Broad Brush, the leading sire of 1994, was euthanized May 15 because of humanitarian reasons at the Beck family’s Gainesway Farm near Lexington. The 26-year-old son of Ack Ack out of the Hoist the Flag mare Hay Patcher had been pensioned from stallion duty since June 2004.
A hard-knocking, durable grade I winner who earned $2.6 million, Broad Brush is represented by 93 stakes winners, 73 stakes-placed runners, and the earners of $68.7 million. Thirty-seven of his stakes winners are graded or group winners. As a broodmare sire, Broad Brush is represented by 64 stakes winners and the earners of $46.3 million.
“Broad Brush has left an indelible mark on the Stud Book,” said Gainesway president Antony Beck about the Maryland-bred.
Campaigned as a homebred by Robert E. Meyerhoff and trained by Richard W. Small, Broad Brush won or placed in 24 of 27 races and competed exclusively in stakes in his last 24 outings. As a 4-year-old in 1987, he beat subsequent Horse of the Year Ferdinand in the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I). He also took the Suburban Handicap (gr. I). At 3, Broad Brush won the Meadowlands Cup (gr. I) over the older Skip Trial, captured the Wood Memorial Invitational Stakes (gr. I) at Aqueduct, and ran third in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and the Preakness Stakes (gr. I).
Broad Brush won 14 races, including a dozen stakes, nine of which were graded, and earned $2,656,793. His other graded wins included scores in the Pennsylvania (gr. II) and Ohio (gr. II) Derbys and the Trenton Handicap (gr. III) in track-record-equaling time at Garden State Park.
Broad Brush, who entered stud at Gainesway in 1988, gained a reputation for siring runners as hard-knocking and durable as he was. He is represented by 69% winners and 84% starters from foals.
Many of Broad Brush’s runners won some of racing’s top events. Concern, a homebred for Meyerhoff, won the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I). Farda Amiga took the 2002 Alabama Stakes (gr. I) and the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) and was voted champion 3-year-old filly. Include, Mongoose, Pompeii, and Schossberg also were grade I winners. Japanese runners Nobo True and Broad Appeal earned $5.8 million and $4.4 million, respectively.
As a broodmare sire, Broad Brush is represented by champion and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) winner Dreaming of Anna.