Grade 1 winner and stallion Dortmund dies in Korea

Multiple Grade 1 winner Dortmund died of a bowel torsion on April 18 while at stud in Korea, Great Hill Farm of Jeju posted on its Instagram page.

Dortmund, by Big Brown, was 10, and was in the midst of his second breeding season at Great Hill. Dortmund, who was owned and campaigned by Kaleem Shah, stood the first three years of his stud career at Bonita Farm in Darlington, Md. In his three seasons in Maryland, the massive chestnut covered 25, 17, and 13 mares, according to The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred. His first foals hit the track as juveniles of 2021. He is the sire of three winners from seven starters, including Evangeline Allons, third in the Selima Stakes at Laurel.

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"His death came at everyone’s utter shock and disbelief," the post said. "His empty stable comes as tremendous pain in my heart. ... The thought of now never being able to see Dortmund jump around in pure joy in the distance as we walked to him with a bag of cookies makes our heart ache."

Dortmund rose to prominence by winning the first six starts of his career, including the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity, Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. He finished third in the 2015 Kentucky Derby and fourth on a sloppy track in the Preakness Stakes, both times behind Triple Crown-winning stablemate American Pharoah.

Given five months off following the Preakness, Dortmund returned to make eight more starts from October 2015 to April 2017. He won the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes and Big Bear Stakes, and also was third to the champions California Chrome and Beholder in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic in 2016, and second to California Chrome in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes.