Few mares can claim two new Grade/Group 1 winners from their families within the space of a week, but Chapel of Dreams has just joined that number. On September 8, her great-grandson Tribalist earned his first Group 1 score with an upset in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (FR-G1). On September 14, another great-grandson, Win for the Money pulled an upset of his own in the Rogers Woodbine Mile Stakes (CAN-G1).
A parlay on these two horses would have yielded a pretty payoff; Tribalist was 25-1 in the Moulin, while Win for the Money went off at 13.65-to-1. But for Chapel of Dreams, the odds were a lot shorter that she would come up with another top-level winner among her descendants before too long. Her family is relatively young but has already been a marked presence on the international scene.
Chapel of Dreams had every right to become both a good race mare and an important broodmare. A half sister to the brilliant Storm Cat (by Storm Bird), who won the 1985 Young America Stakes (USA-G1) and ran second by inches in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (USA-G1) before becoming a two-time American champion sire and seven-time American champion juvenile sire, she is by the breed-shaping sire Northern Dancer out of multiple Grade 2 winner and “Genetic Gem” Terlingua, by Secretariat out of the wickedly fast Crimson Saint. Chapel of Dreams’s other close relatives include multiple Grade/Group 1 winner and successful international sire Royal Academy (Nijinsky II x Crimson Saint) and Pioneering (Mr. Prospector x Terlingua), a good sire in the United States and Brazil.
Less precocious but more durable than Storm Cat, Chapel of Dreams made 24 starts, winning seven, and reached her peak as a 4-year-old of 1988. That year, she won five stakes races including the Palomar Handicap (USA-G2) at Del Mar and the Wilshire Handicap (USA-G2) at Hollywood. At season’s end, the Daily Racing Form rated her at 8 pounds below American champion turf female Miesque on its Free Handicap for the turf female division. She was at her best from a mile to a mile and one-sixteenth but placed three times in Grade 1 races over a mile and one-eighth.
As a producer of black-type winners, Chapel of Dreams was a disappointment. Of her 10 named foals, seven started and six won, but none earned stakes brackets. Her strength as a broodmare was not in the production of top racehorses but as a source of good broodmares. Of her six daughters, four became the dams of graded or Group stakes winners, and all four have had at least one daughter go on to produce a graded or Group stakes winner of her own.
Of the daughters of Chapel of Dreams, Wiener Wald has been the most prolific source of stakes winners. A 1992 daughter of Woodman, Wiener Wald failed to gain a placing in five tries but made up for it by producing 2008 Racing Post Trophy (ENG-G1) winner Crowded House (by Rainbow Quest) and his listed-stakes-winning full brother On Reflection. She is also the dam of the Silver Hawk mare Argent du Bois, whose nine named foals include 2004 American Invitational Oaks (USA-G1) winner Ticker Tape (by Royal Applause; second dam of English Group 2 winners Skims, by Frankel, and War Decree, by War Front) and 2017 Prix Maurice de Gheest (FR-G1) winner Brando (by Pivotal). Through her stakes-placed daughter Sant Elena (by Efisio), Argent du Bois is the second dam of 2012 Prix Morny (FR-G1) winner Reckless Abandon (by Exchange Rate) and French Group 3 winner Erasmo (by Oasis Dream).
2024 has been a fruitful year for Wiener Wald’s branch of the family, as two more of her daughters have contributed to the production of top-level horses this year. One is Bering Island (by Bering), the second dam of Champions Mile (HK-G1) winner Beauty Eternal (Starspangledbanner x Ithacan Queen, by Savabeel x Bering Island). The other is Fair Daughter (by Nathaniel), who produced Tribalist as her first foal after being covered by Farhh.
Win for the Money descends from another daughter of Chapel of Dreams, Child Bride (by Coronado’s Quest). The youngest of Chapel of Dreams’s daughters, Child Bride produced 2011 San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap (USA-G2) winner Juniper Pass (by Lemon Drop Kid). Win for the Money, a son of the Tapit horse Mohaymen, is Child Bride’s grandson through her War Chant daughter Mayakoba and is a half brother to multiple stakes winner Price Talk (by Kitten’s Joy).
