Fit to Fight dead at 29

Fit to Fight, a multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire who was one of the first three stallions on the Lane's End Farm roster, was euthanized Friday because of the infirmities of old age. A son of Chieftain, he was 29 and had been pensioned since 2005.

He was at Blue Ridge Farm in Virginia at the time of his death.

Bred by Robert Courtney and Robert Congleton, Fit to Fight stood his entire stud career at Lane's End in Versailles, Ky., after an illustrious racing career that featured a sweep of New York's handicap triple - the Metropolitan, Suburban, and Brooklyn handicaps - in 1984. Hall of Famer Mack Miller trained him for the late Paul Mellon's Rokeby Stable.

Fit to Fight retired with a record of 14 wins from 26 starts and earnings of $1,042,075.

Fit to Fight joined Dixieland Band and Hero's Honor in 1985 as Lane's End's first stallions. He sired 40 stakes winners and 82 stakes performers, among them Grade 1 winners Key Contender and Fit to Scout, millionaire Fit for a Queen, and the 2005 Preakness runner-up, Scrappy T. At his death, he had progeny earnings of more than $39 million.

He will be buried at the Lane's End cemetery.