Best of the Broodmares: Part 1
Simmers have been able to breed using their mares for several years now, and been able to breed multiple offspring from those mares for about 4 years. The ability to pass on some of mama’s talent to the youngsters represents a unique twist in the sim. Those who have played since the game began remember that we started with horses bred entirely from scratch and so all talent was from the sim sires, but the introduction and expansion of broodmares through the retired mares program has changed the sources of talent in new breedings. We’ve now had enough years of breeding using retired mares that it’s become very clear some broodmares are much much better than others regardless of the quality of sires they have been sent to. This article is the first in a series examining some of the more dominant sim broodmares. I’ll be looking at those mares’ own on-track performances as well as the success of their offspring.
When looking for mares that I would consider excellent, I started with a few criteria to separate the good broodmares from the best broodmares. I looked specifically for those mares that had produced at least three offspring that had hit the track, and that had at minimum at least two stakes-placed offspring. The mare’s own successes or failures did not play into selection of the best broodmares to write about. I also may have missed a few mares, so if you feel you have a mare who deserves some mention feel free to send a PM via the message board.
The first two parts in the Best of the Broodmares series look specifically at A-and B-ranked mares and their offspring. A-ranked mares are pretty much the most accomplished on-track; they have won at least one grade I, and many have won 3 or more. As I write this, only 61 retired mares in the history of the sim have earned A status. A B-ranking requires at least one graded win with additional graded placings. 303 retired mares have attained B status.
When we think of the best mares who performed at the highest levels and have passed their winning ways on to their foals, a few names immediately come to mind, including Amanda Jane, Con Unit, Crimson Pirate, Organic Project, and Project Matter. Amanda Jane and Con Unit mares will be the subject of Part 1 of this series, while Part 2 will take up the other 3. Part 3 will look profile mares with short on-track careers who produced stellar runners.
Amanda Jane
Amanda Jane is probably one of the most famous mares in the sim. Now 9 years old, she spent 4 years on the track running for the dowelly stable before retiring; she now has 4 offspring all of who are still active on the track. Amanda Jane was herself the first offspring of a retired mare. Her mama was Paint Crack, a G-ranked Gulch mare had a very short (5-race career) of her own. Paint Crack has 3 offspring after Amanda Jane but none have managed more than 3 wins thus far. The youngest, 2yo Jenyan(GB), has shown some promise in allowance company, however. Amanda Jane was sired by Sadler’s Wells.
On track, Amanda Jane was extremely difficult to beat. Her record of 20 wins from 68 starts is in itself amazing. When you consider that 17 of those were stakes wins, 10 of those 17 were graded wins, and 3 of those 10 were Grade I wins, you realize just how good this mare was. She won routing, she won sprinting, and throughout her lifetime she won $3.4 million. By the time she hit six years of age, Amanda Jane was slowing down and showing signs of being ready for her next career.
Trainer Dowelly chose Cozzene as the gentleman caller of choice for Amanda Jane’s first baby. That baby, a striking Dark gray named Just Cozz, debuted as a 3yo with a pretty poor turf sprint performance but quickly figured out how to race, and notched several turf stakes placings before switching over to the first. Just Cozz immediately took to the new surface and picked up a pair of stakes wins. Midway through his 4yo year Just Cozz seemed to be slowing down and since then has been bouncing in and out of trainers, finding himself under new ownership several times. It’s likely Just Cozz will eventually undergo a sex change and produce his own baby; it’ll be interesting to see if any of Amanda Jane’s talent passes through to her grandfoal.
Classic Dowelly was Amanda Jane’s next baby. Classic Dowelly is a 4yo colt sired by Sky Classic. He’s Amanda Jane’s most successful offspring to date with $661k in earnings from 10 wins in 38 starts. The bay colt won a turf sprint maiden at first asking, and three starts later picked up his first stakes win. The fifth race of his young career ended in a win in the GI Knick Knack at 8.5f. At 3 Classic Dowelly picked up several stakes and graded placings, but notched just 3 wins (2 of which were in allowances). Now that he’s 4, the colt is still running mid/high 90s and has 4 allowance wins on the year.
Crimson Warrior, Amanda Jane’s 3yo, is by Red Ransom. The bay colt has 4 wins plus 8 more ITM finishes from 23 starts for $570k in earnings. Crimson Warrior’s record is notable because his first (and so far only) GI win came in the Knick Knack, which was won the previous year by his big brother Classic Dowelly. Don’t see that happen very often! As a 3yo Crimson Warrior has a second in a GIII, a stakes win, and an allowance win, plus some assorted other listed stakes placings. Like Classic Dowelly and Amanda Jane herself, Crimson Warrior much prefers the turf.
Amanda Jane’s youngest baby is so far her only filly. Stormy Jane, a pretty bay Storm Cat filly, has been following in her oldest brother’s footsteps on the dirt. It took 5 starts to break her maiden, but she finally did she did it well, pulling off a nice length-plus victory in Dubai. She’s never gone over 5.5 furlongs on either surface, so at this point it’s hard to say if she inherited her mama’s distance versatility.
Amanda Jane has been sent to four very different sires thus far, but the babies share some interesting commonalities. The youngest three are all bays. The oldest three all showed great promise at 2 years of age. Three of the four prefer turf like mom. It’ll be interesting to see if her 2007 offspring, by whichever sire dowelly chooses, shares any other similarities. If she were mine (and boy I wish she were) I might give Theatrical or Rainbow Quest a go with her next year.
