Maryland stallion Lion Hearted dies at age 19

Grade 2-placed Lion Hearted, a mainstay among the Maryland sire ranks, died May 28 of an apparent heart attack after breeding a mare at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md.

The 19-year-old son of Storm Cat stood at Northview Stallion Station for his entire career at stud, arriving at the farm for the 2001 breeding season. He stood his final year for an advertised fee of $2,500.

Bred and campaigned by the Phipps family program, Lion Hearted won four of 18 career starts for earnings of $191,630. He earned runner-up finishes in the Grade 2 Riva Ridge Stakes and the Grade 3 Amsterdam Stakes, both at sprint distances, during his 3-year-old campaign in 1999. He was trained throughout his career by Shug McGaughey.

Lion Hearted has sired 12 crops of racing age, with 350 winners and combined progeny earnings in excess of $25.6 million. He had one graded stakes winner, Control System, who won the Grade 3 Cicada Stakes in 2007.

The stallion was also well-represented in his home state’s signature Maryland Millions program, with stakes winners including Roaring Lion, Lil Kiara, Call of a Lion, Maddy’s Heart, Creve Coeur, Serenadia, Spotted Heart, and Hear Us Roar. His foals also made an impact in nearby West Virginia, with Silver Heart and Aspenglow each winning editions of the $250,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic Stakes at Charles Town.

As a broodmare sire, Lion Hearted’s most accomplished daughter is Mother, who is the dam of 2014 Kentucky Derby runner-up Commanding Curve. He is also the broodmare sire of Wake Up Nick, who is a four-time stakes winner in Southern California.

Lion Hearted has one reported son advertised as a public stallion, the two-time stakes winner Maddy’s Lion, who stands in Illinois.