Once upon a time, there was a happy marriage between a stallion named Buckpasser and a mare named Intriguing. Between them, they had seven foals, and the first and most glamorous of them was a beautiful princess named Numbered Account. A champion on the track, she produced two Grade 1 winners and founded a family that has continued to produce top horses for generations.
Numbered Account had four full sisters, and they managed to win one race between them. That one race belonged to Special Account, who stayed firmly in her sister's shadow as a broodmare. Not that she did badly, as her foals included Gallant Special (by Gallant Romeo), winner of the 1982 Richmond Stakes (USA-G2), and stakes winner Gallant Sister (by Vigors). Seven of her "grandfoals" became stakes winners too, headed by multiple Grade 2 winner Anguillla and Grade 3 winner Tresoriere. But none were particularly memorable. And in the meantime, not only was Numbered Account establishing a matriarchy of her own, but two of her other sisters were getting into the act with important contributions. Playmate gave birth to Woodman, an Irish champion juvenile who became a good sire and broodmare sire. Not to be left out, Fascinating Trick became the second dam of Redattore, a Group 1 winner in his native Brazil, a multiple Grade 1 winner in the United States, and a champion sire back in his native land.
Through Gallant Sister and her daughter Lyphard Gal (by Lyphard), Special Account is the third dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Heritage of Gold (by Gold Legend), the best racehorse yet produced by her branch of the family. Stakes-placed Awesome Account (Lyphard x Special Account) is the connecting link to the family's other Grade 1 winner, America Alive (by American Chance), who was produced from stakes-placed Alive With Hope (Alydar x Awesome Account).
Neither America Alive (who was exported to Venezuela) nor Heritage of Gold did anything to add luster to Special Account's name in the paddocks, and most of the family has been more like the branch that produced its most recent graded stakes winner, Proud Emma, who scored in the Bayakoa Stakes (USA-G3) at Los Alamitos on December 6. Sired by Airdrie Stud's veteran stallion Include, Proud Emma is the third foal and second winner produced from Debutante Dreamer, an unraced daughter of Proud Citizen out of Gallant Dreamer. Talented enough to place at the listed level on the track, Gallant Dreamer is by Belong to Me out of Demi Monde (Easy Goer x Awesome Account) and is the only black-type runner produced by her dam, whose other two daughters have produced nothing of significance thus far.
As might be expected from the original sisters' levels of racing talent, production, and connections, the families of Numbered Account and Special Account have received differing levels of opportunity, and this has undoubtedly played a role in their differing results. Numbered Account and her descendants have been one of the pillars of the Phipps family's breeding program, and its good members have consistently had access to the very best stallions of the breed. Further, they have had the advantage of being in the hands of people who have worked with this family for generations, know its strengths and weaknesses intimately, and are for the most part breeding for their own sport rather than the sale ring, meaning that matings are undertaken according to what is likeliest to help a mare produce the best possible runner rather than the most fashionable sale yearling. Further, the Phipps family's association with Shug McGaughey over the last several decades has meant that as a group, members of Numbered Account's family have had the best of training to go with their other advantages, making it more likely that whatever talent they may possess will have a good opportunity to express itself.
While Special Account herself received excellent opportunities because of her bloodlines, she and her better descendants have been much further scattered in the bloodstock world and as a group have been bred to lesser sires. The results have been what one might predict, with this branch of the family displaying much less high-level consistency than Numbered Account's although it still pops up with a good runner every so often.
As a Grade 3 winner, Proud Emma will not have to depend on her bloodlines to secure assignations with good stallions even if she never accomplishes anything else before leaving the track, and her win may help secure better opportunities for her dam and sisters. Nonetheless, the odds are stacked against Proud Emma having the kind of broodmare career that would truly revitalize Special Account's branch of the great La Troienne family. And so for now ends a tale of two sisters: one a queen of the racetrack and the paddocks, with a royal dynasty left behind, and the other a solid matron but for the most part now forgotten.
Numbered Account had four full sisters, and they managed to win one race between them. That one race belonged to Special Account, who stayed firmly in her sister's shadow as a broodmare. Not that she did badly, as her foals included Gallant Special (by Gallant Romeo), winner of the 1982 Richmond Stakes (USA-G2), and stakes winner Gallant Sister (by Vigors). Seven of her "grandfoals" became stakes winners too, headed by multiple Grade 2 winner Anguillla and Grade 3 winner Tresoriere. But none were particularly memorable. And in the meantime, not only was Numbered Account establishing a matriarchy of her own, but two of her other sisters were getting into the act with important contributions. Playmate gave birth to Woodman, an Irish champion juvenile who became a good sire and broodmare sire. Not to be left out, Fascinating Trick became the second dam of Redattore, a Group 1 winner in his native Brazil, a multiple Grade 1 winner in the United States, and a champion sire back in his native land.
Through Gallant Sister and her daughter Lyphard Gal (by Lyphard), Special Account is the third dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Heritage of Gold (by Gold Legend), the best racehorse yet produced by her branch of the family. Stakes-placed Awesome Account (Lyphard x Special Account) is the connecting link to the family's other Grade 1 winner, America Alive (by American Chance), who was produced from stakes-placed Alive With Hope (Alydar x Awesome Account).
Neither America Alive (who was exported to Venezuela) nor Heritage of Gold did anything to add luster to Special Account's name in the paddocks, and most of the family has been more like the branch that produced its most recent graded stakes winner, Proud Emma, who scored in the Bayakoa Stakes (USA-G3) at Los Alamitos on December 6. Sired by Airdrie Stud's veteran stallion Include, Proud Emma is the third foal and second winner produced from Debutante Dreamer, an unraced daughter of Proud Citizen out of Gallant Dreamer. Talented enough to place at the listed level on the track, Gallant Dreamer is by Belong to Me out of Demi Monde (Easy Goer x Awesome Account) and is the only black-type runner produced by her dam, whose other two daughters have produced nothing of significance thus far.
As might be expected from the original sisters' levels of racing talent, production, and connections, the families of Numbered Account and Special Account have received differing levels of opportunity, and this has undoubtedly played a role in their differing results. Numbered Account and her descendants have been one of the pillars of the Phipps family's breeding program, and its good members have consistently had access to the very best stallions of the breed. Further, they have had the advantage of being in the hands of people who have worked with this family for generations, know its strengths and weaknesses intimately, and are for the most part breeding for their own sport rather than the sale ring, meaning that matings are undertaken according to what is likeliest to help a mare produce the best possible runner rather than the most fashionable sale yearling. Further, the Phipps family's association with Shug McGaughey over the last several decades has meant that as a group, members of Numbered Account's family have had the best of training to go with their other advantages, making it more likely that whatever talent they may possess will have a good opportunity to express itself.
While Special Account herself received excellent opportunities because of her bloodlines, she and her better descendants have been much further scattered in the bloodstock world and as a group have been bred to lesser sires. The results have been what one might predict, with this branch of the family displaying much less high-level consistency than Numbered Account's although it still pops up with a good runner every so often.
As a Grade 3 winner, Proud Emma will not have to depend on her bloodlines to secure assignations with good stallions even if she never accomplishes anything else before leaving the track, and her win may help secure better opportunities for her dam and sisters. Nonetheless, the odds are stacked against Proud Emma having the kind of broodmare career that would truly revitalize Special Account's branch of the great La Troienne family. And so for now ends a tale of two sisters: one a queen of the racetrack and the paddocks, with a royal dynasty left behind, and the other a solid matron but for the most part now forgotten.
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