At this time, it is not inconceivable that Tribalist and Win for the Money may meet up in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (USA-G1), which is said to be under consideration by the connections of both. A win by either would reflect great credit on their mutual great-granddam, who if not herself 100 percent the stuff that dreams are made of has, through her daughters, proven herself to be the stuff that dreams can be built on.
A parlay on these two horses would have yielded a pretty payoff; Tribalist was 25-1 in the Moulin, while Win for the Money went off at 13.65-to-1. But for Chapel of Dreams, the odds were a lot shorter that she would come up with another top-level winner among her descendants before too long. Her family is relatively young but has already been a marked presence on the international scene.
Chapel of Dreams had every right to become both a good race mare and an important broodmare. A half sister to the brilliant Storm Cat (by Storm Bird), who won the 1985 Young America Stakes (USA-G1) and ran second by inches in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (USA-G1) before becoming a two-time American champion sire and seven-time American champion juvenile sire, she is by the breed-shaping sire Northern Dancer out of multiple Grade 2 winner and “Genetic Gem” Terlingua, by Secretariat out of the wickedly fast Crimson Saint. Chapel of Dreams’s other close relatives include multiple Grade/Group 1 winner and successful international sire Royal Academy (Nijinsky II x Crimson Saint) and Pioneering (Mr. Prospector x Terlingua), a good sire in the United States and Brazil.
Less precocious but more durable than Storm Cat, Chapel of Dreams made 24 starts, winning seven, and reached her peak as a 4-year-old of 1988. That year, she won five stakes races including the Palomar Handicap (USA-G2) at Del Mar and the Wilshire Handicap (USA-G2) at Hollywood. At season’s end, the Daily Racing Form rated her at 8 pounds below American champion turf female Miesque on its Free Handicap for the turf female division. She was at her best from a mile to a mile and one-sixteenth but placed three times in Grade 1 races over a mile and one-eighth.
As a producer of black-type winners, Chapel of Dreams was a disappointment. Of her 10 named foals, seven started and six won, but none earned stakes brackets. Her strength as a broodmare was not in the production of top racehorses but as a source of good broodmares. Of her six daughters, four became the dams of graded or Group stakes winners, and all four have had at least one daughter go on to produce a graded or Group stakes winner of her own.
Of the daughters of Chapel of Dreams, Wiener Wald has been the most prolific source of stakes winners. A 1992 daughter of Woodman, Wiener Wald failed to gain a placing in five tries but made up for it by producing 2008 Racing Post Trophy (ENG-G1) winner Crowded House (by Rainbow Quest) and his listed-stakes-winning full brother On Reflection. She is also the dam of the Silver Hawk mare Argent du Bois, whose nine named foals include 2004 American Invitational Oaks (USA-G1) winner Ticker Tape (by Royal Applause; second dam of English Group 2 winners Skims, by Frankel, and War Decree, by War Front) and 2017 Prix Maurice de Gheest (FR-G1) winner Brando (by Pivotal). Through her stakes-placed daughter Sant Elena (by Efisio), Argent du Bois is the second dam of 2012 Prix Morny (FR-G1) winner Reckless Abandon (by Exchange Rate) and French Group 3 winner Erasmo (by Oasis Dream).
2024 has been a fruitful year for Wiener Wald’s branch of the family, as two more of her daughters have contributed to the production of top-level horses this year. One is Bering Island (by Bering), the second dam of Champions Mile (HK-G1) winner Beauty Eternal (Starspangledbanner x Ithacan Queen, by Savabeel x Bering Island). The other is Fair Daughter (by Nathaniel), who produced Tribalist as her first foal after being covered by Farhh.
Win for the Money descends from another daughter of Chapel of Dreams, Child Bride (by Coronado’s Quest). The youngest of Chapel of Dreams’s daughters, Child Bride produced 2011 San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap (USA-G2) winner Juniper Pass (by Lemon Drop Kid). Win for the Money, a son of the Tapit horse Mohaymen, is Child Bride’s grandson through her War Chant daughter Mayakoba and is a half brother to multiple stakes winner Price Talk (by Kitten’s Joy).
At this time, it is not inconceivable that Tribalist and Win for the Money may meet up in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (USA-G1), which is said to be under consideration by the connections of both. A win by either would reflect great credit on their mutual great-granddam, who if not herself 100 percent the stuff that dreams are made of has, through her daughters, proven herself to be the stuff that dreams can be built on.
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