French 2-year-old champion Common Grounds, who served as a foundation stallion for Morristown Lattin Stud in County Kildare, Ireland, has died in Turkey. The son of Kris was 29.
According to Racing Post, the stallion, who was retired from the breeding shed in 2011, died of a heart attack while in his paddock at Turkey's Izmit Covering Station in March.
Bred in Great Britain by Stavros Niarchos, Common Grounds was out of the Lyphard mare Sweetly, who also produced Angel Of My Heart, the dam of 2003 Vodafone Epsom Derby (Eng-I) winner Kris Kin.
Trained by Francois Boutin, Common Grounds won the 1987 Prix de la Salamandre (Fr-I) and Prix Yacowlef and ran second in the Prix Morny (Fr-I) en route to being named that year's champion juvenile.
Common Grounds was acquired by Morristown Lattin to become one of its first stallions when it opened as a public stud in 1989. He got off to a successful start, siring Bad As I Wanna Be, who won the Prix Morny, and Earl Of Barking, who scored in the 1995 Hollywood Turf Cup (gr. IT).
Common Grounds' highest-rated runner was Murghem, whose eight victories included the Geoffrey Freer Stakes (Eng-II).
The stallion's most influential offspring may be English stakes winner Flanders, who produced black-type earners Laajooj and Louvain, and hails from the family of group I winners Flotilla and Lethal Force.
Other mares by Common Grounds have produced multiple group I winner Soldier Hollow, group I-winning sire and prominent miler Arakan, and Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-I) runner-up Penkenna Princess.
Common Grounds had stood in Turkey since 2000.
