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

Street Sense wins 133rd Kentucky Derby!

Street Sense won this year's Kentucky Derby with Hard Spun, and Curlin, placing and showing. He broke 19th out of 20th and ran from behind for most of the race. His jockey, Calvin Borel, rode him tight on the rail until the final turn when four horses drifted off the rail and gave a window. Street Sense, covered in mud from the front runners, exploded through the opening, and swung fast and hard past the second and first horse. He just put tracks between him and the still strong, still fast-moving Hard Spun. He was a sight to behold and the master of the track that day! I am very happy for the Cajun jockey who won his first Derby on Street Sense. He was thrilled that he'd come that far from his Cajun bush track days! My girls are related to Street Sense in multiple ways, including the following: Nearctic, Nearco, Discovery, Whisk Broom, Teddy, Man 'O War, Sweep, Nasrullah, Count Fleet, Sir Gallahad, Blue Larkspur, Sun Princess, Hyperion, Princequillo, Wild Risk, Traffic Court, Bull Lea, War Glory, Eight Thirty, Gay Crusader, Case Ace, Rock Sand, and Hasty Road.

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!!

All Along and My Girls!!!

My girls are related to All Along, a very important filly with a number of major "firsts" to her credit. She was a French filly owned by Daniel Wildenstein, a renowned French art dealer and highly successful horseman. She won numerous prestigious races in France, England, and Japan, and was one of the top fillies of the last part of the 20th century. Her track record was 21: 9-4-2. She won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1983 and was immediately shipped to Canada where she won the Rothman International, and two weeks later won the Turf Classic at Aqueduct in Jamaica, New York, followed shortly after by a win at the Washington D.C. International in Laurel, Maryland. She had four consecutive major wins in three different countries in just 41 days!!!! It's no wonder that she won the 1983 Eclipse Horse of the Year Award in America and the 1983 Horse of the Year Award in France too. That year, she also earned Older Grass Female. In fact, she was the first foreign-based horse to win the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year!! As a 4-year-old, she became a world champion Eclipse Award for Outstanding Female Turf Horse. And she was the first filly since Regret in 1915 to win the Eclipse Horse of the Year! She won the Champion Older Female Runner in France twice. She earned $3,018,420 over her career in racing, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990. AND she was voted #68 top race horse of the twentieth century by Blood Horse magazine. She retired to Three Chimney Farms in Midway, Kentucky and bore 13 children, 11 of whom started, and 4 who were winners!!! She was pensioned in 2003 and then euthanized in 2005 at the ripe age of 26 due to infirmities from old injuries. The late Daniel Wildenstein's son, Alec Wildenstein, said of her passing, "She took us—my father, my brother and myself—on a joy ride like no other, culminating in an achievement we scarcely dared to dream about, which was Horse of the Year in America. Sad as it is to lose her, I am glad she had such a long and healthy life in return for all the happiness she gave us." Of course, my girls are related to this beautiful girl. They share many relatives including these champs: Princequillo, Nasrullah, Bull Lea, Hyperion, Gainsborough, Discovery, Man 'O War, Sweep, Teddy, Bend Or, and Phalaris. You can read more about this great racer and great broodmare and great family member at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Along

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/news/nrm-news-view-story-detail.asp?varID=57

or

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/horses/2005-02-25-all-along-dies_x.htm

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=5

Bend Or and My Girls!

