Phoenix Thoroughbred's Mourinho, winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, sustained a broken sesamoid during a workout at Santa Anita Park the morning of March 12 and was euthanized.
"He took a bad step at the wire," said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who was inspecting horses at the Ocala Breeders' Sales 2-year-olds in training sale in Florida and was notified of the catastrophic injury by his assistant, Jimmy Barnes.
"It's very sad," Baffert said. "He was a neat horse. His stall is right outside my office. I would see him every day. You get attached to them and something like that happens; it's just tough. You never know what's going to happen."
The colt had worked five furlongs Monday in company with Restoring Hope when he was injured.
Baffert said the colt, a son of Super Saver bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, was being pointed to either Oaklawn's Rebel Stakes (G2) March 17 or the Sunland Derby (G3) March 25 at Sunland Park.
"He had a great mind, he had speed, he was sound," Baffert said. "He always showed up. He never ran a bad race."
In addition to the Smarty Jones win, Mourinho placed second in the Speakeasy Stakes and Bob Hope Stakes (G3). He won two of five career starts and earned $179,360.
Mourinho was purchased by Danny Pate for $30,000 from the Select Sales consignment to the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale and was then pinhooked into last year's OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training by De Meric Sales where he was purchased by bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbred for $625,000.
