Tuscan Evening Tribute

It was a rollercoaster of a weekend for racing fans. Saturday, Blame beat out Quality Road in thrilling stretch-running fashion to capture the Whitney followed by Zenyatta going 18 for 18 while winning an incredible third straight Clement L. Hirsch. Sunday promised another great day of racing but was turned sour when it was announced that Tuscan Evening had lost her life.

Tuscan Evening was a bay mare foaled April 22, 2005 in Ireland by Oasis Dream out of The Faraway Tree. In 2006, she sold for only $8,823 at the Tattersall's October Yearling Sale. She raced in Ireland at two, finishing second in the G3 Anglesey Stakes and Saoire Stakes, and third in the G2 Debutante Stakes and Isabel Morris EBF Stakes.

In 2009, Tuscan Evening moved to the United Stakes. She sold for $650,000 in the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale. She ran incredibly, winning the G2 Royal Heroine Mile, G2 Los Palmas Handicap, and Redondo Beach Stakes. She also finished second in the G1 Matriarch Sakes, and third in the G3 Las Cienegas Handicap and G3 Senator Ken Maddy Handicap. But the best was yet to come.

This year, Tuscan Evening ran undefeated in six starts, adding the G1 Gamely Stakes, G2 Buena Vista Handicap, G2 Santa Ana Handicap, G2 Santa Barbara Handicap, G3 Monrovia Handicap, and G3 Modesty Handicap to her belt, and making her a leader in the turf female division. She was being pointed towards a start in the G1 Beverly D. Stakes August 21 at Arlington.

It was never meant to be. While galloping out after a six-furlong workout on the turf at Del Mar, the five-year-old mare collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack. No cause of death has been confirmed as of yet.

RIP Tuscan Evening. You will be greatly missed.