'TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard' Ewing (Knicks Go), the winner of the 2025 GII Saratoga Special Stakes, passed away Tuesday at trainer Mark Casse's farm in Ocala, Fla., the result of a freak accident.“We had decided to retire Ewing and sent him down to Ocala to let him let down a little bit off the racetrack and get used to his new life as a regular horse,” said Jon Green, the general manager of DJ Stable, which owned Ewing along with West Point Thoroughbreds and Kenneth French. “He was out in a paddock and something spooked him and he went to go jump the fence and unfortunately didn't clear the fence and hit a post. As he was going over it, he cracked his skull open.”Green said that Ewing was still adjusting to his new life after being on the racetrack. His last start came in the Aug. 8 Colonial Turf Dash Stakes, where he finished seventh.“Unfortunately, we forget sometimes that these horses get cranked up in the sense of being ready to be race horses and it takes a little while to get that training out of their system,” Green said. “That's why our protocol is to send these horses down to Mark's farm and let them let down a little bit and let them relax and start to get into retirement mode. He was still pretty high-strung, just coming off the racetrack. It was an unfortunate incident for sure.”Green said the social media influencer Griffin Johnson, who owned a part of Ewing through the West Point partnership, was particularly upset over the news.“I think it really shook Griffin,” Green said. “I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet about it, but I know he was significantly close to both Sandman and Ewing because he had an ownership piece in them. Ewing was the first stakes horse that he actually got to walk into the winner's circle and it was at Saratoga among a lot of pomp and circumstance. Out of all the great things that Griffin got to do in his position, he had commented to me that that was one of the highlights of his life, let alone his racing career.”Green said that the plan was to find a second career for Ewing, who was retired after the Colonial Downs race.“He was going to be put into one of the retirement programs to be reschooled and reeducated and then go on and live the good life for the next 15, 20 years or more,” Green said.The post Grade II Winner Ewing Dies After Freak Accident appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.