My girls are related to Bend Or, 1877-1903, a horse who won the Epsom Derby, Epsom Gold Cup, and St. James' Palace Stakes, during a 14:10-2-0 career. His regular jockey, Fred Archer, winner of 13 consecutive British jockey titles said Bend Or was probably the greatest horse he had ever ridden. He was unusually gentle. He was a beautiful golden chestnut, with white flecks on his coat, and black spots on his mane, shoulder, and quarters. He passed those markings onto his children, so they were called Bend Or spotting. He was noted for his courage, class, beauty, and kindness. He was owned his entire life by Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, first Duke of Westminster, the richest man in England in the latter half of the 19th century. His groom, Richard Chapman, said, "He was the sweetest-tempered horse in the world. A child could do anything with him." His attendant, Ben Jenner, said, "Bend Or was as docile as a lamb, but he had the courage of a lion. I was always very fond of him." Another sign that he was a sweetie-pie is that he was very attached to a cat, and always travelled to his races with him. He retired with shin problems, and in his photos at stud, you can see that his fetlocks had taken serious damage too. But he managed to produce some of the most fabulous horses, including Phalaris, Bona Vista, The Tetrarch (who was voted Britain's 2-year-old of the 20th century), and the Australian racing star Phar Lap. He sired the English Triple Crown champion, Ormonde, who won all 16 of his starts and was perhaps the finest race horse of the 19th century. Now, my girls are directly related to Bend Or in multiple ways. Violet carries Phalaris, Bona Vista, The Tetrarch, Fairy Gold, Orion, and Ormonde, in multiple instances. Hailee has Sylvabelle, Bona Vista, and Ormonde!. You can read more about this gentle giant at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend_Or
or
http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/BendOr.html
or
http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=830

Lillies for the Fillies! Violet's Cousin Wins with Ease!

Violet's cousin won the Oaks a few minutes ago with ease! Rags to Riches broke from an unfavorable gate on a sloppy track, which she's never run on before, and then just pulled it out and smoothed past everyone at the end. She won with ease! She is owned by Michael Tabor, an English racing businessman, who purchased her as a yearly for $1.9 million. The Oaks is her 4th win in 5 starts, 3 of those wins being Grade 1 Stakes. She is the only member of her crop of 3-year olds (either boy or girl) who has taken 3 Grade 1 races! She shares many relatives with Violet, including the exact placement of Blushing Groom as both their great-grandpas. For Violet, Blushing Groom is great-grandpa on her sire's side, for Rags to Riches, great-grandpa on her dam's side. They also share, among many, the following: Traffic Court (1954 Kentucky broodmare of the year); Princequillo; Nasrullah; War Admiral (triple crown winner); Whisk Broom; Blue Larkspur and Discovery!. Rags to Riches shares a relative with Hailee too -- the great Bubbling Over, Kentucky Derby winner! Rags also has a few of her own cool relatives, such as A.P. Indy (her sire), Secretariat, and Busher. Now, Busher is awesomely cool! Busher is War Admiral's kid with some Bubbling Over involved. Busher was a monster racing filly. Her only son, Jet Pilot, is in Rags to Riches' pedigree. Busher just beat the heck out of boys, girls, whoever! And in the few times that a horse beat her, she was merciless. This is what a track historian had to say, "The salient attribute of War Admiral's little daughter was she always took revenge." She beat every horse who ever beat her -- she had the final word. No surprise that she was inducted in the Racing Hall of Fame in 1964, was among only a handful of fillies who won the Eclipse Award, and was #40 of the Top 100 20th century race horses. So, you can see, Violet not only looks like the beautiful and powerful Rags to Riches, she's a real kissing cousin! In the first photo, she is shown winning today's Oaks, and in the photo below, she's shown having a morning workout with Circular Quay, a boy horse entered in the Derby and her barnmate. She's a macho young thing, just like Busher!

Kentucky Rolex 2007 Final Standings!

