Top New Jersey sire Defrere dies in paddock accident

Defrere, New Jersey’s leading sire by progeny earnings all but one year from 2003 to 2015, died Tuesday following a paddock accident at Snow Hill Farm in Paris, Ky., where he resided as a pensioner. He was 25.

Thoroughbred Daily News initially reported the story.

The son of Deputy Minister was bred in Kentucky by Due Process Stable, and is a full brother to champion juvenile Dehere. He ran as a homebred for his brief on-track career, winning 3 of 5 starts for $65,300 and finishing third in the in the Bahamas Stakes at Hialeah Park.

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Defrere retired to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Lexington, Ky., for the 1996 breeding season, and stood there until 2003 when he was moved to Joe and Karen Jennings’ Walnford Stud in Allentown, N.J., where he became a perennial leading sire in the state. After being pensioned, Defrere was moved back to Kentucky to live at Snow Hill Farm, where the Jennings family keeps mares.

Defrere sired 18 crops, with 317 winners and combined progeny earnings in excess of $29.9 million. His top runner was Le Mars Girl, who was a nine-time group stakes winner in Japan.

Other runners of note by Defrere included Grade 3 winners Sister Fiona and Lilah, Puerto Rican Group 3 winner Bullet Breeze, nine-time stakes winner Souris, and fellow stakes winners Arlo, Emily Allstar, and Carrots Only, among others.