Million-dollar yearling, multiple Grade 2 winner, and successful sire
Exchange Rate has been euthanized at the age of 19, Three Chimneys announced
Monday.
According to the Midway, Kentucky, farm’s release, the son of Danzig had been
battling pneumonia and a liver dysfunction. Unfortunately, the complication of a
“secondary deep vein thrombosis in his right hind leg” proved too much to
overcome.
Out of Grade 3 heroine Sterling Pound, and a descendant of the influential
matriarch Native Partner, Exchange Rate sold for $1.4 million as a Keeneland
July yearling to Padua Stables. He was a prominent juvenile for trainer D. Wayne
Lukas, placing second in both the Hollywood Juvenile Championship (G3) and Best
Pal (G3).
As a three-year-old on the 2000 Triple Crown trail, Exchange Rate captured
the Risen Star (G2) and finished fourth in the Louisiana Derby (G2), but his
stamina limitations were exposed when unplaced in the Wood Memorial (G2) and
Kentucky Derby (G1). The gray found his niche as a sprinter and concluded his
career on a winning note in the 2001 Tom Fool H. (G2). He retired with a mark of
15-6-2-2, including placings in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G2) on turf and
Churchill Downs S. (G2), and earnings of $479,803.
Exchange Rate will leave a legacy through such offspring as multiple
highweight Reckless Abandon; U.S. Grade 1 winners Ermine, Ball Dancing, Sunset
Glow, and Swap Fliparoo; and Argentinean Group 1 scorers Kalithea and Querida
Rebeca.
Having bred 127 mares last breeding season, Exchange Rate was again to
command a fee of $20,000 in 2016.
“Exchange Rate was booked full again this year and was running on all
cylinders at stud — we especially hate losing him because he was such a
wonderful horse to be around and exuded class,” said Grant Williamson, Three
Chimneys Director of Stallion Nominations.
“We will try to accommodate all breeders with our other stallions if at all
possible.”
Exchange Rate will be buried at Three Chimneys.