Wee Nip and My Girls!

Wee Nip was a 1945 thoroughbred filly by War Admiral and Bourbonette by Teddy. She even had a splash of The Tetrarch on her dam's side! She raced a bit, running 16 times for a final record of 1-2-4 and earning $4,850. But she is known especially for her babies. She had 8 foals, 6 fillies and 2 colts, the latter out of Hill Prince and Bimelech.

In my own Violet's tree, she was bred to the amazing, Belmont-winning One Count to produce Three Fingers. I can hardly believe that Violet's pedigree includes a double whammy of grandsires -- War Admiral and Count Fleet!!! Pow! Two Triple Crown winning champions!

You would think I could find a photo of Wee Nip, but I wasn't able to. So here is a photo taken in late September 2007 by Vikki of my own beautiful Vi!

Indian Blessing and My Girls!

Indian Blessing, a 2-year-old filly born on April 9, 2005, is undefeated and considered one of the top fillies of her day. In her first start at Saratoga, she won by 5 1/2 lengths and was pulling away. She also won two Grade 1 stakes, the Frizette and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She's an undefeated little wonder! She is owned by Hal and Patti Earnhardt who also owned and bred her sire.

My girls are related to her many ways, but primarily through the usual wonderful connections: Blushing Groom, Princequillo, Nasrullah, and Bimelech. She also has some pretty special relatives in her own pedigree, including Round Table, Northern Dancer, Nijinsky, Mr. Prospector, and Shenanigans. I hope she continues to have a strong, good life and wins at 3. And then I hope she lives in royal glory as a broodmare and herdmate in Kentucky!
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/breederscup07/news/story?id=3082681

Kentucky 2007: Claiborne's Monarchos

Here is Monarchos standing outside his stallion barn at Claiborne Farm. He was beautiful and sweet -- he preened like a stallion, but also was gentle. The stallion manager let us pet him. And so he is officially the first Kentucky Derby winner I ever petted! I was thrilled.

He was born in 1998 and his record is 10: 4-1-3 and $1,720,830. He won both the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby, placed in the Wood Memorial, and showed in the Belmont Stakes. His time in the Kentucky Derby was the second fastest in history, behind Secretariat's. He was in 10th place in a pack of 17, but managed to pick off each horse and finally put Congaree behind him at a searing pace! Of his preparatory win in the Florida Derby before the run for the roses, his jockey, Jorge Chavez said, "When I asked him, he just exploded. That was a great feeling, like I was the king."


So far, he has had 5 crops and 261 foals. Three of his crops are of racing age, with 192 foals of racing age.

His mom, Regal Band, died this year at the age of 20 at Rood and Riddle Hospital on April 9. She was suffering from a liver disorder. She was carrying an Empire Maker foal. My girls are related to his family in many ways, including Nearctic, Bimelech, Eight Thirty, War Admiral, Busanda, Bull Dog, Menow, Blue Larkspur, Turn-To, Nasrullah, Gainsborough, Case Ace, Bull Lea, Sir Gallahad, Case Ace, and Discovery.

You can read more about this sexy sweet kind stallion at the following links:
http://www.claibornefarm.com/stallions/monarchos.shtml
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchos
or
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2005/derby_history/derby_charts/years/2001.html
or
http://www.bloodhorse.com/stallionregister/sr_sire_page.asprefno=4475639&origin=BHonline or
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horseracing/preakness/bal-sp.derby06may06,1,3965877.story?coll=bal-sports-preakness&ctrack=1&cset=true
or
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/1315147.stm
or
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/breeding-news/2007/April/09/Dam-ofMonarchos-dies-at-age-20.aspx
or
http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa050501a.htm

Ta Wee and My Girls!!

Ta Wee was born in 1966 and became the Champion Sprinter of 1969 and 1970! Like Violet, she was born in Florida. And her sweet name, Ta Wee means "Beautiful Girl" in Sioux.

Her career record was 21: 15, 2, 1. And this accomplishment is staggering, given that she was expected to carry weights that never before had been assigned to a filly! When she was 3 years old, she won the Fall Highweight Handicap, carrying an unprecedented 130 pounds -- a first for a filly. Then the next year, she won the same race -- this time carrying 140 pounds!! She won the Interboro Handicap carrying 142 pounds!! And that was 29 pounds MORE than the second place horse, Hasty Hitter. She beat the boys, she beat the girls, and she was relentlessly expected to carry heavy weights! Lucky for her, it was in her genes. She and her half-brother, Dr. Fager, could carry giant huge weights and still sail ahead of everyone! For her efforts, she was voted #80 of the Top 100 Race Horses of the 20th century, and inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1994.

