Pontchatrain Dies From Foaling Complications

Glen Hill Farm's multiple graded stakes winner Pontchatrain and her Curlin   foal died during foaling complications Feb. 4 in Ocala, Fla. 

The 7-year-old daughter of War Front   earned $446,392 on the track for Glen Hill and trainer Tom Proctor. She had six wins from 10 starts and tallied four consecutive stakes victories, including grade 2 scores in the Monrovia Stakes and Buena Vista Stakes at Santa Anita Park. After her racing career was over, she joined Glen Hill's broodmare band. 

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"When she was good, she was probably as talented of a horse as we've ever had," Glen Hill's Craig Bernick said Feb. 5. "(She was) definitely grade 1 quality, but there were no grade 1 races when she went on her run."

Bernick said Pontchatrain was first bred to Galileo (IRE) during last year's breeding season but aborted the foal about a month before her due date. For this breeding season, she was bred to Curlin and carried the foal to term but hemorrhaged after her water broke Saturday. 

"They got her over to the clinic and there was nothing they could do," Bernick said. "It's quite a shame for the connections, because we had a lot of success racing her and we decided to keep her. 

"A lot of these (fillies), you sell them when you're done racing and you reinvest the money, but this one we decided to keep. So it's quite a shame that happened. She was a really good horse."

Bred by Lavin Bloodstock and Kenowa Stable in Kentucky, Pontchatrain was out of the stakes-placed Housebuster mare Dominica. Pontchatrain was purchased by Glen Hill as a yearling for $200,000 out of the Longfield Farm consignment at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale. 

"You don't want to lose any horse," Bernick said. "The nice thing about horse racing (is) the good horses take you places—you win races, you share an experience with your friends and the people who are on your team. The good ones are special."