Grade 1 Winner, Top Korean Sire Ecton Park Dies at 26

Grade 1 winner and leading South Korean sire Ecton Park was euthanized Dec. 1 due to declining health, according to Richard Troughton with Isidore Farm, where the 26-year-old stallion stood since 2009. "Ecton Park will be greatly missed," said Troughton. "He was imported to Isidore Farm, South Korea's leading breeder in 2009, and quickly made a mark on the racing program. He has and will continue to transform the Korean breeding and racing industry with his sons now at stud and his daughters producing the next generation of champions." Bred in Kentucky by Ed Cox Jr., Ecton Park would up racing for Mark Stanley and trainer Elliott Walden after he was a $190,000 buy-back at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The son of Forty Niner out of the Danzig daughter Daring Danzig, won at 2 in his second start. He became a stakes winner in his second start at 3 when he captured the 1999 Risen Star Stakes, then went on to be third in both the Louisiana Derby (G2) and Arkansas Derby (G2) before finishing 12th in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Ecton Park regrouped after the Kentucky Derby by winning an allowance race at Churchill Downs and next just missed winning the Ohio Derby (G2) by a neck. Without missing a beat, he captured the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) 15 days later and went on to a good fourth in the Travers Stakes (G1), finishing just behind third-placed Menifee, who would later become his rival on Korea's leading sires list. Ecton Park finally landed a grade I win over Menifee by two lengths in the Super Derby (G1). He raced until May of his 5-year-old season and was retired with a 6-4-6 record from 23 starts and careers earnings of $1,503,825. Wintergreen Stallion Station launched Ecton Park's stud career in 2002. He became a top 10 freshman sire of 2005 and sired his first graded stakes winner that year when French Park won the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) and the Golden Rod Stakes (G2). He would eventually slip down the sire rankings during his second-crop and third-crop years, get exported to Chile for the 2008 Southern Hemisphere season, and then be sent to Korea in February 2009. Ecton Park's first Korean crop included Indie Band (KOR), who became the first 3-year-old and is still the only sophomore to win the President's Cup and Grand Prix Stakes at Seoul Racecourse Park. Both of these races were not rated internationally as black-type stakes at the time, but they were rated as group 1s in Korea. Indie Band was named Korea's Horse of the Year for 2013. That year Ecton Park was among the country's top 10 sires by progeny earnings but the leading sire among the top 25 with a win rate of 16.2%. By 2015, Ecton Park was the second-leading sire in Korea behind Menifee and would remain among the top five for the next five years. He would claim the top spot in 2018 when he sired 55 winners and his progeny earned US$6,794,540. Ecton Park's run at or near the top of the sire rankings coincided with the campaign of Triple Nine (KOR), a colt out of the Pleasant Tap mare A Little Poke who is the richest racehorse in Korean racing history. Triple Nine earned three Horse of the Year titles in 2015-2018 and was honored as 2015 champion 3-year-old colt and 2018 champion older horse. He won the President's Cup in 2017-18 and captured the Grand Prix Stakes in 2018—with both races run as listed black-type stakes. Triple Nine raced from 2 to 6 and compiled a 15-12-3 record from 31 starts and earned US$3,715,778. He entered stud in 2021. Ecton Park runners were still finding success back in North America. His son Haimish Hy won the 2010 Hollywood Derby (G1T) and his gelded son Tres Borrachos won the 2008 Swaps Stakes (G2) at Hollywood Park and went on to finish second in the TVG/Betfair Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap (G1) and third in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). Other U.S. stakes winners included multiple stakes winners Kingsfield, Rustler Hustler, and Saffronista, and graded-placed stakes winner Big Lover. Ecton Park has successful runners in Chile, too, including multiple group winner Elisea (CHI). For his career to date, Ecton Park has sired 18 black-type winners and 19 stakes-placed runners, which include four graded/group winners and three champions. His total progeny earnings are nearly $24.2 million worldwide.