashioned a championship juvenile campaign in 1993, winning the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and Hopeful Stakes, as well as the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes and Grade 3 Sanford Stakes for trainer Reynaldo Nobles. He also finished second to Holy Bull in the Grade 1 Futurity Stakes.

Dehere then won in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes in his 3-year-old season, but he fractured his right hind cannon bone in training and was retired. Dehere won six of nine starts, only finishing out of the money once, for earnings of $723,712.

Dehere’s leading Northern Hemisphere runner and perhaps his greatest influence on the breed is 2013 Broodmare of the Year and multiple Grade 1 winner Take Charge Lady, who is the dam of champion Will Take Charge and Grade 1 winner Take Charge Indy. Other notable U.S. horses sired by Dehere are Grade 2 winner and Florida stallion Graeme Hall, Grade 2 winners Soto, Belle of Perintown, and Finality, Grade 3 winner and New York sire Here’s Zealous, and stakes winner and Louisiana sire Easyfromthegitgo. His progeny have earned over $100 million to date.

Dehere is also the sire of Belle Du Jour, winner of the Group 1 Golden Slipper in Australia, as well as Australian Group 1 winners Dear Demi, Pear Tart, Invest, Bollinger, and Defier, and champions in Singapore, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.