She was a hard-working girl, and when she retired from racing, she had 6 children. Five of those children were track winners, and 4 were stakes winners. She even had a foal by Secretariat who was named Tweak!. She passed relatively young in 1980.

Of course, this champion, weight-carrying, formidable girl is related to both my sweet ponies! Some of their shared relatives include Bubbling Over, Discovery, Percentage, Better Self, Bimelech, and Bull Dog!

You can see video of her winning the 1970 Interboro Handicap while carrying 142 pounds at the following links!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWafPy3XBeM
or
http://www.championsgallery.com/ta_wee.htm
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=149

Affectionately and my girls!!!

Affectionately was born in 1960 at Dr. Charles Hagyard's Lexington Farm. She was trained by Hall of Famer Hirsch Jacobs who said, she was "the best horse I've ever trained." Which was no faint praise since he trained Stymie and Hail to Reason. She was a 3x champion on the racetrack and a stupendous, if short-lived broodmare. She won 9 of 10 races in her 2 year old season. And in her 5th year, won the Vagrancy, Toboggan, and Top Flight Handicaps. Her 7 furlong victory in the Vagrancy was called the high point of the racing season, according to the New York Racing Secretary! In that race, she carried 137 lbs., 17 to 28 lbs more than any of her competitors. She ended her racing career with 52 starts: 28 wins, 8 places, and 6 shows for total earnings of $546,659. For her major wins, 18 of which were stakes races, and 9 were added-money races, she was nicknamed "The Queen of Queens." She was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1989. She also was voted the #81 race horse of the 20th century as reported by The Blood Horse's Thoroughbred Champions, the book used for this blog entry! In 1966, she was bred to Hail to Reason, and produced Personality, her first foal. This first foal won the Preakness Stakes and earned Horse of the Year, an honor shared with Fort Marcy. Affectionately died at 19. So, she is related to my girls in a number of very close ways. They share War Admiral, Hyperion, Black Toney, La Troienne. Black Toney and La Troienne have Big Hurry a dam crossed with War Admiral to produce Affectionately's mom, Searching. My girls, Violet and Hailee, have a Black Toney/La Troienne cross to produce Bimelech -- the horse who almost won the Triple Crown!!! So, you can see that my girls are closely related to Affecionately! You can read more about this beautiful filly and see pictures of her at the following links:

http://www.pedigreequery.com/affectionately

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=2

Violet, Hailee, Rags to Riches, 3 peas in a pod!

Here's a picture of Rags to Riches right after her historical win with her beautiful blanket of white carnations. Doesn't she look happy! Anyway, Rags, Violet, and Hailee share relatives. Rags to Riches' dad is A.P. Indy (who won the Belmont) and her mom is Better than Honour (who produced last year's Belmont Stakes winner, Jazil). So, apparently, Better than Honour deserves a special mother's day card, since she keeps producing Belmont-winning babies! You go, girl!! Rags to Riches also has the very special Secretariat and Seattle Slew in her tree. And what I think is very cool is that she has Busher, War Admiral's rockin' sockin' daughter. Now, here are some of the relatives my girls share with Rags: Blushing Groom, Bimelech, Nasrullah, Traffic Court, War Admiral, Baby League, Bubbling Over, and Equipoise, among many others. In fact, Violet can be proud that they share the same great-grandpa (Rags has Blushing Groom on the bottom, Violet has him on top). And Hailee can be super proud that they share Bubbling Over and Baby League! I am so proud to own a filly thoroughbred, and in the first year that Violet is part of my family, her close filly relative wins the Belmont in historical style. It's good to be part of the equine power girls!!!

