Beau Choix Dies From Sudden Onset of Colic, Infection
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Photo: Louise Reinagel
Beau Choix at Pleasant Acres Stallions
Grade 1-placed multiple stakes winner Beau Choix was euthanized April 8 after suffering from complications associated with colic and an infection, according to Pleasant Acres Stallions, where the stallion stood his entire stud career.
"He was one of the biggest, stoutest stallions we've stood, just a beautifully bodied horse with an equally beautiful pedigree," said Helen Barbazon of Pleasant Acres, which is near Ocala, Fla. "It all happened so quick. This is the most heart-wrenching part of the business, losing these horses we've gotten so attached to, but he's in a better place. He was one of the sweetest stallions I've ever been around and a gentleman. He'll be missed."
The 13-year-old son of Elusive Quality out of multiple graded stakes winner Belle Cherie (Belong to Me) raced as a homebred for Belle Meadows Stable and Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stable. Belle Cherie is a half sister to two-time grade 1 winner Octave and two other stakes winners.
Trained by Barclay Tagg, Beau Choix earned black type in the 2010 James W. Murphy Stakes Presented by Iberia Airline at Pimlico Race Course and immediately followed with a win in the Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. He also was third in the 2010 Jamaica Handicap (G1T).
From ages 4-6, he added wins in the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Rob 'n Gin Stakes at Belmont Park and placed in the Fourstardave Handicap (G2T), Appleton Stakes (G3T), and Canadian Turf Stakes (G3T). Injury eventually forced his retirement from racing, leaving him with a 7-5-6 record from 30 starts (28 on turf) and earnings of $425,694.
As a stallion, from a limited number of foals of racing age, he sired five winners, led by Spicy Nelly, who was second in the 2018 Panama City Stakes at Gulfstream Park and has earnings of nearly $137,000. Beau Choix's daughter What a Beaut, out of the Trippi mare D J Trip, caught buyers' attention at the 2018 Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale, where she worked in :10 and went on to sell for $155,000 to Justin Casse. She was a winner at 2.