Grade 1 Winner Purge Dies in South Korea at 24

World traveler and U.S. grade 1 winner Purge, who may have found his greatest success as a stallion in South Korea, reportedly died June 30, according to Korea Racing Authority records. The 24-year-old son of Pulpit entered stud at Vinery near Lexington in 2006, where he stood until 2011 when he was sent to Vinery's operation in New York. He stood one year in New York and then was sold to Jade Brothers Farm in the Philippines. Purge appears to have stood five years in the Philippines and then was exported to Korea in January 2017, according to KRA. In Korea, Purge was among the country's top 10 leading sires in 2023-25, rising as high as the fourth-leading sire in 2024. He would sire two Korean champions: Success Baekpa, who won the 2024 Korean Triple Crown and was named champion 3-year-old colt, and Choegang Black, who was named champion 3-year-old filly for 2021. He also sired Clean Up Joy, who won 15 of 32 starts and earned more than US$1.3 million. Purge raced from 2-4 for trainer Todd Pletcher and Starlight Racing, which bought him at the 2002 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $180,000. The colt was out of the Copelan stakes winner Copelan's Bid Gal, who is a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner and sire Valid Wager (Valid Appeal). After winning his debut at 2, Purge went on at 3 to win the Peter Pan Stakes (G2) and Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), and at 4 won the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) after third-place finishes in the Meadowlands Breeders' Cup Stakes (G2) and Philip H. Iselin Breeders' Cup Handicap (G3). He retired with a 6-1-2 record from 15 starts and earned $905,434. As a stallion, Purge sired 257 winners that included 12 black-type stakes winners and another 15 that were stakes-placed. His progeny have earned more than US$17.6 million so far. Purge's best North American runners were grade 3-placed Macias, who won the Eddie Logan Stakes and Jack Goodman Stakes on the turf at Santa Anita Park in 2009 and won the Baffle Stakes in 2010; Extensive, who won the 2011 Sophomore Turf Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and was later third in the Del Mar Derby (G2T) and Sunset Handicap (G3T); and 12-time winner He's So Fine, who was second in the 2012 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2). Outside Korea, Purge sired multiple Venezuelan group 1 winner Dixie Emperor and Outskirt Lady, who was named champion imported 3-year-old filly in Panama in 2010.