US CHAMPION DIES 18 Mar 2024 10:13
The 2020 older-dirt male champion Improbable, a Grade 1 winner at 2 and
4 who stood at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., died Saturday night at Rood
& Riddle Equine in Lexington, Ky., where he was being treated for the
muscle disorder ataxia.
Improbable, who was 8, will have his first sire crop on the racetrack
this year.
Improbable burst on the scene in 2018, winning his first three career
races for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, including the first of four career
Grade 1 victories in the Los Alamitos Futurity.
His 3-year-old season was lackluster by the standards he set in his
other two years on the track, winning just the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar,
although he did finish fourth in the Kentucky Derby and sixth in the Preakness
in 2019.
His 4-year-old season was by far his best as the City Zip colt reeled
off consecutive Grade 1 wins in the Santa Anita Gold Cup, Whitney and Awesome
Again before finishing second in his final race to stablemate and eventual
horse of the year Authentic in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