I didn't go to Rolex this year which now I cannot believe. I'll never make that mistake again! Anyway, it was an amazing, sometimes awesome, sometimes awful year for Rolex. On the sadder, more troubling news, Ralph Hill (a gentleman who has been competing in Rolex since the late 1970s) had a serious accident in March and was unable to compete. Earlier in January, his student, Kim Meier, sustained a serious spinal cord injury while schooling under him. At the Rolex, Amy Tryon aboard Le Samurai (Sparky) had trouble before the last fence (fence 34) -- he stumbled, but took the last jump and cantered past the finish line before she dismounted. His suspensory ligiments were destroyed and he is now at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. Amy is now currently under investigation by the International Equestrian Federation for possible animal abuse in this case. That was the darker news clouding Rolex this year. The good news was wonderful. This year, Clayton Fredericks of Austrlia won with the 16.2 hand Ben Along Time, seen here in this photo with their beautiful ribbon! He said of his clear round with a single time fault, "After watching some of the early riders go, I thought I was probably going to be one of those that had a couple of rails. But when I sat on Ben Along Time...he just felt brilliant today!" The other huge news was Karen O'Connor and Teddy. He is 14.1 hands, so he is a full 9 inches shorter than the winner! My kind of guy! He earned third place and just worked his way up the ranks from dressage, through cross-country, and then finally by jumping double clear (of which there were only two that day)! Karen said of him, "He's just a class act. He has no idea how small he is. If you ever leave the ground with him over a jump, you realize he's a giant. I'm in awe of him." Here are the final standings: 1) Ben Along Time with Clayton Fredericks 54.0; 2) Connaught with Phillip Dutton 59.1; and 3) Theodore O'Connor with Karen O'Connor 60.1. A single thin point divided Connaught from Teddy! You can read more about this year's Rolex at the following link:

http://www.rk3de.org/index.php

Spendthrift and My Girls!!!

Both my girls are related to Spendthrift, the champion racing sire who was the foundation for Man 'O War. He was born in 1876, and was his own sire's greatest runner. He is from the male line of the Godolphin Arabian and his grandpa was the first English Triple Crown winner, West Australian. His owner, Daniel Swigert, named him Spendthrift to memorialize his wife's spending habits, since she loved to travel to NYC and go on huge shopping sprees. A year later, Mrs. Swigert named Spendthrift's younger brother, Miser!. He was known as a fine-tempered horse who was easy to ride, very eager to please. He was also philanthropic. The winnings from his third race were donated to a fund for those who were plagued by Yellow Fever! What a good boy! He won the Belmont Stakes, and in the Lorillard Stakes, he was kicked at the gate and left behind at the start. But he still came from behind to win!! He was co-champion 3-year-old with Falsetto. His final race record was 16: 9-5-0, and he was retired fairly early because of problems with the soles of his feet. He produced amazing babies, during his stud career. This fine animal had several owners and stood at several studs, but finally ended up at Overton Chenault's farm on Winchester Pike outside of Lexington. No matter where he stood, he was a fine stallion! After all, he is Man 'o War's great-grandpa on his sire's side and the sire of Hastings who won the Belmont Stakes, for example. On Spendthrift's dam's side, Aerolite, his grandpa is Lexington whose track record is 7:6-1-0 and who was the leading American sire 16 times and who is in the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame! You can read more about Spendthrift at the following links:

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

or

http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Australian.html#Spendthrift1

or

http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Bios2/Bios-S/Spendthrift.htm

Sassy Spanish Pony in Sarria

Here we are on our pilgrimage. This was the only day we got officially lost, but we found ourselves in a lovely country town, with lots of other pilgrims, and were able to have our cafes and treats. On the way to our destination, we met this very sassy, very adorable, very willing to glad-hoof the crowds pony! I love this pony!

My picks for the Kentucky Derby 2007!

Here are my picks for this Saturday's Derby! 1) Stormello; 2) Zanjero; 3) Liquidity; 4) Curlin. My top 3 picks are all 30-1 longshots, but I think they are just lovely. Stormello has Blushing Groom, as well as Stormy Atlantic as the sire. Stormy Atlantic has Hail Atlantis who has a grand-dam of Moccasin through Flippers. Here's what's cool about that -- Blushing Groom is of course Violet's relation AND I saw Stormy Atlantic in the breeding shed last year in 2006 when Tom took Carla and me on a shed run one early morning in April! Also, what's cool is that he is ridden by a jockey from Maurice, LA who used to run at Evangeline Downs (I've been there -- it's where I told this young boy which horse I had picked to win and he looked up at me and said, "Not today.") Zanjero is related to Violet even more with Runaway Groom, Dame Francesca, War Admiral and Princequillo. He also has a splash of Secretariat. And Liquidity has the wonderful Blushing Groom! It'll be so wonderful to see my first Derby with my family running! Here's a photo of Stormello -- all red and pretty like my Violet!

