Keeper Hill (Deputy Minister–Fineza, by Lypheor {GB}), who gave trainer Bobby Frankel the first of his two victories in the GI Kentucky Oaks in 1998, passed away Nov. 20 at the Chandler family's Mill Ridge Farm in Lexington. She was 20 years old.
Bred in Kentucky by Phyllis Wyeth's Chadds Ford Stable, in partnership with owners Mill Ridge, Dr. John Chandler, JAMM Ltd., and Shug McGaughey, Keeper Hill, a $250,000 graduate of the 1997 Keeneland April Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, won the GI Las Virgenes S. by open lengths and was runner-up in the GI Santa Anita Oaks prior to her neck defeat of Banshee Breeze (Unbridled) beneath the Twin Spires. Kept in training at four, the bay added a victory over Banshee Breeze in the GI Spinster S. and retired with earnings of over $1.6 million. Eleven of her 12 stakes wins or placings were in Grade I events.
As a broodmare, Keeper Hill produced the Alex Clarkson-trained Keep Up (Unbridled's Song), who overcame a bowed tendon to carry the Mill Ridge silks to a 30-1 upset in the 2012 GIII River City H. at Churchill Downs. The 8-year-old now stands at the farm.
“You can only dream about winning a race like the Kentucky Oaks, and Keeper Hill fulfilled that dream,” said Mill Ridge Farm's Headley Bell. “For our partners and Mill Ridge family it was an honor to associate with her all these years.”
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