Judy O’Grady (USA)
1932 – c. 1944
Man o’ War (USA) x Bel Agnes (USA), by Ambassador IV (GB)
Family 16-c
1932 – c. 1944
Man o’ War (USA) x Bel Agnes (USA), by Ambassador IV (GB)
Family 16-c
Judy O’Grady was a good staying filly but may have suffered from the mental quirk of being unwilling to leave the herd, causing her to finish behind horses that she could have passed and beaten. She did not have a long producing career but foaled two good stakes winners and founded a fine family through her daughters that includes champions Kiss Me Kate, Grey Dawn II, Faraway Son, Pareo, and Lonesome Glory.
Race record
23 starts, 2 wins, 10 seconds, 2 thirds, US$8,900
1934:
1935:
As an individual
A dark bay or brown mare; no further information available.
As a producer
Designated as a Reine-de-Course by pedigree analyst Ellen Parker, Judy O’Grady produced six named foals, of which five started and three won. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Judy O’Grady was bred and owned by Walter M. Jeffords. She disappears from the produce records after the birth of Snow Goose in 1944.
Pedigree notes
Judy O’Grady is inbred 4x5 to 1880 Derby Stakes winner Bend Or, 5x5 to nine-time English/Irish champion sire St. Simon, and 5x5 to 1887 English/Irish champion sire Hampton. She is a half sister to multiple juvenile stakes winner Good as Gold (by Golden Broom). Judy O’Grady is also a half sister to stakes-placed St. Agnes (by Golden Broom), second dam of 1948 Pollyanna Stakes winner Alsab’s Day, and to Judy L. (by Firethorn), dam of 1952 Ashland Stakes winner Free for Me (by Free for All).
Judy O’Grady was produced from Bel Agnes (by 1913 July Stakes winner Ambassador IV), a full sister to 1927 Brooklyn Handicap winner Peanuts and a half sister to Agnes Star (by Bubbling Over), dam of multiple stakes winner Mower (by Sickle). Bel Agnes is also a half sister to Foxy Agnes (by Gallant Fox), dam of multiple stakes winner Alfoxie (by Bimelech; dam of stakes winner Grandpaw, by Sun Again).
Agnes Sard, the dam of Bel Agnes and her siblings, never raced. A daughter of Sardanapale out of Noreen Agnes (by the good juvenile Juggler), she was imported to the United States by Delbert Reiff and spent her broodmare career at William Woodward’s Belair Stud.
Fun facts
Last updated: December 29, 2023
Race record
23 starts, 2 wins, 10 seconds, 2 thirds, US$8,900
1934:
- 2nd Selima Stakes (USA, 8FD, Laurel)
- 2nd Matron Stakes (USA, 6FD, Belmont)
1935:
- 2nd Jockey Club Gold Cup (USA, 16FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Manhattan Handicap (USA, 12FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Alabama Stakes (USA, 10FD, Saratoga)
As an individual
A dark bay or brown mare; no further information available.
As a producer
Designated as a Reine-de-Course by pedigree analyst Ellen Parker, Judy O’Grady produced six named foals, of which five started and three won. Her important foals are as follow:
- Aunt Chaney (1937, by Blue Larkspur) placed third once from four starts. She is the dam of 1953 Santa Anita Derby winner Chanlea (by Bull Lea) and third dam of 1968 Longacres Mile Handicap winner Steel Blade.
- Irish Nora (1939, by Pharamond II) won one of her 13 starts. She is the dam of 1951 American champion 3-year-old filly Kiss Me Kate (by Count Fleet) and third dam of Grade 2 winner Festive Mood.
- Blue Denim (1940, by Blue Larkspur) ran third in her only start. She is the dam of 1958 Travers Stakes winner Piano Jim (by Bernborough), 1949 Grand Union Hotel Stakes winner Suleiman (by Mahmoud), and 1948 National Stallion Stakes winner Green Baize (by Case Ace). She is also the dam of flat stakes winners Tahiti (by Polynesian) and Blue Prince (by Princequillo) and of the good jumps racer Policeman Day (by Challedon), winner of the 1957 New York Turf Writers Cup Handicap. In addition, Blue Denim is the second dam of 1959 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp and Prix Robert Papin winner Sly Pola, 1970 Amory L. Haskell Handicap and Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap winner Gladwin, and 1957 Prix du Bois winner and important broodmare Polamia among others of merit. Blue Denim’s third-generation descendants include 1964 French champion 2-year-old male Grey Dawn II, 1979 Italian champion 2-year-old male Pareo, five-time American champion steeplechaser Lonesome Glory, and 1966 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas) wnner Right Away.
- Westminster (1941, by Bull Dog; a gelding) won the 1945 Narragansett Special.
- Snow Goose (1944, by Mahmoud) won the 1947 Beldame Handicap and Ladies Handicap and the 1948 Saratoga Cup. She is the dam of juvenile stakes winner Merganser (by Pavot) and the second dam of 1971 French champion miler Faraway Son, French Group 2 winner Liloy (an important sire in Argentina), 1967 Delaware Oaks winner Lewiston, and 1969 Prix de Meautry winner Mismalova. She is also the third dam of 1978 Oaks Stakes (ENG-G1) and Irish Guinness Oaks winner Fair Salinia (IRE-G1), multiple Grade/Group 1 winner Baillamont, and Grade 2 winner Rambo Dancer.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Judy O’Grady was bred and owned by Walter M. Jeffords. She disappears from the produce records after the birth of Snow Goose in 1944.
Pedigree notes
Judy O’Grady is inbred 4x5 to 1880 Derby Stakes winner Bend Or, 5x5 to nine-time English/Irish champion sire St. Simon, and 5x5 to 1887 English/Irish champion sire Hampton. She is a half sister to multiple juvenile stakes winner Good as Gold (by Golden Broom). Judy O’Grady is also a half sister to stakes-placed St. Agnes (by Golden Broom), second dam of 1948 Pollyanna Stakes winner Alsab’s Day, and to Judy L. (by Firethorn), dam of 1952 Ashland Stakes winner Free for Me (by Free for All).
Judy O’Grady was produced from Bel Agnes (by 1913 July Stakes winner Ambassador IV), a full sister to 1927 Brooklyn Handicap winner Peanuts and a half sister to Agnes Star (by Bubbling Over), dam of multiple stakes winner Mower (by Sickle). Bel Agnes is also a half sister to Foxy Agnes (by Gallant Fox), dam of multiple stakes winner Alfoxie (by Bimelech; dam of stakes winner Grandpaw, by Sun Again).
Agnes Sard, the dam of Bel Agnes and her siblings, never raced. A daughter of Sardanapale out of Noreen Agnes (by the good juvenile Juggler), she was imported to the United States by Delbert Reiff and spent her broodmare career at William Woodward’s Belair Stud.
Fun facts
- The name Judy O’Grady is taken from a poem by Rudyard Kipling, “The Ladies,” which contains the lines, “For Judy O’Grady and the Colonel’s lady/Are sisters under their skins!”
Last updated: December 29, 2023