Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Awesome Again dies at 26
Frank Stronach’s homebred Canadian Hall of Famer Awesome Again, the sire of multiple champions and classic winners, died Tuesday at Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky. The son of Deputy Minister was 26. The exact cause of death is unknown, with a full necropsy pending.
Awesome Again had been pensioned from stallion duty after the 2019 season and arrived at Old Friends in October, along with fellow Grade 1 winner Milwaukee Brew. Several active stallions for Stronach’s Adena Springs operation, as well as pensioners, have moved elsewhere this fall as his stallion operation evolves. Adena’s flagship Kentucky property has been on the market for several years.
“Anyone who ever saw Awesome Again on the racetrack or at Adena Springs knew he was aptly named,” Old Friends founder and president Michael Blowen said in a press release. “I’m just sorry his time at Old Friends was so short because I know he would have made a searing, lasting impression on his many fans, and I’m so sorry that circumstances prevented him from displaying his greatness for a lot longer. Awesome, indeed.”
Awesome Again won the 1997 Queen’s Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, at 1 1/4 miles in just his third start. He then raced at Saratoga for the rest of that summer, winning the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes and finishing third in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes.
The following season, Awesome Again won all six of his starts, with five graded stakes scores, including Grade 1 triumphs in the Whitney Handicap and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He defeated dual classic winner and champion Silver Charm by three-quarters of a length in the Breeders’ Cup, leading home a star-studded field that also included that year’s Horse of the Year, Skip Away; Belmont Stakes winners Touch Gold and Victory Gallop; and Grade 1/Group 1 winners Arch, Coronado’s Quest, Gentlemen, and Swain.
“I don’t think you’ll ever see as strong a field that he beat in 1998 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with eight Grade 1 winners and six of those multiple Grade 1 winners,” Adena Springs Kentucky stallion manager Bill Drury said.
Awesome Again is the sire of 75 career stakes winners. With hundreds of foals still active on the racetrack, he is closing in on the $100 million milestone in career progeny earnings, with a bankroll of $98,077,740 through Dec. 15. His top runner is Adena’s homebred Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year. Ghostzapper earned more than $3.4 million while winning 9 of 11 career starts and won at distances from six furlongs to the 1 1/4 miles of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, earning Beyer Speed Figures as high as an astonishing 128.
Awesome Again’s other standouts include Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and Eclipse Award champion Ginger Punch; 2013 Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow; 2019 Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston; 2004 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Wilko; 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Round Pond; Grade 1 winner Paynter, second in the 2012 Belmont Stakes; Grade 2 winner Bravazo, second in the 2018 Preakness Stakes to Triple Crown winner Justify; and Grade 1 winners Awesome Gem, Daaher, Dubai Escapade, Game On Dude, Spun Sugar, and Toccet.
Ghostzapper has ably carried on his sire’s legacy at stud. His top runners include Canadian champion and multiple Grade 1 winner Shaman Ghost; Queen’s Plate winner and Canadian champion Holy Helena; Canadian champion Hunters Bay; Better Lucky, a multiple Grade 1 winner on turf who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint; and Grade 1 winners Guarana, Molly Morgan, Moreno, Paulassilverlining, Stately Victor, and Za Approval. Ghostzapper has moved to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm for 2021, along with two other former Adena stallions, as Stronach has formed a partnership with that operation.
Awesome Again’s other sons at stud include Paynter (WinStar Farm), the sire of 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Knicks Go; Oxbow (Calumet Farm); Awesome of Course (Ocala Stud), a consistent Florida sire who has been represented by champion Awesome Feather and other graded winners; and Bravazo (Calumet Farm), entering stud in 2021.