Charismatic dies at 21; horse won 2 legs of Triple Crown

Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Charismatic, whose bid for the Triple Crown ended with a dramatic leg injury as he neared the finish line in the Belmont Stakes, has died at a thoroughbred retirement farm in Kentucky.

The striking chestnut horse who won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 1999 was found dead in his stall Sunday at Old Friends farm near Georgetown, Ky., the farm said.

Charismatic arrived at Old Friends in December after a long stud career in Japan.

“He connected with people that would come here and tell us stories about what that horse meant to them when he won the Kentucky Derby, and then when he broke his leg in the Belmont,” Blowen said.

After winning the Lexington Stakes, the D. Wayne Lukas-trained colt won the Derby as a long shot.

At the Belmont, Charismatic led with an eighth of a mile to go, but took a bad step and fractured his left foreleg as Lemon Drop Kid swept by him to win.