RIP Kingmambo (26), Arch (21)

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Both excellent and good respectively as racehorses, but better as stallions..

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DRF: Cardiac incident claims Claiborne stallion Arch

Grade 1 winner and prominent Claiborne Farm sire Arch died Jan. 20 of an apparent heart attack at the Paris, Ky., farm. The son of Kris S. was 21.

“We are saddened by the loss of Arch,” Claiborne stallion manager Bernie Sams said. “He was a classy stallion who had the ability to sire top-class horses that performed well both on the track and in the auction ring.”

Bred by Helen Groves and Helen Alexander, the regally-bred Arch was purchased for $710,000 as a yearling by longtime partners Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, for whom he fashioned outstanding racing and breeding careers. Arch won 5 of 7 starts in his brief racing career, highlighted by a score in the Grade 1 Super Derby and a track record-setting performance in winning the Grade 3 Fayette at Keeneland.

Arch is best known as the sire of champion Blame, who handed Zenyatta her only career defeat in a thrilling finish in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. Blame also won the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap, Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap, and three other graded stakes. In total, he won 9 of 13 starts while never missing the board, earning more than $4.3 million. Campaigned as a homebred for Claiborne and Dilschneider, he retired to Claiborne following his Classic victory.

Arch, who began his stud career at Claiborne in 1999, is also the sire of Canadian Horse of the Year Arravale and Grade/Group 1 winners Grand Arch, Hymn Book, Archarcharch, Pine Island, Prince Arch, Love Theway Youare, and Les Arcs. In total, he has sired 514 winners, including 59 stakes winners, for earnings of $53,494,555.

Arch also has become a prominent broodmare sire, with his daughters producing juvenile champion and outstanding freshman sire Uncle Mo, and dual classic winner and champion I'll Have Another.

Out of the Danzig mare Aurora, Arch was a half brother to champion Festival of Light and Grade 1 winner Acoma, as well as a full brother to stakes winner Alisios. His second dam is champion Althea, and the female family traces directly to blue hen Courtly Dee.

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DRF: Top sire Kingmambo euthanized at age 26

Multiple Group 1 winner and outstanding sire Kingmambo was euthanized due to the infirmities of old age, Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky., reported Wednesday. The son of Mr. Prospector was 26 and had stood his entire stud career at Lane’s End.

Kingmambo was last an active stallion in 2010, covering just one mare that season due to a neck problem before being pensioned later that year. The stallion was troubled periodically by neurological issues, missing part of the breeding season in 2006 and about a week in 2008.

“It is a tough, emotional loss for all of us here at the farm,” said Lane’s End owner Will Farish. “He’s been with us for a long time, was so very successful and will be greatly missed. We're very grateful to Stavros, Maria, and the whole Niarchos family for entrusting his care to us.”

Racing as a homebred for the Niarchos family, Kingmambo, a son of two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner and champion Miesque, had a stellar career in Europe, winning or placing in six Group 1 events. He captured the Group 1 St. James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, as well as the French 2000 Guineas equivalent, the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. He won 5 of 13 career starts and earned $733,139.

Kingmambo entered stud in 1994 at Lane’s End and spent his entire career there, siring 736 winners, including 95 stakes winners, and amassing earnings of $104,390,787 to date in his 16 crops of racing age. His progeny in the U.S. is led by Lemon Drop Kid, a Grade 1 winner in three consecutive seasons. The horse captured the 1999 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes, and the following year earned an Eclipse Award as champion older male following victories in the Whitney Handicap and Woodward Stakes. Kingmambo’s international runners were led by Japanese Horse of the Year and French Group 1 winner El Condor Pasa; Japan Derby winner and champion King Kamehameha; two-time European champion Divine Proportions; European champion and English 1000 Guineas winner Russian Rhythm; English and Irish 2000 Guineas winner Henrythenavigator, who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; and English classic winners Rule of Law, Encke, and Virginia Waters. From 2004 through 2006, Kingmbambo’s stud fee was $300,000, among the highest in North America.

Kingmambo’s sons and daughters carrying on his legacy are led by King Kamehameha, who was Japan’s leading sire in 2010 and 2011. His progeny includes Japanese Horse of the Year Lord Kanola, a four-time Group 1 winner in Japan and two-time winner of the Hong Kong Sprint; Japanese Filly Triple Crown winner and champion Apapane; and champions Rose Kingdom, Hokko Tarumae, and Belshazzar. Lemon Drop Kid stands at Lane’s End, and his progeny includes Kentucky Oaks winner Lemons Forever, Canadian classic winner Unspurned, and Grade 1 winners Richard’s Kid, Somali Lemonade, Citronnade, Cannock Chase, Santa Teresita, and Christmas Kid.

Kingmambo’s daughters have produced champion Midday, dual classic winner and champion Camelot, classic winner Ruler of the World, and Grade/Group 1 winners Red Giant, Duke of Marmalade, Regal Parade, Miss World, Super Cool, Suzuka Mambo, Gallica, Gozzip Girl, Maids Causeway, and Wiener Walzer.

“It is every owner-breeder’s dream to have a filly like Miesque,” said Maria Niarchos-Gouazé. “Then for her to give them two classic winners from her first two foals, in Kingmambo and East of the Moon, is unique. Kingmambo was one of a kind who has stamped the breed forever and who has given us so much pleasure over the past 26 years.”