Canadian Horse of the Year Soaring Free Dies at Age 26
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Soaring Free scores a repeat victory in the 2005 Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland
2004 Canadian Horse of the Year Soaring Free died the morning of May 28 at Sam-Son Farm's Ocala, Fla., facility due to complications of old age. He was 26.
A popular gelding on the track and off, he lived out his days at Sam-Son's Florida farm, with his ownership committed to his aftercare and postracing life.
"A very sad, very sad day for the family," said Sam-Son Farm racing manager Tom Zwiesler.
A homebred gelded son of Smart Strike, Soaring Free won 15 of 27 starts and more than $2.1 million for Sam-Son Farm and trainer Mark Frostad—a race record that earned him a spot in the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame. Besides his success in his home country, he had success in the United States, capturing back-to-back renewals of the Shakertown Stakes (G3T) in 2004-05 at Keeneland. Following a victory in the 2004 Atto Mile Stakes (G1T)—now known as the Woodbine Mile—he also finished fourth in the 2004 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) at Lone Star Park. He had been fifth the preceding year in the same race at Santa Anita Park.
Soaring Free retired in 2006 at age 7 after trying for his third win in the Shakertown at Keeneland, running sixth and beaten less than three lengths.
Todd Kabel rode him for much of his racing career.
Born in 1999 at Sam-Son Farm near Milton, Ontario, he was a product of Smart Strike's second crop and out of Dancing With Wings, a stakes-winning Danzig mare. Difficult to train early in his career and with some bad habits, he was gelded when he turned 3. A switch to grass racing also elevated his productivity. Eleven of his wins came on turf.
Soaring Free after winning the 2004 Atto Mile Stakes at Woodbine
Soaring Free—nicknamed "Muffin" by the farm employees—kept his competitive energy early in retirement.
"When he first came down here, we would put him in the infield of our racetrack," Zwiesler said of the training facility at the farm. "And he would run around, and when we'd go out there to gallop (another), he'd sort of run around and then take off around the fences and race everybody, every day. He wouldn't miss a set, and nobody could beat him. We almost had to take him in because he was interrupting all the training.
"But he was just a great horse, a great individual. I really feel he had a great life."
Soaring Free's death was first reported in the Thoroughbred Daily News.