Phone Trick dies at age 23

Phone Trick, the famed sprinter who went on to sire the 1997 champion juvenile and Horse of the Year, Favorite Trick, and the 1993 champion juvenile filly, Phone Chatter, has died in New York at age 23.

Milfer Farm in Unadilla, N.Y., announced Monday that Phone Trick, a Clever Trick horse, died Sunday of natural causes. Milfer, owned by veterinarian Dr. Jonathan Davis, had stood Phone Trick since acquiring him from Walmac International in Lexington, Ky., in 2001. He was New York's ninth-leading sire last year and was ranked 16th in the state at the time of his death. Phone Trick stood for $15,000 in his final season at stud this year.

Phone Trick's first crop of New York-bred runners are 2 this year.

Before moving to New York, Phone Trick sired Caller One, a North American Grade 2 winner and winner of the Grade 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen; Grade 2 winners Intidab, Bella Chiarra, Mazel Trick, and Speed Dialer; and Grade 3 winners Semoran and Day Trader.

Phone Trick has sired 50 stakes winners from 16 crops to race and the earners of more than $48.2 million.