Champion Flanders dead at 18

FLANDERS (Seeking the Gold), the champion juvenile filly of 1994 and the dam

of 2000 champion three-year-old filly Surfside (Seattle Slew), was euthanized in

mid-February due to complications from a paddock accident, according to various

reports. She was 18.

A homebred campaigned by William T. Young's Overbrook Farm, Flanders passed

the wire first in all five of her starts as a two-year-old, though she was

subsequently stripped of one of those victories due to a positive test for a

prohibited substance. A 7 1/2-length debut winner at Saratoga over five

furlongs, Flanders returned to notch the seven-furlong Spinaway S. (G1) by 4 3/4

lengths over the same track.

Another facile victory, by 3 1/4 lengths, followed in the Matron S. (G1) at

Belmont Park, but Flanders was found to have the medication isoxsuprine in her

system and was disqualified and placed last of six. An authoritative 21-length

romp followed in the Frizette S. (G1) at Belmont over 1 1/16 miles.

The chestnut was made an overwhelming 2-5 favorite in the Breeders' Cup

Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Churchill Downs. In one of the most stirring stretch

battles in Breeders' Cup history, Flanders held off stablemate and future

champion Serena's Song by a head, but pulled up lame and never made it to the

winner's circle. She was retired soon after due to a leg fracture. Her mark was

5-4-0-0, $805,000.

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas and ridden throughout her brief career by Pat Day,

Flanders hit the ground running as a broodmare. Her first foal was Surfside, who

notched five Grade 1 wins and captured the Santa Anita Oaks (G1), Las Virgenes

S. (G1), Clark H. (G2) and Santa Ysabel S. (G3) during her championship

campaign.

Flanders has also been represented by the stakes-placed Flanders Field (A.P.

Indy) and the five-year-old Battle Plan (Empire Maker), a late developer now

under the care of Todd Pletcher, who is being considered for the April 3 Oaklawn

H. (G2). Her final two foals, both by Bernardini, are a yearling filly and a

2010 colt.

Flanders, who lived at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Kentucky, at the time of

her death, was produced from the winning Starlet Storm (Storm Bird).