Guided Tour euthanized

Guided Tour, a multiple graded stakes winner who finished fifth in the Breeders' Cup Classic in his final U.S. start, was euthanized Dec. 21 after breaking down during a race in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

According to his former owner, Morton Fink, Guided Tour was prepping for a start in the prestigious Kings Cup when he fractured a cannon bone and was humanely destroyed on the racetrack.

Fink, who headed a partnership, sold Guided Tour to Buckram Oak Farm before his start in the Breeders' Cup, though the gelding raced in Fink's colors that day. After the Breeders' Cup, Guided Tour left trainer Niall O'Callaghan's stable and headed to Saudi Arabia.

Guided Tour was considered an unusually sound and hearty physical specimen. A son of Hansel, he was extremely slow to develop, and his connections nearly gave up on the horse early in his career. But gradually, Guided Tour began coming around, and by the time he was 4 he was a solid stakes-caliber horse.

"He ran his guts out every time," Fink said.

Guided Tour died with a career record of 31-12-8-1 and earnings of $1.96 million. His biggest win came this summer in the Stephen Foster Handicap.