Violet, Pensive and my Grandpa Sanchez!

So, at the end of June, I was visiting family in Rhinelander, and Grandma and Grandpa Sanchez were there. It was nice to talk with Grandpa, play cards with him, and just catch up. He showed me pictures of Uncle Rick's new Japanese Water Dog, and, of course, I showed him pictures of my new thoroughbred! Grandpa and I were looking at photos of my big red girl and he was praising her beauty.

When suddenly, out of the blue, he told me a story about when he was in the service in 1944. He said that he and a friend got time off from base and they drove up to Churchill Downs to the Kentucky Derby! He had never seen a thoroughbred before, nor ever a horse race. And he talked about how exciting it was to see Pensive win that year. How beautiful the horses were and how regal Pensive was. I was floored! Grandpa saw one of Violet's and Hailee's relatives win the Kentucky Derby!! He saw one of Violet's Kentucky Derby relatives when my dad was still a little infant. I too want to go to the Kentucky Derby one day!

Anyway, Pensive was a gorgeaus red chestnut who won the Kentucky Derby by 4 1/2 lengths and then won the Preakness easily, but lost the Belmont by less than half a length. Some blame his jockey who didn't encourage an end burst of speed! Either way, Pensive was just like his sire, Hyperion, who won two legs of the English Triple Crown. Pensive was owned by Calumet Farms, purchased during the son's time in charge, the son who dispersed the trotters to purchase more flat horses. When Pensive retired, he was part of an interesting little hat trick -- his first crop produced Ponder, the 1949 Kentucky Derby winner, and Ponder retired to produce in his first crop Needles, also a Kentucky Derby winner! You can read more about Pensive, the horse my grandpa met, at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensive
or
http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Hyperion.html#Pensive
or
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2006/derby_history/derby_charts/years/1944.html

Two Lea and My Girls!

Here's a picture of Two Lea's victory cooler that she won in the 1952 Ramona Handicap. Two Lea was a Calumet filly who ultimately earned the #77 spot on the list of the top race horses of the 20th century. During her career, she raced hard with short stretches between races, and she competed while struggling with ringbone and soreness. She was sometimes raced 3X in a single month, like the time she raced for a third time in one month against Kentucky Derby winner Ponder and was beat by him only at the end. This match was in the Santa Maturity. Despite her ringbone, she earned a career record of 26: 15, 6, 3. In her third year, she shared championship honors with Wistful and later in her career earned Champion older mare as well as was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1982. She once raced in the Santa Anita Handicap with Citation and Ponder, but all three were beaten by Noor. Later in her career, she was on extended break due to ringbone and when she returned to the track, she showed visible scarring and knots from her firing procedures. In her final season, she raced 11 times and won 6, with 5 of those wins occurring in stakes races. In fact, she won 2 of her last 3 starts. And in one very splashy race, Calumet Farms took 1-2-3 in the Vanity Handicap with Two Lea, Wistful and Jennie Lee! When she retired, she proved to be a truly amazing broodmare as well. She produced Tom Fool, who won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and came in 2nd in the Belmont. She also produced Hall of Fame horse, Tim Tam, and through a cross with Nasrullah, produced stakes winners Pied d'Or and On-and-On. She died in 1973 at the wise age of 27! My girls are closely related to Two Lea.. Her father is Bull Lea and she also has Sweep, Chicle, Friar Rock, Spearmint, and Ballot as some of their shared relatives! You can read more about this great champion and fighting mare at the following links:
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=157
or
http://www.racehorseherbal.com/Memorabilia/Cooler/cooler.html