Raise a Man, possibly the last son of Raise a Native at stud when he was pensioned earlier this year, died of natural causes July 22 at Dr. Jonathan Davis’ Milfer Farm near Unadilla, N.Y. He was 30.
The horse was acquired from Gainesway Farm in Kentucky and relocated to Milfer for the 1990 breeding season. He shuttled to South Africa his first two seasons in New York, and sired two champions there, sprinter Whistling Dixie and two-time older mare Splendid Ann.
Raise a Man sired 24 stakes winners, his leading earner being graded stakes winner Vinnie the Viper, who bankrolled $516,821. His other graded/group stakes winners were Raise a Stanza, Highland Crystal, Lance, Vivid Imagination, Primitive Rising (in England), Aforidita (in Panama), High Raiser (in South Africa).
Bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. J. Howard King, Raise a Man was purchased by Jerry Paxton’s Northwest Farms for $55,000 at the 1978 Keeneland summer yearling sale. Campaigned by Northwest, he was unraced at 2, but won the San Felipe Handicap (gr. II) and San Vicente Stakes (gr. III) at 3. That campaign was cut short by injury, but he returned at 4 to win a division of the Malibu Stakes (gr. II), plus the Phoenix Gold Cup, and run second in the San Fernando Stakes (gr. I). He earned $257,450.
Raise a Man, out of the Delta Judge mare Delta Sal, entered stud at John Gaines’ Gainesway Farm near Lexington for the 1982 season at a fee of $15,000.