Undefeated champion Vindication passes away

The Bob Baffert-trained champion Vindication was euthanized on July 9 at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. due to complications from colic. The Seattle Slew horse was 8.

Vindication, a leading second-crop sire, was taken from his home at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms near Lexington to Rood & Riddle after he was discovered to be experiencing discomfort in his stall. Following an evaluation, he was found to have a gastric rupture that was inoperable.

Vindication captured all four of his starts and was never seriously as a racehorse, capping off an impressive 2-year-old campaign with a convincing 2 ¾-length win in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) over stablemate Kafwain. The brilliant dark bay would go on to win Eclipse Award honors as champion juvenile in 2002 before incurring a suspensory injury while training for his 3-year-old campaign towards the Triple Crown that would force his retirement.

He earned $680,950 for owners Padua Stable, who purchased Vindication as a yearling for $2.15 million. As a stallion, Vindication, who stood for $60,000, is led from his first crop by More Happy and Maimonides, a pair of graded stakes-performing 2-year-olds of 2007 for Baffert.