Lane's End stallion City Zip euthanized at age 19

City Zip, the sire of three Eclipse Award champions, has been euthanized at age 19, Lane’s End Farm reported. The Carson City stallion had suffered from chronic foot problems.

City Zip won four graded stakes races in New York as a juvenile, winning the Grade 3 Tremont at Belmont before sweeping the Grade 2 Sanford, Grade 2 Saratoga Special, and Grade 1 Hopeful – the latter in a historic dead heat with Yonaguska. He went on to add another quartet of stakes to his resume as a 3-year-old, highlighted by graded sprint victories in the Grade 3 Jersey Shore at Monmouth and the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga.

He recorded another seven stakes placings in the course of his career, including an official runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Futurity at Belmont, when he crossed the line first but was disqualified; and a third in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap against older horses on the Belmont turf.

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City Zip entered stud in New York in 2002 and was relocated to Lane’s End for the 2005 season, following half-brother Ghostzapper’s victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to lock up Horse of the Year honors. City Zip quickly found his footing in the competitive Kentucky market and has consistently ranked in the top 10 among active sires. At the time of his death, the stallion was represented by 700 winners and had progeny earnings of $78,712,422.

His 77 stakes winners worldwide are led by Eclipse Award champions both sprinting on dirt and routing on the turf. The 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Work All Week and 2016 Filly and Mare Sprint winner Finest City were both divisional honorees; 2014 Filly and Mare Turf winner Dayatthespa was honored as outstanding female turf horse.

Finest City displayed the versatility that was a hallmark for City Zip during her own championship season as, in addition to her signature win sprinting, she finished third in the Grade 1 Vanity Mile behind champions Beholder and Stellar Wind and started twice on turf with a Grade 2 placing.

City Zip also is the sire of 2015 Canadian Horse of the Year Catch a Glimpse, who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in her championship season and the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks the following year. The stallion’s other top runners include multiple Grade 1 winner Palace; the millionaire graded stakes winners Alert Bay and Get Serious; Grade 2 winner Reneesgotzip, third in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and second the following year; Grade 3 winner Unzip Me, third in the 2010 Turf Sprint; and the well-traveled City Style, a Group 3 winner in England, a stakes winner in the United States, and Group 1-placed in Dubai.

“City Zip has had many significant achievements at stud, and it has been a privilege to stand him at Lane’s End,” farm owner Will Farish said. “We are very grateful to the members of his stallion syndicate and our breeders for supporting this special horse throughout his career. City Zip’s extraordinarily kind disposition and strong spirit endeared him to all, and he will be greatly missed. We want to thank Dr. Scott Morrison of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital for the diligent and compassionate care that he and his associates provided to City Zip.”

City Zip will be buried at Lane’s End.