Casa Camara (CAN)
1944 – c. 1963
Siete Colores (ARG) x Mintwina (USA), by Traumer (GER) or Mint Briar (USA)
Family 23-b
1944 – c. 1963
Siete Colores (ARG) x Mintwina (USA), by Traumer (GER) or Mint Briar (USA)
Family 23-b
Casa Camara is little remembered today, but she was more than Bunty Lawless’s little sister. Generally considered the best Canadian 2-year-old of either sex in 1946, she earned entry into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in her own right. She was a fairly successful broodmare, but her female family has not bred on at anything close to her own level.
Race record
29 starts, 7 wins, 4 seconds, 9 thirds, US$44,664 (including converted Canadian funds)
1946:
1947:
1948:
Assessments
Rated at 112 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American-raced juveniles of 1946, 14 pounds below American champion 2-year-old filly First Flight.
As an individual
A tall black mare, Casa Camara had a long stride but was quick and handy from the starting gate. She did not seem to like off going, though she outclassed her Canadian opposition sufficiently to win over it anyway.
As a producer
Casa Camara produced eight named foals, of which seven started and five won. Her one important foal was the 1955 Bull Page filly Stole the Ring, who won the 1957 Coronation Futurity and Shady Well Stakes and ran third in the 1958 Queen’s Plate. Stole the Ring, in turn, produced multiple Canadian stakes winner Mink Stole (by Nearctic).
Connections
Foaled in Ontario, Casa Camara was bred and owned by William Morrissey. She was trained by Dr. Robert “Doc” Hodgson.
Pedigree notes
Sired by the stakes-winning Argentine import Siete Colores (by three-time Argentine champion sire Silurian), Casa Camara is inbred 5x4 to 1896 Two Thousand Guineas winner and two-time English/Irish champion sire St. Frusquin and 4x6x5 to St. Frusquin’s sire St, Simon, an unbeaten champion on the race course and nine times the English/Irish champion sire. She is a half sister to Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame member Bunty Lawless (by Ladder), the King’s Plate winner of 1938 and voted the best Canadian racehorse of the first half of the 20th century. She is also a half sister to 1940 King’s Plate winner Willie the Kid (by Roselyon) and to The Brat (by Filisteo), who won the 1948 King’s Plate at Blue Bonnets.
Casa Camara was produced from stakes-placed Mintwina, a half sister to 1928 Jerome Handicap winner Sun Edwin (by Sun Briar). Mintwina is also a half sister to 1933 Adirondack Handicap winner Sun Celtic (by Sun Briar), dam of 1946 Queens County Handicap winner Helioptic (by Heliopolis), and to Beauedwina (by Sun Beau), dam of multiple Canadian stakes winner Arbor Vita (by the Hourless horse Hillsborough). In addition, Mintwina is a half sister to Sun Edna (by Sun Briar), dam of stakes winner Grey Wolf (by Gino), and to Dark Edwina (by Traumer), second dam of 1948 Haggin Stakes winner Audacious Man.
Mintwina and her siblings were produced from multiple stakes winner Edwina (by Celt), whose full sister Celiva is the dam of 1931 Remsen Handicap winner Cambal (by Campfire). Another full sister to Edwina, Celtiva, is the dam of multiple steeplechase stakes winner Celeritas (by Zeus). The dam of Edwina and her siblings, Lady Godiva (by Hanover), is a half sister to stakes winner Goodrich (by Patron) and is out of Edith Gray, by the great Ten Broeck out of Alice Gray (by Enquirer) and so a full sister to 1886 Tennessee Derby winner Jim Gray.
Fun facts
Last updated: December 23, 2021
Race record
29 starts, 7 wins, 4 seconds, 9 thirds, US$44,664 (including converted Canadian funds)
1946:
- Won Mrs. Orpen's Cup and Saucer Stakes (CAN, 8F+70yD, Long Branch)
- Won Princess Elizabeth Stakes (CAN, 6FD, Old Woodbine)
- Won Clarendon Plate (CAN, 8FD, Old Woodbine: new track record 1:38)
- Won Coronation Stakes (CAN-R, 8FD, Old Woodbine)
- Won Diamond Ring Stakes (CAN, 8FD, Long Branch; walkover)
- 3rd Pollyanna Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Arlington Park)
- Also set a new track record of 1:38 for 8FD at Dufferin Park
1947:
- 2nd Cleopatra Handicap (USA, 8FD, Arlington Park)
- 3rd Dick Welles Stakes (USA, 8FD, Arlington Park)
1948:
- 3rd Vagrancy Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Aqueduct)
Assessments
Rated at 112 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American-raced juveniles of 1946, 14 pounds below American champion 2-year-old filly First Flight.
