Grade 2 winner Tour of the Cat dies at 20

Old Friends Equine Retirement announced the death of Grade 2 winner Tour of the Cat on Friday after the 20-year-old gelding suffered a diaphragmatic hernia with an entrapped intestine at the operation’s Kentucky Downs facility in Franklin.

Bred in Florida by C.V.S. Sales Co., Tour of the Cat finished fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby and second in the Grade 3 Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah Park as a 3-year-old. Later that season, the son of Tour d’Or won the Rizzi Stakes and The Vid Stakes at Calder Race Course and finished second in the Grade 3 Calder Derby.

At age 5, Tour of the Cat scored victories in the Grade 2 Richter Scale Breeders’ Cup Sprint Championship at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 3 Miami Mile Breeders’ Cup Handicap and Spend a Buck Handicap at Calder. The following year, he ran eighth in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen and won the Sumter Stakes at Calder.

Tour of the Cat raced through age 11, winning two of his first four starts in 2009 while running for tags as low as $7,500. However, Tour of the Cat faced physical issues that forced vet scratches from races at Finger Lakes and Aqueduct.

Beverly Strauss of Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue brought the situation to the attention of Thoroughbred owner and noted aftercare advocate Maggi Moss. Through trainer Jamie Ness, the gelding was claimed for $5,000 at Presque Isle Downs and retired. Tour of the Cat had 21 wins in 79 starts over nine seasons of racing for earnings of $1,106,995. He won 10 stakes races and placed in 15 more.

By the end of 2009, Tour of the Cat was in residence at Old Friends’s Georgetown, Ky., base. He relocated to the Kentucky Downs location in December 2015.

“He was one of the most popular retirees on their tour there, and he met many fans over the years,” said Old Friends founder and president Michael Blowen.