Strike the Gold, Kentucky Derby winner of 1991, dead

Glenye Cain Oakford, Daily Racing Form

Strike the Gold, the 1991 Kentucky Derby winner who became a successful sire in Turkey, died Wednesday after having a heart attack, the Jockey Club of Turkey’s longtime adviser Jean-Pierre Deroubaix confirmed Thursday.

Strike the Gold, by Alydar, was 23. He died at the Jockey Club of Turkey’s Karacabey Pension Stud Farm. He had stood in Turkey since 1999.

“He collapsed and fell,” Deroubaix said. “The vet succeeded in waking him up. When he fell he broke his fetlock.”

Veterinarians euthanized the horse.

Deroubaix said that Strike the Gold had developed laminitis earlier in the year but was doing well before the heart attack. “The problem was his age,” he said. “The laminitis was a bit difficult to manage but not a real problem. The horse was doing very well. He was successful in Turkey, a good sire year after year. Nothing exceptional, but he was producing year after year, very good horses.”