Lord Avie, who
reigned as the champion two-year-old of 1980 and the oldest living Eclipse Award
winner, has died at the age of 34. According to the Paulick Report, Lord Avie succumbed to the infirmities
of old age at Blue Ridge Farm near Upperville, Virginia, on
Friday afternoon.
“He was the horse of a lifetime for me,” said retired trainer Dan Perlsweig,
85, who recommended the colt’s purchase for $37,000 at the Hialeah two-year-old
sales in 1980. “He gave me a lot of pleasure and opened many doors for me and my
family.”
During his championship season, Lord Avie compiled a 10-5-3-2
mark, highlighted by victories in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes, Grade 1 Young
America Stakes, Grade 2 Cowdin Stakes and the Juvenile Stakes at Belmont. He placed in four additional stakes in 1978 — the Grade 1
Hopeful, Grade 1 Arlington-Washington Futurity, Grade 1 Sapling and Tremont
Stakes.
Syndicated in January of 1981 for $10 million, Lord Avie hit the Kentucky Derby trail at Gulfstream Park.
After winning the Hutcheson, and finishing a close third, beaten a neck, in the Grade 3
Fountain of Youth, the son of Lord Gaylord romped in the Grade 1 Florida Derby
to become the early Kentucky Derby favorite.
Unfortunately, his
Triple Crown dreams were shattered by a suspensory injury. Lord Avie made a
winning return in a Monmouth allowance that summer, and ended his career with
placings in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational and Grade 1 Travers.
Retired with
an admirable record of 16-8-4-4, $705,977, Lord Avie entered stud at Spendthrift Farm. He subsequently transferred to
Lane’s End and held court there until he was pensioned in 2002.
His leading
performers include Canadian champion turf horse Cloudy’s Knight; the
globetrotting filly Ode; and Grade/Group 1
winners Magical Maiden, Fly for Avie, Metamorphose and Pigricia. As a broodmare sire, Lord Avie
was responsible for Lawyer Ron, the champion older horse of 2007.
Perlsweig visited Lord Avie in retirement at least once every year, first in
Kentucky and later in Virginia, when multiple Eclipse Award-winning photographer
Barbara Livingston captured a remarkable image of the two together at Blue Ridge
in April.
Ironically, on Friday, Livingston’s photo garnered an honorable mention for
the 2012 Eclipse Award for photography. Her images of Lord Avie are accessible
here.
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