Pluck's dam, Secret Heart, passes away

Secret Heart, the dam of 2010 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Pluck for

Team Valor International, died over the weekend at Denali Stud in Paris,

Kentucky. She was found dead in her stall Saturday morning. A cause of death has

not been determined.

The 15-year-old daughter of Fort Wood out of Secret Pact, by Bush Telegraph,

was in foal to Point of Entry, and she leaves behind a colt foal by Medaglia

d'Oro.

"She was the ideal mare," said Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin, who imported

Secret Heart from her native South Africa in 2004 and considered her to have the

best pedigree in the stable's band of 28 broodmares in the United States,

Ireland and South Africa.

"She had speed, she had size, her pedigree improved every year and her first

foal was sensational. This is a hard one to swallow."

In South Africa, Secret Heart won the listed Prix du Cap at Kenilworth and

placed in four Grade 1 races, including two classics -- the Cape Fillies Guineas

at Kenilworth and the S.A. Fillies Guineas at Greyville. Her other top-level

placings came in the Paddock Stakes behind Crimson Palace, who ultimately won

Arlington's Grade 1 Beverly D. in 2004 for Godolphin, and in the Garden Province

behind Tara's Touch, who later took Woodbine's Grade 3 Royal North for Team

Valor and Margaux Farm.