Lion Heart Passes Away In Turkey

[Wandering Eyes]

Lion Heart (Tale of the Cat–Satin Sunrise, by Mr. Leader), a Grade I winner at two and three and runner-up to Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality) in the 2004 GI Kentucky Derby, has passed away in Turkey, where he stood stud since 2011. He was 22 years of age and died from a circulatory disorder caused by heart failure.

A $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling turned $1.4-million Fasig-Tipton Florida juvenile, the Sabine Stable-bred Lion Heart was trained for the Coolmore connections by Patrick Biancone and capped a perfect 2-year-old campaign with a victory in the GI Hollywood Futurity. Second in the GII San Rafael S. and GI Toyota Blue Grass S., the chestnut filled the exacta underneath Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality) in the 2004 GI Kentucky Derby and added another top-level tally in that year's GI Haskell Invitational H. He retired to Ashford Stud with five wins from 10 starts and earnings of $1,390,800.

Lion Heart is the sire of 45 worldwide black-type winners, 15 of which have come at the graded level, led by elite scorers Bradester, GI Breeders' Cup Turf hero Dangerous Midge, Line of David and Tom's Tribute. Sold to the Turkish Jockey Club in 2010, his first foals in that country were born in 2012, and since then, he has accounted for 387 individual winners according to Turkish Jockey Club statistics, 11 of which have succeeded at stakes level.

Lion Heart has also gone on to become a respectable sire of sires. In addition to Dangerous Midge, whose produce have achieved considerable success in Chile, his son Uncaptured was among the leading sires in Florida prior to being sold to continue his stud career in Korea. Kantharos also got his start in the Sunshine State before moving to Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Kentucky.

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