Chelsey Flower euthanized

Chelsey Flower, a Grade 1 winner and stakes producer, was euthanized on Wednesday at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. The 16-year-old mare had developed peritonitis after a difficult foaling.

Her Dixie Union colt is doing well on a nurse mare.

"She was a great mare," said Robert E. Courtney Jr., whose family operates Crestfield Farm in Lexington. Jaime Carrion boarded Chelsey Flower at Crestfield after purchasing her at auction for $1.1 million in 1997.

"She was the first mare we ever paid over $1 million for, and she was just a tremendous mare to be around."

Chelsey Flower, a daughter of His Majesty and the Affirmed matron Chelsey Dancer, won the 1996 Flower Bowl Invitational Handicap as well as the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay and Grade 3 Miss Grillo. As a broodmare, she produced French Group 3 winner Kentucky Dynamite, by Kingmambo, and stakes-placed Wow, by Storm Cat. Collectively, her foals sold at auction brought a combined $2.25 million.

Chelsey Flower has been buried at Crestfield.