Flanders, champion filly of 1994, dies at 18

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Flanders, Overbrook Farm's 1994 champion juvenile filly and the dam of 2000's champion 3-year-old filly Surfside, has died at 18.

Ashford Stud, which paid $400,000 for Flanders at the 2009 Keeneland November sale, confirmed Monday that the Seeking the Gold mare was euthanized in mid-February. Ashford manager Dermot Ryan said the mare was put down due to complications from a paddock accident. She left a Bernardini colt that Ryan confirmed has been placed on a nurse mare.

Flanders won one of the Breeders' Cup's greatest races when she narrowly won a stretch duel with Serena's Song to take the and clinch her divisional title in 1994. But she left the racetrack lame and retired with a fracture after that race, her third Grade 1 win.

Flanders retired undefeated in five lifetime starts, including a 21-length romp in the Frizette and a 4 3/4-length score in the Spinaway. Bred to Seattle Slew, she produced her first foal, champion Surfside in 1997.

On Feb. 18, Flanders's 5-year-old son by Empire Maker, Battle Plan, won a Gulfstream allowance by five lengths. The horse is owned by Overbrook Farm, whose remaining runners are managed by farm founder W.T. Young's grandson, Chris Young.

"She was such an exciting racehorse, and she was such a cool horse to me because she had such a great personality," Young said, adding that the mare had an unusually gentle disposition. "She as one of my favorites when I was younger and watching her race."