Multiple Grade 1 winner Dullahan euthanized

Multiple Grade 1 winner Dullahan was euthanized early Sunday following colic surgery, after suffering a ruptured colon.

The 4-year-old Even the Score colt, a half brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, had been retired from racing last week due to a tendon injury. He was rehabbing from the njury at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., while stud plans were being determined.

A $250,000 purchase at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale by owner Jerry Crawford's Donegal Racing, Dullahan broke his maiden in his fifth start, the Grade 1 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland Race Course. The following spring, the colt returned to the scene of that win to earn his place in the 2012 Kentucky Derby, taking the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes. He then finished a late-closing third in that year’s Kentucky Derby to I’ll Have Another and Bodemeister.

The colt picked up arguably his biggest victory in the summer of his sophomore season, beating older rivals in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar. He established a track record, covering 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.54 over Del Mar’s all-weather Polytrack surface.

Dullahan was sent to Dubai in early 2013 to compete in the Dubai World Cup, and then returned to the races in North America during the summer, finishing third in his comeback effort, the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap at Arlington Park. He finished eighth in the Pacific Classic in his final start.

“Dullahan is the most spectacular-looking horse Donegal has ever campaigned and that takes in some territory,” Crawford said last week upon the colt's retirement. “Not many horses win three Grade 1s for their owners but that is what Dullahan did."

Dullahan concluded his career with three wins in 18 career starts – with all three of those wins coming in Grade 1 races – for earnings of $1,735,901. He was trained by Dale Romans.

Bred in Kentucky by Phil Needham, Judy Needham, and Bena Halecky, Dullahan is out of the unraced Smart Strike mare Mining My Own, whose three winners from four foals to race include the aforementioned Mine That Bird, a Canadian champion. He is also a half-brother to stakes winner Brother Bird.