Great stallions can make remarkable contributions to the breeding pool because of the number of foals a single horse can sire, but the long-range success of any breeding program is built on the strength of its broodmare band. A great foundation mare is a treasure beyond price for the farm fortunate enough to land one, for with good management, her daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters will continue producing a golden stream of winners long after she herself is gone.
Such a mare is Golden Trail, who was acquired from owner-breeder Brookmeade Farm by John Galbreath when she was a 4-year-old. The daughter of Hasty Road produced three stakes winners during her own producing career, but her great gift to Galbreath's Darby Dan Farm was the slew of producing daughters she left behind her. The crosses of this family to the Darby Dan sires Graustark, His Majesty, and Roberto led to many of Darby Dan's standouts of the 1980s and 1990s, including champion Sunshine Forever and Grade 1 winner and important Japanese sire Brian's Time.
The best of Golden Trail's daughters on the track was Java Moon (by Graustark), who won the 1973 Comely Stakes (USA-G3). In the paddocks, Java Moon was eclipsed during her own producing days by her full sisters Outward Sunshine, Kelley's Day, and Autumn Glory, all producers of graded or Group stakes winners. Java Moon failed to produce a stakes winner among her seven foals, but her four daughters made up for that, producing nine stakes winners between them. The best of the four was All My Memories (by Little Current), whose three stakes winners included multiple Grade 1 winner Memories of Silver (by Roberto's good son Silver Hawk) and Grade 2 winner Memories (by Hail the Pirates, by Roberto's sire Hail to Reason).
As a top-flight race mare from a great female family, Memories of Silver received the best of opportunities as a broodmare and cashed in on them with four stakes winners from nine named foals. The best of them was Winter Memories (by El Prado), whose seven graded wins included the 2011 Garden City Stakes (USA-G1) and 2012 Diana Stakes (USA-G1). Winter Memories has since produced two named foals, including the 2016 Tapit filly Winter Sunset, winner of a much-anticipated debut at the Fair Grounds on November 29, 2018.
La Cloche, a Ghostzapper half sister to Winter Memories, was slower to mature and not quite so talented, waiting until she was 5 to take the 2012 Athenia Stakes (USA-G3). If early results are any indication, however, she may be no less valuable a producer than Winter Memories. Her first two named foals are both winners, and her firstborn, the 5-year-old Tapit mare Bellavais, earned her first graded stakes brackets on January 12, 2019, when she won the Marshua's River Stakes (USA-G3) at Gulfstream Park.
Aside from her descent from one of the great foundation mares of the 20th century, Bellavais has an interesting hook in her pedigree thanks to the full sister and brother Moon Glitter and Relaunch, who appear 4x4 as the third dam of her sire Tapit and the broodmare sire of her maternal grandsire Ghostzapper, respectively. This pairing of full siblings at the fourth generation was a pedigree pattern often seen in matings planned by Olin Gentry, who was farm manager for Colonel Edward Riley Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm and for Darby Dan Farm and had a great impact on the success of both.
As things now stand, Bellavais will not get the chance to add to the record of Darby Dan farm as a producer. Although she raced as a homebred fpr the Phillips Racing Partnership at ages 2 and 3, winning two stakes as a sophomore, she was sold to Dr. Gerald Bortolazzo's Bortolazzo Stable (represented by agent Steven Young) for $485,000 at the 2018 Keeneland January mixed sale. Should Bortolazzo choose to get into the breeding game with her, he has what every horseman dreams of: a mare with a fine race record and the genetic potential to one day become a foundation mare in her own right and create a golden trail of her own.
Such a mare is Golden Trail, who was acquired from owner-breeder Brookmeade Farm by John Galbreath when she was a 4-year-old. The daughter of Hasty Road produced three stakes winners during her own producing career, but her great gift to Galbreath's Darby Dan Farm was the slew of producing daughters she left behind her. The crosses of this family to the Darby Dan sires Graustark, His Majesty, and Roberto led to many of Darby Dan's standouts of the 1980s and 1990s, including champion Sunshine Forever and Grade 1 winner and important Japanese sire Brian's Time.
The best of Golden Trail's daughters on the track was Java Moon (by Graustark), who won the 1973 Comely Stakes (USA-G3). In the paddocks, Java Moon was eclipsed during her own producing days by her full sisters Outward Sunshine, Kelley's Day, and Autumn Glory, all producers of graded or Group stakes winners. Java Moon failed to produce a stakes winner among her seven foals, but her four daughters made up for that, producing nine stakes winners between them. The best of the four was All My Memories (by Little Current), whose three stakes winners included multiple Grade 1 winner Memories of Silver (by Roberto's good son Silver Hawk) and Grade 2 winner Memories (by Hail the Pirates, by Roberto's sire Hail to Reason).
As a top-flight race mare from a great female family, Memories of Silver received the best of opportunities as a broodmare and cashed in on them with four stakes winners from nine named foals. The best of them was Winter Memories (by El Prado), whose seven graded wins included the 2011 Garden City Stakes (USA-G1) and 2012 Diana Stakes (USA-G1). Winter Memories has since produced two named foals, including the 2016 Tapit filly Winter Sunset, winner of a much-anticipated debut at the Fair Grounds on November 29, 2018.
La Cloche, a Ghostzapper half sister to Winter Memories, was slower to mature and not quite so talented, waiting until she was 5 to take the 2012 Athenia Stakes (USA-G3). If early results are any indication, however, she may be no less valuable a producer than Winter Memories. Her first two named foals are both winners, and her firstborn, the 5-year-old Tapit mare Bellavais, earned her first graded stakes brackets on January 12, 2019, when she won the Marshua's River Stakes (USA-G3) at Gulfstream Park.
Aside from her descent from one of the great foundation mares of the 20th century, Bellavais has an interesting hook in her pedigree thanks to the full sister and brother Moon Glitter and Relaunch, who appear 4x4 as the third dam of her sire Tapit and the broodmare sire of her maternal grandsire Ghostzapper, respectively. This pairing of full siblings at the fourth generation was a pedigree pattern often seen in matings planned by Olin Gentry, who was farm manager for Colonel Edward Riley Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm and for Darby Dan Farm and had a great impact on the success of both.
As things now stand, Bellavais will not get the chance to add to the record of Darby Dan farm as a producer. Although she raced as a homebred fpr the Phillips Racing Partnership at ages 2 and 3, winning two stakes as a sophomore, she was sold to Dr. Gerald Bortolazzo's Bortolazzo Stable (represented by agent Steven Young) for $485,000 at the 2018 Keeneland January mixed sale. Should Bortolazzo choose to get into the breeding game with her, he has what every horseman dreams of: a mare with a fine race record and the genetic potential to one day become a foundation mare in her own right and create a golden trail of her own.
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