La Verdad, the Eclipse Award-winning Champion Female Sprinter in 2015 and a participating mare in the first season of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Foal Patrol, was humanely euthanized on March 10 because of complications of colic.
“The Eclipse Award-winning champion gave birth to a healthy colt by Into Mischief on Monday, May 4th. After a few days of medical attention, she was humanely relieved of her distress this afternoon,” said a statement by her owner, Lady Sheila Stable.
A 10-year-old daughter of Yes It’s True, La Verdad was a New York-bred campaigned by Lady Sheila Stable, led by Sheila Rosenblum, for the majority of her career after initially racing for Eklektikos Stable. La Verdad won five of eight starts in her championship year, including graded scores in the Grade 2 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack and the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom and Grade 3 Vagrancy at Belmont Park. She completed the memorable campaign with a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland.
She also earned New York-bred honors in 2015 as Champion Older Female and Champion Female Sprinter.
“She was more than my champion mare, who was full of class. She was more than a horse to me. I loved her,” said Rosenblum. “I am broken hearted.”
Trained throughout her career by Linda Rice, La Verdad raced almost exclusively in New York, competing outside of the state just twice in a 25-race career. La Verdad won 16 times, finished second three times, and earned $1,563,200. She was piloted through 23 of those starts by Jose Ortiz.
A winner at second asking on April 7, 2013 at the Big A, La Verdad won nine of her first 11 starts. Her four career graded wins also included a victory in the 2014 Grade 2 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct. She recorded seven non-graded stakes victories in her four-year racing career starting in 2014 when she captured the Broadway at Aqueduct, along with the Critical Eye, Dancin Renee and Iroquois at Belmont Park. In 2015, La Verdad defended her title in the Dancin Renee and Iroquois at Belmont Park and she completed her career on Jan. 9, 2016 with a victory in the Interborough at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The New York Racing Association named a stakes race in La Verdad’s honor in 2018 at a distance of seven furlongs on the Aqueduct main track, where the mare won on eight occasions.
La Verdad has produced four foals, including three fillies along with the recent Into Mischief colt. Her first foal, La Kara Mia, a 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, is in training with Rice at Belmont Park.
