Holy Bull dead at 26

A leading racehorse of the 1990s, Holy Bull was euthanized due to the infirmities of old age on Thursday, Jonabell Farm reports. He was 26.

Owned and trained by Warren "Jimmy" Croll, Holy Bull won 13-of-16 starts and earned more than $2.4 million. The brilliant front-runner was named Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male in 1994 and inducted into Thoroughbred racing’s Hall of Fame in 2001.

“If you were putting together your fantasy horse stable for the last 25 years, you’d have to have Holy Bull in your top five,” said Godolphin USA President Jimmy Bell, whose family owned Jonabell prior to Sheikh Mohammed’s purchase in 2001. “Horses like Holy Bull just don’t come along that often. I’ve always said, he wasn’t a specialist -- short, grass, long or dirt. Just a fantastic racehorse. You can’t mention his name without using such words as fighter, determination and guts.”

The gray Florida-bred son of Great Above compiled major wins in the Travers (G1), Met Mile (G1), Woodward (G1), Haskell (G1), Florida Derby (G1), Blue Grass (G2) and Futurity (G1). One of his few setbacks came when he never fired over a sloppy track and finished 12^th in the Kentucky Derby, but Holy Bull exacted a measure of revenge at stud when siring 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo.

Retired to Jonabell in 1995, Holy Bull was also represented by 2000 champion 2-year-old male Macho Uno.

Originally owned by Rachel Carpenter, Holy Bull was bequeathed to Croll before his first start in 1993. He captured all four starts as a juvenile, with Mike Smith picking up the mount in his second outing, and the Hall of Fame rider was aboard for the rest of Holy Bull’s career.

“The whole story of Holy Bull, Mrs. Carpenter and Jimmy Croll, jockey Mike Smith…it was just a sensational ride,” Bell added.  “No doubt, at the time, Holy Bull was an icon for our family farm. I’d also like to send out a special thank you to our stallion crew who have taken such good care of him for all these years, especially Phillip Hampton who was with him since 1995.”

Holy Bull won eight-of-10 starts at age 3, dropping only the Fountain of Youth (G2) when displacing his palate and the aforementioned Kentucky Derby. An injury forced him to miss the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the fall and after returning at age 4 with a stakes victory, Holy Bull sustained a career-ending injury in the Donn H. (G1).

He also made an impact as a broodmare sire, with his daughters producing more than 50 stakes winners so far including champion Judy the Beauty.

Holy Bull will be buried at Jonabell.