Ben Brush and My Girls!

I am very proud that both my girls are related to Ben Brush, the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby at its current length of 1 1/4 miles. He won the 22nd Run for the Roses and was the first to wear a blanket of white and pink roses for his efforts. Though he was small, short-legged, and long-bodied (just like my beautiful Hailee), he was very famous for his precociousness, speed, and durability, and he was a popular and successful stud. He closed his career with a record of 40: 25, 5, 5. He was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1955. He has been so influential to modern thoroughbreds that 48 of the last 50 Derby winners trace to him, and every Derby winner since 1972 has a little Brush in their background!



He was born near Paris, Kentucky and has some sociologically relevant stories to his heritage! His sire was Bramble who was claimed to be "a breed as tough as pine nuts." He was bought at age 2 by Hall of Fame trainer, Ed Brown, and a partner. Ed Brown was an African American born in slavery and when he was 7, his owner sold him to the Woodburn Stud where he worked as a groom and displayed his talents for horsebreeding. He won the Belmont Stakes as a jockey, trained a Kentucky Derby winning horse, and owned many important race horses over his life, thus winning his spot in the Hall of Fame. Anyway, he decided to name Ben Brush after the superintendent of race tracks in New York City, which was a brilliant idea because of the scarce stall space. Conveniently, Ben Brush always had a stall available to him. When other owners and trainers complained, the human Ben Brush snapped, "Not a damn one of you fellows ever named a horse Ben Brush!"



He was sold to the famous gambler, Mike Dwyer, and then ridden to Derby victory by another Hall of Famer, the African-American Willie Simms. He still is the only African-American to win the Derby (twice), Preakness, and Belmont (twice). He is the only African-American to win all three jewels of the triple crown.



My girls are proud to claim him through his child, Sweep, and through the sires he generated, Broomstick and Whiskbroom!


You can read more about this sweet champion at the following links:
http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/BenBrush.html
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Brush
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=28
or
http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/bluegrass-ballads/bluegrass-ballads%20-%200120.htm
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_D._Brown
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Simms

Violet's and My First Derby Day Together!

I have loved horses my entire life. I read Black Beauty as a child. I read Misty of Chincoteague. I collected Breyers horses. I loved thoroughbreds. And I loved Secretariat. And this year marks the first time in my life that I owned a thoroughbred, shared a thoroughbred as part of my family. And such a lovely one -- beautiful Velvet Tenderness "Violet". I woke up on Derby Day joyful. I walked with my dog to Grounds for Thought, bought the Saturday paper, read about the horses preparing for Derby. Then I bought apples and carrots and visited my own thoroughbred. I praised her for her heritage. Groomed her with love. Told her that she's made of magic and speed and God's breath. And then I had a riding lesson with her. She was all light and floaty and powerful. And so that's how I spent my Derby morning with my first thoroughbred. I rode a four-year-old filly who is directly related to 7 Kentucky Derby Champions! War Admiral, Count Fleet, Reigh Count, Hindoo, Ben Brush, Pensive, Dark Star! How many women can say that's how they started their Derby Day!? Riding the descendant of Derby winners!! Yah Yah!!

Sir Dixon and My Girls!

Both my girls are related to Sir Dixon (1885), the leading sire of 1901 and Champion of his crop in his 2nd and 3rd year. He won the Withers Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, Carlton Stakes, and Lorillard Stakes. One of the ways he is related to Violet is through her Count Fleet line on his mama Quickly's side. And one of his connections to Hailee is through her Moon Deck side through Man O' War's daughter Frilette. They both share Sir Dixon through his grandson Whisk Broom. Can you believe that Whisk Broom has one grandpa (Ben Brush) who won the Kentucky Derby and another (Sir Dixon) who won the Belmont Stakes. This explains why my girls are able to burst with speed and kick lickety split around their pastures!!! You can read more about Sir Dixon and the rich genealogies he shares at the following link:

http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Billet.html#SirDixon

Violet's Rugged Well-Used Stymie!

