Bayern (Offlee Wild\u2013Alittlebitearly, by Thunder Gulch), winner of the 2014 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic, died Sunday after complications following emergency hernia surgery, according to a tweet from Great Hill Farm, which had stood the 15-year-old stallion in South Korea since 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe fought alongside him day and night, exhausting every possible medical intervention and providing intensive care in a desperate struggle to save his life,\u201d the tweet read. \u201cHeartbreakingly, his condition did not improve and we were ultimately left with no choice but to make the agonizing decision to euthanize him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Bayern won the 2014 GI Haskell Invitational Stakes, GII Pennsylvania Derby and GII Woody Stephens Stakes. He was third in the GI Arkansas Derby and in the 2015 GI Awesome Again Stakes. On the board in 10 of 15 starts, he won six times and earned $4,454,930 for owner Kaleem Shah and trainer Bob Baffert.<\/p>\n
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Bayern is the sire of Canadian champion female sprinter Hazelbrook and Korean champion sprinter and miler Raon the Fighter (Kor), as well as Grade I winner Speed Boat Beach and graded winner Leggs Galore.<\/p>\n
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