Vicar (Wild Again–Escrow Agent, by El Gran Senor), whose four career victories included the GI Fountain of Youth S. followed by the GI Florida Derby, has passed away in Korea at the age of 20. The cause of death, which occurred Jan. 24, was reported by the Korean Studbook as a 'throat obstruction.'
A $260,000 graduate of the 1997 Keeneland July sale, Vicar raced for the late James Tafel and was conditioned through his 3-year-old season by Hall of Famer Carl Nafzger. The sire of six crops of racing age while standing in the US, Vicar accounted for five graded stakes winners, including 2005 GII Delaware Oaks victrix R Lady Joy and the good sprinter Vicarage. Exported to Korea, he covered his first book of mares in the country in 2007 and his first crop to make the races in 2010 catapulted Vicar to fifth spot on the leading 2-year-old sires table. He was third on the general sires' table in each of the next four seasons. That first crop of runners yielded the winners of two legs of the Korean Triple Crown–the Korean Derby and the Minister's Cup. Vicar finished the 2015 as the country's fifth-leading sire with progeny earnings of K¥3.5 billion (US$2.88 million) and currently sits in second spot on the general sires' list in 2016.
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