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

Top Flight and My Girls!

Top Flight was a young lady with not that great a pedigree. Her parents were not big winners, but they had genetic potential! By the end of her brief racing career, she retired as the all-time top money-earning filly, which she held for 14 years. She was the first 2-year-old to earn more than $200,000. Her final record was 16: 12-0-0, and $275,900. She beat colts, was unbeaten in 7 starts at 2, including 3 times when she ran against colts. Indeed, she beat Burgoo King, a Kentucky Derby winner, twice!! At 2, she won the Futurity Stakes, Pimlico Futurity, Saratoga Special, Spinaway Stakes, Matron Stakes, Arlington Lassie, and Clover Stakes, and at 3, the Acorn Stakes, Coaching Club American Stakes, Arlington Oaks, Alabama Stakes, and Ladies' Handicap.

She was enrolled in the Hall of Fame in 1966, and was voted 66th of the Top 100 Race Horses of the 20th century! She passed in 1949 and she is buried at CV Whitney Farm which is part of Gainesway Farm. At the link below, you can read about their famous equine cemetary and see Top Flight's stone. Anyway, she had 7 foals, including a stakes winner, and the sires were Gallant Fox, Man o' War, Peace Chance, and Mahmoud.

My girls are related to her, primarily through Commando, Broomstick, Audience, and St. Simon. This photo is from an Ebay ad, and pictures here in Turf and Sport Digest . She was bred by Harry Payne Whitney, but he passed away in 1930 before he got a chance to meet her. So, his son, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, owned and raced her!

You can read more about her at the following links:

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

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=153

or

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

The Fabulous Beldame and my girls!!

August Belmont bred Beldame at his farm near Lexington, Kentucky. He leased her to a friend of his, Newton Bennington, because he was very busy building Belmont Park and the New York City Subway system. Also, he was irritated with Beldame's trainer who refused to take Belmont's worries about a skin condition she suffered seriously. I can relate! Poor Belmont worried that she had shingles and the trainer couldn't care less! Anyway, under Bennington at age 3, she was magnificent (as reported in the Blood Horse Top 100 Race Horses of the 20th Century publication). In 14 starts, she only lost twice to much older boys, and she was winning at short and long distances. She was a macho machine!!! But she did love a little snack or two -- every day she liked to nosh on corn cobs!! In 1904, she spanked very famous boys in the Saratoga Cup, and in that year, she even beat Broomstick in another race. She was all about the business of beating the boys! And she was only the third filly to win over $100,000. She was so white hot in her third year that she was severely weighted and handicapped in her fourth year. Belmont and Bennington thought that was not fair to their super girl, so they let her retire early in triumphant style! She was the Eclipse Horse of the Year winner in 1904, voted #98 of the top 100 race horses of the 20th century, and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1956 . She also has the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park as an honor!! My girls are related to her through Bend Or, Touchstone, Pocahontas, Macaroni, and Stockwell. You can read more about this high-powered, trouble-making, boy-spanking girl at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beldame
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=27
or
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/beldame.html

Serena's Song and My Girls!

My girls are related to Serena's Song, the 1995 Eclipse Award winner for Champion 3-year-old filly of the Year! Her track record was 38: 18-11-3 and she earned $3,283,388 on the track. Among her wins, she took the Mother Goose, Haskell Invitational Handicap, Beldame Stakes, Hollywood Starlet Stakes, Santa Anita Oaks, Gazelle Handicap, Oak Leaf Stakes, Las Virgenes Stakes, Santa Monica Handicap, Santa Maria Handicap, Jim Beam Stakes, Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, and Landaluce Stakes. Her owners were Robert and Beverly Lewis, trainer Wayne Lukas, and jockey Gary Stevens. She was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 2002. She retired from the track to a life as a broodmare at Denali Stud near Paris, Kentucky. So far, she is the dam of 7 foals, 6 to race. She has had 5 winners so far. Her winning children include Grand Reward and Sophisticat sired by Storm Cat, Serena's Tune (a winning filly!) sired by Mr. Prospector, and Harlington sired by Unbridled. She is related to my girls in multiple ways, including Blushing Groom who is the sire's sire of Serena's Song. They also share (among others) Blue Larkspur, Sir Gallahad, Gainsborough, Teddy, Plucky Liege, Mahmoud, Hyperion, Man 'O War, Frillery, Broomstick, Nearco, Bulldog, Discovery, Whisk Broom, Sweep, and John P. Grier. Here's a photo of Serena's Song and one of her babies. You can read more about her and see more photos of her very beautiful children at the following links:

