Vicar's in Trouble euthanized at age 5

Grade 2 winner Vicar’s in Trouble was euthanized March 11 due to long-running complications from laminitis.

The 5-year-old son of Into Mischief last raced in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita, where he was vanned off after suffering a condylar fracture in his left front leg in a pace-pressing, then rapidly fading effort.

Owner Ken Ramsey said Vicar’s in Trouble underwent surgery shortly after the race, but the horse was plagued with complications during the recovery process.

“He really messed up his leg, so we babied him and worked on him for a year trying to get him back because we had some people that wanted to stand him at stud, but we could not get him back,” Ramsey said. “Finally, we took him to the veterinarian and had an operation done on him to see if there was anything that could be done, and when they got in there, the bone was just gone, so we had no choice except to put the little fella down.”

Bred in Louisiana by Spendthrift Farm, the diminutive Vicar’s in Trouble first sold for $8,000 at the Equine Sales Co. of Louisiana yearling sale, then was purchased by Ken and Sarah Ramsey for $80,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training.

He was placed in the barn of trainer Mike Maker and won four of 11 starts for earnings of $1,228,292.

Vicar’s in Trouble was most comfortable in his native state, winning the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds and the Grade 2 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs. His success on the Louisiana path to the Kentucky Derby put the colt in the 2014 field, but a troubled trip from the inside gate saw him finish last to California Chrome.