Bull Lea and Violet!

Violet is related to Bull Lea through at least 3 lines. Bull Lea was a Calumet Farms stud. He raced 27 times, winning 10, taking second 7, and third 3 times. He was the sire of 57 stakes winners, broodmare sire of 105 stakes winners, including Violet's Mark-Ye-Well. He was the leading sire from 1947-1949, 1952, 1953, and leading broodmare sire in 1958-1961. Impressively, he sired Citation, the number 3 race horse of all time, Horse of the Year, and Triple Crown winner!! Violet is directly related to Bull Lea who produced Meadow Maid who was crossed with Nasrullah on the dam side of Violet's sire. Bull Lea also produced Durazna who was crossed with Count Fleet to produce Manzana. So, of the top 5 race horses of the 20th century, Man 'O War, Secretariat, Citation, Kelso, and Count Fleet, Violet is heavily directly related to Man 'O War and Count Fleet, and indirectly related to Secretariat and Citation through very impressive "big heart" gene and stakes winners lines, and very heavily, closely, but indirectly related to Kelso. I hope Clairborne Farms doesn't find out about my royal princess!

Barbaro passes, January 29, 2007

Co-owner Gretchen Jackson: "Certainly, grief is the price we all pay for love."

Today, Barbaro was euthanized at the New Bolton Center of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, after 8 months of intensive treatment for an injury sustained in the 2006 Preakness Stakes. Prayers to his family of owners, riders, caretakers, grooms, veterinarians, fans, companion animals, and equine friends.

Sweet Hailee and Violet are related to this big-hearted champion. Violet shares his family through her Blushing Groom, Nearco, Nasrullah, Man 'O War, and Black Toney lines. Hailee is part of his family through Man 'O War and Black Toney. But we are all part of God's family.

May God care for his darling creation. Barbaro, 2003-2007.

Count Fleet -- Triple Crown Winner and Violet's Direct Relation!

Violet is a direct relation of Reigh Count, Count Fleet, and Fleet's baby, One Count. You have no idea how cool that is. Reigh Count is a Kentucky Derby Winner. Count Fleet was the 1943 Triple Crown Winner, 1943 Horse of the Year, inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and voted #5 of the Top 100 Race Horses of the 20th century by Blood Horse magazine. He earned $250,300, which is $2.6 million in 2002 dollars. He was so good at age 2 that the Jockey Club assigned him a handicap of 132 points, the largest ever imposed by that organization. He had 26 starts, 16 wins, 4 seconds, and 1 third. He was born March 24, 1940 and passed at the distinguished age of 33 on December 3, 1973. His owner, Hertz of the Hertz rental car company had a stable employee named Sam Ramsen who said of Count Fleet, "When that leggy brown colt wants to run, he can just about fly." And his jockey, Johnny Longden, once said about entering the Belmont, "Going into the race, I thought he'd have to fall down to get beat, and even then I thought he could get up and win. He was that good." But Longden admitted that the fast, high energy colt wasn't easy, he also said, "If he didn't have racing room, he'd go to the outside or just climb over horses. If you were in close quarters with him, you were in trouble."

His son, One Count, also Violet's direct relation, shared 1952 Horse of the Year honors with the famous 2-year-old star, Native Dancer. Among the races he won, One Count won the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup! No wonder when Violet puts her nose down and does a buckaroo crow hop and takes off, she just looks like high speed royalty! You can read more about Count Fleet and One Count on my friendly links at Thoroughbred Blood Lines! Violet has at least 4 lines from Count Fleet, and each is impressive. In two lines she's bred through One Count, in another she's bred through Count Fleet and a a Bull Lea filly, and the last is where Count Fleet and War Admiral are the sires of One Count and Wee Nip who produced Three Fingers! Awesome how much Count Fleet she has!

Read more about Count Fleet:
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/countfleet.html
Video footage of Count Fleet's Triple Crown wins!
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=51

Bimelech -- Hailee and Violet's Shared Relative

Hailee and Violet share a relative in Bimelech who is a thoroughbred with an outstanding pedigree and track record. He had 15 starts, 11 wins, 2 seconds, and 1 third. He was declared the U.S. Champion racing colt in both his 2nd and 3rd year. And he was inducted into the Thoroughbred National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame. The Blood Horse magazine declared him among the Top 100 Racing Horses of the 20th century!

During his career, he won the Saratoga Special, Hopeful Stakes, Pimlico, the Blue Grass, The Derby Trial, the Preakness and Belmont. He sired 30 stakes winners, including siring the stake winner Better Self who is a direct relative in Violet's family.

He fell short of the Triple Crown because he was second in the Kentucky Derby. Some say that he might have had the Triple Crown had he been given a rest from racing. When he broke from the gate on Derby Day, it was his 3rd race in only 8 days! His jockey took the blame and said that he accidently rode him very wide off the rail. In the Preakness, Bimelech beat the horse who edged him out of a Triple Crown in the Kentucky Derby. Not surprisingly, he was called "the iron horse!" You can read more about Bimelech at:

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

Hailee's Grand-Sire Three Bars (TB)

I am proud to say that Hailee is related through at least 4 lines in her family tree to Three Bars, a very famous thoroughbred who is cross-registered in the APHA and AQHA. He has had enormous influence on thoroughbreds, quarter horses, paints, and appaloosas. He has distinguished himself in racing, halter, and cutting. He was the fastest horse in the U.S. at 5 furlongs, setting track records. He was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame for Racing. His mom's, Myrtle Dee's, nickname was "Speedburner". She set a track record in Ohio. Her dad, Luke McLuke won the Belmont, and she's also related to Commando (another Belmont winner) and Ben Brush who won the Kentucky Derby. In Hailee's family tree, Three Bars appears on both her sire and dam's side, heavy on both sides of her sire's line, and on the sire side of her dam's side. In fact, on her mom's side, he is the grandsire of Doc Bar, and as I'll write later, Doc Bar as a cutting horse, set records that no stallion has ever equalled! You can read more about Three Bars on the link at Circle D Horses in Ignatius, Montana. They are reporting a story published in Horseman magazine in 1968:

http://www.circledhorses.com/three_bars_story.htm

You can also read about him at the following link:

http://www.bbarcquarterhorses.com/Three%20Bar/threebarshistory.html

At that link, be sure to read the January 2004 Performance Horse article "Hybrid Vigor and the Three Bars Factor," discussing the amazing genetic impact Three Bars has had on horses!

Secretariat Running His Own Private Belmont Stakes!

Both Hailee and Violet are related to the 1973 Triple Crown Winner, Secretariat, though not directly. Hailee is related primarily through her Man 'O War heritage. Violet, on the other hand, is related to Secretariat multiple ways! she has several lines of Nasrullah, Nearco, and Princequillo, among other connections to Big Red. I am so proud to share in Secretariat's heritage through taking care of his sweet Violet! Those who know Violet personally think she really shows her relation to the Champion who won the Belmont by 30 lengths in a breezy, relaxed, loose finish! Violet is a big red, sexy girl!!

Video footage of Secretariat's Triple Crown races:

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=135

Hailee's sister, Violet

Violet's official name with the Jockey Club is "Velvet Tenderness." She is related to 7 Kentucky Derby Winners and 2 Triple Crown Winners. And she's related to Princequillo, the horse who passes the "big heart" gene to his children. He delivered the "big heart" gene to Secretariat's dam, Somethingroyal!!!