Triple Grade 1 winner Ebony Flyer, raced by Team Valor International in partnership with Gaynor Rupert, was euthanized on Friday at Rossdales Equine Hospital in Newmarket following complications stemming from a difficult foaling earlier this month. The mare had been hospitalized since February 4 after delivering a filly by Bradsell. The foal has since returned to the farm, where she is reported to be thriving with a nurse mare. Team Valor made the sad announcement today. 

Bred in South Africa’s Western Cape by W.J. Engelbrecht Jr., Ebony Flyer was acquired privately along with her dam Sunshine Lover after her older half-sister Captain’s Lover impressed Barry Irwin as a Cape Fillies Guineas prospect. Irwin’s instincts proved spot-on: Captain’s Lover captured the Guineas, and Ebony Flyer followed suit, giving Sunshine Lover the rare distinction of producing two winners of the same Classic.

A towering mare who matured to over 17 hands, Ebony Flyer blended size with speed. She announced herself as a juvenile at Kenilworth Racecourse, winning over 1000 meters on debut for trainer Justin Snaith and defeating Covenant, herself a future Grade 1 winner. Three starts, three wins followed, capped by the Grade 2 Odessa Stud Championship, after which Rupert purchased a one-third share. The partnership was immediately rewarded when Ebony Flyer landed the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas.

Her career was repeatedly interrupted by serious breathing issues that ultimately required three surgeries. Each time, she fought her way back. Against the odds, Ebony Flyer added two more elite victories—the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint and the Grade 1 Majorca—cementing her status as one of South Africa’s toughest and most talented sprinting fillies.

From 13 starts, Ebony Flyer won eight races, six at stakes level, and placed three times. Irwin later reflected on her unfulfilled ceiling, saying the only filly Team Valor had raced in her class was Ipi Tombe, adding that had Ebony Flyer breathed freely, her ultimate limits would have been impossible to predict.

At stud, she proved equally valuable. Ebony Flyer produced seven winners from nine runners, including two black-type performers in South Africa—Grade 3-placed Cot Campbell and Listed-placed Black Silver—and a trio of winners in England for trainer Andrew Balding. Irwin and Rupert had already decided to pension the mare following her most recent foaling.

Her passing closes the story of a mare defined by courage and class—one who overcame repeated setbacks to reach the top of the sport, and who leaves behind a legacy that now lives on through her progeny.