Violet's Blue Larkspur

Violet is related to Blue Larkspur (born 1926), a beautiful stud from E.R. Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm in Kentucky. He was one of the most important broodmare sires of the 20th century, showing up on the broodmare sires list continuously from 1944-1960. His daughters produced 114 stakes winners and 6 champions. Blue Larkspur produced 290 foals, with 44 stakes winners. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957. And he was voted #100 of the Top 100 race horses of the 20th century by Blood Horse magazine. Of the 127 stakeswinners that Mr. Bradley had over his lifetime on Idle Hour, including Bimelech, Blue Larkspur was considered his best!! His final record was 16: 10-3-1. He won though he received two kicks while racing, and won though he suffered a bowed tendon. He earned $272,070 over his career and was the 1929 Eclipse Horse of the Year and 3-year-old Colt champion and 1930 Champion Handicap Male. Among his wins were the Juvenile Stakes, Saratoga Special, Classic Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Withers Stakes, Arlington Cup, and Stars and Stripes Handicap! When Mr. Bradley passed, he was acquired by the King Ranch in 1946. For Violet, Blue Larkspur was bred to La Troienne to produce Big Event who was bred to War Admiral to make Blue-Eyed Momo in Violet's Francis S line! You can read more about this courageous, sweet, mare-producing stallion at the following links:

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

or

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

or

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

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=33

Whisk Broom and my Girls!

My girls are related to the famous Whisk Broom II, born in 1907 to Broomstick and Audience. Audience was sired by the 1888 Belmont Stakes winner, Sir Dixon, and her dam was sired by Hindoo, a major stakes winner and Kentucky Derby winner. Whisk Broom was born at the Kentucky Horse Park, then called Senorita Farms, and was sent to England to race. In Great Britain, he won the Prince of Wales Plate, the Trial Stakes, Select Stakes, Peril of the Peak, Victoria Cup, and came third in the 2,000 Guineas. When he came to the United States, he raced only three times, but won the most difficult Triple Crown of Racing, the New York Handicap Triple Crown -- the Metropolitan, Suburban Handicap and Brooklyn Handicap. Only Tom Fool and Fit to Fight ever duplicated this amazing feat of winning the Handicap Triple Crown! In his last race ever, he carried a staggering 139 lbs to the second place horse's 112 lbs and still set a scorching track record!!! His final race record was 26: 10-7-1 for total earnings of $47.931. He won the 1913 U.S. Horse of the Year Award and U.S. Champion Handicap Horse of the Year, and the U.S. Handicap Triple Crown. In retirement, he sired 163 foals with 23 stakes winners for a stakes percentage of 16%. He was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1979. Among his children, he sired Upset, the only horse to deliver Man 'O War a defeat. He also foaled the Kentucky Derby winner, Whiskery, and Whiskaway, as well as the Preakness winner, Victorian, who was the damsire of Seabiscuit. You can visit him in his family cemetary at C.V. Whitney Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. He is related to both Hailee and Violet. An obvious connection for Hailee is in her Bim-a-Nick line, where Whisk Broom produced the sire John P. Grier. This is a pretty interesting line -- Whisk Broom and Fair Play were the sires of horses crossed to produce Algeria who was bred to Bubbling Over to produce Airegla to be bred to Bimelech to produce Sir Bim. For Violet, you can see Whisk Broom in her Boodle line where his son John P. Grier is crossed with the famous mare Elf to produce Boojum. You can read more about the fabulous, tough, world-travelling, Triple Crown winning sweetheart at the following links:

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

or

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

or

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

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=160

or

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

The Vengeful Busher and my girls!!!

Okay, so even this story seems just too over the top for me. My girls are heavily, heavily related to Busher, the #40 Top Race Horse of the 20th Century and 1945 Eclipse winner for U.S. Horse of the Year Award!!! Busher was born in 1942 to War Admiral and Baby League. So, she is heavily related to both my girls on both her sire and dam side, along all family chains. Remember that War Admiral is a Triple Crown winner, and Baby League is out of Bubbling Over, a Kentucky Derby winner, and La Troienne, one of the most influential broodmares in history! Thus, Hailee and Violet are so heavily related right away that there's really not much more to say! Anyway, Busher's race record was 21-15-3-1 for total earnings of $334,035. She was the 1944 Champion 2-year-old filly, and 1945 Horse of the Year and Champion 3-year-old filly. She is full sister to Striking, half-sister to Bimelech, and dam of Jet Action (her only foal of 5 who raced). Her mom, Baby League was the third foal of the most influential foundation mare of the 20th century, La Troienne. Busher was bred and born on Idle Hour Stock Farm where all the foals' names began with a "B." What's funny is that Colonel Edward R. Bradley (her owner) didn't want to breed Baby League to War Admiral because he considered the Triple Crown winner to hot-blooded. But someone reminded him that War Admiral looked lots like the great horse Sweep, so he relented. Many of Hailee and Violet's relatives were born and raised at Idle Hour Farm, including Black Toney, Blue Larkspur, and Burgoo King. Colonel Bradley sold Busher to Louis B. Mayer, the movie mogul, and she quickly made him richer under Hall of Fame Jockey, Johnny Longdon. Her racing colors were French Blue and Pink. What else that's cool? She regularly beat the boys. And, get this, on the odd occasion that she was beat, she always beat her competitor in another race. In fact, William H.P. Robertson, turf authority and historian wrote in his History of Thoroughbred Racing in America that "the salient attribute of War Admiral's little daughter was she always took revenge." Because of this macho cool hip suaveness, she was voted #40 of the Top 100 race horses of the 20th century, and was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1964. She is among only a handful of fillies which earned the Eclipse Award. You go, girl! And you go, my sweet Hailee and Violet!!!! Busher died during foal birth in 1955. She bore 5 foals, Bush Pilot, Golden Heart, Jet Action, Miss Busher, and Popularity. Jet Action was her only baby boy! You can read more about this lovely lady at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busher_(horse)
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=39