http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa022600a.htm

or

http://horseracing.about.com/library/pics/blserena1.htm

or

http://www.finalturngallery.com/Storm-Tides-album?page=1

or

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/stallion-directory/stallion.aspx?stallion_no=6091773

or

http://www.hillndalefarms.com/stallions/grand-reward.shtml

or

http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa090800a.htm

or

http://www.denalistud.com/photoalbum.shtml

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=377

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

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

Hailee and Violet's Equipoise!!!

Hailee and Violet are related to one of the most famous handicap horses of all time! Equipoise was born in 1928, and his record was 59-29-10-4. He earned $338,610 in his lifetime and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1957. He was also voted the #21 of the Top 100 20th century race horses by Blood Horse magazine. Among his many stakes wins, he won the Pimlico and Whitney. He was called the Chocolate Soldier by his fans. He was the U.S. Champion 2 year-old in 1930, and U.S. Champion Older Horse in 1932, 1933, 1934. He was Horse of the Year in 1932 and 1933, a rare feat to be voted twice. He died young, but was voted Leading Sire in North America in 1942. In the Pimlico, he was left at the gate, but then raced so fast that he raced right out of 2 of his shoes. His jockey, Sonny Workman was asked whether that Pimlico was his greatest race. He replied, "My greatest race? Hell, it may have been the greatest race anybody ever saw." He carried heavy weight. In fact, he gave 26 lbs to the runner-up, but still won the Metropolitan. He also set a world record at Arlington Park. He appears at least twice in Hailee's pedigree through her Top Deck line. Equipoise was bred to Frilette, Man 'O War's daughter from a cross to Frillery, Broomstick's daughter. Broomstick is the sire of Equipoise's mom, Swinging, as well as the sire of the mom of Equipoise's Frilette -- a double Broomstick cross on the dam side of the grandparent line. Equipoise produced Equestrian, the AQHA Hall of Fame sire and sire of Top Deck. So, this royal pedigree is part of Hailee's Easy Jet line. For Hailee, Equipoise appears on both the sire and dam side of her daddy. For the sire of her daddy, Speckled E.T., it goes Jagajet, Easy Jet, Jet Deck, Moon Deck, Top Deck, Equestrian, and Equipoise! For Violet, he appears at least once in her Classicist line where he is helping to make another great Handicap horse, Stymie. You can read more about Equipoise at the following links:

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

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=66

or

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745970,00.html

My Girls are Ruffians!

What can be said about Ruffian? She was born in 1972, never defeated, never headed. Every time she raced in her 8 stakes races, she won and set a record. She won the Filly Triple Crown just breezing along. She perished in a match race against Foolish Pleasure. Her jockey, Jacinto Vasquez, had the choice to ride either horse in the match race and he chose the big black girl. She was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1976. My girls are heavily directly related to this wonder of a girl. I am awed. I remember with vivid clarity the day Ruffian died. We were living in Canada, and mom and I were watching the news and heard the story. Violet and Hailee are related across every single branch of Ruffian's family tree. They share many relatives, including Nasrullah, Sweep, Domino, Traffic Court, Sir Gallahad, Plucky Liege, Teddy, Broomstick, Blue Larkspur, Black Toney, Discovery, Whisk Broom, Commando, Love Wisely, Hindoo, and Fair Play. What's strange is that Ruffian has Man o' War's daddy in her pedigree, but not the Grand Man himself! Anyway, Ruffian is a lovely macho girl and she was a real role model to girls like me in the 1970s. Be big, be bold, compete, have a big, giant heart. You can read more about this short-lived, lovely miraculous girl at the following links. The Youtube link is very sad -- someone went to a great deal of effort to write a lovely song to her:

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=128

or

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

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96wka0rBHWM

or

http://www.championsgallery.com/Ruffian/Ruffian.html

or

http://thoroughbredchampions.com/biographies/ruffian1.htm

or

http://www.equinenet.org/heroes/ruffian.html

or

http://horseracing.about.com/library/pics/blruffian.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