Darley broodmare, classic winner Kazzia dies

Kazzia, a standard-bearer for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Darley operation on the racetrack and as a broodmare, died Sunday from post-foaling complications at age 14.

The German-bred Zinaad mare had delivered her seventh foal, a Dubawi filly, at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, England. Racing Post reports that the foal has been placed with a foster mare and is doing well.

Kazzia began her racing career in Germany, winning her maiden start as a 2-year-old by 1 1/4 lengths. She then shipped to Italy to win the Group 3 Premio Dormello. That win eventually led to the filly’s private purchase by Sheikh Mohammed at the end of the season.

Kazzia proved herself to be a global force during her sophomore campaign, in which she secured Europe’s champion 3-year-old filly honors for 2002. That year, she became the first German-bred horse to win a British classic, taking the Group 1 Epsom Oaks and the English One Thousand Guineas in England, before shipping to the U.S. to win the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes leading up to her final start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
She retired with five wins from seven starts for earnings of $1,094,206.

Her success carried over into her broodmare career, where Kazzia has produced three winners from four to race. All three of her winners have done so in stakes company, led by Eastern Anthem, winner of the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic in 2009. She is also the dam of Group 3 winner Zeitoper and stakes winner Kailani.

"Kazzia was a wonderful racehorse and an excellent mother, with a delightful temperament,” Darley stud director Liam O’Rourke told Racing Post. “She's the kind of mare you dream of—a Guineas and Oaks winner, and the dam of a Group 1 winner. We'll miss her but are grateful her foal has survived."