Indian Charlie succumbs to cancer and loses the battle
Foaled in 1995, the son of In Excess out of mare Soviet Sojourn by Leo Castelli, 16-year-old, Indian Charlie, had to be euthanized on 15 December, 2011, because the dark bay stallion had been battling cancer. The news was confirmed by Airdrie Stud.
“Losing Indian Charlie after a challenging battle with Hemangiosarcoma and its complications has been a shock to us all," Airdrie wrote in a press release. "He was dearly loved by everyone that cared for him on a daily basis.’Charlie' has been a shining
star at Airdrie for many years now. His personality, toughness, and utter determination remained with him throughout treatment.
Dr. Nathan Slovis and his team at McGee Medical Center tried all they could to save the stallion, but their relentless efforts weren’t enough to save Indian Charlie from certain death which gripped the stallion’s health.
Indian Charlie as a race horse ran a few races in his time. He was trained by Bob Baffert as Indian Charlie raced 5 times and out of 5 starts he went on to win 4 of them including a win over the Bob Baffert trained superstar, Real Quiet.
On 4 April, 1998, Indian Charlie under jockey G Stevens in the 1 1/8 mile test on dirt proved to be the right amount of race for Indian Charlie to kick start his graded stakes debut and win it at the same time.
After his heroics in the Santa Anita Derby, Indian Charlie was then considered for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. Sent off as the 5 to 2, the end result wasn’t too shabby, because in the field of 15, Indian Charlie went onto finish third to winner Real Quiet.
"Airdrie did a great job with him over the years. He got the best care in the world and I have nothing but praise for them."
Indian Charlie sired three North American champions, and the most recent was Uncle Mo, who as a 2-year-old won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Champagne Stakes last year.
He also sired Indian Blessing and Fleet Indian. Indian Blessing, a homebred like her sire went on to become the 2007 champion 2-year-old filly, as Fleet Indian became the 2006 older filly of the year with eight consecutive victories dating back to 2005.
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