Kandaly, winner of the 1994 Louisiana Derby (gr. III) and sire, died Sept. 12. The 23-year-old from the last crop of Alydar was suffering from founder at Jason and Rebecca's Main Street Thoroughbreds near Lake Charles, La.
"He was grouchy until the end," Jason White said. "He'd try to bite you every time you walked by his stall. And if you didn't give him any attention, then he'd really try to bite you.
"He really became part of the family," White said. "We decided when he came to Main Street that he was going to stay forever. Lately we just tried to keep him as comfortable as possible."
Kandaly, out of the Rugged Man mare Kanduit, was bred and raced by Mrs. Rosalind Cole and trained by Niall O'Callaghan at Fair Grounds. Early in his 3-year-old campaign trainer Louie Roussel and owner Ronnie Lamarque purchased a half-interest in the bay colt after he beat Clev Er Irish, one of Roussel's better runners.
Roussel and Lamarque had had Triple Crown experience, having raced Preakness and Belmont (both gr. I) stakes winner Risen Star in 1988.
"I wouldn't have sold half-interest in this horse to anyone but them," Cole told the Baltimore Sun in 1994. "Louie is such a sweet man, and Ronnie is great fun. I liked the idea that they had had Risen Star and knew what they were doing in the Triple Crown races."
Making his stakes debut in the Louisiana Derby, Kandaly won by 1 1/2 lengths as an 8-1 shot under Craig Perret.
"Tell the people in Kentucky they're in trouble," Lamarque said after the Louisiana Derby. "We're coming back."
Kandaly made it back to Kentucky, for the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. II) at Keeneland and ran fourth behind Holy Bull. Entered for the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) Kandaly didn't make it under the Twin Spires because he was scratched the afternoon of the race by Roussel due to the sloppy conditions at Churchill Downs.
The colt went on to run fourth behind Tabasco Cat in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) and later was fifth in Holy Bull's Haskell Invitational Handicap (gr. I) in the summer of 1994.
In his last stakes start, Kandaly finished fifth behind Cigar in the Massachusetts Handicap in June 1995. Kandaly raced through age 6, later with trainer Billy Badgett Jr., and won five of 24 starts and earned $446,518.
Kandaly entered stud at Castle Rock Stud in Kentucky for a fee of $5,000. He moved to Hurstland Farm in 2001 and later stood at Davidovich farm in Pennsylvania. His last several seasons were at Main Street Thoroughbreds in Louisiana.
Fertility issues contributed to the fact he only sired 44 foals and had 11 winners who earned $657,217.
Cole, a New York literary agent, died in February at the age of 88.