Dollar Bill died. He had such freakishly bad luck, like you just knew he was gonna die young.
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DOLLAR BILL
NTRA photo
After a racing career plagued by troubled trips, near misses, and problem ankles, the hard-luck life of Gary and Mary West’s Dollar Bill ended tragically on August 3 when he was euthanized at Phil Owens’ Houstondale Farm near Paris, Kentucky, after foundering.
Dollar Bill retired in September 2003 with arthritis in his ankle and he skipped the ’04 breeding season at William Schettine’s Signature Stallions near Reddick, Florida, while he recovered from ankle fusion surgery.
The five-year-old son of Peaks And Valleys appeared poised to begin his stud career next year, but Dollar Bill foundered again on August 1 at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington, prompting the Wests to euthanize him two days later when his laminitis continued to deteriorate.
“He had been at Rood and Riddle since last October, and he was coming along quite well, but he just took a turn for the worse,” said the West’s racing manager Ben Glass on August 4. “Dr. [Larry] Bramlage [D.V.M.] thought he had made it—that he had gotten over the hill—but he just didn’t make it.”
Glass said that Bramlage heavily medicated Dollar Bill so that the Wests could transport him alive to Houstondale where they euthanized and buried him.
“We weren’t going to send him to his grave in a dump truck,” Glass said through tears. “Everybody just loved this horse; we’re all devastated. I always say I won’t fall in love with the horse because they break your heart so many times, but you just couldn’t help but love [Dollar Bill].”
The Wests acquired Dollar Bill for $145,000 at the 1999 Keeneland September yearling sale and placed him in the care of Dallas Stewart, who conditioned the colt to victory in the 2000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at two and the Risen Star Stakes in his three-year-old debut to stamp Dollar Bill as a leader in the three-year-old division.
Dollar Bill started in every Triple Crown race of 2001, finishing fourth in both the Preakness (G1) and Belmont (G1) Stakes after a horrendous trip in the Kentucky Derby (G1, where he finished 15th. The popular Dollar Bill, who fans followed on his humorous Web site, closed his three-year-old season with a third in the Travers Stakes (G1)—one of five Grade 1 races in which he finished second or third.
Dollar Bill raced for Stewart through his four-year-old season, and Bobby Frankel trained him in his only start at five: a third-place finish in the 2003 Suburban Handicap (G1). Dollar Bill retired having won four of 22 starts lifetime with $1,225,546 in earnings.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Courtney bred Dollar Bill in Kentucky out of the multiple stakes-winning Saratoga Six mare Saratoga Dame.—Ed DeRosa
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