Millionaire Clark Stakes Winner Trademark Euthanized After Pneumonia Battle

Trademark, the BBN Racing gelding who parlayed a $42,000 yearling purchase into more than $1.2 million in career earnings, was humanely euthanized after complications from pneumonia claimed him at age 7.

"With the heaviest of hearts, we share the news that Trademark lost his winter-long battle with pneumonia," BBN Racing posted on social media. "We threw everything at it, but this resistant infection took him. He wasn't just a horse. He was family and a warrior soul who gave us thrills and memories we'll never forget!"

The gelded son of Upstart out of Creative Trick, a mare by Creative Cause, was bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones and purchased by BBN Racing at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. What started as a modest investment grew into one of the more compelling late-bloomer stories in recent American racing, culminating in a nose victory in the 2023 G2 Clark Stakes.

Trademark's career began with immediate promise at Churchill Downs, where trainer Vickie Oliver sent him out for a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight in his third start as a 2-year-old. He won by five lengths. A month later, over the same course and distance, he followed with a three-length allowance victory that put him squarely on the Kentucky Derby trail.

The trail narrowed quickly in early 2022. Trademark finished last in the G3 Sam F. Davis, fifth in the G2 Tampa Bay Derby, and fifth in the G1 Blue Grass, falling short of the points threshold required to earn one of 20 starting spots in the Derby. Rerouted to the G2 Pat Day Mile, he finished 10th. The Kentucky Derby dream had passed, but Trademark was far from finished.

He continued competing across 37 career starts, accumulating seven wins, three seconds, and two thirds. The Clark Stakes nose victory in 2023 stood as the signature moment of a career that proved the gap between a $42,000 yearling and a graded stakes winner is bridgeable with the right combination of ability and persistence.

The pneumonia that ultimately took him was described by BBN Racing as a resistant infection fought over an entire winter. No treatment was spared, according to the stable, before the decision was made to humanely euthanize him.