Klein Family Mourns Will Call, a Horse of Many Firsts

Klein Racing's homebred Will Call, co-owned by Madaket Stables, died June 29 after crossing the finish line in the ninth race at Churchill Downs.

The 5-year-old horse trained by Brad Cox was the first winner and first stakes winner for Richard, Bertram, and Elaine Klein's stallion Country Day. He was bred in Kentucky out of the Kleins' stakes-winning mare Vote Early. 

Will Call collapsed after finishing 11th in an allowance Saturday and died on the track, leaving connections to think he suffered a heart attack or heat stroke. 

"This one stings as bad as I've had," Richard Klein said. "Just because we own the stallion, had owned the mare, and this is the first horse of the stallion to ever win, first horse for the stallion to win a stakes—a graded stakes—and he's the first horse that the family won a graded stakes with on Oaks or Derby day."

Will Call broke through last year in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes (G3T) on the Kentucky Oaks undercard when he rallied to a 1 1/4-length victory in the five-furlong event, stopping the clock in :56.68. He also earned runner-up finishes in the Woodford Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G2T) during Keeneland's fall meet and the Colonel Power Overnight Stakes during the 2018 meet at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

He capped last season with a fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) under the Twin Spires.

Prior to Saturday's race, Will Call finished off the board in three stakes this season. Klein planned to retire Will Call and turn him out at Charlie and Amy LoPresti's Forest Lane Farm in Lexington, Ky., next week if the horse did not bounce back to last season's form. He said he did not want to drop Will Call into the claiming ranks.

"He was a neat horse. Everybody that loved him said he's kind, he was fun to be around at the barn, he had a personality, loved peppermints," Klein said. "This one (hurts) just because of me owning the stallion and trying to make the stallion, just everything he's accomplished, just trying to get him there. He was just a neat horse."

Will Call earned $354,911 with a 6-2-1 record from 17 starts. 

"He owns a special place in the hearts of the Klein family," said Klein.