"They wanted to finish out the season with him, but I don’t know that he even covered any mares this season," Blowen said. "We were expecting him by late spring or early summer. The Thoroughbred Club of Japan had already donated him to us, and they were great about it, but he was just too old to deal with that gastric ulcer."

Criminal Type began his stud career at Calumet Farm, which bred and raced the horse first in France in 1987 and ’88 and then in the United States with trainer D. Wayne Lukas in ’89 and ’90. He entered his championship 1990 season having won just three of 13 races but turned things around to capture seven of 11 races in his final season en route to champion older male honors.

Criminal Type’s Grade 1 victories among six graded stakes wins that year included the Pimlico Special Handicap (G1) in track-record time at Pimlico Race Course as well as the Whitney Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Criminal Type won ten of 24 races lifetime and earned $2,351,274.

Through ten crops of racing age, Criminal Type has sired seven stakes winners, including Madame Adolphe and Hoolie, his only two graded stakes winners, both of whom came from his first two crops, which were produced while he still stood in North America. Criminal Type shipped to Breeders Stallion Station in Japan in 1993.

The death of Criminal Type marks a run of bad luck for Old Friends and the late mare Klepto, as the 1986 champion turf female Estrapade died of a heart attack on February 25 at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm shortly before her scheduled transport to Old Friends and Hurstland. Klepto, a Grade 2 winner by No Robbery, produced both Criminal Type and Estrapade.

"It’s been a bad month, but you have to take an overall view," Blowen said. "The good news is that [bloodstock agent] Emmanuel de Seroux is going to Japan at the end of May to investigate other stallions who might be a good fit for our program. I’m just glad the horse wasn’t on a plane when this happened."--Ed DeRosa