Grade 3 winner Recepta euthanized due to laminitis

Recepta, a graded stakes winner and multiple Grade 1-placed runner, had to be euthanized last week after developing laminitis, a complication from the fractured pelvis she suffered in a training accident during the summer at Saratoga, trainer Jimmy Toner said Thursday.

“It’s really very unfortunate,” Toner said. “It was a freak accident, and then she got laminitis.”

Recepta scored her only graded stakes victory in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel at Belmont Park in September 2015, but she consistently ranked among the best older female grass runners in the country this year, finishing second in her last two starts, the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga, which ended up being her career finale. She also finished second last year in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar.

Recepta, 5, won 5 of 17 starts and $696,700. A daughter of Speightstown out of the Honor Grades mare Honor Bestowed, Recepta was bred by John Phillips and Hank Snowden and raced for Phillips Racing Partnership and Pam Gartin.

Her full sister, the 2-year-old Defiant Honor, should be among the favorites on Saturday at Del Mar in the Grade 3, $100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes on the turf.

“Fortunately, we have her to carry on the legacy,” Toner said.