As an individual
A tall black mare, Casa Camara had a long stride but was quick and handy from the starting gate. She did not seem to like off going, though she outclassed her Canadian opposition sufficiently to win over it anyway.
As a producer
Casa Camara produced eight named foals, of which seven started and five won. Her one important foal was the 1955 Bull Page filly Stole the Ring, who won the 1957 Coronation Futurity and Shady Well Stakes and ran third in the 1958 Queen’s Plate. Stole the Ring, in turn, produced multiple Canadian stakes winner Mink Stole (by Nearctic).
Connections
Foaled in Ontario, Casa Camara was bred and owned by William Morrissey. She was trained by Dr. Robert “Doc” Hodgson.
Pedigree notes
Sired by the stakes-winning Argentine import Siete Colores (by three-time Argentine champion sire Silurian), Casa Camara is inbred 5x4 to 1896 Two Thousand Guineas winner and two-time English/Irish champion sire St. Frusquin and 4x6x5 to St. Frusquin’s sire St, Simon, an unbeaten champion on the race course and nine times the English/Irish champion sire. She is a half sister to Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame member Bunty Lawless (by Ladder), the King’s Plate winner of 1938 and voted the best Canadian racehorse of the first half of the 20th century. She is also a half sister to 1940 King’s Plate winner Willie the Kid (by Roselyon) and to The Brat (by Filisteo), who won the 1948 King’s Plate at Blue Bonnets.
Casa Camara was produced from stakes-placed Mintwina, a half sister to 1928 Jerome Handicap winner Sun Edwin (by Sun Briar). Mintwina is also a half sister to 1933 Adirondack Handicap winner Sun Celtic (by Sun Briar), dam of 1946 Queens County Handicap winner Helioptic (by Heliopolis), and to Beauedwina (by Sun Beau), dam of multiple Canadian stakes winner Arbor Vita (by the Hourless horse Hillsborough). In addition, Mintwina is a half sister to Sun Edna (by Sun Briar), dam of stakes winner Grey Wolf (by Gino), and to Dark Edwina (by Traumer), second dam of 1948 Haggin Stakes winner Audacious Man.
Mintwina and her siblings were produced from multiple stakes winner Edwina (by Celt), whose full sister Celiva is the dam of 1931 Remsen Handicap winner Cambal (by Campfire). Another full sister to Edwina, Celtiva, is the dam of multiple steeplechase stakes winner Celeritas (by Zeus). The dam of Edwina and her siblings, Lady Godiva (by Hanover), is a half sister to stakes winner Goodrich (by Patron) and is out of Edith Gray, by the great Ten Broeck out of Alice Gray (by Enquirer) and so a full sister to 1886 Tennessee Derby winner Jim Gray.
Fun facts
- Casa Camara was named for an inn in a Mexican town in which Morrissey spent time while recovering from an illness.
- Casa Camara was the first Canadian-bred to earn a rating on the Experimental Free Handicap since its institution by famed handicapper John B. Campbell in 1933.
- In spite of being a half sister to two King’s Plate winners, Casa Camara was not eligible for the 1947 King’s Plate due to an oversight by Morrissey, who had simply forgotten to nominate her.
- In addition to being Casa Camara’s trainer, Doc Hodgson was also the veterinarian who saved her dam Mintwina’s life after Mintwina broke a sesamoid in her first start as Morrissey’s property. Morrissey wanted to have the filly euthanized since she could no longer race, but Hodgson talked him out of it, instead persuading him to send Mintwina to the young stallion Ladder, then standing his first (and only) season. The resulting foal was Bunty Lawless.
- According to her entry at the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, Casa Camara featured in a feud between William Morrissey and Fred Orpen, who owned several race tracks in Ontario, Angered by the 128 pounds assigned to his filly when she ran in the 1946 Mrs. Orpen’s Cup and Saucer Stakes at Orpen’s Long Branch track (she won anyway), Morrissey refused to leave the stands when Casa Camara won the Diamond Ring Stakes at the same track in a walkover a week later and sent his trainer, Doc Hodgson, to stand in for him in the winner’s circle ceremony and to receive the diamond ring that was part of the winner’s prize. Orpen refused to give the ring to Hodgson and simply kept it, and Morrissey took his revenge by giving a number of his horses names related to the incident. Among them was Casa Camara’s best runner, her daughter Stole the Ring.
Last updated: December 23, 2021