Sudden Illness Takes Grade 3 Winner Cairo Memories

Multiple graded stakes winner Cairo Memories was euthanized late last month when, despite aggressive treatment, an infection spiraled out of control in the 3-year-old daughter of Cairo Prince who was campaigned by owners Cathy and Paul Schroeder and David Bernsen. "This is a humbling game," said Bob Hess Jr., who trained the filly in Southern California after the Schroeders acquired her for $50,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale through agent Davant Latham. The filly had been bred by Brereton Jones and was sold by Airdrie Stud. "It was about a 20-day ordeal," Hess continued. "The Schroeders and David Bernsen did the right thing and put her first. They spared no expense and the clinic did a great job, it just didn't work out this time." Cairo Memories showed her ability at first asking when she won a one-mile maiden special weight on the turf at Del Mar by 4 1/2 lengths. She became a stakes winner in her next start, taking the one-mile Surfer Girl Stakes on the grass at Santa Anita Park by 2 1/4 lengths and earning a start in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), where she finished unplaced. A month after the Breeders' Cup, Cairo Memories proved she belonged in grade 1 company with a runner-up finish in the Starlet Stakes (G1) on the main track at Los Alamitos Race Course. At 3, Cairo Memories won the Providencia Stakes Presented by The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G3T) and the Honeymoon Stakes (G3T) both at Santa Anita. She would next finish fifth in the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) and third in the Del Mar Oaks (G1T). The Schroeders and Bernsen then decided to offer Cairo Memories through Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale, its select mixed sale Nov. 6 in Kentucky. She made her last start Oct. 29 before the sale in the Autumn Miss Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita, where she finished fifth. She had won four of her 10 starts at that point and earned $420,500. "She came back well, scoped well, and ate up," Hess recalled. The filly was put on a FedEx plane bound for Indianapolis the Wednesday following the Autumn Miss and then shipped to the Fasig-Tipton Lexington sales grounds. She was being shown to prospective buyers but then developed a low-grade fever. Hess said initial blood work did not reveal any problems. Two days later that all changed. She was scratched from the sale and sent to a clinic. "From then it unraveled," said Hess, noting that he has never seen a horse's health deteriorate as quickly as did Cairo Memories'. The filly developed pleuritis, suffered particular problems in her right lung, and was starting to develop laminitis, according to Hess. "It's a huge loss," he said. "Davant found her for us at a great value. She was just a cut below the best, but I really felt her 4-year-old year could have been her best given her physique, her temperament, and her pedigree. But she never got there."