Breaking News! A Wonderful Fall Morning

Last night I went to the barn after a busy day at work. I had the whole barn to myself and put out my little herd in the roundpen where you see Hailee standing in this photo. The sun was that wonderful late afternoon Fall muted sunlight that falls golden all over. Violet looked radiant against the seasonal leaves and the harvested corn field. Hailee was gorgeaus. And Renny adorable. I got the barn to myself and got to blanket, feed, and shut up the place. That's rare for me to have that treat -- and it was just right on this sunny muted Fall day! There is nothing like the sound of a barn full of horses eating. I am pretty sure He intended that noise as the sound of celestial contentment.

Anyway, I went back to the stable this morning early and it was a beautiful drive out. The fields look great in their post-harvest state and the leaves are changed and falling. And we had a fog that deepened the closer I got to Showgate. I visited with my herd, took Violet for a long-line drive around the farm and down by the road, had a nice quiet ride, chatted with Coy, and let my mare and yearling enjoy a morning in the roundpen. Coy and I talked about Doc Bar, War Admiral, Man o' War, Black Gold, Beggar Boy and Seabiscuit. He talked about his childhood and I prattled on about the Throughbred Training Center. I love talking horses with people and Coy is very knowledgeable about the Western side of my equine family. Turns out Doc Bar, a relative to Hailee, was a failed race horse, but was savage and tough and eager about running down cows! Vi is a very mouthy curious girl and so when I showed up this morning, she gave me her face so that I could see that she had cut and blistered her lip, poor girl. She probably hurt herself chewing some sharp object. Ugh. And I noticed that my little guy has gained a lot of weight since he switched from baby grain to regular. So, I am asking that he be cut back.

But here's what's funny. Coy went to bring Hailee in and she slipped away from him and took off blazing across the cut cornfield through the mist and sun. She looked so pleased with herself. She lifted her beautiful tail and held her head high. She was all that and a bag of chips. So, Violet and I and Coy and Barbie went after her. And I am super duper ear-to-ear proud that Hailee waited with quiet patience and trust for me to retrieve her. I know it's not nice to say, but one of the very nicest parts of my life is the fact that these three amazing wonderful equines love, trust and respect me. They really see me as an integral part of their herd life. Namaste!

Breaking News! Amazing Results in the Black Gold Stakes!

News from the Fairgrounds in New Orleans is good! Amazing Results won the tradition-rich $60,000 Black Gold Stakes by 1 length this Saturday. Here you see a photo by Lou Hodges Jr. of the winning jockey, Julien Laparoux, placing a wreath on Black Gold's grave after his win! Amazing Results has Secretariat and Northern Dancer on his sire's side and Buckpasser and Nasrullah on his dam's side.

The Fairgrounds is the third oldest track in the United States, having opened in 1872.

In other news from the Fairgrounds, trainer Greg Sacco says that he likes being at Barn 34. His nervous filly, Sicilian Soul, settled right down once she moved into Barn 34. She likes it because the barn has stalls facing each other, so she can see her buddies. She settled down right away, quit pacing her stall, and gained weight! He thinks that she's ready to get out in front and run like a queen now!

Useeit and My Girls!

So, check this out! One of Hailee's relatives has a book written about her, called Black Gold by the famous Marguerite Henry! Useeit by Bonnie Joe and Effie M was a 1907 thoroughbred mare who is now rumored to have been a Quarter horse and who was dragged all over the West, Mexico and Louisiana to race for Al and Rosa Hoots. She produced the 1924 Kentucky Derby winner, Black Gold, via Black Toney, but he was sterile, poor thing, which ultimately led to his untimely death on the Fairgrounds track in New Orleans.

But, his full brother, Beggar Boy, is Hailee's relative on her mom's side, Docs Blue Rock Dawn. Beggar Boy is the sire of 4 AQHA Race ROMS and 20 AQUA daughters producing ROMS.

Violet is not related to Useeit, but has her boyfriend, Black Toney in several lines in her Dame Francesca line on her dad's side, Groomstick!

I am definitely treating myself to the read of Black Gold again. I remember that fabulous book as a child, and now I am a lucky woman who has a family member from that great American family tree in my pedigree!

Black Gold -- 1924 Kentucky Derby Winner!

Okay, so here is a pretty dramatic story about some of Hailee's more colorful relatives. Al Hoots was this crazy old guy who had a very heartful mare, Useeit. He dragged her all over the West and Louisiana to race and she returned his confidence by winning 34 of her starts for him. In 1916, he took her to Juarez, Mexico and ran in her in a claiming race, thinking that he'd gotten everyone to agree not to claim her. A gentleman named Ramsey tried to claim her, and Hoots held him off by riflepoint and ran off with his little mare

Then the next year, 1917, on his deathbed, he told his Osage Nation wife, Rosa, to breed his mare to Black Toney a famous horse owned by Colonel Bradley of Idle Hour Stock Farm. What a joke! A poor family being able to have the money to breed to that Kentucky wealth! But Hoots said that he'd had a vision, "I see this foal, possessed of an undaunted spirit of a mother descended from horses which admitted defeat only in death."

So, guess what? An oil boon! The Osage Nation in Oklahoma struck it rich and Rosa Hoots, now a widow, was able to send Useeit to Black Toney, and their baby, Black Gold, a beautiful black foal, was born in 1921. He won like crazy. He raced 35: 18-5-4. And when he was 3, he won the Kentucky Derby, Lousiana Derby, Chicago Derby, and Ohio Derby. He didn't race in the Preakness or Belmont because we hadn't developed that as the cultural standard, the Triple Crown yet!

Now the sad part -- He was retired to stud at 4, but was found to be sterile. So, they sent him back to the track. He raced in pain with a hoof injury, and then at the New Orleans Fair Grounds, he gave his full heart to win, though he was past his prime. He broke his leg, but still tried to win and finished the race with his champion heart and on three legs. He was put to sleep there in New Orleans and is buried in the Fair Grounds infield. He died in 1928. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, and now the grandchildren of Rosa Hoots are trying to start a business to remember this great horse.

His only child was struck and killed by lightning, but my beautiful Hailee carries Black Gold's blood through his closest relation, his full brother, Beggar Boy, born in 1924, 3 short years after Black Gold. He had a nice long life, passing away in 1945 at the age of 21!

You can read more about this famous family of horses at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Gold_(horse)
or
http://www.blackgold1924.com/
or
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/blackgold.html
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=31