Oldest Living Derby Winner Sea Hero Dies at 29

Sea Hero, the colt who delivered a gold Kentucky Derby (G1) trophy to longtime owner/breeder Paul Mellon and veteran trainer MacKenzie "Mack" Miller, has died at 29, The Jockey Club of Turkey announced July 12.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of our pensioned stallion, oldest living @KentuckyDerby and @TheNYRA's G1 Travers & G1 Champagne Stakes winner Sea Hero's passing at the age of 29," read a tweet by the Turkish Jockey Club.

By Polish Navy, Sea Hero was the eighth foal and—at the time he raced—fourth graded stakes winner produced by Glowing Tribute, whom Mellon also bred and raced in the name of Rokeby Stables. Glowing Tribute ultimately produced seven black-type winners—six at the graded level. The mare was representative of the depth of Mellon's breeding program, which produced Epsom Derby (G1) and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) winner Mill Reef along with 85 other stakes winners he owned and 89 others (three in partnership) he bred. Mellon, however, had one classic winner to date, Arts and Letters, who won the 1969 Belmont Stakes.

Sea Hero showed early ability at 2. He broke his maiden in September at Belmont Park, which propelled him to an allowance win in his next start and then a victory in the Champagne Stakes (G1). He delivered a flat performance in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), where he finished in seventh place. At 3, Sea Hero did not stamp himself as a top contender during the Derby prep season. Ten days before the Derby, Mellon (who was 85) and Miller (who was 71) said their colt had a 50/50 chance to start in the American classic on the first Saturday in May following a lackluster fourth in the Blue Grass Stakes (G2), the BloodHorse reported in its May 8, 1993, edition. 

"At the time, Sea Hero was a confusing shadow of a colt," wrote Jay Hovdey in the BloodHorse article.

To the Derby they went, securing future Hall of Fame rider Jerry Bailey to ride their colt. Sea Hero got a picture-perfect trip until the top of the stretch, where a wall of horses loomed, and Bailey faced a split-second decision. He spotted a gap to his inside, angled left, and hoped the gap wouldn't close. It didn't, and they found themselves in command with plenty of room to run. Sea Hero blew past Personal Hope to win by 2 1/2 lengths, delivering the first Derby win for Mellon, Miller, and Bailey. Mellon became the second breeder besides John Galbreath to win both the Kentucky Derby and Epsom Derby.

Unplaced in both the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1), Sea Hero later captured the Travers Stakes (G1), his last stakes victory. He retired with a 6-3-4 record in 24 starts and earned $2,929,869.

He entered stud at Lane's End in 1995 with a $10,000 fee. Off to a slow start at stud, he was without a stakes winner until his second-crop year. The stallion was sold and relocated to Turkey for the 2000 breeding season and, like so often happens, was represented by his first U.S. grade 1 winner that year when Cindy's Hero won the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1).

Sea Hero sired 15 black-type winners and 23 black-type-placed runners, which include four graded/group winners and two champions—one in Turkey and one in the Dominican Republic. His other graded stakes winners are Hero's Tribute, winner of the Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) and Peter Pan Stakes (G2); Desert Hero, winner of the San Rafael Stakes (G2); and Hero's Pleasure, winner of the Manitoba Derby (G3). His lifetime progeny earnings worldwide total $19,165,928.

Sea Hero had a respectable stud career in Turkey, where he ranks 13th on the list of all-time leading Turkish stallions by number of winners with 211 from 419 foals. His progeny won 730 races and placed another 1,653 times, according to statistics from The Jockey Club of Turkey. His lifetime Turkish progeny earnings total 32,890,013 lira.

His top Turkish runners by native currency are millionaires Aeneas, a group 2 winner out of Viva Skeeanno (by Peteski) who earned 1,381,190 lira; Big Trouble, a group 2-placed winner out of Pantomime I. (Yemken) who earned 1,178,540 lira; and Akdeniz Atesi, a multiple group 1-placed group 2 winner out of Soviet Weapon (Hamas) who earned 1,092,050 lira. Akdeniz Atesi was runner-up in the 2010 Gazi Derby (G1).