Breaking News! Violet's Scratches are Cured!

We're having a beautiful day in Bowling Green -- sunny, but cool and crisp. I called Dr. Zimmerman to come see Violet because I was worried that her back white socks were still balding. We have the most wonderful vet in Dr. Zimmerman. He is so knowledgeable, has good horse sense, and is kind and straightforward. And intelligent! He's the best! He makes both Violet and me feel like we know what we're doing! Anyway, he says that, yes, she is going slightly bald on her back socks for now because her treatment worked! She has to get rid of the bad dead skin and underneath is beautiful, sweet pink skin with new hair already growing! I'm about halfway through her treatment and just have to debride that dead stuff away. Plus he says that I need to moisturize and condition her tail -- that she is losing hair from its roots. I own a thin-skinned, lovely thoroughbred who is related to champions through the ages! She needs velvet glove treatment! Anyway, we're grateful for Dr. Zimmerman, his kindness and expertise. Violet, Hailee and I count him among our blessings! Namaste!

Violet's sweetly named relatives!

Violet has some sweet names in her family tree. In her Red God line, she has an 1875 filly named Mint Sauce who was bred to Marcion to produce the 1895 filly, Mintcake. Mintcake was bred to Spendthrift's son, Kingston, to produce the 1902 colt, Wild Mint, who was bred to Pink Domino to produce the 1908 filly, Sweepaway, who was bred to the Belmont Stakes winning, Hall of Fame champion, Peter Pan. I just love those names -- Mint Sauce, Mintcake, Wild Mint, Sweepaway!!! Total sweetness.

My picks for the Kentucky Oaks 2007!

As I've mentioned before, I first fell in love with thoroughbreds in 1973 when I was sitting in my living room with my family, reading a book, and someone nudged me and said, "Who do you think will win the Derby?" I looked up and Secretariat was striding out, looking like Secretariat. I was hooked. Now this is the first year that I share a descendant of Secretariat as part of my family! So, watching this year's Oaks is very exciting! Here are my choices:

1) Rags to Riches; 2) Cotton Blossom; 3) Dreaming of Anna. These are the three filies most closely related to Violet. They are related to her many different ways, but the big selling point is that they all share Blushing Groom! I like Dreaming of Anna because she has a NOLA trainer and a big earning record of $1,225,040 6:4-1-1. She is a 5-1 favorite, but has not run since February and has not won this year! Cotton Blossom has nice associations too with Traffic Court and some Dixie sorts of relatives. Cotton Blossom has a 7:3-2-1 record, $386,780, and has Barbaro's jockey who won the Eclipse Award. Her breeder likes thoroughbreds, but also Paints, Quarter Horses, and Arabs! And then Rags to Riches is the very favorite at 5-2 with a 4:3-0-0 record and $330,000. She's won everything she's been in this year! But I'm not thrilled with her because her trainer has two other horses in the race and the jockey had substance abuse problems in 2002. But, I'm still picking her for first because she looks the most like my beautiful Violet!!! Rags to Riches even has Violet's weird sexy splashy white blaze. She's the one for me!

The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain

While in Madrid, Anita and I went to the Museo Thyssen-Boremisza. This beautiful museum across the Paseo del Prado from El Prado was just the most restful place and had interesting collections. I saw many beautiful horse paintings including this one, At the Races, painted by Raoul Dufy at the start of the 1930s. This collection also had some race horses and landscape paintings by Edgar Degas. You can see and read more about these horsey artists at:

http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen_ing/home.html