Strategic Dead at 25

Darley have announced the sad passing of Group I winning sprinter and successful sire Strategic, who has succumbed to the infirmities of old age at Godolphin's Woodlands Stud, where he was born almost 26 years ago.

The winner of seven races including the Group I MVRC Australia Stakes in 1996, Strategic burst onto the racing scene in the cerise silks of the Ingham brothers with five consecutive wins as a two-year-old, among them the Group II STC Pago Pago Stakes and the Group III STC Skyline Stakes.

The son of Zeditave began stud duties in the spring of 1996 and has sired more than 600 individual winners, among them the Australian G1 performers Platelet, Meurice and Mistegic and Strategic News, who was successful at the top level in South Africa.

Strategic also made a name for himself as broodmare sire, his daughters having produced such high-class gallopers as Le Romain, Holler and Griante.

After retiring from stud duties in 2014, Strategic enjoyed his retirement at Woodlands alongside his old racetrack rival and stablemate Octagonal.