Despite heroic efforts to save her, Vionnet, dam of group 2 winner Roaring Lion, died from complications of laminitis Feb. 1 at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington.
Owner Jan Vandebos Naify said that grade 1-placed Vionnet had battled the ailment for five months.
"It is with great sadness that RanJan Racing announces the passing of their beautiful mare Vionnet," said Naify, who bred and raced the daughter of Street Sense with her late husband, Robert Naify, in the RanJan name.
Vionnet was in foal to More Than Ready . Naify said that the foal didn't survive.
"Vionnet will be buried at Springtime Farm, where she spent time resting in between races at Santa Anita Park," said Naify, who keeps many of RanJan's former runners in retirement at her Springtime Farm in California's Santa Ynez Valley.
Vionnet was out of the Avenue of Flags mare Cambiocorsa, a multiple graded stakes winner and a specialist down Santa Anita's hillside course. Richard Mandella trained Vionnet, who won three of 10 races and ran third in the 2013 Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) and second in two other stakes. She earned $175,140.
Vionnet's first foal, Roaring Lion, by Kitten's Joy , is owned by Qatar Racing and trained by John Gosden. As a juvenile, Roaring Lion won the 2017 Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes (G2) and finished second in the Racing Post Trophy Stakes (G1) in England. Naify said that Vionnet also has a 2-year-old colt by Medaglia d'Oro owned by B. Wayne Hughes being broken in Florida.
