Report: 2022 Ky. Derby pacesetter Summer Is Tomorrow is dead

Summer Is Tomorrow, the colt who established the blazing pace that set up Rich Strike’s 80-1 victory in the 2022 Kentucky Derby, was euthanized last fall after a previously unreported injury at his home base in Dubai.

Paulick Report said Tuesday the Oct. 29 death was confirmed in an email from co-owner Michael Hilary Burke. The then 3-year-old colt was put down after breaking both hips.

The Kentucky-bred son of Summer Front qualified to run for the roses when he finished second to Crown Pride in the 2022 UAE Derby (G2). Trained by Bhupat Seemar, Summer Is Tomorrow set a Kentucky Derby record with a clocking of 21.75 seconds for the first quarter-mile. He still led through a half-mile in 45.36 seconds before he faded quickly and finished last. By then his influence had been seared into the race.

Before being shipped to the U.S., Summer Is Tomorrow ran his first seven race in the Middle East, breaking his maiden on third asking in December 2021 at Meydan. That was the site of his only other victory, which came in a $35,000 stakes in February 2022. Both wins came at sprint distances.

According to Equibase, Summer Is Tomorrow finished his career with a record of 8: 2-3-0 and earnings of $267,606.

Summer Is Tomorrow went through the sales ring three times and was bought twice. When he was a weanling, his breeder Brereton Jones bought him back with Airdrie Stud for $25,000 at Keeneland in 2019. As a yearling he did not meet a $14,000 reserve at a Keeneland fall sale in 2020. He finally went for $169,743 in France at an Arqana 2-year-old breeze-up auction in 2022.