Admiring (USA)
March 17, 1962 – After May 23, 1984
Hail to Reason (USA) x Searching (USA), by War Admiral (USA)
Family 1-x
March 17, 1962 – After May 23, 1984
Hail to Reason (USA) x Searching (USA), by War Admiral (USA)
Family 1-x
Like her full sister Priceless Gem and her half sister Affectionately, Admiring was a high-class juvenile. Unlike Affectionately, she failed to show the same form at 3 and beyond although she was sound and durable. As a broodmare, she produced only one good racer, but that was Glowing Tribute, later a Kentucky Broodmare of the Year. Admiring had influence through other daughters as well.
Race record
43 starts, 7 wins, 7 seconds, 6 thirds, US$184,581
1964:
1965:
1966:
Assessments
Rated at 113 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1964, 5 pounds below champion Queen Empress.
Rated at 110 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old fillies of 1965, 17 pounds below champion What a Treat.
Rated at 110 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older females of 1966, 16 pounds below champion Open Fire.
As an individual
In his book Foundation Mares: How Outstanding Female Families Shaped America's Racing Industry (2008, Thoroughbred Times Books), John Sparkman described Admiring as "a big, beautiful dark bay filly." Charles Hatton of the Daily Racing Form saw her differently, describing her as feminine and spare with light bone and estimating that she would mature at about 15.3 hands when he profiled her at the end of her juvenile season. Hatton also noted that she had long pasterns, small feet and hind legs with slightly excessive angulation. Her best points were a strong, well-angled shoulder, good rib depth, short cannons and good muscling through her forearms. She tended to race wide and to come off the pace but gained her sole stakes victory after racing close to the lead early. Admiring was officially registered as a dark bay or brown. She was a cribber.
As a producer
Admiring produced 16 named foals, of which 12 started and nine won. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Admiring was bred and owned by the Bieber-Jacobs Stable and raced in the silks of Ethel Jacobs. She was sold to the partnership of Paul Mellon and Charles Englehard for US$310,000 at the partial dispersal of the Bieber-Jacobs horses at Saratoga in 1966, later becoming the sole property of Mellon after Englehard died in 1971. Admiring produced her last foal, the Key to Content colt Golden Praise, in May 1984.
Pedigree notes
Admiring is inbred 5x3 to Man o' War and 5x4 to Teddy. She is a full sister to 1965 Futurity Stakes and Frizette Stakes winner Priceless Gem, dam of the great French race mare Allez France (by Sea-Bird), multiple Grade 1 producer Lady Winborne (by Secretariat) and four-time New Zealand champion sire Noble Bijou (by Vaguely Noble). Admiring is also a half sister to three-time American champion Affectionately (by Swaps), dam of 1970 American Horse of the Year Personality (by Hail to Reason), and to Searching Around (by Round Table), dam of stakes winner Stashed (by Key to the Mint).
Admiring and her sisters are out of National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame member Searching (by War Admiral), a foundation mare for the Bieber-Jacobs Stable's breeding program. The next dam in Admiring's tail-female line, Big Hurry (by Black Toney) won the 1939 Selima Stakes and was one of several first-rate broodmares produced from the great matron La Troienne.
Fun facts
Last updated: August 29, 2022
Race record
43 starts, 7 wins, 7 seconds, 6 thirds, US$184,581
1964:
- Won Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes (USA, 6.5FD, Arlington Park)
- 2nd Matron Stakes (USA, 6FD, Aqueduct)
- 2nd Marguerite Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Pimlico)
- 3rd Astarita Stakes (USA, 7FD, Aqueduct)
1965:
- 2nd Prioress Stakes (USA, 6FD, Aqueduct)
- 3rd Santa Susana Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)
1966:
- 3rd Correction Handicap (USA, 6FD, Aqueduct)
Assessments
Rated at 113 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1964, 5 pounds below champion Queen Empress.
Rated at 110 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old fillies of 1965, 17 pounds below champion What a Treat.
Rated at 110 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older females of 1966, 16 pounds below champion Open Fire.
As an individual
In his book Foundation Mares: How Outstanding Female Families Shaped America's Racing Industry (2008, Thoroughbred Times Books), John Sparkman described Admiring as "a big, beautiful dark bay filly." Charles Hatton of the Daily Racing Form saw her differently, describing her as feminine and spare with light bone and estimating that she would mature at about 15.3 hands when he profiled her at the end of her juvenile season. Hatton also noted that she had long pasterns, small feet and hind legs with slightly excessive angulation. Her best points were a strong, well-angled shoulder, good rib depth, short cannons and good muscling through her forearms. She tended to race wide and to come off the pace but gained her sole stakes victory after racing close to the lead early. Admiring was officially registered as a dark bay or brown. She was a cribber.
As a producer
Admiring produced 16 named foals, of which 12 started and nine won. Her important foals are as follow:
- Courting Days (1970, by Bold Lad) produced 1981 Blandford Stakes (IRE-G2) winner Magesterial (by Northern Dancer), a useful sire.
- Glowing Tribute (1973, by Graustark) was a multiple Grade 2 winner on the track. She was better still as a broodmare, producing seven stakes winners including 1993 Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) winner Sea Hero (by Polish Navy) and multiple Grade 1 winner Hero's Honor (by Northern Dancer). The 1993 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year, she is the second dam of 2001 European champion sprinter Mozart, 1990 Futurity Stakes (USA-G1) winner Eastern Echo and 2004 Argentine champion sire Roar and is the third dam of 2012 Doomben Cup (AUS-G1) winner Mawingo.
- Wealth of Nations (1975, by Key to the Mint) produced the In Reality mare Printing Press, dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Lite Light (by Majestic Light). Lite Light, in turn, is the dam of English Group 2 winner Saddad (by Gone West) and Grade 3 winner Nite Light (by Thunder Gulch). Printing Press is also the second dam of multiple Grade 2 winner Race Day and multiple Japanese stakes winner American Boss; the latter horse is a Group 2 winner by Japanese standards though not by international standards.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Admiring was bred and owned by the Bieber-Jacobs Stable and raced in the silks of Ethel Jacobs. She was sold to the partnership of Paul Mellon and Charles Englehard for US$310,000 at the partial dispersal of the Bieber-Jacobs horses at Saratoga in 1966, later becoming the sole property of Mellon after Englehard died in 1971. Admiring produced her last foal, the Key to Content colt Golden Praise, in May 1984.
Pedigree notes
Admiring is inbred 5x3 to Man o' War and 5x4 to Teddy. She is a full sister to 1965 Futurity Stakes and Frizette Stakes winner Priceless Gem, dam of the great French race mare Allez France (by Sea-Bird), multiple Grade 1 producer Lady Winborne (by Secretariat) and four-time New Zealand champion sire Noble Bijou (by Vaguely Noble). Admiring is also a half sister to three-time American champion Affectionately (by Swaps), dam of 1970 American Horse of the Year Personality (by Hail to Reason), and to Searching Around (by Round Table), dam of stakes winner Stashed (by Key to the Mint).
Admiring and her sisters are out of National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame member Searching (by War Admiral), a foundation mare for the Bieber-Jacobs Stable's breeding program. The next dam in Admiring's tail-female line, Big Hurry (by Black Toney) won the 1939 Selima Stakes and was one of several first-rate broodmares produced from the great matron La Troienne.
Fun facts
- The US$310,000 paid for Admiring at the Bieber-Jacobs partial dispersal of 1966 broke the previous world record for a Thoroughbred sold at public auction by US$75,000.
Last updated: August 29, 2022