Somethingroyal and My Girls!

Here is a photo of Secretariat's mom, Somethingroyal, a mare who only raced once, on August 2nd, 1954 at Saratoga where she went unplaced. But the filly ended up being a fantastic broodmare and mom, and was voted the 1973 Broodmare of the Year, the year her baby won the Triple Crown!! Another of her great babies was Sir Gaylord to name one of many! She died in 1983 at age 31 and was the oldest mare to produce a Triple Crown Winner when she was 18.

Now here's a sad aside that just goes to show how dependent horses are on the angels of our better natures. In the mid-1990s, one of Somethingroyal's other children, Straight Flush, ended up in a Texas feed lot, in danger of heading to the slaughterhouse. Can you imagine? A half-brother of Secretariat running on hard times!? He was adopted at the old age of 24 and sent to California where he lived to 32-years as a pensioner in the lap of luxury! He passed away just recently on September 3, 2007, falling asleep peacefully under a eucalyptus tree. You can read more about this story at a link below.
http://www.diamondjfarms.com/somethin.html
or
http://www.secretariat.com/brother.html

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'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

Seabiscuit and My Girls!!!

I know I've mentioned him before, and I'm sure I will mention him again. My girls are related to Seabiscuit. He was 1938's Horse of the Year!! And in a match race, he beat Violet's direct relation, the Triple Crown winning War Admiral. Anway, they are related through many lines, including Man 'O War, Rock Sand, Whisk Broom, St. Simon. Violet is related very directly as a direct relation to Seabiscuit's mom, Swing On. Swing On foaled Brown Biscuit for Violet as well as her sweet Seabiscuit. You can read more about this macho grand horse at the following link:
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/seabiscuit.html

Thoroughbred Breeding

This information about thoroughbred foal crops is from the April 27, 2007 New York Times. In 2004, 34,642 thoroughbred foals were registered. Kentucky produced 28.3% of that foal crop with 9,815 foals. The other big producing states were Florida (12.9%), California (10.9%), New York (5.8%), Louisiana (5.5%) and Texas (5.0%). Ohio produced 1.4% of the foals and New Mexico, where Violet's daddy now lives, produced 2.3%. In 2005, 23,674 of the yearlings from that 2004 crop went into race training. Yearling auctions accounted for 29% of the 2004 registered foal crop sales. There were 1,952 weanlings sold in 2004, as compared to 10,088 yearlings sold in 2005. In 2006, when they were 2, many of them began their race careers. 10,390 from the 2004 foal crop raced an average of 3.2 times, during their second year. And now in 2007, 20 of that initial crop of 34,642 registered foals were successful nominees for the Derby. They chose the top 20 money earners from graded stakes races. The entrance and start fees for the Derby total $50,000 with an additional $200,000 nomination fee for the Triple Crown. Entrance fees are applied toward the prize money for the top four finishers. The nations best stakes races are graded from I through III.

So, what does this mean for Violet? Violet was born in Florida on March 8, 2003 -- International Women's Day! I *think* she passed through an auction at one point because an envelope that came with her birth certificate and Coggins Test is from the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company. Her daddy, Groomstick, was in his last year as a Florida stallion. Her owner was tentatively calling her Watch For Me which is an adorable name and I really like it, but my cousin, Jane, and I chose Velvet Tenderness instead. Out of almost 35,000 foals born that year, Violet was my magic one -- getting ready to come to me! She was going to be someone's hunter prospect, but now she's meant to be my pampered backyard pony.

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!!

My Girls are Ruthless!!!

Ruthless was a filly out of Eclipse and Barbarity. She was the first of 5 fillies from that combination. Her sisters included Relentless, Remorseless, Regardless, and Merciless. They were collectively called The Barbarous Battalion!. Ruthless was the first horse to win the Belmont Stakes in 1867, and one of only 2 fillies who have ever won the Belmont in over 100 years of the race's history. She was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1975, and has a race named after her at Aqueduct called "The Ruthless." Hailee and Violet are related to this macho girl through the following horses (and others): Orlando, Whalebone, Touchstone, Bay Middleton, Selim, Camel, and, of course, Eclipse! You can read more about this Belmont Girl at the following links:

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=129

http://saratogaracing.com/Aqueduct/stakes/Ruthless.html