GONE WEST (Mr. Prospector), the sire of 98 stakes winners including 2004
champion sprinter Speightstown and English classic winner Zafonic, has died,
according to a report on BloodHorse.com. Pensioned from stud duty at Mill Ridge
Farm last year due to declining fertility, Gone West was euthanized Monday night
due to complications following colic surgery at the Hagyard Equine Medical
Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. He was 25.
“On Saturday morning, September 5, Gone West colicked and was taken to
Hagyard where Dr. Bob Hunt examined him and determined it necessary to perform
surgery,” Headley Bell of Mill Ridge said in a statement. “His surgery revealed
a lipoma, a mass nearly the size of a football that was attached to a cord and
had wrapped around his small intestine. Dr. Hunt removed the mass and did not
find it necessary to resect any of his small intestine.
“Gone West’s recovery went fairly well on Saturday and Sunday with the
exception of elevated heart rate and reflux, liquid build up that would not pass
through his small intestine. Regretfully, the intestine never opened up, and he
grew more uncomfortable with time. Monday, at 6 p.m. (EDT), we made the humane
decision to put Gone West down.”
Hailing from the memorable foal crop of 1984, which yielded the likes of
Alysheba, Bet Twice, Java Gold, Lost Code, Gulch, Cryptoclearance and many
others, Gone West compiled a record 17-6-4-2, $682,251, for owner Hickory Tree
Stable and trainer Woody Stephens. Gone West was the Hall of Fame trainer’s
representative in the 1987 Belmont S. (G1), which Stephens was seeking to win
for the sixth consecutive time, but Gone West finished nearly 24 lengths behind
Bet Twice in a sixth-place effort. Gone West rebounded in his next start to
register his signature victory in the Dwyer S. (G1) by 12 1/2 lengths. Gone
West’s other stakes wins that season came in the Gotham S. (G2) and Withers S.
(G2), and he finished second by a head to Gulch in the Wood Memorial S. (G1).
Bred in Kentucky by Dr. William O. Reed, Gone West was produced from the
Grade 2-placed stakes winner Secrettame (Secretariat), a half-sister to multiple
Grade 1 winner Tentam (Intentionally) and English classic winner Known Fact (In
Reality). Gone West was a full brother to Grade 2 winner Lion Cavern and hailed
from the same family as Hall of Famer Go for Wand (Deputy Minister) and the
multiple Grade 1-winning Tappiano (Fappiano). He was sold to James Mills of
Hickory Tree for $1.9 million at the Keeneland July sale.
Gone West’s progeny won at the highest levels on both dirt and turf, and
several of his sons have developed into influential stallions. In addition to
the aforementioned Speightstown and Zafonic, the other leading runners he sired
were German highweight Royal Abjar, Breeders’ Cup winners Da Hoss and Johar,
Belmont S. (G1) winner Commendable, and Grade 1 winners Came Home, Grand Slam,
West by West, Changeintheweather, Marsh Side and Lassigny. Prominent sons of
Gone West at stud today include Mr. Greeley and Elusive Quality, the sire of
champion Smarty Jones and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Raven’s Pass.