Early Voting

Early Voting, the Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2022 Preakness Stakes, died on October 20, 2026 at Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Kentucky, after an acute bout of colic that could not be treated. He was seven years old. His owner, Dr. Padraig O'Casaigh, announced the death in a statement, saying the horse had to be humanely euthanized once the colic was found to be irreversible, and thanked the farm's staff for their care of the stallion.

Bred in Kentucky by Three Chimneys Farm, Early Voting was a dark bay colt sired by the champion Gun Runner. Bought for 200,000 dollars as a yearling on behalf of Klaravich Stables, he was trained throughout his racing career by Chad Brown and ridden in every start by jockey Jose Ortiz. As a three year old in 2022 he won the Withers Stakes and finished second by a neck in the Wood Memorial, a run good enough to qualify him for the Kentucky Derby, though his connections chose to skip that race because they felt he lacked the experience for such a large field.

That decision was vindicated on May 21, 2022, when Early Voting won the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, holding off the hard closing Epicenter by one and a quarter lengths. The win came on the 65th birthday of his then owner, Seth Klarman, and trainer Chad Brown called delivering a classic victory on that day in Klarman's hometown of Baltimore hard to put into words. Early Voting did not add to that success later that season, finishing last in the Jim Dandy Stakes and being eased in the Travers Stakes, and he was retired from racing that October having earned 1,372,500 dollars from six career starts.

Retired to stud at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, Early Voting's breeding career hit an early setback when he was found in 2023 to have anejaculatory syndrome, a condition that left him unable to breed naturally and led to him being pulled from stud duty. The condition was treated, and from the 2024 season he resumed breeding at Taylor Made Stallions, later moving to majority ownership under veterinarian Dr. Padraig O'Casaigh. His comeback bore fruit in September 2026, just weeks before his death, when his daughter Miss Monica became his first offspring to win a Grade I race by taking the Del Mar Debutante Stakes, success that had already prompted Taylor Made to raise his 2027 stud fee to 50,000 dollars.

News of Early Voting's sudden death was met with sadness across the Thoroughbred racing and breeding community, where he was remembered both as a classic winning racehorse and as a young sire whose best years appeared to still be ahead of him. Dr. O'Casaigh's statement described a horse with a warm and loving personality who loved being a star, and said he would live on through his progeny.