Claiborne Farm's Grade 1 winner Preach, dam of the late Pulpit, dies

Grade 1 winner and influential broodmare Preach, whose stakes horses included prominent sire Pulpit, has died, owner and breeder Claiborne Farm reported on Wednesday night. The pensioned daughter of Mr. Prospector was 31.

"With a heavy heart, we share that one of the queens of Claiborne Farm, Preach, has passed away at the age of 31," Claiborne posted on its official Twitter account. "A Grade 1 winner herself, Preach produced the breed-shaping Pulpit and has left a lasting legacy as both a racehorse and broodmare. She will be deeply missed by all of us at Claiborne."

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Preach, who raced as a homebred for Claiborne, won the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes during her juvenile campaign in 1991, and was a stakes winner the following season. She placed in two other Grade 1 events before joining the broodmare band at Claiborne. From her first mating, to first-season stallion A.P. Indy, she produced Pulpit, who won the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth before retiring to the Claiborne stallion roster.

The late Pulpit was a successful sire of racehorses, but his greatest legacy has been as a sire of sires. His son Tapit is a three-time leading general sire who holds the single-season earnings record for a North American stallion, and has sired three winners of the Belmont Stakes. Another son, the late Lucky Pulpit, sired two-time Horse of the Year and dual classic winner California Chrome.

Tapit is emerging as a sire of sires in his own right, with his sons Tapizar and Flashback siring Eclipse Award champions and four sons in the top 15 on last year's freshman sire list. California Chrome, who now stands in Japan, will be represented by his first juveniles this year. Pulpit's remaining active sons at stud in Kentucky, in addition to Tapit, include, Grade 1 winners Lord Nelson, Mr Speaker, and Sky Mesa.

Preach also produced Group 3-placed Urban Poet and stakes-placed Tell It. The latter, the dam of stakes winner Dream Nettie, is one of four stakes-producing daughters of Preach. Orate has produced Grade/Group 1-placed stakes winners Endless Chatter and Whitecliffsofdover, while Ranter is the dam of Grade 3 winner Wild Shot. Meanwhile, daughter Convent is the dam of stakes winner Nunnery, who in turn produced stakes winner Nun the Less.

Preach's legacy will continue to live on at Claiborne, as several of her daughters and granddaughters also call it home and are active producers.

"When one chapter ends, a new one begins," Claiborne's Walker Hancock wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning. "The night after Preach passed away, her daughter Orate foaled [an] attractive Empire Maker filly."