Grade 1 winner and stallion Purge dies at age 24

Purge, a Grade 1 winner and international stallion, has died at age 24.

Purge died on June 30 according to the Korean stud book. His death was previously reportedd by Eric Mitchell of BloodHorse.

Trained by Todd Pletcher for Starlight Racing, Purge won on debut in a maiden special weight at Saratoga as a 2-year-old. He didn't race again until February of his sophomoe year, but was a graded-stakes horse the next two years. He won the Peter Pan (G2) and the Jim Dandy (G2) during his 3-year-old year.

At 4 he knocked on the door of another stakes win through the late summer and early autumn before finishing his career with his most important triumph. He defied 25-1 odds in the 2005 Cigar Mile (G1), settling off the pace early and finishing strongly to win by 3 3/4 lengths. He concluded his racing career with a 15: 6-1-2 record and $905,434 in earnings.

A son of Pulpit out of the multiple stakes-winning Copelan mare Copelan's Bid Gal, Purge retired to Vinery Stud in Kentucky in 2006. He stood there until 2011, when he moved to Vinery's New York farm. He stood there for a year before he was sold to stand at Jade Bros. Farm in the Philippines. He stood there for five years before being moved to South Korea.

He met his best success in South Korea, siring a pair of champions in the country. Those include 2024 Korea Triple Crown winner Success Baekpa, the Korea champion 3-year-old colt of that year and 2021 Korean Oaks winner Choegang Black, named Korea champion 3-year-old filly.

Purge's best runners stateside include graded-stakes placed stakes winners Macias and Extensive, as well as He's So Fine, a 12-time winner who was Grade 2-placed as a juvenile.