Breaking News! A Big Week for Big Girls!

This has been a big week for Thoroughbred girls! Personal Ensign, the mare who retired with a 13-0 record and who earned an Eclipse Horse of the Year Award, Champion Older Female, and then a Kentucky Broodmare of the Year for her fine babies and who also delivered a defeat to Winning Colors in the Breeder's Cup Distaff before retiring passed away at Claiborne Farms this past Thursday. I want to remind you that Winning Colors was only one of 3 mares who ever won the Kentucky Derby, so Personal Ensign's achievement is amazing.

Then the next day, just yesterday, Zenyatta showboated and bowed and danced to the Oaklawn track in Arkansas and snapped up her 16th win in history without even breaking a sweat or taking even a little instruction from her loving jockey, Mike Smith. She just smoked it with her usual "don't get me dirty, run along ahead, I'll catch up later" strategy. She is one big bold girl!

She ties Citation and Cigar's 16-0 records, but they earned theirs over longer durations and with more races, so she really is a stand-alone in the 20th century and is matching records by a few amazing horses in the 19th century. Let's just put it this way -- I was right to place my vote on her for Horse of the Year -- just wish I could have a little vote for her for horse of the 21st century! Much love, you beautiful beautiful girls -- Zenyatta, Personal Ensign, Winning Colors, Violet, Hailee, Better than Honour, Rachel Alexandra and Rags to Riches!

Violet and Colin!!

Violet is related to Colin, born in 1905 and with a perfect race record at 15: 15-0-0. His lifetime earnings were $178,110 and he earned the 1908 3-year-old Champion of the Year Award, as well as the 1907 and 1908 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. He was inducted into the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in 1956, and was voted #15 by Blood Horse magazine for Top 100 race horses of the 20th century. He won many stakes races, including the Belmont!! His perfect record stood unchallenged for 80 years before repeated by Personal Ensign. He is related to Violet through her Classic Music line. He helped produce the famous Stymie in that line. His grandsire is Domino who produced Commando who produced Colin out of an English stakeswinner filly named Pastorella. He was trained by James G. Rowe, Sr., the Hall of Fame trainer who has trained the most horses who were inducted into the Hall of Fame. He trained Sysonby, Hindoo, the first Kentucky Derby winning filly, Regret. He trained the following horses who were also inducted: Miss Woodford, Luke Blackburn, Whisk Broom, Commando, and Peter Pan. He gave his horses profound personal care, and in the case of Colin this included traveling with him, so that he could care for a swollen, mis-shapen hock. During his day, Rowe was considered America's greatest trainer. But all he wanted put on his tombstone were the words: He trained Colin! You can read more about Violet's Colin and about Colin's trainer, Mr. Rowe at the following links:

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

or

http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Champs/AmChamp3yoMale.html

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=49

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/trainer.asp?ID=285

or

http://www.thoroughbredchampions.com/biographies/colin.htm

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http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Colin.html

or

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

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