Millionaire and four-time grade I winner Awad died July 23 at Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky. The 21-year-old horse was discovered early in the morning in his paddock at the Thoroughbred retirement center, where he has been pensioned since 2006.

According to veterinarian Doug Byars, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, and Old Friends president Michael Blowen, the cause of death was heart failure, but a full necropsy is being performed at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky.

The hard-knocking son of Caveat, Awad raced for seven seasons as a homebred for Maryland’s Ryehill Farm, capturing 14 of his 70 starts. His career earnings totaled $3,270,131.

Awad’s first grade I win came in the 1993 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington, which would prove to be a lucky race course for the runner throughout his career. In 1995 he captured the Arlington Million in record time of 1:58.69, shaving one-fifth of a second off the course mark set by Perrault in 1982