Buckpasser and My Girls!

Buckpasser was a Claiborne Farms foal born in the year of my birth, 1963. He was by Tom Fool and Busanda by War Admiral. Please read the first link below to read just how deep and rich and impeccable his pedigree was. He was astonishing in his family tree! Among his cool family members was Equipoise, or "The Chocolate Soldier," a horse that both Hailee and Violet share in their heritage.

And astonishingly good-looking. The famous painter, Richard Stone Reeves, according to the Unofficial Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, said that "Buckpasser was the most perfectly proportioned thoroughbred I have ever seen." He only gave two other horses the designation of being in a "class with Buckpasser" -- Secretariat and Affirmed. Reeves said, "I would deny anyone to find a fault with Buckpasser."

He was a good boy who had perfect manners and was gentle. And he was lazy in the lead, but always managed to eke out a win in a relaxed powerful fashion. His final record was 31: 25(21), 4(3), 1(1) with $1,462,014. Among his wins, he took the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Brooklyn Handicap, Arlington Classic, Travers Stakes, and Metropolitan Handicap. His dad, Ogden Phipps, retired him a bit early because he had quarter crack problems. He then became an outstanding broodmare stud. He produced 142 stakeswinners, including 11 champions before passing in 1978.

Among his awards, he earned the following Eclipse Awards, the 1965 Champion 2 year-old colt, 1966 Champion 3 year-old colt and Horse of the Year, and the 1967 Champion Handicap Male. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1970. And was voted #14 of the Top 100 thoroughbred race horses of the 20th century.

My girls are related to him through many connections, but some immediate ones are Menow, Bull Dog, Equipoise, War Admiral, Blue Larkspur, and La Troienne.

Get this! Last summer, when Barbie and Montgomery and I went to Claiborne Farms, we went into the main office which was panelled in wood and dark green and brass, etc. And this is the place where I leaned over to take a look at a beautiful leather halter hanging on the wall and saw that the brass tag said Buckpasser. Can you believe? I saw one of this champion's halters in real life. What a wonderful boy. I hope he's lazing about, running sweetly, and goofing off in heaven!
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/buckpasser.html
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckpasser
or
http://www.thoroughbredchampions.com/biographies/buckpasser.htm
or
http://www.brauliobaeza.com/hoy_buckpasser.html
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqRgpmplwvs
or
http://www.stallions.com.au/historical/buckpasser.asp

Susan's Girl and My Girls!

Susan's Girl (1969-1988) is an amazing mare. She was voted #51 of the Top 100 racehorses of the 20th century. She raced and raced and raced for a career record of 63: 29-14-11. Before they had the grading system, she won 9 stakes in 1972 and earned Champion 3 year-old-filly. Then in the first year of the official grading system, 1973, she won 6 graded races, 4 at the very best level, Grade 1! By then she was close to being the first distaffer at $1 million, so her dad, Fred Hooper, wanted her to win it all. But she chipped a bone in her leg and needed surgery. She was sent to Hooper's Farm near Ocala, Florida, and after the surgical removal of the 3 chips, she spent 2 months being vanned to Lake Weir for a daily swim. So...after her surgery and recovery, she came back kicking it into gear!

Two fillies, Dahlia and Allez France, had already surpassed the $1 million mark in the meantime, but that was in Europe. So, very quickly, Susan's Girl passed the big mark for North America! She won a *ton* of races, including the Signature Stakes, Villager Stakes, Beldame Stakes (twice), Acorn Stakes, Cotillion, Kentucky Oaks, Santa Susana, Gazelle Handicap, Santa Ynez, Pasadena, La Troienne Stakes, Delaware Stakes, Santa Margarita Invititational, Santa Barbara Handicap, Susquehanna, Santa Maria Handicap, Spinster Stakes, Falls City Handicap, Matchmaker Stakes, Apple Blossom, and Long Beach Stakes.

