Caressing (USA)
April 18, 1998 – September 14, 2021
Honour and Glory (USA) x Lovin Touch (USA), by Majestic Prince (USA)
Family 9-f
April 18, 1998 – September 14, 2021
Honour and Glory (USA) x Lovin Touch (USA), by Majestic Prince (USA)
Family 9-f
Caressing earned a championship in a rather weak crop of American fillies by scoring the lone Grade 1 win of her career in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, pulling a 47-1 upset as the longest shot on the board. A multiple Grade 3 winner at 3 in spite of experiencing illness that year, she has since become a successful broodmare with an American champion and a Group 1 producer to her credit.
Race record
18 starts, 5 wins, 2 seconds, 3 thirds, US$955,998
2000:
2001:
2002:
Honors
Eclipse Award, American champion 2-year-old filly (2000)
Assessments
Highweighted at 123 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 2000, 1 pound above second-rated Raging Fever.
As an individual
A smallish dark bay or brown filly, Caressing was “a little on the ornery side” according to trainer David Vance, who also described her as “easy to train.” She was determined on the track and would go inside horses willingly.
As a producer
As of June 2021, Caressing has produced 10 named foals, of which nine have started and seven have won. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Caressing was bred by Brereton Jones. She was owned by Carl Pollard, who purchased her for US$180,000 through agent Mike Ryan from the 1999 Keeneland September yearling sale. She was trained by David Vance and was ridden to her Breeders’ Cup score by John Velazquez. As a broodmare, she was initially owned by Pollard’s Hermitage Farm and Overbrook Farm. She has produced her later foals as the property of Pollard’s boarding operation, CFP Thoroughbreds.
Pedigree notes
Caressing is inbred 5x4 to the important sire Royal Charger. She is a half sister to Grade 3-placed listed stakes winner Platinum Blonde (by Silver Hawk). She is also a half sister to Alinda (by Vaguely Noble), dam of multiple Puerto Rican listed stakes winner Yes It’s Legal (by Yes It’s True), and to Back Seat Babe (by You and I), dam of stakes winner Our Dancing Babe (by Belong to Me). In addition, Caressing is a half sister to All My Lovin’ (by Cat’s Career), dam of Canadian restricted stakes winner Celtic Conviction (by Strut the Stage).
Caressing and her sisters are out of listed stakes winner Lovin Touch, whose half sister Lohagogo (by Aloha Mood) is the dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Willowy Mood (by Will Win), stakes winner Transgogo (by Transworld), and restricted stakes winner Chillon (by Pass the Tab). Lohagogo is also the second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner OK by Me and Grade 3 winner D J’s Rainbow and is the third dam of Grade 2 winner East Hall and English Group 3 winner Enforcer. Returning to Lovin Touch, she is also a half sister to Hattab Gal (by Al Hattab), dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Sea Cadet (by Bolger), Grade 2 winner On Target (by Forty Niner), and multiple restricted stakes winner Paper Princess (by Flying Paster), and to Fandarel (by King Pellinore), dam of restricted stakes winner Fandarel Dancer (by Marshua’s Dancer).
Lovin Touch, in turn, is out of the winning Fleet Nasrullah mare Forest Princess, a half sister to stakes winner Myriad (by Never Bend). Produced from Queen Hostess (whose sire My Host is a winning full brother to 1950 Santa Anita Derby winner Your Host), Forest Princess is also a half sister to Native Hostess (by Raise a Native), dam of stakes winners Wild Tactics (by Bold Tactics), Carrie Cupcake (by Donut King), and Quay Ya Ho (by Master Derby), and to Sweet Jenny (by Aloha Mood), dam of stakes winner Frozen Dew (by Zoot Alors).
Books and media
Footage of Caressing’s win in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies can be accessed through the Breeders’ Cup Hall of Champions (https://www.breederscup.com/history-tradition/hall-champions/caressing).
