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Winning Colors dead at 23 Hall of Famer WINNING COLORS (Caro [Ire]), who became just the third filly to win the Kentucky Derby (G1), was euthanized on Sunday at Hagyard Davidson McGee veterinary clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. The 23-year-old mare had developed complications from colic. She was buried at Greentree Farm, a division of the Gainesway property. "Winning Colors was always a champion," Gainesway President Antony Beck said. "She had great physical prowess and athleticism. She was one of my father's favorite horses, and everyone at Gainesway is saddened by her passing." Trained throughout her illustrious career by D. Wayne Lukas, Winning Colors captured both of her starts as a juvenile in 1987, employing the front-running style that was to become her trademark. The gray kicked off her three-year-old campaign with a 6 1/2-length romp in the La Centinela S. at Santa Anita. The Gene Klein colorbearer just missed by a neck in the Las Virgenes S. (G1), but rebounded with a vengeance to take the Santa Anita Oaks (G1) by eight lengths. That earned her a crack against males in the Santa Anita Derby (G1), where she rolled by 7 1/2 lengths and stamped her ticket to Churchill Downs. In the 1988 Run for the Roses, Winning Colors sprinted straight to the front and set testing fractions beneath Gary Stevens. Although Forty Niner rallied in the stretch, the massive filly held on to prevail by a neck at the wire, and she remains the last filly to earn Kentucky Derby glory. Winning Colors tried the final two legs of the Triple Crown, finishing third in the Preakness S. (G1) and sixth in the Belmont S. (G1). She is the only other filly, besides 1980 Derby queen Genuine Risk, to have participated in all three jewels of the Triple Crown. Later that season in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Winning Colors was involved in another historic moment beneath the Twin Spires. She once again went out winging on the front end and looked to be in command on the muddy track, until the undefeated champion Personal Ensign mounted her amazing rally to nip her by a nose on the line. For her exploits, Winning Colors was honored with the Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old filly. Winning Colors raced on at four, adding the Turfway S. to her record, and retired with a mark of 19-8-3-1, $1,526,837. She was elected to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2000. As a broodmare, Winning Colors produced the Japanese stakes-placed, stakes producer Golden Colors (Mr. Prospector). Her final foals are a dark bay juvenile filly by Orientate, who is now in training with Ron Stevens in Aiken, South Carolina, and a chestnut yearling filly by Mr. Greeley. Ironically, Regret, the first filly to wear the Roses in 1915, is also buried at Gainesway.
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