Spotlighting: Mother of Dragons-One Heck Of A Breeding Mare

MOTHER OF DRAGONS

This Spotlight feature is on a mare that is retired and her success story is not her achievements on the track, but rather in the breeding barn.

Mother of Dragons (and I shall shorten that to MOD), had a respectful career, winning 6 of 23 races and ITM 10 times, grossing over $361k.   Much of her success came in allowance races but she did spend time racing in 10 stake/grade races.   The stake races had an adverse effect on her race results as she finished in the money only once and was fortunate enough that it was a win which came in the GR Groovy Sprint and she hit a career best speed of 108 in the race.  

She was best raced in sprints on the dirt and is out of Storm Cat x Mr. Prospector x Sadler’s Wells.  That bloodline is very strong and has been very successful as she retired in January 2006 and her first child became a grade winner.

Rakharo was sired by A.P. Indy and she would start her career in Berkshire in February, 2006 and race there the entire season with jockey P. Harzheim getting most of the rides.  Racing 11 times, she would win four times and conclude 2006 with a 3 win race streak.    Kicking off 2007, she would leave Berkshire and travel for the first time to Tasmania and race in her first stakes event, the Wordly Outweigh Special and easily take home the first stake win.   Two more listed stake wins would come her way for a total of three during 2007 but would conclude with an even bigger win.  In December, she waltzed off with a G3 victory in the Natural Spring Stakes at 13-1.   That would turn out to be her last stakes win of her career which featured 12 wins in 40 starts and over $500k in winnings.   She retired in 2009 and has bred 6 of her own, including G2 winning Empire of Fire.

The second of MOD’s children was another mare named Saduleon who was sired by Pine Bluff.   She won 9 of 36 races and was in the money 27 times and earned over $360k.   Much like her older sister, she raced exclusively at one track as a 2-year old, competing at Dubai with jockey H. Harzheim getting most of the rides.   While finishing on the board in each of her starts, she did not break her maiden until November of 2006.   Saduleon did become a stake winner, but that did not happen until his next to last career start in August 2008 winning the Treasure Coast Challenge.   She has been used for breeding on a limited basis, producing two off spring that have not performed well.

The best offspring from MOD was her first born son, Tatsu.  He was sired by Ghostzapper and won 21 races in 45 starts during his career with well over $5 million in purses.   Tatsu raced in a handful of dirt races as a two year old and was moved to the grass where he more than excelled.   Shortly into his 3-year old season of racing, he earned a stake win in March, 2008 in the Western Academy Special, charting his first 100+ speed in the process, and igniting a streak of 19 races of speeds over 100.   Four wins would come his way during this year but as a 4-year old, things changed.   In April of 2009, Tatsu would hammer out a 119 speed, his lifetime best and came in his first grade win in the G3 George Rides Stakes.   Later in the same year, he would race in the Breeders’ Bowl Turf Sprint, finishing 7^th.  But would earn a G1 victory by year end in the 6f King Kong Sprint.

Tatsu went on a roll in 2010, winning four G1 races which included the Shining Sea, Sand Castle, Strand Broke and Cup of July.   Another try in the Breeders’ Bowl Turf Sprint would become elusive with another 7^th place finish.  2011 would bring repeat wins in the Sand Castle and Cup of July with a third in the Strand Broke (no appearance in Shining Sea).   Tatsu hoped that the third time in the Breeders’ Bowl would be a charm, but turned out to be a bomb finishing last.   He retired at the conclusion of 2011 and was later used as a one-time “he-mare” to breed Ghidorah who raced briefly and was retired.

In 2008, Whiro became the third daughter to MOD and A.P. Indy was again used as a sire.   Success was found with this gal as she won 13 times and ITM 24 times with 35 races.  She earned over $700k during her career.    She started racing in April 2008 but it took until June of 2009 when she won the listed Verifiable Q Challenge in her first stake appearance.   This win was the third in a row following a pair of allowance victories and was extended a month later with a win in the Tag Team 2009.   But she was not done winning yet as her next stop was in the Victorious Ride where she won in her first graded race (G3) on the sloppy track.   This was followed with a G1 win in the MODifier and a career best speed of 111.   She then used an allowance race that she won as a prep race leading into the Breeders’ Bowl F&M Sprint.   She challenged early in the race but was outraced, finishing eleventh and ending a 7-race win streak.   And ending with it were all her stake wins.  She would win a handful of allowance races thereafter before retiring in the fall of 2011.   She has bred three horses which include the stake winning War of Westeros.

In 2009, the fourth daughter to MOD was born and sired by Awesome Again.   Ryujin would not become a grade race winner but would win over $1 million with 18 victories to her credit over 46 starts.   She would win several listed stake races with the first one delivered in June of 2010 where she notched her first 100+ speed in the Eight Shelley Stakes that required a photo to determine the winner.   She would also win the Slickfest Special and the King’s Hunter during the same year.

