Although he broke his maiden in a US$7,500 claimer, this rags-to-riches runner became the king of California in his best season, his nine stakes wins including the Hollywood Gold Cup. The co-highweight handicap male of his year, he also deserves notice as the best horse ever bred in the state of Indiana. Who is he?
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1952 American Horse of the Year Tom Fool was a tom-fool about racing, but apparently not about the ladies. Nonetheless, he became a fine sire and perhaps outbred himself when he sired the great Buckpasser.
There was a time when "a Whitney mare" was a byword for one of the jewels of the Turf: a beautifully-bred mare with generations of a strong family behind her and the promise of more to come in her future. Not many were sold except when necessity dictated thinning the broodmare band, and even the culls often proved treasures for the breeders who bought them.
As the Whitneys have moved on into history (although Marylou Whitney, widow of C. V. "Sonny" Whitney, remains an active and much-respected participant in racing and breeding), the Phipps family has assumed a similar role in modern breeding. They have nurtured several great mare families, among them those of Striking, Grey Flight and Blitey, and they do not sell many of the daughters of these lines. When these mares do come on the market, knowledgeable breeders are quick to snap them up, knowing that each one of them taps into a depth of breeding only rarely accessible outside racing's most elite circles. Sanford Robertson bought one such mare in 2010 at the Keeneland November mixed sale, giving US$150,000 for a granddaughter of the great Personal Ensign. The mare, 6-year-old Rejoicing, had previously failed to meet her reserve on a US$210,000 bid at the 2009 Keeneland November sale, but since then had produced a not particularly impressive Street Boss filly. (The filly, later named Timothyfourseven, was a US$45,000 weanling at the 2010 Keeneland November sale and never raced.) There were other reasons why Rejoicing was on the market. Sired by Forestry, she was certainly well-bred but had won only one of her four starts, and her dam Pennant Champion (by Mr. Prospector and so a full sister to Grade 1 winners Miner's Mart and Traditionally and a half sister to Grade 1 winner My Flag, by Easy Goer) was likewise a modest performer. Further, at the time of Rejoicing's sale, Pennant Champion had no stakes winners and only a single Grade 3 producer from 10 foals of racing age. Later, she would come through with a Grade 3 winner, the Arch colt Animal Spirits, and another daughter would produce Grade 3 winner Ocho Ocho Ocho, but the bottom line in 2010 was that the Phipps family had plenty of better-credentialed daughters and granddaughters of Personal Ensign in the broodmare band. A mare not quite good enough for the Phippses can still be mighty good, though, as Robertson has reason to know. His new mare paid for herself with the Broken Vow colt she was carrying at the time of her purchase. A US$200,000 yearling at the 2012 Keeneland September sale, Divine Oath won three Grade 3 turf races in 2014. Rejoicing's 2012 filly by Mineshaft, Joyfully, never raced, but Robertson is now the proud owner of Rejoicing's 2013 foal, Auntie Joy (by Uncle Mo), who became a Grade 3 winner by going wire-to-wire in yesterday's Regret Stakes (USA-G3) at Churchill Downs. Rejoicing was barren in 2014 but produced a full sister to Divine Oath in 2015. While Rejoicing has yet to prove that she's a textbook case of how a smaller breeder can land a potential foundation mare for his or her operation, she's certainly moving in the right direction toward proving that point. As for Robertson, he's now in the happy position of having both a fine young race mare with an excellent pedigree for his future broodmare band and a proven producer who should still have several good seasons ahead of her for his current one. If Rejoicing was never precisely one man's trash, she certainly has become another one's treasure. A great champion on the track, this Hall of Famer might have been a champion in the breeding shed as well except for one problem: he was less than enthusiastic about his stallion duties. Further, he passed his relative indifference to l'amour down to several of his male-line descendants. In spite of himself, he became an important sire. Who was this reluctant Romeo?
Man, did I hear the crickets chirping on this one! Nonetheless, here are the answers:
1) Name the members of the only three-generation chain of Belmont Stakes winners in American racing history. That's Seattle Slew (1977), A.P. Indy (1992) and Rags to Riches (2007). 2) For 26 years, these two Belmont Stakes winners were pasture buddies with adjoining stallion paddocks, racing each other up and down their shared fence line and keeping one another company. Incidentally, both lived past the age of 30, ranking them among the oldest Belmont winners. Name them. Stage Door Johnny (1968) and Arts and Letters (1969) had neighboring paddocks at Gainesway. Stage Door Johnny passed away in 1996 at the age of 31, and Arts and Letters headed on for greener pastures in 1998 at age 32. 3) This Belmont Stakes winner completed a rare double for his dam, as his full sister won the Belmont's filly counterpart, the Coaching Club American Oaks. Adding to the luster of this brother-sister duo, both were the champions of their divisions at 3. Name this classy pair. Bimelech (Black Toney x La Troienne) won the Belmont in 1940, when he was American champion 3-year-old male; his full sister Black Helen won the CCA Oaks five years earlier and was American champion 3-year-old filly that year. 4) This Belmont Stakes winner was a horse of unquestioned courage on the track, yet had the nervous habit of chewing at his own hooves in his stall, much as a nervous human will chew his own fingernails. Name him. This is none other than the immortal Man o' War, who inherited something of his dam Mahubah's high-strung disposition. 5) This Belmont Stakes winner was the first winner of an American Triple Crown race to have his victory aired on national television. Who was he, and which television station aired the race? Citation's Belmont Stakes in 1948 was broadcast on CBS. See you all on Friday for the regular trivia challenge! It's time for another special trivia challenge. This time, all the questions will revolve around the "Test of the Champion," the Belmont Stakes. The answers can all be found somewhere on the American Classic Pedigrees website.
1) Name the members of the only three-generation chain of Belmont Stakes winners in American racing history. 2) For 26 years, these two Belmont Stakes winners were pasture buddies with adjoining stallion paddocks, racing each other up and down their shared fence line and keeping one another company. Incidentally, both lived past the age of 30, ranking them among the oldest Belmont winners. Name them. 3) This Belmont Stakes winner completed a rare double for his dam, as his full sister won the Belmont's filly counterpart, the Coaching Club American Oaks. Adding to the luster of this brother-sister duo, both were the champions of their divisions at 3. Name this classy pair. 4) This Belmont Stakes winner was a horse of unquestioned courage on the track, yet had the nervous habit of chewing at his own hooves in his stall, much as a nervous human will chew his own fingernails. Name him. 5) This Belmont Stakes winner was the first winner of an American Triple Crown race to have his victory aired on national television. Who was he, and which television station aired the race? Enjoy! Named for a secretary, this hard-knocking sprinter never won a stakes race yet became a champion sire who was best known for his staying runners. Who was he?
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AuthorI'm Avalyn Hunter, an author, pedigree researcher and longtime racing fan with a particular interest in Thoroughbred mares and their contributions to the history of the breed. Categories
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