Kentucky Oaks winner Keeper Hill dies at age 20

Kentucky Oaks winner Keeper Hill died on Nov. 20, Mill Ridge Farm, which co-bred and co-campaigned her, has announced. The daughter of Deputy Minister was 20.

Keeper Hill earned more than $1.6 million in a career that included Grade 1 triumphs in the 1998 Oaks and Las Virgenes Stakes and the 1999 Spinster Stakes. She recorded eight additional Grade 1 placings, including a third-place finish in the 1998 Breeders' Cup Distaff.

“You can only dream about winning a race like the Kentucky Oaks, and Keeper Hill fulfilled that dream,” Mill Ridge’s Headley Bell said. “For our partners and Mill Ridge family it was an honor to associate with her all these years.”

As a broodmare, Keeper Hill is represented by three winners from six starters, led by Grade 3 winner Keep Up, who now stands at Mill Ridge. The mare's last foal is a yearling colt by Candy Ride; her foal of 2015 died.