Desert Crown won the 2022 Derby at Epsom for Sir Michael Stoute and Richard Kingscote; Bruce Raymond, racing manager to owner Saeed Suhail, said the four-year-old was ‘put down humanely’ at the Newmarket Equine Hospital
A son of Nathaniel, Desert Crown ran just twice as a three-year-old, winning the Group Two Dante at York before going on to Classic glory at Epsom last June.
He was then sidelined for almost a year before returning with a brilliant effort to be second to Hukum at Sandown in May in the Brigadier Gerard, for what would prove to be his final appearance on the track.
Desert Crown’s devastated connections told the Racing Post that he had been “put down humanely” at the Newmarket Equine Hospital (NEH), where surgeons had been treating him.