Champion Westerner has died at Castlehyde Stud in Ireland, Coolmore announced on Friday. The bay was just a few days shy of his 26th birthday.
“Westerner was always a pleasure to deal with and was an old favourite of the breeders too,” said Castlehyde's Cathal Murphy. “He got you a lovely sort of horse with a good attitude that jumped well. He has been a wonderful servant for us over the years producing so many top-class horses and will be greatly missed by all the team here in Castlehyde.”
Bred by the Wildenstein family's Dayton Investments in the UK, the son of Danehill was out of the Troy mare Walensee. Successful in the 2003 G1 Prix Royal-Oaks and G1 Prix du Cadran, as well as the 2004 editions of those races, the Ellie Lellouche trainee also won the 2005 G1 Gold Cup at York. His record upon his 2007 retirement to Coolmore's National Hunt arm was 28-11-9-2, and $1,885,154 in earnings.
At stud, he left numerous NH top-liners, including Cole Harden, Western Warhorse and Ferny Hollow, all Grade 1 winner at Cheltenham.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