I am very proud to say that Violet is related to Stymie through her Classicist line. Stymie was born in 1941 and had a final track record of 131-35-33-28. Can you believe that he raced 131 times in his career? He began as a claiming race runner and was doing poorly, until a trainer saw his potential and saw that he was frightened of people and needed consistent handling. In two years, he had been to the post 57 times! Once they sorted out his troubles and found his distance, he just burned up the tracks. He was Champion Handicap Horse of 1945 and was voted the #41 Top Race Horse of the 20th Century by Blood Horse magazine. He was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1975, and was so famous, some say as famous with average Americans as Seabiscuit, that he had the Stymie Handicap named after him. He was beloved for his very exciting style of racing. He was a hero to racing fans because of his heart-stopping come-from-behind finishes, sometimes by as many as 20 lengths. In his career, he beat Gallorette and Assault at The Metropolitan Handicap (a race he won twice). And he beat Assault, Natchez, and Phalanx in the International Gold Cup. Remember that Assault was a Triple Crown Winner and Gallorette the highest money-earning filly of her time. So, by the time his long, long, long career was over, Stymie had gone from losing claiming races to a leading money winner in the world. He won 25 stakes races while competing against some of the best horses of all time!! His career was ended by a sesamoid bone fracture. His owner took the winnings he earned from Stymie and built Stymie Manor in Maryland. And when Stymie passed, he was buried at Hagyard Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. Charles Hagyard of the world famous Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Veterinary owns this place. Stymie has an amazing pedigree all to himself. His dad and mom are Equestrian and Stopwatch. He has Man 'O War on the dam side of both his dam and sire. He also has Commando's kids, Peter Pan and Colin (#15 of Top 100 race horses 20th century) in his recent family tree, and lots and lots of Broomstick, Ben Brush, and Hindoo. Remember that Commando won the Belmont Stakes in 1901 and then his two boys won in 1907 and 1908. And Ben Brush and Hindoo are Kentucky Derby winners, and Man 'O War himself won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes and probably would have won the Derby, if his owner, Samuel Riddle had entered him! Anyway, Stymie has Colin twice on both sides of the dam and sire of his mom. Colin is the sire of the sire of his mom. And his daughter is bred to Man 'O War to produce the dam of his mom. What I think is really lovely is that Stymie's daughter, Classic Music, was bred to Princequillo to produce Classicist. That's lovely because that means that two big-hearted lines were crossed to produce a filly. What's more, Classicist was bred to Jaipur, and so you have three big-heart lines meeting -- Nasrullah, Princequillo, and Classic Music!! You can read more about this tough, hard-running guy at the following cites:

http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/stymie.html

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stymie_(horse)

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stymie

or

http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Graves/cem/GraveMattersHagyard.html

Sweep and My Girls!

Both my girls are related to Sweep, son of Ben Brush and Pink Domino. He was born in 1907 and won the 1910 Belmont Stakes. He is cross-listed with the AQHA. His final record was 13-9-2-2, and in 1909 he was Champion 2-year-old and 1910 Champion 3-year-old. He is noted as being a great broodmare sire. He had 3 daughters who produced Kentucky Derby winners. Beaming Beauty produced Hailee's Bubbling Over, Brushup produced Violet's War Admiral, and Dustwhirl produced Whirlaway. Sweep is recognized for passing the big heart gene to his daughters. His grandson, War Admiral, is one of the four largest heart lines in today's pedigrees, along with Princequillo, Blue Larkspur, and Mahmoud. Notice that Violet is related to all four of those big-heart lines! In the photos, you see Sweep and his son War Admiral winning the Preakness Stakes! Hailee also has Sweep through his son Eternal.

Personal Ensign and my Girls!

In 1984 Personal Ensign was born. She is an amazing mare. At age 2, she broke her left rear pastern and required a surgical implantation of 4 stainless steel screws. She came back from this major event by having a perfect race record. She raced 13 times for 13 wins! Among her stakes wins was a 1988 Breeder's Cup win in a muddy field of 9 horses, including Goodbye Halo and Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors. She came from far behind to win by a nose in what is considered the most exciting finish in Breeders Cup History. She retired following this race as the first undefeated champion in American racing in over 80 years! She was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1993 and was voted by Blood Horse as the #48 of the Top 100 race horses of the 20th century. She earned the Eclipse Award for U.S. Champion Older female in 1988, and earned $1,679,880. She was voted Kentucky Broodmare of the Year in 1996. Her last foal was a 2006 colt by Forest Wildcat. She's now pensioned as of this year at Claiborne Farm and the breeding shed manager said that at age 22, "She's still in good shape, looks good, and gets around fine. She'll be spending time out in the field with other mares." She's an amazing example of the importance of animal biomedical research. She required major orthpedic surgery and then in her breeding career, she needed major uterine surgery. My girls are related to Personal Ensign in numerous ways. They share these recent relatives: War Admiral, Hyperion, Gainsborough, Man 'O War, Swynford, Isinglass, Pharos, Canterbury Pilgrim, Teddy, Blue Larkspur, Sweep, Ben Brush, La Troienne, Nasrullah, and Princequillo. You can read more about this champion mare at the following sites! Make sure you read the news story about her thrilling "come from behind" victory in the Breeders Cup or perhaps her trouncing of the boys in the Whitney Handicap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Ensign

