Miss Woodford and My Girls

Miss Woodford was born in 1880 and her final race record was 48: 37-7-2. She was the first U.S. horse to earn over $100,000 during her career. She was owned by Mike and Phil Dwyer of Dwyer Brother Stables, and she was meant to replace their retired champion and relative of Violet and Hailee, Hindoo. They loved racing and not breeding, so she ran for a long time! She was born near Paris, Kentucky and was a daughter of Billet who was imported from England and a leading sire in America in 1883. Her dam, Fancy Jane, never raced. She ran for over 5 seasons, against the finest colts of her day, even at long distances of 2 1/2 miles. She was the American Champion Older Female in 1884-1886 from ages 4-6, and, in fact, she earned 7 Eclipse Awards, one division title for each year she ran, and two Horse of the Year Honors!!! She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1967. When she was 3, 4, and 5, she won 16 consecutive races and was a national hero. She even won the Pimlico Stakes during that streak as a 3 year-old. She even beat the colt, George Kinney, who had won the Belmont Stakes. She was trained by James G. Rowe, a Hall of Famer. Five Hall of Fame trainers thought that she was one of the best fillies of all time. And in an American Trainers Association poll in 1955, she was voted 5th greatest filly in American racing history, with Gallorette voted first. She was so hip that she has her own race named after her, Miss Woodford Stakes, which is run each August at Monmouth Park Racetrack -- it's a race for 3-year-old fillies and mares. Of course, my girls are related to her through several shared relations, including the following: Glencoe, Touchstone, Hambletonian, Waxy, Eclipse, and Pot8os. You can read more about this truly stellar filly at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Woodford_(horse)
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Woodford_Stakes
or
http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Billet.html
or
http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Champs/AmChampOlderFemale.html
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/trainer.asp?ID=285

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