Saint Liam

Saint Liam (April 13, 2000 - August 22, 2006) was an American thoroughbred racehorse who was voted 2005 Eclipse Award Horse of the Year honors.

Sired by Saint Ballado out of the dam Quiet Dance, by Quiet American, Saint Liam was unraced as a two-year-old. At age three, he started in three races, earning his best result with a 2nd in the Iowa Derby. Owned by William Warren and trained by Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., in his four-year-old season, Saint Liam won the Grade II Clark Handicap and lost the Grade I Woodward Stakes by a neck to eventual 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper.

In 2005, Saint Liam captured four Grade I races, including the Donn Handicap, the Stephen Foster Handicap, and the Woodward Stakes. He was second in the Grade I Whitney Handicap to Commentator. In his last race, jockey Jerry Bailey rode him to victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic, after which he was retired with a record of 9-6-1 in 20 races and career earnings of $4,456,995.

Saint Liam was standing at stud at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky when, in a freak accident in August 2006 he slipped and fell, suffering an untreatable left tibial fracture. The 6-year-old stallion was humanely euthanized at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Before his death he covered a number of mares, 115 of which were in foal and 96 that had foals that went on to race.

On January 11, 2007, his first foal (named Billy's Punch) was born to the Seattle Slew mare Slewzig. The 17-year-old mare's bay colt was born in Versailles at ClassicStar Farm. Slewzig has produced eight foals: six of them winners, three of those stakes winners. Billy's Punch never broke his maiden in 2009.

Saint Liam's most notable offspring is Havre de Grace (foaled May 12, 2007, out of Easter Brunette by Carson City) who won the 2011 HOTY Title while capturing the Azeri, Wooodward, Beldame, Apple Blossom H., and Obeah Stakes, and running against males in the Breeders' Cup Classic.^[1]

Campus building named in honor of Saint Liam

After his death, Saint Liam was immortalized at the University of Notre Dame when a building was named after him in 2007. The owners of the horse, Mr and Mrs William K. Warren, Jr., donated $8 million for the refurbishment of the health center, which is now called Saint Liam's. The Warrens are prominent donors to the University of Notre Dame; the Notre Dame golf course is called the Warren Golf Course. The university story says the name Saint Liam is in honor of Mr. Warren's father William Warren (Liam is Irish for William) and his namesake Saint William, and makes no mention of the racehorse. However, there seems to be no indication that the horse Liam was named after William Warren or Saint William, and it is doubtful whether anyone ever referred to Saint William or William Warren as Liam before this.

References

• Saint Liam's pedigree and racing stats
• Notre Dame Announcement of the Saint Liam student health center.