High-class racehorse and sire Desert Party dies aged 17 in Saudi Arabia

Graded/Group winner and proven sire Desert Party died on Sunday in Saudi Arabia at the age of 17.

The son of Street Cry raced from 2008 to 2010 until he was retired after developing a soft tissue injury. He went on to stand the majority of his career in New York beginning in 2013 - first at Sequel Stallions New York and then at Irish Hill Century Farm after he was sold by Darley to a partnership that included the stallion's co-breeder Stephen Sinatra.

In January of 2020, he relocated to Godstone Farm in Pennsylvania to capitalise on the state's breeding incentive programme. In August of the same year, he was moved again, this time heading overseas to Saudi Arabia in a deal that was brokered by Schumer Bloodstock.

"[Trainer] Eoin Harty told me, 'If this horse was a man walking into a room, he'd fill the room,'" Desert Party's manager Richard Brooks told BloodHorse in 2020. "He was tough."

Out of the winning Tabasco Cat mare Sage Cat, Desert Party was a pricey two-year-old who went for $2,100,000 to John Ferguson from the Scanlon Training Center consignment to the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He was initially a $425,000 yearling for Paul Pompa from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment to the 2007 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Bred in Kentucky by David Smith and Sinatra, the horse was campaigned by Godolphin along with trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

During his two- and three-year-old years he recorded some of his highest-profile victories including the 2008 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga and the 2009 UAE Two Thousand Guineas at Nad Al Sheba. He was runner-up in the UAE Derby on his next start.

As a four-year-old he won the Elnadim Mahab Al Shimaal at Meydan and ended his career after winning the Donald LeVine Memorial Handicap at Philadelphia Park in June of 2010. He finished with a record of six wins from ten starts and $928,467 in earnings.

During his time at stud, Desert Party sired seven black-type winners, including Group 3 winner Salama, Grade 2-placed Heart's Song and dual stakes winner Aunt Babe.

The stallion was New York's leading freshman sire of 2014 and placed within the top ten leading New York sires in 2016.

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