1996 Queen's Plate Winner Victor Cooley Euthanized

Victor Cooley, Canada's 1996 champion 3-year-old male and Queen's Plate winner, was euthanized June 27 at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement farm based in Georgetown, KY, where he has been pensioned since 2014. The gelding was 29.

According to attending veterinarian Dr. Ashton Broman, Victor Cooley suffered an acute onset of neurological symptoms coupled with other pre-existing conditions. 

Bred in Ontario by the Begg family's Windways Farm, the son of Cool Victor out of Willow Flight, racked up numerous accolades in his six seasons on the track on his way to earnings of $1,320,475.

Racing under the silks of Windways Farm and conditioned by trainer Mark Frostad and later Malcolm Pierce, Victor Cooley collected the Sovereign Award for 3-year-old male after landing the prestigious Queen's Plate at Woodbine. He also captured the Queenston and Marine stakes that year in addition to finishing runner-up behind the mighty Skip Away in the Woodbine Million (G1).

As a 4-year-old, the gelding campaigned mainly in the U.S., taking home a top-level victory in the Vosburgh Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park over top sprinters Tale of the Cat  and Northern Afleet. He also equaled the Keeneland track record when winning the Commonwealth Breeders' Cup Stakes (G2) and placed in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G2), Forego Handicap (G2), Churchill Downs Handicap (G3), Equipoise Mile (G3), and Ack Ack Handicap (G3).

Victor Cooley retired at age 6 with a record of 13-12-3 from 39 starts. 

The gelding remained at Windways until the farm closed in 2014 and was then sent to Old Friends along with Windways's other accomplished gelding, El Brujo. 

"We bred him, foaled him, and broke him at our farm," said Windways Jeff Begg, "Victor wasn't an easy horse to deal with—he was really a handful, but he was our first big horse and really took us to a different level and took us everywhere.

"For such a quirky horse, nothing really phased him. He didn't care, he took his form to any track he went to."

"Victor was as tough a retiree as he was a racehorse," said Old Friends's President Michael Blowen. "In his racing days he didn't leave anything on the track, and he didn't leave anything on the table here, either. I wish all of the owners were like Jeff and his wife Annabel.

"They came two or three times a year to visit him, always with a bag of peppermints. They continued to care for him long passed his racing days."