Nobiz like Shobiz wins the Wood Memorial!

The Derby contenders are starting to sort themselves out. This past Saturday, Nobiz like Shobiz won the $750,000 Wood Memorial by half a length and became the odds-on-favorite. Street Sense is currently the number 2 favorite. Cornelio Valasquez is his jockey and Barclay Tagg is his trainer. Tagg says that he's a great horse, but that sometimes he can be dumb and goofy. He has won 4 out of his 6 starts, and for the Wood Memorial wore blinkers for the first time and had his ears stuffed with cotton. Of this win, Tagg said that his main job is to keep Nobiz healthy for Derby day and that "These horses have to win these races themselves. I never get overly confident about anything. So many things can happen in a race." Now, here's the cool thing -- he is highly, closely related to my sweet Violet and Hailee. Of the many relatives they share, they include the following: Princequillo, Count Fleet, Blue Larkspur, Gay Crusader, Discovery, Teddy, Nasrullah, Hail to Reason, Sir Gallahad, Man 'o War, Hyperion, Tuder Minstrel, Sweep, Bull Dog, Bimelech, Black Helen, Case Ace, Better Self, Bull Lea, Eight Thirty, Broomstick, War Admiral, and Bubbling Over. You can read more about Nobiz at the following links (and also at the Kentucky Derby link!):

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

or

http://www.ntra.com/stats_bios.aspx?id=20881

or

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0728237120070407?feedType=RSS

Hailee's Bubbling Over

My girl, Hailee, is related to Bubbling Over, the 1926 Kentucky Derby Winner and sire to Burgoo King, also a Derby winner. In these photos you see both Bubbling Over and his son. Bubbling Over was blind when he won the Derby. He raced 13 times, won 10, placed twice, and showed 1. He won such races as the Nursery Handicap, Champagne Stakes, Blue Grass Stakes and placed at the Pimlico and Breeders Futurities. For Hailee, he was bred to Algeria who had lots of Fair Play and Whisk Broom. Their daughter, Airegla was bred to Bimelech, the winner of both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, and son of Black Toney, a very famous sire. Hailee has a family cemetary at Darby Dan Farms in Lexington, Kentucky. You can read more about Bubbling Over at:

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

or

http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2002/derby_history/derby_charts/years/1926.html

or

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,751479-1,00.html

Bimelech -- Hailee and Violet's Shared Relative

Hailee and Violet share a relative in Bimelech who is a thoroughbred with an outstanding pedigree and track record. He had 15 starts, 11 wins, 2 seconds, and 1 third. He was declared the U.S. Champion racing colt in both his 2nd and 3rd year. And he was inducted into the Thoroughbred National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame. The Blood Horse magazine declared him among the Top 100 Racing Horses of the 20th century!

During his career, he won the Saratoga Special, Hopeful Stakes, Pimlico, the Blue Grass, The Derby Trial, the Preakness and Belmont. He sired 30 stakes winners, including siring the stake winner Better Self who is a direct relative in Violet's family.

He fell short of the Triple Crown because he was second in the Kentucky Derby. Some say that he might have had the Triple Crown had he been given a rest from racing. When he broke from the gate on Derby Day, it was his 3rd race in only 8 days! His jockey took the blame and said that he accidently rode him very wide off the rail. In the Preakness, Bimelech beat the horse who edged him out of a Triple Crown in the Kentucky Derby. Not surprisingly, he was called "the iron horse!" You can read more about Bimelech at:

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