A long dry spell would go by until November 2011 before Ryujin would collect another stake win in the GRSimster’s 2011 Championships.  An outrageous speed of 116 followed the next month in the Slammin Storm and she completed a threesome of stake wins concluding on New Years Eve in the Supreme Team.   She tried the graded level several times and the closest was a second in theh G3 DPCD XI-Enjoy where she led most of the race and was beat out in the stretch to finish 2^nd by a half-stride.  She retired in the fall of 2013 by winning an allowance race.  She has bred one horse, the up and coming Yasaka.

Another million dollar earner came in the following year, and yes, another mare.  Yofune Nushi was sired by Medaglia D’Oro and finished ITM 66% of her 31 race starts with 10 victories.   As a two year old in 2010, it took her no time to race in the G2 Rockefeller which she easily wired the field in just her fourth start, winning for the third time. 

Yofune Nushi caught fire at the tail end of 2011 winning the GRSimster’s 2011 Championships with a blazing 115 speed.   This speed would move upward to 117 on New Years Eve when she won the G3 Santa Jezebel stakes.   Her final stake win would be earned in July 2012 where she would win the mile SHATIN, a G1 race facing 17 other horses and at 11-1 odds.  Her career ended in July, 2013 and she has bred one filly, Tokoyo,  who is starting to show some good form this current season.

2011 brought the second son to MOD using the services of Montjeu as sire, who often produces grass runners.  Vhaghar turned out not to be a grass runner.  After two attempts on the turf he was switched to dirt where he quickly picked up two quick wins.   He has thus far won 9 races in 24 starts and has been ITM 17 times.   He is currently active on the track and has won three listed stake races.  The first was delivered on a Good track in the Gonzalo Dirt Mile where he fired off a speed of 115 in March of 2013.   The second came a month later in the Gonzalo Dirt Mile a month later.    The third was picked up in the GR Simsters Dirt Mile with a charming 110.   This one is on the verge of following his siblings as he kicked off 2014 with a third in the Race Series for Grraces with a 116 career high speed and with these excellent speeds it is just a matter of time before a grade level win comes his way.

TI Lung was bred in 2012 and she joins a long line of gals from MODs and was sired by Tiznow.  She is a stake winner with 6 wins in 15 starts and $165k in winnings.   She did not break her maiden until she turned three in 2013 and being located in Turkey.  She was handled by Jockey H. Artack who rode her five times and delivered four wins.   In August she switched to J Montana and won the Hoosier Run Dirt Filly Dash and surpassed the 100-threshold for the first time.   She has one race in 2014 where she won an allowance event with a speed of 105.  She is displaying similar talent to her siblings and it would be no surprise that she rises to similar success.

2013 brought birth to yet another filly by the name of Mithrax who was sired by Bernardini.    She has raced six times with a pair of wins and a pair of seconds.   She broke her maiden in her first start in May, 2013 and after a pair of seconds in allowance races she knocked off her second win in September.   After this very good start she concluded the 2013 race season with a pair of listed stakes where she failed to hit the board.   She has time to develop and with a long line of successful brothers and sisters she could also be destined for great success.

MOD has had a long line of success in producing top notch runners.  She currently is retired and under the ownership of Jonsnow, who is better known to sim players as Given.    One question that I had for him related to the names of the horses, pretty not traditional, yet a theme seems to exist.    Another observation is that the majority of the children are female, so I had to ask if he did anything special to produce such nice looking ladies.  The final question I had were the plans for this year, who would be the lucky sire?   Given provided a little of his personal history with the game and was willing to answer these questions:

I started playing the Sim in 2004, and one of the first things I wanted to do was create a broodmare band. So in March of 2004, I spent $30 to force a Storm Cat x Mr. Prospector x Sadler’s Wells mare. I was a huge fan of the George R R Martin book series A Song of Ice and Fire, and I named the filly after one of my favorite characters, the Mother of Dragons. It was certainly the best $30 I have spent in the Sim. Including her offspring and her offspring’s offspring, Mother of Dragons has produced a Hall of Famer, three millionaires, three G1 winners, a G2 winner, a G3 winner, and 11 stakes winners total – it’s sort of a mini-empire based on one mare. The trait they all seem to share is blinding speed, the same as mama. As a runner, she was a runaway. Tons of talent, but she couldn’t be harnessed. That being said, she had a knack for performing in big spots, with her lone stakes winning coming against the boys in the GR Simsters Championship Sprint race.
In terms of the names, I basically do google searches for historical and mythical dragons and pick a new one each year. I haven’t forced the sexes of any of her offspring, maybe she just has a proclivity for producing fillies!
In terms of breeding her this year, I am looking at War Front as a real possibility. He seems to fit her profile of fast horses that can run on either surface.

With the history MOD has had, I would say that it is a “Given” that the 2014 child will become another success story.   Congrats on such wonderful success with Mother of Dragons….and what great baby dragons she has brought to life!