Wining Effort and My Girls!

Violet's dam was a 1997 racehorse named Wining Effort who had a dosage index of 5 and career earnings of $10,672! Her own parents are Two's A Plenty and Right Effort by Rajab. Her dad earned $282,183 and Rajab earned $75,600, and his own dad, Jaipur earned over $618,000! So, Violet is well-connected to racehorses on her mama's side.

In fact, if you look at her pedigree, you'd be super impressed. Wining Effort has Dark Star, the only horse to beat the 1953 Kentucky Derby winner, Native Dancer. And she has One Count, the Belmont Stakes winning kid and grandkid of Count Fleet and Reigh Count. And she has War Admiral, and the double whammy Count Fleet, War Admiral kid cross to create Three Fingers!. And she's got a dash of Jaipur, the horse who beat Ridan in one of the most amazing match races ever. And Wining Effort has a splash of Stymie, lucky girl!

So, my sweet, dancing, flirty, girly, smart Violet is rich in dam history!

Dark Star Upsets Native Dancer!!

Here are two interesting photos. One is of Native Dancer, a two-time Horse of the Year. The other is the cover of the 1954 Turf and Digest with a photo of Violet's relative, Dark Star, after he defeated The Grey Ghost in the Derby! Get this: Native Dancer 22 races, 21 wins. The only horse to ever beat him was Violet's Dark Star who beat him to win the Kentucky Derby!!! That's some chops! Dark Star was a 25-1 longshot! And Native Dancer won the Saratoga Special, Preakness, Wood Memorial, Belmont, Arlington Classic, Gotham, Withers, Travers, and Metropolitan, among a few. And so, yes, Violet's Dark Star denied that super champion a chance of being a Triple Crown winner! Native Dancer won two jewels in theTriple Crown, but came in second for the first and most important jewel! Dark Star is a great-great grandparent of Violet's, appearing on the sire side of her mom, Wining Effort. The video link shows this truly amazing race between these two champions!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rBBvKILL1IM

Traffic Court, Ace Card, and Violet!

Violet is related to at least two Kentucky Broodmares of the Year. The Kentucky Broodmare of the Year award is an elected honor chosen by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Traffic Court (1954 Broodmare of Year) is the daughter of Discovery and Ace Card (1952 Broodmare of Year), is the daughter of Case Ace. In the case of Traffic Court, her dad, Discovery, had the most amazing race record, but he became even more famous, if possible, as a broodmare sire. He produced Geisha dam of Native Dancer, Miss Disco, dam of Bold Ruler, Good Thing, dam of Bed 'O Roses, and Violet's own Traffic Court, dam of Violet's Hasty Road Co-Champion 2-year-old Colt of 1953 and Preakness Stakes winner, dam of Traffic Judge, a major stakes winner, and dam of Intentionally, a major sprinter. Discovery's owner, Alfred G. Vanderbilt, used to joke about his breeding strategy for race winners, "just breed any sire to a Discovery mare." Violet's Ace Card is bred to Count Fleet to produce One Count who was bred to War Admiral's Wee Nip. I've mentioned that before, but it's so cool that it bears repeating! Anyway, not only does she have these two fine Kentucky Broodmare of the Year mares in her heritage, she's related to many of the Broodmares of the Year through her sire connections, including Princequillo, Bubbling Over, Blue Larkspur, Blenheim, One Count, Count Fleet, War Admiral, Dark Star, and Blushing Groom! She also has some connections through the dam line, but I'm just pointing out the boys for now! Here's a photo of Traffic Court's daddy, Discovery! You can read more about the Kentucky Broodmares of the Year at the following links:

http://www.tbheritage.com/HistoricDams/AmBroodmareofYear.html

or

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

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!!

Violet's Dark Star!!

Dark Star is the great-great grandpa on Violet's dam's sire's side. I think that's just so very cool. Dark Star was born in 1950 and won the 1953 Kentucky Derby. He was the only horse who ever beat Native Dancer. Native Dancer won 21 of 22 starts, and Dark Star shut him down on his Triple Crown bid. Native Dancer went on to win the Preakness and Belmont, so it was only Violet's Dark Star that impeded Native Dancer's bid to be part of Triple Crown history! Dark Star's record is 13 starts, 6 firsts, 2 seconds, and 2 thirds. He came up fifth in the Preakness, but was discovered to have a leg injury. What's sort of sad is that he was sold at the Keeneland Sales in 1953, the year he won the Kentucky Derby. It goes to show you how vulnerable thoroughbreds are -- this gorgeaus, big black Kentucky Derby winning horse wasn't wanted by his owners and was sold for $6,500 at Keeneland. Go figure. His lifetime track earnings were $131,337.

You can read about his Derby win at the following link:
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2006/derby_history/derby_charts/years/1953.html