by Jeff Lowe

Go Between, the winner of last year’s Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) and Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes, died of cardiac arrest following a workout on Monday at Payson Park Training Center in Florida.

The six-year-old Point Given horse had breezed six furlongs in 1:17.80 in preparation for a repeat bid in the Sunshine Millions.

“It’s a real gloomy day around here for us,” said Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who handled Go Between for owner-breeder Peter Vegso. “He had been in the barn since he was a two-year-old and was as sound and as healthy of a horse as you could ask for. It’s just one of the terrible things that can happen. To be honest, we’re all pretty in down in the mouth about it.”

Go Between won the 2006 Palm Beach Stakes (G3) as a three-year-old and made his first major mark in the Virginia Derby (G2), the first of his three triumphs in races worth $1-million.

Beginning late in his four-year-old season, Go Between thrived on synthetic surfaces. He prevailed in the Fayette Stakes (G3) at Keeneland Race Course and the $1-million Sunshine Millions Classic at Santa Anita Park before finishing second to Heatseeker (Ire) in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1).

Following a second-place finish in the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1), Go Between defeated Well Armed by a neck in the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar last August. His only subsequent start was a fifth-place finish as the 8-to-1 second choice in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita. He was forced to steady while trapped along the rail at the quarter pole.

“We thought he had a real shot in the Breeders’ Cup but he had some traffic trouble,” Mott said. “He turned out to be a real honest horse. He had some temperament issues as a two- and three-year-old but he grew out of them and developed into such a good, solid horse.”

Bred by Vegso in Florida, Go Between won eight of 27 career starts and earned $2,908,880.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer