Fleet Indian, Eclipse winner and dam of $2 million yearling, dies from colic complications

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Champion Fleet Indian, dam of 2009's highest-priced yearling, has died at age 10.

An Indian Charlie mare, Fleet Indian was euthanized at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital here on the night of Oct. 1 because of complications from colic. She was not in foal, according to Karen Bailey of Summer Wind Farm.

PHOTOS: Barbara D. Livingston's tribute to Fleet Indian »

"She was the best," Bailey said. "There are no words. I was with her through the whole thing, and she knew she was loved. We know that everything that could possibly be done was done, spare nothing. We did everything we could for her and kept her comfortable. She was in the best hands, and there is comfort in that."

Summer Wind owners Jane and Frank Lyon, Jr., bought Fleet Indian privately in 2007 after the mare -- then carrying a Storm Cat foal -- failed to reach her reserve on a $3.9 million hammer price at that year's Keeneland November breeding stock auction. Her Storm Cat colt went on to top the 2009 Keeneland September sale as the season's most expensive yearling when he brought $2.05 million from Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Darley Stud. Named Storm 'n Indian, that colt has since started twice, finishing eighth in his debut last year and second in an Aqueduct maiden special weight in January.

Fleet Indian's 2010 Distorted Humor filly, Fleeting Smile, fetched $500,000 from Sheikh Mohammed's brother Sheikh Hamdan of Shadwell Estate Co. at this year's Keeneland September auction.

Fleet Indian also has an unraced 2-year-old A. P. Indy daughter, Indyan Giving, that the Lyons currently have in training. She also has a weanling Medaglia d'Oro filly named Castlegrace who was born in April.

Fleet Indian was voted 2006's champion older mare after winning the Beldame and Personal Ensign Stakes and the Delaware, Sixty Sails, Next Move, and Obeah handicaps. She also won the 2005 Montauk Handicap at Aqueduct.

Fleet Indian, a $290,000 yearling purchase for then owner Paul Saylor, earned $1,704,513 and won with remarkable consistency, finishing on top in 13 of her 19 starts. Her career ended when she broke down during the 2006 Breeders' Cup Distaff, injuring both branches of the suspensory ligament in her left front fetlock and breaking part of her cannon bone. After surgery to fuse her ankle, the mare made a long recovery to start her breeding career at Taylor Made Farm before Saylor sold her to Summer Wind.