Black Tie Affair was a thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse. Bred by American businessman Stephen D. Peskoff, he was out of the mare

Mare (horse)

A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...

 Hat Tab Girl and sired by Miswaki

Miswaki

Miswaki was an American bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was a Group 1 winner in France as well as a stakes race winner in the United States...

, who also sired Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

 winner Urban Sea

Urban Sea

Urban Sea was a French Thoroughbred racemare best known for winning France's most prestigious race in 1993 and for her importance as a world class broodmare. She is one of only two mares to ever produce two Epsom Derby winners, namely Galileo and Sea the Stars...

 and who was a two-time Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland

Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland

The list below shows the leading sire of broodmares in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1899. This is determined by the amount of prizemoney won during the year by racehorses which were foaled by a daughter of the sire.-----References:*...

.

Black Tie Affair was brought to the United States where he stood as a yearling at Cynthia and Walter Reese's Timber Creek Farm in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. Reese trained the colt as a 2-year-old for Edward P. Swyer of Hudson River Farm before being sold to Jeffrey Sullivan in 1989 for $125,000 as a three-year-old on the advice of trainer, Ernie T. Poulos

Ernie T. Poulos

Ernest T. Poulos was an American Thoroughbred horse trainer. A native of Chicago, he conditioned horses at local tracks for many years but gained national attention when he took over the training of Black Tie Affair in 1989...

.

Black Tie Affair was a graded stakes race

Graded stakes race

A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...

 winner at two, three, four, and five and earned United States Horse of the Year

Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year

The American Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. It has been awarded since 1887 to the horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year is deemed the most outstanding....

 in 1991 along with winning the Breeder's Cup Classic that year at Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...

 in a wire-to-wire victory over Twilight Agenda and Unbridled

Unbridled

Unbridled was a Champion American Thoroughbred racehorse.The colt was sired by Fappiano , by Mr. Prospector, and his dam Gana Facil, by Le Fabuleux. Unbridled retired with a career record of 8 wins, 6 places and 6 shows in 24 starts, and $4,489,475 in career earnings...

 with Jerry Bailey

Jerry Bailey

Jerry D. Bailey is a retired American Hall of Fame jockey. He began his racing career in November 1974. His first mount was on a horse named Pegged Rate, who ran off the board. He notched his first career win the next day on his second career mount, Fetch, at New Mexico's Sunland Park, and has...

 aboard.

Retirement

Black Tie Affair was originally retired in 1992 to Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 and then sent to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in 1997 for stud duty. In 2003, there was some worry that he might meet the same fate as the great Ferdinand

Ferdinand (horse)

Ferdinand was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1986 Kentucky Derby and 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic. He was voted the 1987 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.He entered stud in 1989 and was later sold to a breeding farm in Japan in 1994....

, who was reportedly sent to the slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse

A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...

 in Japan when his stud career was over. Instead, with the help of several people, from turf enthusiasts to prominent businessmen, Black Tie Affair's ex-trainer's wife, Dee Poulos, started a campaign to bring him back to the United States.

Black Tie Affair was retired to Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky. He was humanely euthanized at Old Friends on July 1, 2010, due to laminitis

Laminitis

Laminitis is a disease that affects the feet of ungulates. It is best known in horses and cattle. Symptoms include lameness, and increased temperature in the hooves...

.

His best known progeny are Evening Attire

Evening Attire (horse)

Evening Attire is a Kentucky bred Thoroughbred racehorse, foaled on February 14, 1998, though most of his racing career has taken place in New York.-A little history, early and late:Bred by Joseph M. Grant and Hall of Famer Thomas J...

, Formal Gold, and the multiple stakes-winning filly License Fee, along with the Japanese winner Washington Color and Today's Affair.