She was ultimately the only filly in the 20th century to win a 3 year-old-championship (1972), and two champion older mare awards (1973, 1975). She was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1976. When she retired, she had 11 foals, several with her stablemate, Tri Jet, and even a foal named Florida Sunshine, with Alydar. She foaled a Grade 1 stakeswinner, Copelan, who was named after the physician who surgically removed her bone chips and oversaw her recovery and healing regimen. All of that, and I couldn't find a photo of her on the internet except on a person's Ebay site where they were selling her Thoroughbred Record front page photo showing her relaxed before her Spinster Stakes win!! Go figure! She is related to my girls in several ways, including Bull Lea, Mahmoud, Blue Larkspur, Sweep, Blenheim, Gainsborough, Hyperion, and La Troienne. The other picture is by my favorite horse artist, Frances Mabel Hollams! You can read more about Susan's Girl at the following link:

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=145

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

Audience the big heart mare and my girls!

My girls have lots of Big Heart blood in their veins. In 1789, an autopsy of Eclipse showed that he had a 14 lb. heart as compared to the average of 6 lb hearts of the time. He had a big heart. Secretariat was found to have a heart over 22 lbs, much higher than the 9 lb. average. In fact, of Secretariat's heart, his autopsy physician, Dr. Thomas Swerczek, said, "We just stood there in stunned silence. We couldn't believe it. The heart was perfect. There were no problems with it. It was just this huge engine." They now believe that big hearts are tied to the female X chromosome. So, you can be a "single copy" or "double copy" mare and if you are a big heart stud, you can pass your X to your children too. If a "double copy" mare is bred to a large-hearted stallion, she will always produce large-heart foals and double copy fillies. Violet is directly related to four of the most famous Big Heart stallions, Princequillo, War Admiral, Blue Larkspur, and Mahmoud. Hailee also has big heart studs, including Moon Deck, Three Bars, Easy Jet, Top Deck, and Leo. Man 'O War was a big-heart stud. The thing with big-heart stallions is that they can only pass their big heart to their daughters. So, often since it takes a crop or two for their big heart gene to express or show itself, thoroughbred stallions will be "sold down river" to the Quarter Horse industry which is why the American Quarter Horse is filled with Big Hearts from their thoroughbred relatives. Man 'O War blessed both breeds with his big-hearted heritage. Among the relatives suspected of having big hearts, my girls have Rock Sand, Count Fleet, Eclipse, Pocahontas, Glencoe, Lexington, Domino, and La Troienne. And they have Audience, daughter of Sir Dixon (the Belmont Stakes Winner) and grand-daughter of Hindoo, the Kentucky Derby winner. She foaled Whisk Broom and in her own racing day, she won the all-important Kentucky Oaks! She is considered a big-hearted gal!! Among the ways she's related to my girls are through Po' Chile for Violet and Sir Bim for Hailee. The photo has a picture of her baby, Whisk Broom. You can read more about the X-Factor at the following links:

http://www.robertsfox.com/x_factor.htm

or

http://www.circledhorses.com/The%20X-Factor.htm

A Pony Takes Rolex by Storm!!!

This weekend is Rolex at the Kentucky Horse Park! I am sorry to be missing it, but have to focus on work for now! This year is a special Rolex because for the first time in history a PONY is competing in this major Four Star event!! Theodore O'Connor is being ridden by Karen O'Connor, a U.S. Olympian and spouse to David O'Connor, Olympic Gold Medalist and President of the United States Equestrian Federation. Theodore O'Connor's pet name by Karen is Theadorable. He is only 14' 1 3/4", so he is officially shorter than my sweet Hailee! He was 7th after the dressage test and he is 9th now, after the cross country. I hope he kicks butt tomorrow at the stadium jumping competition. I can hardly believe that he managed the huge, maximum-sized jumps of the cross country. And they say that this year's cross-country is much longer than any previously! Karen says of Teddy, "He doesn't know he's small. He thinks anything is possible!" What a good pony! I believe that Hailee could produce such fabulous kinds of ponies too! Anyway, he is 3/4ths thoroughred and a dash of Arabian and Shetland. And guess what? No surprise. He is heavily related to Violet and Hailee. He has Count Fleet, Reigh Count, Fair Play, Teddy, Discovery, La Troienne, Plucky Liege, Nasrullah, Sir Gallahad, Bend Or, and Questionnaire in his blood lines, to name a few of their relations. He even has Honest Pleasure in his background, an indirect relation to my girls! You can read more about this macho, history-making pony at the following links:

http://www.oconnoreventteam.com/horses_teddy.html
or
http://www.sportponiesunlimited.com/Sportponies_Unlimited_Connor.html
or
http://pets.webshots.com/album/500898533mACuGZ
or
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2007/04/185.shtml

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

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

Teddy! -- sire of racers and showjumpers!

