Next Question, Cajun Beat Die at Old Friends Farms

Old Friends Farm, a Thoroughbred retirement organization with several locations, announced Jan. 17 the deaths of grade 1 winners Next Question and Cajun Beat.

Twelve-year-old Next Question was euthanized Jan. 16 at Old Friends at Cabin Creek near Greenfield Center, N.Y., due to complications from a paddock accident, the farm said, and 20-year-old Cajun Beat's cause of death at the track's primary farm near Georgetown, Ky., was not specified. Details of Cajun Beat's death are pending following a necropsy.

Cajun Beat, who won the 2003 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita Park, had been pensioned at Old Friends, joining the farm in 2016. The son of Grand Slam raced for owners Padua Stables and John and Joseph Iracane, winning four other stakes in addition to his Breeders' Cup score. He competed for trainers Ben Perkins Jr., Cam Gambolati, Steve Margolis, and Bobby Frankel from 2002-05, winning the Sprint for Margolis.

He came to Old Friends along with Padua's Pride, whom the farm called his "closest friend."

"He was a lovely horse, a real champion," Padua Stables' Satish Sanan said. "With all of the horses we've had, he was one of our favorites—he was my wife's favorite. He didn't show much talent until we gelded him, and then he became a hell of a sprinter. He gave us a lot of thrills. We were very grateful to Old Friends for taking he and 'Padua.'"

Old Friends founder and president Michael Blowen said the duo had a bond.

"Yesterday, after his unexpected death, his longtime pal, Padua's Pride, stood over the body, nudging him as if he was trying to get him up," he said in a release. "All of this with the setting sun in the background. He earned every bit of it … to die with the dignity that the rest of us can only hope for."

Affectionately known as "Q," Next Question initially retired to Old Friends at Cabin Creek in 2014, where he lived for one year before returning to his owner, Three Diamonds Farm, for a second career. He returned to Old Friends at Cabin Creek in November 2019. 

Racing for Three Diamonds Farm and trainer Michael Trombetta, Next Question won the 2012 Nearctic Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine before finishing seventh that year in the Breeder's Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Santa Anita. A gelded son of Stormy Atlantic , he won three of 13 races and made $424,391.

"'Q' was a kind, sweet horse who was well loved by everyone who cared for him throughout his life," Old Friends at Cabin Creek owner and manager JoAnn Pepper said. "We are heartbroken to carry on without him and grateful to Three Diamonds Farm for allowing us to have this time with 'Q.'"