Dual Grade 1 winner turned sire Lion Heart dies at 22

Dual Grade 1 winner and expatriate United States stallion Lion Heart died due to a circulatory disorder caused by heart failure, the Jockey Club of Turkey have announced.

The 22-year-old son of Tale Of The Cat had been on the Jockey Club of Turkey roster since 2010.

"The Thoroughbreds coming from the bloodline of Lion Heart, who served the Turkish breeding sector for long years as a stallion and sire of mares, keep being successful both in Türkiye and abroad," said the Jockey Club statement.

Sabine Stable bred Lion Heart in Kentucky out of the Mr. Leader stakes winner Satin Sunrise. His half-sister French Satin (French Deputy) had won the Grade 3 Florida Oaks and placed in the Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes before he was offered at the 2003 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. International bloodstock agent Demi O'Byrne bought Lion Heart at the juvenile sale for $1.4 million from consignor Robert Scanlon on behalf of longtime partners Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor.

Lion Heart won on his debut by a length for trainer Patrick Biancone and raced undefeated at two with subsequent wins in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue Stakes and Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity. In the second-crop by Tale Of The Cat, Lion Heart became his sire's first Grade 1 winner.

At three, Lion Heart was runner-up in the Grade 2 San Rafael Stakes and Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, which made him second-choice in the wagering in the Kentucky Derby. He was second again in the Run for the Roses to eventual dual Classic winner Smarty Jones. 

He would finish fourth in the Preakness Stakes before returning to his winning ways in the Grade 3 Long Branch Breeders' Cup Stakes and the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Stakes. Lion Heart contested the Travers Stakes but fractured a bone in his right foot during the race and had to be retired with a 5-3-0 record from ten starts and $1,390,800 in earnings.

The colt entered stud at $30,000 at Ashford Stud in 2005 and shuttled to Australia for five seasons. He was part of a distinguished stallion freshman sire class that included Tapit, Candy Ride, Medaglia D'Oro and Speightstown . He would rank second behind Tapit by progeny earnings his freshman year and was the co-leader by number of stakes winners with four alongside Medaglia D'Oro.

As a second-crop sire, Lion Heart sired a Grade 2 winner and a couple of Grade 3 winners but it wasn't enough to avoid being sold to the Jockey Club of Turkey prior to the 2010 breeding season. As so often seems to happen with US stallions sold overseas, Lion Heart sired two Grade 1 winners in 2010 with Breeders' Cup Turf winner Dangerous Midge and Arkansas Derby winner Line Of David.

For his career to date, Lion Heart sired 45 black-type winners, which included 15 Graded/Group winners and three champions. The champions included Uncaptured, who was Canada's 2012 Horse of the Year and champion two-year-old colt; Last Chance Lady, who was Turkey's 2019 champion two-year-old filly; and, four-time Jamaican champion Ronron, who was champion imported grass mare for 2010-11 and champion sprinter and champion three-year-old filly for 2010.

Lion Heart's 16 crops of racing age have amassed more than $32.8 million in earnings. He has seven foals in his last crop of 2023.

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