High Brite Euthanized

COALINGA, Calif. (July 22, 2010) – Multiple graded stakes winner and successful sire, High Brite, was euthanized at age 26 on July 17, 2010 at John Harris’ Harris Farms due to the infirmities of old age. He was buried adjacent to his paddock at the farm, near other notable stallions Moscow Ballet, Flying Continental and Cutlass Reality.

Winner of fifteen of 45 starts and $1,150,519 including the True North H. (G2) and Sports Page H. (G3), High Brite entered stud in 1989 at Walmac Farm in Lexington and stood at John Zamora’s JZ Stock Farm before moving to Harris Farms for the 1998 breeding season. High Brite sired G1 winner and Mexican champion Pensitiva and California Champion 3 year old filly Super High ($669,668) and 31 additional stakes winners with current progeny earnings over $33,000,000. 2010 Stakes Horses by High Brite include Live Sundays and Enriched.

John Harris commented, “High Brite was a wonderful stallion for us and California for many years. His progeny were sound with good dispositions, always tried hard, and had the ability to compete at top levels. He got 15 of 16 mares in foal this year and will be in the stallion standings for a long time here.”

“High Brite was a very professional horse and was all business with a great attitude. He was our blue collar stallion in that he didn’t sire a lot of high end horses but did sire sound productive ones. We’ll miss him.” Dave McGlothlin, Harris Farms manager.

Dr. Jeanne Bowers-Lepore, resident farm veterinarian, commented, “A couple of years ago I presented a talk at the CTBA Seminar entitled “Soundness and Genetics.” The basis of the talk was in reference to a recent study (The Iron Horse) that had been published by the BloodHorse magazine talking about the decline in number of starts for Thoroughbred stallions. In the decade from 1990 to 1999 there were a group of “elite” (stallions that had sired Group or Grade 1 winners) horses that still were managing to get >17 starts/foals and were averaging >80% of their foals starting. In that group was the stallion High Brite. Whether he was successful due to the remarkable 29 crosses he had to the incomparable St. Simon, or maybe it was the fact that he was from the same female family as Miswaki, or maybe it was because he was so well conformed that he blended well with a wide range of mares. Whatever went into making High Brite the stallion he was, Harris Farms is lucky to have benefited from his presence in our stallion barn.”