Rags to Riches, champion and Belmont Stakes winner, dead at 21

Champion filly Rags to Riches, historic winner of the 2007 Belmont Stakes, among other major races, has died, the international Coolmore group reported on Monday.

The 21-year-old daughter of A.P. Indy passed "due to the infirmities of old age," according to a Coolmore release.

A flashy chestnut with a blaze and known for her strong will, Rags to Riches won five of seven career starts and earned more than $1.3 million while trained by Todd Pletcher. After winning the Las Virgenes and Santa Anita Oaks, she added a third consecutive Grade 1 win, rolling by 4 1/4 lengths in the 2007 Kentucky Oaks over Octave, later a multiple Grade 1 winner herself.

Rags to Riches, part of what was considered one of the strongest 3-year-old crops in recent years, then stepped into the 2007 Belmont Stakes. After stumbling badly at the start of the race, she recovered and outdueled the great Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer, by a head down the lane. She became the third filly to win the Belmont, the oldest American classic, and the first in more than a century, joining Ruthless (1867) and Tanya (1905). She also became the second consecutive Belmont winner for Better Than Honour, earning her dam Broodmare of the Year Honors.

Rags to Riches, whose Oaks and Belmont double helped make her the Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old filly, made one more start, finishing second by a half-length in the Grade 1 Gazelle, before being officially retired earlier the following year. Spending time for Coolmore in both Ireland and the U.S., she did not replicate herself as a broodmare, with three winners from six starters to date, among her 13 foals of racing age. Her best runner thus far is Rhett Butler, an Irish-born Galileo colt who became a champion in Hungary.

The mare’s final two foals are an unnamed and unstarted 2-year-old Munnings filly, and an unnamed Uncle Mo yearling colt.

“Rags to Riches was a truly talented racehorse, and it’s been a privilege to be around a horse of her caliber,” Dermot Ryan, manager of Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in the U.S., said in a release. “Her achievements left a lasting impression on all of us, and she brought great pride to her ownership. I would like to thank [broodmare manager] Bob Davis and his team, who have cared for her with exceptional dedication for over a decade.”

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