Popular $4.7 Million Earner Perfect Drift Dies at 25

Perfect Drift, the popular gelding who won or placed in 32 of 50 starts from 2001-08 and earned more than $4.7 million, was euthanized Jan. 4 due to complications from a years-old paddock injury, according to Dr. Bryan Reed of Stonecrest Farm. He was 25. The son of Dynaformer was as durable as he was talented, hitting the board in 21 graded races for Stonecrest Farm, including a third-place finish in the 2002 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs. Most of those starts came for trainer Murray Johnson before he joined the California stable of Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella late in his racing career. For Johnson, he won the 2003 Stephen Foster Handicap (G1), the 2002 Spiral Stakes (G2), the 2003 Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap (G2), and two runnings of the Washington Park Handicap (G2) in 2003 and 2005. Often following a similar racing schedule from year to year, Perfect Drift "kept showing up," Reed said. Hall of Famers Pat Day and Eddie Delahoussaye were among the jockeys who rode him. Hovdey: Even in Retirement, Perfect Drift Fights On The gelding made his final start Sept. 1, 2008, finishing third in the Windy Sands Handicap at Del Mar. Later, he greeted visitors at the Kentucky Derby Museum, spent time as a stable pony, and enjoyed years of pasture life at Stonecrest Farm outside of Kansas City, Mo. Though far from a racing center in Missouri, he continued to draw visitors to see him long after his racing retirement. Reed, 60, a small animal veterinarian who has headed Stonecrest Farm since the deaths of his parents Mary and Dr. William Reed, marveled at the journey on which Perfect Trip took his family. The gelding raced in five consecutive editions of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1)—with his best finish a third in the 2005 renewal. Later, Perfect Drift benefited from the tutelage of Monnie Goetz, the Kentucky horseperson who gained fame for riding the 2,100-pound pony Harley. "I have a photo of (Perfect Drift) taking California Chrome to post," Bryan Reed said. Reed said Perfect Drift knew racing so well that he would prick his ears when his cell phone rang, playing "The Call to the Post." Following his life as a pony, Perfect Drift became a pasture mate with Proven Cure, an 89-race veteran who won a stakes race as a 12-year-old in 2006 for Stonecrest Farm. Reed said he feared Perfect Drift might not recover from a 2020 paddock injury to a right hock, but the aging gelding was resilient. Complications from that injury recently re-appeared. "But we knew that there would come a time when those issues would progress to the point of a difficult decision needing to be made," Reed wrote in a message announcing Perfect Drift's death. "He deserved the dignity of leaving us while still having that glint in his eye." Before Perfect Drift was euthanized, "I walked him out the west end of the barn and onto the east turn of the half-mile oval where he learned how to first change leads,” Reed added. “Told him it was OK to prick his ears now. It's the last sixteenth, you're well in front, and in hand."