Talco dies following knee operation

ARCADIA, Calif. – Talco, the winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile in June, died last Monday while recovering from an operation to have a bone chip removed from a knee.

Trainer John Sadler said on Saturday that a necropsy is being conducted on Talco, who won 5 of 17 starts and earned $543,123.

“We were stunned,” Sadler said. “I still can’t believe it.”

Talco joined Sadler’s stable in the summer of 2014 when acquired privately by Pete and Kosta Hronis. In the second half of 2014, Talco finished third in the Del Mar Derby and Hollywood Derby.

Earlier this year, Talco won the Thunder Road Stakes and Shoemaker Mile, earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 31. Plans for a start in that race were abandoned after Talco was found to have a bone chip in a knee following a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita on Sept. 27.