Fun facts
Last updated: May 10, 2022
Race record
18 starts, 5 wins, 2 seconds, 3 thirds, US$955,998
2000:
- Won Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Bassinet Stakes (USA-L, 6FD, River Downs)
- 2nd Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes (USA-G3, 8FD, Arlington Park)
2001:
- Won La Troienne Stakes (USA-G3, 7FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Singapore Plate Stakes (USA-G3, 9FD, Arlington Park)
- 3rd Indiana Breeders' Cup Oaks (USA-G3, 8.5FD, Hoosier Park)
2002:
- 2nd Iowa Distaff Stakes (USA-L, 8.5FD, Prairie Meadows)
- 3rd Chicago Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G3, 7FD, Arlington Park)
- 3rd, Bayakoa Stakes (USA-L, 8.5FD, Oaklawn Park)
Honors
Eclipse Award, American champion 2-year-old filly (2000)
Assessments
Highweighted at 123 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 2000, 1 pound above second-rated Raging Fever.
As an individual
A smallish dark bay or brown filly, Caressing was “a little on the ornery side” according to trainer David Vance, who also described her as “easy to train.” She was determined on the track and would go inside horses willingly.
As a producer
As of June 2021, Caressing has produced 10 named foals, of which nine have started and seven have won. Her important foals are as follow:
- My Goodness (2005, by Storm Cat) won one of her six starts. She is the dam of 2021 Yasuda Kinen (JPN-G1) winner Danon Kingly (by Deep Impact), 2014 Capella Stakes (JPN-G3) winner Danon Legend (by Macho Uno), and Japanese listed stakes winner Danon Good (by Elusive Quality).
- West Coast (2014, by Flatter) won the 2017 Travers Stakes (USA-G1) and Pennsylvania Derby (USA-G1) and was voted the American champion 3-year-old male of 2017 after finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1). He entered stud in 2019 in Kentucky at Lane’s End Farm.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Caressing was bred by Brereton Jones. She was owned by Carl Pollard, who purchased her for US$180,000 through agent Mike Ryan from the 1999 Keeneland September yearling sale. She was trained by David Vance and was ridden to her Breeders’ Cup score by John Velazquez. As a broodmare, she was initially owned by Pollard’s Hermitage Farm and Overbrook Farm. She has produced her later foals as the property of Pollard’s boarding operation, CFP Thoroughbreds.
Pedigree notes
Caressing is inbred 5x4 to the important sire Royal Charger. She is a half sister to Grade 3-placed listed stakes winner Platinum Blonde (by Silver Hawk). She is also a half sister to Alinda (by Vaguely Noble), dam of multiple Puerto Rican listed stakes winner Yes It’s Legal (by Yes It’s True), and to Back Seat Babe (by You and I), dam of stakes winner Our Dancing Babe (by Belong to Me). In addition, Caressing is a half sister to All My Lovin’ (by Cat’s Career), dam of Canadian restricted stakes winner Celtic Conviction (by Strut the Stage).
Caressing and her sisters are out of listed stakes winner Lovin Touch, whose half sister Lohagogo (by Aloha Mood) is the dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Willowy Mood (by Will Win), stakes winner Transgogo (by Transworld), and restricted stakes winner Chillon (by Pass the Tab). Lohagogo is also the second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner OK by Me and Grade 3 winner D J’s Rainbow and is the third dam of Grade 2 winner East Hall and English Group 3 winner Enforcer. Returning to Lovin Touch, she is also a half sister to Hattab Gal (by Al Hattab), dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Sea Cadet (by Bolger), Grade 2 winner On Target (by Forty Niner), and multiple restricted stakes winner Paper Princess (by Flying Paster), and to Fandarel (by King Pellinore), dam of restricted stakes winner Fandarel Dancer (by Marshua’s Dancer).
Lovin Touch, in turn, is out of the winning Fleet Nasrullah mare Forest Princess, a half sister to stakes winner Myriad (by Never Bend). Produced from Queen Hostess (whose sire My Host is a winning full brother to 1950 Santa Anita Derby winner Your Host), Forest Princess is also a half sister to Native Hostess (by Raise a Native), dam of stakes winners Wild Tactics (by Bold Tactics), Carrie Cupcake (by Donut King), and Quay Ya Ho (by Master Derby), and to Sweet Jenny (by Aloha Mood), dam of stakes winner Frozen Dew (by Zoot Alors).
Books and media
Footage of Caressing’s win in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies can be accessed through the Breeders’ Cup Hall of Champions (https://www.breederscup.com/history-tradition/hall-champions/caressing).
Fun facts
- Caressing's odds of 47-1 were the longest to date for a winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
- Caressing ran her last races as a 4-year-old after being bred to Fusaichi Pegasus. The mating did not produce a live foal.
Last updated: May 10, 2022