Sea Hero, 1993 Kentucky Derby winner, dies at 29

Sea Hero, whose three Grade 1 victories included the 1993 Kentucky Derby, has died, the Turkish Jockey Club confirmed on Friday. The pensioned Polish Navy horse was 29.

At the time of his death, Sea Hero was the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner. That status now falls to 1994 victor Go For Gin, who has resided at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington since 2011.

Sea Hero raced as a homebred for multiple Eclipse Award-winning breeder and noted philanthropist Paul Mellon's Rokeby Stable and was trained throughout his career by veteran horseman Mackenzie Miller, who had taken over the Rokeby string in 1976. Sea Hero won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes as a 2-year-old, but finished seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and went winless in his first three starts of 1993, making him a longshot in the Kentucky Derby.

Mellon was recovering from pneumonia at the time of the race, and took a private jet from his home in Virginia to Louisville, Ky., on Derby Day. Sea Hero rolled by 2 1/2 lengths to reward the trip, giving Mellon, 85, Miller, 71, and future Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey their first Derby wins. The win also made Mellon the only individual ever to own a winner of the Kentucky Derby, Epsom Derby, and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Sea Hero finished fifth in the Preakness and seventh in the Belmont but went on to win the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, where his statue now stands in the paddock. Upon receipt of a $1 million bonus for Sea Hero’s performance in the Triple Crown series, Mellon donated the money to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.

Sea Hero retired in 1994 with a record of 6-3-4 from 24 starts, including a trio of Grade 2 placings to go along with his major victories, and earnings of more than $2.9 million. The horse entered stud in 1995 at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky. Mellon, who had whittled down his stock via dispersals in the 1990s, died at age 91 in February 1999. Later that year, Sea Hero was offered at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, with Lane's End acting as agent for Mellon's estate. The stallion was purchased for $700,000 by Jean Pierre Deroubaix, as agent, and was sent to stand in Turkey beginning with the 2000 breeding season.

According to Equineline statistics, Sea Hero is the sire of 30 career stakes winners. His runners in his adopted country, where he spent more than half his life, were led by Turkish champion Confidence. In the United States, Sea Hero's top runners were Grade 1-winning juvenile Cindy's Hero, multiple Grade 2 winner Hero's Tribute, and graded stakes winners Desert Hero and Hero's Pleasure.