WELLINGTON - New Zealand's greatest thoroughbred broodmare Eight Carat was put down yesterday.
Eight Carat was retired from breeding three years ago but the 25-year-old suffered a series of heart attacks in the past few days at the Cambridge Stud property of her owner Sir Patrick Hogan.
"The kindest, and the hardest thing to do, was to put her down," Hogan said of Eight Carat who was named New Zealand Broodmare of the Year on three occasions from 1995 to 1997.
"The last thing I wanted was to find her one morning knowing that she may have suffered."
Hogan said she would join Sir Tristram who was buried in the courtyard of Cambridge Stud in 1997.
"She has been great, an absolute gem, and she will be buried alongside Paddy," he said.
Eight Carat's record was unmatched in New Zealand breeding history, leaving five individual group one winners. One of them, Kaapstad, won the VRC Sires' Produce Stakes and is himself a leading sire.
The greatest of Eight Carat's progeny was Octagonal who won 10 group one races and is Australasia's highest earner with $A5.8 million in stakes. Eight Carat's three other group one winners are Diamond Lover, Mouawad and Marquise.
- NZPA
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