Grade 1 winner Tuscan Evening (Ire), unbeaten in six starts this season and a leader of the turf female division, collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack while galloping out after a six-furlong workout on the turf Sunday morning at Del Mar.
The five-year-old Oasis Dream (GB) mare won the Gamely Stakes (G1) on May 29 at Hollywood Park and the Modesty Handicap (G3) at Arlington Park in her final two starts. She was preparing for the Beverly D. Stakes (G1) on August 21 at Arlington.
California Horse Racing Board Medical Director Rick Arthur, D.V.M., told Daily Racing Form that a necropsy will be done on Tuscan Evening to determine a cause of death.
"More often than not, we found out a specific cause," Arthur said.
Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer for owner William Deburgh, Tuscan Evening showed her versatility this season with graded stakes wins from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles on the turf. She won 12 of 27 career races and bankrolled $1,138,508.
Bred in Ireland by Hascombe and Valiant Studs, Tuscan Evening is out of Group 3-placed winner The Faraway Tree, by Suave Dancer.
TERRIBLE NEWS:-Grade 1 winner Tuscan Evening (Ire), unbeaten in six starts this season and a leader of the turf female division, collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack while galloping out after a six-furlong workout on the turf Sunday morning