Multiple grade 1 winner Imperial Hint, who set a track record at Saratoga Race Course that still stands today, has been euthanized in Louisiana following a lengthy struggle with laminitis.
Clear Creek Stud, which stood Imperial Hint since he went to the breeding shed in 2021, announced his death.
The 12-year-old son of Imperialism won 11 black-type stakes, including four grade 1 events, in a 25-race career from 2016 to 2020. He set the track record when winning the 2019 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) at Saratoga, where he ran six furlongs in 1:07.92.
Bred in Florida by Shade Tree Thoroughbreds, Imperial Hint raced for owner Raymond Mamone, who kept his horses at Shade Tree near Reddick, Fla. Mamone gifted Imperial Hint's dam, the winning Lahint mare Royal Hint, to the farm after she got off to a slow start as a broodmare. Mamone later saw Imperial Hint on a farm visit and bought him from Shade Tree for $17,500. He would become the longtime owner's first graded winner.
Trained by Luis Carvajal Jr., Imperial Hint won 14 of 25 career starts and earned $2,209,055. Mamone died at age 88 in 2021.
Imperial Hint has 49 foals of racing age, including 31 current 2-year-olds. His top earner and lone stakes winner so far is the Louisiana-bred 3-year-old colt Tdz Hint of Power. Imperial Hint's progeny earned $286,633 through August 10.
Imperial Hint stood for a fee of $2,500 during the 2025 breeding season. Nicknamed "Little Rocket," he was bred to both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse mares.
