Years After Earning Whopping $1,550,685, Race Horse Found in Saddening State in His Paddock

It is never pleasant to find a champion thoroughbred under any conditions of duress in their last years. And yet Jonesboro, the Kentucky-bred horse wasn’t in his best state when he finally breathed his last in a retirement farm in Georgetown. Jonesboro was foaled on March 15, 2002, and he was bred by Jayeff ‘B’ Stables to run races and bring glory in various events. Although he started out rather slowly, Jonesboro went on to win 3 back-to-back races once and followed it up with a few more along the way. He earned more than $1.5 million in earnings throughout his life.

Jonesboro passed away at the age of 21, found lying dead at the Georgetown farm. Post-mortem results aren’t out yet, but the indications suggest that the horse had a difficult time in his last few years.

Jonesboro was quite the horse

As per Horse Racing Nation, Jonesboro was a chestnut stallion that was born out of another well-known stallion. His mother Mom’s Command had an outstanding racing career and his father Sefapiano too was born and bred in Kentucky for racing events. In the initial two years of his life, Jonesboro failed to win any race but things would change very soon for the then 2-year-old.

After Michael Langford bought him in the 2003 Keeneland September Yearling sale for a not-so-high value of $27,000, Jonesboro was handed over to Randy Morse to be trained. Morse, who would train Jonesboro for all his life, wouldn’t find success for the initial few years until his win in a maiden special weight race at Oaklawn. He followed it up with 2 more wins.

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He won his first-ever stakes victory at the Northern Spurs Breeders Cup Stakes and soon followed it up with an allowance optional claiming race at Louisiana Downs in 2006. Jonesboro was 4 years old then.

Jonesboro lived a fairly healthy and competitive life until 2022

He had completed his 3-match winning streak, but Jonesboro was far from done. He won Sam’s Town at Delta Downs and then the Essex Handicap (G3) at Oaklawn before repeating Sam’s Town again. Jonesboro seemed like on a roll, although he missed out on winning the Kentucky Derby as a 3-year-old gelding. His 6th year was especially stunning when he won the following – Razorback Handicap (G3) at Oaklawn, the Governor’s Handicap at Ellis Park, the Tiznow Handicap at Louisiana Downs, and the Remington Park Sprint Championship Stakes at Remington Park.

Overall Jonesboro had a fairly successful career with 14 wins out of 50 races. He even fared well when he started his stud career in 2011, and it wasn’t until as recently as last year that he finally retired. But within a year of his stay at the retirement home in Georgetown, Jonesboro fell into an unpredictable state of affairs. While horses have died in the most unexpected circumstances, such as Big Jake, the world’s tallest horse, passing away in Wisconsin in 2021 just before the Tokyo Olympics, some also die due to unfavorable situations. Until further reports come out of his death, it is difficult to interpret what went wrong for Jonesboro in his final days.

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