'Afternoon Deelites was a beautiful friend' - Burt Bacharach's dual Grade 1 winner dies at 31

Dual Grade 1 winner Afternoon Deelites was euthanised on Tuesday at Old Friends, the Kentucky-based thoroughbred retirement farm, due to complications from colic. He was 31.

Old Friends president and founder Michael Blowen announced his passing. The dark bay stallion, who was the farm's oldest resident and just two weeks shy of his 32nd birthday, was owned by award-winning composer Burt Bacharach, who died on February 8.

Bred by Bacharach's Blue Seas Music, the son of Private Terms out of Intimate Girl, by Medaille D'Or, was foaled in West Virginia on February 28, 1992. For his entire racing career he was owned by Bacharach, trained by Richard Mandella, and ridden by Kent Desormeaux. He ran nine of his 12 races at west coast tracks.

Afternoon Deelites opened his career in spectacular fashion, winning his first five races between 1994 and 1995, four of them stakes races.

He won on his debut as a two-year-old in 1994, taking a maiden special weight race at Santa Anita on October 23, 1994. Next time out, he won the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue Breeders' Cup Stakes to earn his first Graded stakes win, followed by the Hollywood Futurity for his first Grade 1 victory. In that race, he defeated future Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch.

In 1995, as a three-year-old, Afternoon Deelites continued his winning streak with victories in the Grade 3 San Vicente Breeders' Cup Stakes and the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes. His final win in 1995 was the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes. That year he was also second in the Santa Anita Derby and eighth in the Kentucky Derby behind Thunder Gulch.

As a four-year-old in 1996, Afternoon Deelites won one of his four races, the Grade 2 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup Stakes at Keeneland. In his next race, which would be his final career start, he finished second in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

Following that race, Afternoon Deelites was retired with seven wins, three seconds, and $1,061,193 in earnings in 12 career starts. He ran in 11 Graded stakes races, winning six.

Afternoon Deelites entered stud in 1997 at Brereton Jones's Airdrie Stud in Midway, Kentucky, and stood there through 2003. He then moved to Clear Creek Stud, in Folsom, Louisiana, where he stood the rest of his career.

Afternoon Deelites' top progeny included Graded-stakes winners Zappa, Three Hour Nap and Miss Pickums. He also sired recently deceased Old Friends retiree Popcorn Deelites, who starred in the 2003 movie Seabiscuit, based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand.

Afternoon Deelites was pensioned in 2011, and was then sent to Old Friends courtesy of Val Murrell of Clear Creek Stud.

"Afternoon Deelites was a beautiful friend," said Blowen. "I remember Kent Desormeaux standing in front of his stall a few years ago saying, 'Michael, I won the Kentucky Derby on Real Quiet, Fusaichi Pegasus, and Big Brown and this is the fastest horse I ever rode.' And he was one of the best retirees who ever called Old Friends home.

"Thanks to Burt, his ex-wife, Angie Dickinson, and his widow, Jane, for loving Afternoon Deelites as much as we did."

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