Art Collector, winner of the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) in January and a winner of over $4 million for his career, was euthanized Aug. 17 in Saratoga Springs due to laminitis.
The story was first reported by Horse Racing Nation.
Bruce Lunsford, who owned and bred the son of Bernardini, said Art Collector was put down early Thursday afternoon.
"We got to spend a little time with him," said Lunsford, who is in town with his wife, Eleanor. "It has been a brutal couple of days. Oh my God, I kind of knew last night we were walking uphill. This is the call you hope you never get."
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said the 6-year-old Art Collector had developed the painful condition in all four of his feet.
Art Collector had worked five furlongs in a time of 1:01.45 Aug. 5 as he prepared to run in the $1 million Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2) Aug. 25. Art Collector had won that race the last two years.
"It happened fast, that is usually the way it happens," Mott said in the Saratoga paddock before the seventh race Aug. 17. "The thing is, the best doctors and scientists in the world are studying what and why and what to do about it. Since I have been around horses, no one has found the magic bullet.
"Sometimes, you know there is a cause," he said. "Stress or an infection or something like that. In this case, we don't know what brought it on."
Art Collector won 11 of 23 career starts and earned $4,231,290. His last start was the Alysheba Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs where he finished second.
In July of 2021, Lunsford moved the horse from Kentucky-based trainer Tom Drury to Mott. Art Collector made 11 starts with Mott and had six wins.
"He won 50% of his starts and it doesn't get much better than that," Mott said. "He ran a huge race when he won the Pegasus (by 4 1/2 lengths at 15-1 odds with jockey Junior Alvarado); he ran a lot of huge races. This is not easy, but he was a good horse and everyone in the barn, the whole crew, really appreciated having him. It hits everybody when something like this happens to any of them, but especially one like him."
Lunsford said the Pegasus was his favorite memory he had with Art Collector. He also mentioned the victory in the 2020 Blue Grass Stakes (G2) at Keeneland as a personal favorite.
He said that after the Charles Town Classic, the plan was for Art Collector to be retired and then stand at stud at Claiborne Farm.
Lunsford said it was comforting to be with the horse in his final minutes. It was also important to have so many of the personnel from the Mott barn there. That included Mott, assistant Neil Poznansky, who also served as Art Collector's exercise rider and workout rider and longtime Mott employee Erma Scott, who was the horse's No. 1 fan.
"He gave me so many great thrills, I can't even tell you," Lunsford said. "He had a cool personality, very charismatic. It was sweet to have him. All of us, everyone out there, it was really a special day to talk about him and what he had done. It really was everything you dream of to have a horse that you really loved."