or

http://breeding.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=35388

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=117

or

http://horseracing.about.com/library/blpensign.htm

Broomstick and my girls!

Hailee and Violet are related to Broomstick, a top sire of both sires and broodmares! He was top sire for many years. He was born in 1901. His own dad was Kentucky Derby winner, Ben Brush, and so Broomstick is part of the strongest American sirelines of the 20th century. He was known as a game competitor who could carry weight. At 3, he set a new American track record time of 2:02 4/5 for 1 1/4 mile, a record which was not bested until 1913 by his own son, Whisk Broom II, also a direct relation of both Hailee and Violet. Broomstick's record was 39 races, 14 wins, 11 seconds, and 5 thirds, for a total earnings record of $74,730. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1956. He died at 30 and is buried at Gainesway Farm with his children Whisk Broom and Regret, and his grandchild, Equipoise, and other descendants, including Boojum. My girls are directly related to all of these horses, except Regret, the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby and an indirect relation of my girls. Among Broomstick's children and grandchildren, Violet and Hailee are related to Frilette, Swinging, Shady, Remembrance, Whisk Broom, Boojum, Traffic, and Sweeper. You can read more about Broomstick at the following links:

http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Broomstick.html

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=37

Regret and My Girls!

Regret was the first of three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby. She won her very first race, the Saratoga Special Stakes in 1914 against an all-male field and was in the lead the entire race! Her record was so impressive that she won the prestigious Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, and was voted by Blood Horse magazine as #71 of the Top 100 race horses of the 20th century. She was never beaten by a female horse in her entire career. She is in the National Museum Hall of Fame. She is very heavily related to my Hailee and Violet. Regret's dad is Broomstick whose dad is Ben Brush (Kentucky Derby winner). Both of them are also, like Regret, in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame. Her mom is Jersey Lightning, and so my girls are related there as well through another Kentucky Derby winner, Hindoo. In fact, my girls are related to Broomstick directly and then are on both sides of the dam and sire line of Regret's mom. You can read more about Regret's record at the following links:

http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2006/derby_history/derby_charts/years/1915.html

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=122
or
http://www.tbgreats.com/regret/index.html

Hailee's Grand-Sire Three Bars (TB)

I am proud to say that Hailee is related through at least 4 lines in her family tree to Three Bars, a very famous thoroughbred who is cross-registered in the APHA and AQHA. He has had enormous influence on thoroughbreds, quarter horses, paints, and appaloosas. He has distinguished himself in racing, halter, and cutting. He was the fastest horse in the U.S. at 5 furlongs, setting track records. He was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame for Racing. His mom's, Myrtle Dee's, nickname was "Speedburner". She set a track record in Ohio. Her dad, Luke McLuke won the Belmont, and she's also related to Commando (another Belmont winner) and Ben Brush who won the Kentucky Derby. In Hailee's family tree, Three Bars appears on both her sire and dam's side, heavy on both sides of her sire's line, and on the sire side of her dam's side. In fact, on her mom's side, he is the grandsire of Doc Bar, and as I'll write later, Doc Bar as a cutting horse, set records that no stallion has ever equalled! You can read more about Three Bars on the link at Circle D Horses in Ignatius, Montana. They are reporting a story published in Horseman magazine in 1968:

http://www.circledhorses.com/three_bars_story.htm

You can also read about him at the following link:

http://www.bbarcquarterhorses.com/Three%20Bar/threebarshistory.html

At that link, be sure to read the January 2004 Performance Horse article "Hybrid Vigor and the Three Bars Factor," discussing the amazing genetic impact Three Bars has had on horses!