Kona Gold RIP

[Echo Farm]

POPULAR CHAMPION SPRINTER KONA GOLD EUTHANIZED


LEXINGTON, KY (September 25, 2009) Kona Gold, winner of the 2000 Eclipse Award for Sprinter of the Year was humanely euthanized at the Kentucky Horse Park this morning after suffering a severe fracture to his left front leg while exercising in his paddock. He was 15-years-old.

Within minutes of the accident, he was taken to Hagyard Equine Medical Institute for evaluation where it was determined by the surgical staff that his injury was beyond repair. The unanimous decision to euthanize was made by the surgeons, his former trainer Bruce Headley, and the staff at the Kentucky Horse Park who have loved and cared for him during his retirement.

http://www.kyhorsepark.com/news.php?...&sectionid=9&1


Thoroughbred Times article:
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/rac...uthanized.aspx

[Oaklawnfan]

What a wonderful horse. May he rest in peace. He was one of the first horses that I followed closely back when I became serious in learning and participating in this sport.

[HaloWishingwell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BU0lFOp8gM

[HaloWishingwell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49N8e0PGSGc

[HaloWishingwell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIM-BmN55go


One of my favorites

[Danzig]

crypto and now this guy...been a rough few days for the horses. always enjoyed kona golds races, he was a lot of fun to watch.

[Merlinsky]

Steve mentioned it a minute ago on his show and I was just floored. This week's been so tough.

Here's an article on it: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=14974

They don't think it was a kick from another horse, based on the nature of the injury, but possibly he just twisted it wrong. Talk about a bad step.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

He was a great sprinter handled with kid gloves .. but was always at the top of the division back in years when the sprint division was absolutely loaded with talent.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

He was a great sprinter handled with kid gloves .. but was always at the top of the division back in years when the sprint division was absolutely loaded with talent.

Kid gloves? Obviously, you never saw his workout tab. Or most of his racing career really.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Kid gloves? Obviously, you never saw his workout tab. Or most of his racing career really.

* He never once made more than 6 starts in a single year ... and he raced from '98 to '03 .. a time when horses ran more frequent than now.

* He was held out and not entered from more races because of high weight assignments - than probably any horse in recent history.

Workouts... I laughed.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by HaloWishingwell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIM-BmN55go


One of my favorites

What the hell is wrong with you for thinking a win in a Breeders Cup race was one of his great moments.

Any true fan of Kona Gold that actually followed his career knows that his single greatest career achievement happened in April of 2002.

SA 04/26/02 5F Dirt 57.80 Handily 1/38
SA 04/18/02 5F Dirt 58.60 Handily 1/27
SA 04/10/02 5F Dirt 58.20 Handily 1/35
SA 04/03/02 5F Dirt 58.60 Handily 1/26


He strung together a personal best 6 straight bullet works between April and May of '02.

Now that is greatness ... who cares about actual racing?

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

* He never once made more than 6 starts in a single year ... and he raced from '98 to '03 .. a time when horses ran more frequent than now.

* He was held out and not entered from more races because of high weight assignments - than probably any horse in recent history.

Workouts... I laughed.

Never mind that he didn't get really underway until August of '98 at Del Mar as a 4yo no less. Yet despite the tardy start, he somehow managed to make it into the BC field that year (as a member of the mutual field) and finished 3rd. What was it, 5 races in the span of 3 months...that's less than every 2 weeks.

At 5, he and Big Jag unleashed a furious rivalry that spanned, IIRC, every major sprint stakes at the Santa Anita winter meet (with the possible exception of the 6.5f Potrero Grande).

Typically, after a full SA winter meet, he would take the Hollywood Park meet off (skipping a Grade 3 race and another going 7f) before prepping for the BC with the Bing Crosby at Del Mar and Ancient Title at Oak Tree. Sounds like a solid plan to me during a time when the only $1 million sprint in this country was the BC.

I suppose on the surface giving a racehorse a 3-month break once a year is too much babying, but rest assured, coming from the Bruce Headley barn, when he was in active race training his feet were being put to the fire, so laugh at the "workout tab" comment all you want.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

What the hell is wrong with you for thinking a win in a Breeders Cup race was one of his great moments.

Any true fan of Kona Gold that actually followed his career knows that his single greatest career achievement happened in April of 2002.

SA 04/26/02 5F Dirt 57.80 Handily 1/38
SA 04/18/02 5F Dirt 58.60 Handily 1/27
SA 04/10/02 5F Dirt 58.20 Handily 1/35
SA 04/03/02 5F Dirt 58.60 Handily 1/26


He strung together a personal best 6 straight bullet works between April and May of '02.

Now that is greatness ... who cares about actual racing?

Whatever, dude. Thanks for putting words in my mouth. I guess when I challenged the "kid gloves" comment I was outting myself as the President of the Kona Gold fan club (should I be a suspect in his death?)

Nonetheless, I was wrong. I can see where working him in bullet fashion every 8th day (as opposed to every 7th) could be considered conservative.

Maybe the clockers should have denoted "Handily---with kid gloves".

My bad.

[Revidere]

Going to the post in the 1998 Breeder's Cup

[philcski]

Great horse, was at the KHP today and the hall of champions was roped off, wanted to go pay my respects.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

We are almost 3/4ths of the way through 2009 ... and so far the best Beyer figure earned in a sprint race this year is 115.

From Jan 3rd of '99 to Oct 6th of '01 .. Kona Gold made 15 starts and had an avg Beyer of 115.33 over those 15 races.

He made 5 starts in 1999 ... running Beyers of 115, 115, 115, 115, and 123. In those 5 starts ... he managed to win only one race.

[chucklestheclown]

RIP.

[Indian Charlie]

I always wanted to see him try a longer distance.

Java Gold, Slew o' Gold?

[Pedigree Ann]

Had a friend with lovely grey eventing horse (a TB) she called Teddy (for Teddy Bear). He was kind and honest, so gentle she could ride around with her toddler in front of her in the saddle. One morning he didn't come to the gate to be led in for his breakfast; they searched the paddock and found him down with a broken shoulder. Never found out how he did it. All those years of running cross-country courses with tricky fences and he was never seriously hurt, then when out in his pasture he managed to suffer a fatal injury. It happens.

[chucklestheclown]

Bigfoot. Seriously, there are cameras everywhere these days, why aren't people watching million-dollar horses 24/7?