She won two Cox Plates (1999, 2000), two Doncaster Handicaps (1999, 2002), two Coolmore Classics (2000, 2002) and the 2000 Hong Kong Mile; there were a total of 13 Group 1 victories and $11,351,607 in prize money in a 48 start career.
But she couldn't beat laminitis.
The great Australasian race mare Sunline has been battling laminitis for nine months, and every once in a while I'd hear a rallying cry that she was improving, then silence. Today, the Australian press is announcing that US laminitis expert Dr. Ric Redden of Versailles, Kentuckkyk traveled to New Zealand to assist on Monday, but adviced that there was no hope, and the 13-year-old mare has been put to sleep.
Sunline will be buried at Ellerslie racecourse in New Zealand and a memorial will be erected there in her honor.
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
