GEORGETOWN, KY – JANUARY 17, 2016 – It is with a heavy heart that Michael Blowen, founder and President of Old Friends, announces today the passing of Gulch. The 1988 Breeders’ Cup Sprint Champion and Eclipse Award winner was euthanized this morning due to complications from cancer.

At 32, Gulch was the oldest living Breeders’ Cup Champion.

A son of Mr. Prospector out of the Rambunctious mare Jameela, Gulch has been a resident of the Thoroughbred Retirement Center based in Georgetown, KY, since 2009 and was one of the farm’s of flagship stallions attracting visitors and fans from all around the country.

As both a runner and a sire, Gulch blazed an unforgettable trail. Bred by Peter Brant in Kentucky, Gulch became a Grade 1 winner as a two-year-old when he captured the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. At three he won the GR 1 Wood Memorial and the first of his two consecutive wins in the GR1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

As a four-year-old Gulch captured the GR3 Potrero Grande Handicap and the GR1 Carter Handicap en route to his final start and greatest victory in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Sprint for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. For his efforts Gulch was named 1988 Eclipse Champion Sprinter.

The stallion retired with 13 wins from 32 starts and earnings of $3,095,521.

Gulch continued his career success as a sire at William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, KY.

His most notable offspring is 1995 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Thunder Gulch. Other Grade 1 winners include Court Vision, Great Navigator, The Cliff’s Edge, and Wallenda, who is also a retiree at Old Friends.

In all, Gulch is represented by 71 stakes winners–30 of which are grade or group winners–72 stakes-placed runners and the earners of $80 million.

Due to declining fertility, Gulch was pensioned from the breeding shed in 2009 and was later graciously donated to Old Friends by Lane’s End.

At the time, Lane’s End principal Bill Farish noted that the stallion’s popularity with fans
influenced the farm’s decision to send him to Old Friends, which is open to tourists daily.

“He was a horse that was well known to the public having been through the Triple Crown trail and having been a top two-year-old and a champion sprinter,” said Farish in a 2009 release. “He was a horse that people always wanted to see. Plus, he’s kind of a ham, and he will enjoy the attention immensely.”

“As Leroy Jolley, who was Gulch’s first trainer, once said, ‘Gulch must be the toughest horse who ever lived,’ and he was,” noted Old Friends’ Blowen. “He was confident, self-possessed and regal. He didn’t demand respect–he earned it. He is irreplaceable.”
History:
Under trainer LeRoy Jolley, Gulch won the Tremont (G3), the Saratoga Special (G2), the Hopeful (G1) and the Futurity (G1). That was his 2 year old campaign. At 3 he blazed an unforgettable trail, winning the Wood Memorial (G1), competing in the 1987 Derby (won by Alysheba) and beating older horses in the Met Mile (G1). At 4, under trainer D. Wayne Lukas, Gulch won the Potrero Grande (G3), Carter (G1), and his second consecutive Met Mile (G1). In 1987 he barely lost the Woodward (G1) to fellow Old Friends retiree Polish Navy, and in 1988, the Whitney (G1)—all but a match race—to Personal Ensign. Each year he raced, Gulch was formidable among the greats. In the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), he and Precisionist stalked side by side, with Canadian champion Play the King outside them. Down the final stretch Gulch and Play the King surged forward, fighting it out furiously. Responding gamely to Angel Cordero’s urging, Gulch pushed ahead to the wire. He won not only the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but the Eclipse Award as Champion Sprinter of 1988. Gulch’s magnificence can be judged from the races he won, the company he kept, and the dauntless courage of his wins. Success at stud was expected from the champion with his superb pedigree, but here too, Gulch surpassed. His 70-plus stakes winners include Derby victor Thunder Gulch, Nayef, The Cliff’s Edge, Harayir, Great Navigator, Esteemed Friend, Nasty Storm, Golden Gear, Scrimshaw, his latest star Court Vision, and not least, our own great-hearted Wallenda. Gulch stood at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, KY through 2009, when he was retired to Old Friends, thanks to the generosity of Lane’s End president, Bill Farish.