Peter Harris’s Stotsfold, who
finished third a length and a quarter behind Castleton Lyons’ victorious Gio
Ponti in the 2009 Arlington Million, died suddenly Wednesday morning at Newmarket of
colic-related complications.
In his last start July 2,
Stotsfold won the $56,000 Gala Stakes at Sandown and before that captured
Sandown’s Grade III Brigadier Gerard Stakes on May 27.
The 7-year-old British-bred
gelding was being pointed for the upcoming Arlington Million Aug. 21, but was
withdrawn from his final prep in the Group II Sky Bet York Stakes at York July 24 when the
colic symptoms first occurred hours before that race.
Owner Harris described
Stotsfold’s death as a “devastating blow,” when speaking of the much-traveled
stable favorite who was trained by former European star jockey Walter Swinburn.