Palace Music (horse)

Palace Music (April 12, 1981 – January 7, 2008) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and a Champion sire who won Group/Grade 1 stakes in both Europe and the United States.

Background

Bred by

At age three Palace Music won the Group 3 Prix Daphnis at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris. In the fall he won the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in England. As a four-year-old, Palace Music's only significant win in 1985 came in the Group 3 La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse. Sent to the United States for the November 2, 1985 Breeders' Cup Mile, hosted that year by Aqueduct Racetrack, Palace Music finished second to Cozzene but was disqualified for interference and placed ninth.^[2]

Palace Music remained in the United States,

Overall, Palace Music sired more than 400 winners, of which 33 were stakes race winners. He was also the damsire of 39 stakes winners. During his time at stud in the United States, he sired U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Cigar. A 1990 foal, beginning in 1994 Cigar won sixteen consecutive races, tying the record set by Citation in 1949. His wins included the 1995 Breeders' Cup Classic and the Dubai World Cup. The two-time American Horse of the Year retired the richest horse in the history of world Thoroughbred racing with earnings of US$9,999,815.

Palace Music also met with considerable success as a shuttle stallion between Australia and New Zealand. Among the notable runners he sired were Group One winners Ready To Explode, Anthems, and Naturalism, a multi-millionaire whose wins included the Group One Australian Derby (1992), Rosehill Guineas (1992), and Caulfield Stakes (1993). Another son, Palace Line, earned Champion honors racing in South Africa and in Singapore.^[5]

Pensioned in January 2005,^[6] on January 7, 2008 twenty-seven-year-old Palace Music was humanely euthanized at Rangal Park Stud.^[7]

References

• Palace Music's pedigree and partial racing stats