Violet and Hailee are related to Teddy, an important foundation thoroughbred horse for both racing and showjumping bloodlines. Teddy was a French thoroughbred who was sent to Spain to race because of the disrupted race schedule, during World War II. He raced 8 times and won 6 races. He was champion 3-year-old colt in Spain in 1916. When he came to the states, his two full-brother sons, Sir Gallahad and Bull Dog out of Spearmint were leading sires. He had a daughter, the famous La Troienne who was one of the most significant broodmares in history, with nearly 1,000 stakeswinners among her descendants. Another of his daughters, Case Ace, was the broodmare who produced Raise a Native.

Violet is related to Teddy so many, many ways. Teddy's child Bull Dog appears in her pedigree at least 6 times! La Troienne appears at least 3 times! Sir Gallahad appears at least 2 times! And he also appears through his children Case Ace, Bourbonette, and Asterus. In fact, his kid, Case Ace (mom of Raise a Native) produced Ace Card who was bred to Count Fleet to produce One Count! And his kid, Bourbonette was bred to War Admiral to produce Wee Nip. Wee Nip and One Count were bred together! So, Teddy was instrumental in Violet's famous Count Fleet/War Admiral connection!! In total, that's a total of at least 14 times that Teddy appears for Violet!! She should be a good jumper!!

Hailee has only a touch of Teddy through two crosses with his kid, Sir Gallahad, and one touch of his darling La Troienne!!

La Troienne -- Hailee and Violet's "Blue Hen"

Hailee and Violet are very proud to have La Troienne in their family tree -- a 20th century "Blue Hen." A Blue Hen is a mare who produces nothing but the best characteristics and nothing but winners!! La Troienne was born in France and imported to the United States. She was not impressive on the race track, but has left an indelible mark on Thoroughbred history as one of the most influential broodmares of all time. She was imported to Idle Hour Stock Farm and bore 15 foals, 12 of which raced, and 10 of which were winners. Her first daughter, Black Helen, was a super-charged race horse who out of 22 starts, won 15 times. She was so powerful as a race horse that Black Helen routinely won against fields of colts. She was declared the U.S. champion 3-year-0ld racing filly. The only colt she could not beat was Omaha, the Triple Crown winner. She was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame.

La Troienne produced many, many famous descendents, including Go for Gin and Buckpasser. She produced many broodmares-of-the-year.

Hailee has an impressive connection to La Troienne. La Troienne and Black Toney produced Bimelech and Bubbling Over (Kentucky Derby winner) was the sire on the dam's side of a Bimelech cross which produced Sir Bim. Sir Bim was crossed on the dam side of a Top Deck sire side to produce a line in Hailee's sire's history! Whoo!

Violet too is impressively connected to La Troienne's history in at least two powerful ways. Again, she has the Bimelech connection and on the dam's side War Admiral (Triple Crown winner) is the sire to produce a dam for Bimelech which produced Better Self, a stakes winner. She also has a La Troienne and Blue Larkspur cross which produced Big Event who was bred to War Admiral to produce Blue Eyed Momo on Violet's dam's side.

Blue Larkspur is very cool as a cross because he won the Belmont Stakes, Juvenile Stakes, Saratoga Special, Classic Stakes, Withers Stakes, Arlington Cup, and Stars and Striples Handicap. He was 1929 Horse of the Year and Champion 3-year-old Colt, and the 1930 Champion Handicap Male!

You can read more about La Troienne, the fabulous "Blue Hen" of the Hailee and Violet Sanchez family tree at my friendly links, The Pedigree Post!
You can also read about her at:
http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/LaTroienne.html