Tom and Sue McGrath’s Swilcan Stables reported this morning that the graded stakes-placed mare Vero Amore died Thursday night, Jan. 20, due to complications from colic while in foal to Nyquist and carrying a full sibling to Vequist, winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and that year’s Eclipse champion 2-year-old filly.
“I am so sorry to announce the passing of Vero Amore,” McGrath said. “She was an amazing competitor and an equally amazing mare. Needless to say, we are devastated.”
A 2011 mare by Mineshaft out of Summers Edge, by The Cliff’s Edge, Vero Amore finished second for trainer Robert Reid Jr. in the $500,000 Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes in 2014, beaten just neck by multiple Grade 1 winner Stopchargingmaria. Bred in Kentucky by Robert LaPenta and campaigned by Swilcan Stables, Vero Amore amassed earnings of $252,255 while hitting the board in 11 of 16 lifetime starts during her splendid racing career.
A blue-hen mare for Swilcan Stables, Vero Amore is the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Vequist, who captured the G1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga prior to annexing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to secure her championship. Bred by Swilcan Stables and owned by Swilcan Stables in partnership with Gary Barber and Wachtel Stable, Vequist earned $1,237,500 before selling to Spendthrift Farm for $3.4 million at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale.
Vero Amore also produced Mainstay, a daughter of Astern (AUS) who was named a TDN Rising Star following a sparkling 7 3/4-length maiden special weight triumph in her career debut for Swilcan Stables and LC Racing at Monmouth Park in 2021, and she has a promising 2-year-old filly by Daredevil named Vedareo who will seek to continue the family’s winning ways.
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