Hong Kong champion sprinter Absolute Champion was euthanized on Sunday at Kranji after he fractured his right front fetlock in the $731,100 Krisflyer International Sprint.

The Marauding gelding broke down about 200 meters into the 1,200-meter (5.96-furlong) sprint, which was won by Takeover Target in a course record time of 1:08.80.

Absolute Champion opened his 2008 campaign with a win in the Centenary Sprint Cup and entered the International Sprint off a runner-up finish to Sacred Kingdom in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

Absolute Champion defeated two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Silent Witness to win the 2006 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint (HK-G1) and earn his most prestigious career victory.

Trained by D. J. Hall, Absolute Champion was named 2007 champion sprinter in Hong Kong after he closed the year with a runner-up finish to Sacred Kingdom in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint. During his championship season, the bay gelding also won the Chairman’s Sprint Prize and finished second in both the Centenary Sprint Cup and Cathay Pacific International Sprint Trial.

Bred in Australia by J. W. Kelly Suffolk Vale, Absolute Champion won seven of 32 career starts and earned $2,857,572. Out of the Ideal Planet mare Beauty Belle, Absolute Champion began his career in Australia and won the Pago Pago Stakes (Aus-G2) as a juvenile.