Meadowlake (USA)
March 12, 1983 – November 6, 2005
Hold Your Peace (USA) x Suspicious Native (USA), by Raise a Native (USA)
Family 4-n
March 12, 1983 – November 6, 2005
Hold Your Peace (USA) x Suspicious Native (USA), by Raise a Native (USA)
Family 4-n
Meadowlake possessed considerable talent, but his massive size combined with the heavy-topped build inherited from his maternal grandsire Raise a Native made a career-ending breakdown all but inevitable. He became a good sire of precocious speed but tended to pass on his own conformational issues.
Race record
3 starts, 3 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds, US$308,580
1985:
Assessments
Rated at 122 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1985, 4 pounds below co-highweights Tasso (the official champion) and Ogygian.
As an individual
A massive, large-framed, scopy chestnut horse with a slight roach back, Meadowlake stood 17 hands. He was heavy-topped and had rather short, upright pasterns; conformation photos suggest that he may have been tied in below the knee as well. He was able to start only twice at two before being stopped by bucked shins and an infection of the frogs of his feet. At 3, he won an allowance race at Belmont but suffered a saucer fracture to his right foreleg while training for the Dwyer Stakes. An attempt at a comeback at 4 was stopped by a quarter crack, and the horse was retired. As a stallion, he had what was described as a “tough” disposition, though he mellowed somewhat with age.
As a stallion
The Jockey Club credits Meadowlake with 584 winners (62.6%) and 55 stakes winners (5.8%) from 949 named foals; The Blood-Horse credits him with 60 stakes winners (6.3%). He tended to pass on his size, scope and powerful build and had a reputation in some quarters for passing on bad feet as well.
Notable progeny
Greenwood Lake (USA), Meadow Breeze (USA), Meadow Star (USA), Sutra (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Florida, Meadowlake was bred by Jaime S. Carrion. He was owned by Saron Stable (Wilhelmina and Corbin Robertson), which purchased the colt for US$185,000 from the 1984 Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale. He was trained by Bert Sonnier. Meadowlake entered stud in 1988 in Florida at the Robertsons' The Oaks, moving to Warnerton Farm in 1989. In 1991, he transferred to Darby Dan Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. He remained at Darby Dan for the remainder of his stud career. Meadowlake was humanely destroyed after rupturing his intestinal tract on November 6, 2005.
Pedigree notes
Meadowlake is inbred 4x5 to Blue Larkspur and 5x5 to Sir Gallahad III. He is a half brother to 1987 Peter Pan Stakes (USA-G2) winner Leo Castelli (by Sovereign Dancer) and to Suspicious Toosome (by Secretariat), third dam of Grade 2 winner Soul City Slew. His dam Suspicious Native is an unraced half sister to the stakes-winning hurdler Half an Hour (by Nijinsky II) and to minor stakes winner Secret Scheme (by Arts and Letters).
Suspicious Native and her siblings were produced from the stakes-winning Porterhouse mare Be Suspicious, a half sister to 1960 American champion 2-year-old male and 1970 American champion sire Hail to Reason. Be Suspicious, in turn is out of 1951 Acorn Stakes winner Nothirdchance (by Blue Swords).
Fun facts
Last updated: March 2, 2021
Race record
3 starts, 3 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds, US$308,580
1985:
- Won Arlington-Washington Futurity (USA-I, 6.5FD, Arlington Park)
Assessments
Rated at 122 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1985, 4 pounds below co-highweights Tasso (the official champion) and Ogygian.
As an individual
A massive, large-framed, scopy chestnut horse with a slight roach back, Meadowlake stood 17 hands. He was heavy-topped and had rather short, upright pasterns; conformation photos suggest that he may have been tied in below the knee as well. He was able to start only twice at two before being stopped by bucked shins and an infection of the frogs of his feet. At 3, he won an allowance race at Belmont but suffered a saucer fracture to his right foreleg while training for the Dwyer Stakes. An attempt at a comeback at 4 was stopped by a quarter crack, and the horse was retired. As a stallion, he had what was described as a “tough” disposition, though he mellowed somewhat with age.
As a stallion
The Jockey Club credits Meadowlake with 584 winners (62.6%) and 55 stakes winners (5.8%) from 949 named foals; The Blood-Horse credits him with 60 stakes winners (6.3%). He tended to pass on his size, scope and powerful build and had a reputation in some quarters for passing on bad feet as well.
Notable progeny
Greenwood Lake (USA), Meadow Breeze (USA), Meadow Star (USA), Sutra (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Florida, Meadowlake was bred by Jaime S. Carrion. He was owned by Saron Stable (Wilhelmina and Corbin Robertson), which purchased the colt for US$185,000 from the 1984 Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale. He was trained by Bert Sonnier. Meadowlake entered stud in 1988 in Florida at the Robertsons' The Oaks, moving to Warnerton Farm in 1989. In 1991, he transferred to Darby Dan Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. He remained at Darby Dan for the remainder of his stud career. Meadowlake was humanely destroyed after rupturing his intestinal tract on November 6, 2005.
Pedigree notes
Meadowlake is inbred 4x5 to Blue Larkspur and 5x5 to Sir Gallahad III. He is a half brother to 1987 Peter Pan Stakes (USA-G2) winner Leo Castelli (by Sovereign Dancer) and to Suspicious Toosome (by Secretariat), third dam of Grade 2 winner Soul City Slew. His dam Suspicious Native is an unraced half sister to the stakes-winning hurdler Half an Hour (by Nijinsky II) and to minor stakes winner Secret Scheme (by Arts and Letters).
Suspicious Native and her siblings were produced from the stakes-winning Porterhouse mare Be Suspicious, a half sister to 1960 American champion 2-year-old male and 1970 American champion sire Hail to Reason. Be Suspicious, in turn is out of 1951 Acorn Stakes winner Nothirdchance (by Blue Swords).
Fun facts
- Meadowlake won his maiden race, a 6-furlong event at Hawthorne, by an incredible 22 lengths. Such large winning margins are very seldom seen in races at sprint distances.
Last updated: March 2, 2021