Con Unit
Con Unit is another very well-known mare. Unlike Amanda Jane, Con Unit was bred by the CPU and drafted into the dawgpound stable when that stable was opened by Black Type Bugler queen Snowchief. Con Unit was sired by Caerleon; her dam-sire is Conquistador Cielo. On track Con Unit won 15 races from 53 starts; among those wins were 10 stakes and a win in the GI First State Distaff going 10 on dirt as well as the 9.5f GIII Bringing Up The Rear Classic. Funnily, in the Bring Up The Rear, Con Unit led all the way. That speed was characteristics of most of her races; she was most dangerous when let loose on the lead. Despite her distinct preference for avoiding having dirt kicked in her face, she was also more than handy coming from off the pace or staying close to but not right on the lead.
Con Unit began her career on the grass at the age of 4, where she was winless in 2 starts. In starting her 5yo season she reeled off a 7-length win going 9 on grass, and followed that up with some unspectacular grass allowances. In her seventh lifetime start she was moved to the dirt where she won at first asking by an amazing 7 1/2 lengths. That year she found moderate success by winning a listed stake at 9, but she didn’t really come into her best form until midway through her 6yo season when she rattled off six stakes wins in a row including one astonishing 12 3/4 length victory at 10 furlongs. She continued her ontrack success at 7 years of age with those two graded wins. At 8, she had a hard time finding the winner’s circle but was top-3 more often than not. After a painful 29-length loss in her 2004 opener, she was sent off to the farm to start her second career.
That second career began after a date with Storm Cat. The result of that pairing was Congressional, a big bay filly. Like her mama, Congressional began her career a bit late, not stepping onto the track until February of her 3yo season. She wowed the folks in the Missouri stands with a solid 4 1/2 length in a 6f maiden on the dirt in that first start, but the followup was less than inspiring. Her owner must have remembered that Con Unit was best routing, so start #3 saw Congressional try 9 furlongs and love it; she romped to a 2 1/4 length win to post a 99SP. The next two starts were both at a mile, and Congressional broke the 100SP barrier in both. A switch to the turf showed she preferred munching on grass instead of running on it, so back to dirt she went for another pair of wins, one a listed stake at 8.5 and the second her first graded win in the GIII Annie Oakley at 9f. At 4 years of age Congressional was duplicated her mama’s win in the GIII Bringing Up The Rear Classic and ran second in the GI First State Distaff, plus grabbed a GII in the Larry Laffer. Now in her 5yo season, Congressional has has a bit of trouble with the win but she did pick up fourth in the 2006 edition of the Bringing Up The Rear, and she’s been stakes placed a few times. Most recently she’s been running in NWRC company where she’s picked up a third, second, and a win in stakes. Even at 5 she’s still capable of running 100+ SPs.
Congressional’s oldest sibling is by High Chaparral(IRE); he’s a bay colt named Confederacy(IRE). The choice of such a turfy sire for this baby was rather interesting. Con Unit wasn’t so hot on grass, but Confederacy has more than made up for that. Confederacy had just 3 starts as a 2yo, and never made his way to the winner’s circle. It took him 3 tries at age 3 to win, but he finally put it all together when he got some more ground (9.5f). He promptly finished off his nw2l condition, but then was put into the NWRC’s Triple Crown. Despite a clear turf preference, he still managed to place third in both the 10 and 12f races. Back on turf after, he won 5 in a row to finish put his 3yo season, including the NWRC Cavalcade Turf Stakes at 12f and a listed stake at 2 miles. In 2006, Confederacy represented the NWRC in the 13f GI Lester Piggot (Equinics) where he ran second by just a half-length to Bristol Rovers. He also hit the board in the GI Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic, GI Movieland Turf Cup, and GII Golden Platter, GI Royally Modest. In his two most recent starts Confederacy has found his way back to the winner’s circle with back to back wins in the GII Shimko Classic and GI Long Walk, the last won by an excellent 7 lengths. Like Con Unit, Confederacy has a lot of natural speed and is most often found way out in front for most of any given race, but also like his mama even when Confederacy is outbroken he can still win. Currently Confederacy has 9 wins from 23 starts with $1.4 million in earnings.
Con Unit’s 3yo is a chestnut filly by Street Cry(IRE) named Constitutional(IRE). Like her older brother Confederacy, Constitutional had just 3 starts as 2, but she capped off that season with a win on good dirt at 8.5f. She opened 2006 with a win at 9.5, and ran in the NWRC Filly Triple Crown, winning the first and third races but settling for second in the middle race. She tried the GI Players Club National Oaks but never really found her stride. Continuing to stretch out, she won an 11f listed stake two starts ago, and was forth in a listed stake at 10 last time out. Constitutional has never tried sprinting, and I’m sure her owner feels no need to even bother as the filly has amassed a nice 12:5-2-1 record for $182k in earnings routing. Like Con Unit and Confederacy, Constitutional has natural speed, but unlike those two this filly is also quite comfortable stalking the pace. I suspect that she’ll get at least another few tries at the graded level as she’s more than capable on paper of moving from the ranks of stakes winner to graded winner.
The youngest offspring of Con Unit is a 2yo filly by North Light(IRE). Given the successes of her older siblings routing, Constituency(IRE) was debuted at 8.5f, and in her 3 lifetime starts has never gone less than a mile. Her best finish to date was a third in her debut on firm turf. She’s also tried good turf at a mile for a fourth, and fast dirt at a mile for a poor eleventh. She may be following in following her older siblings with relatively poor 2yo races, but luckily she still has almost 3 months left in 2006 to break her maiden. Freshman sire North Light has been an excellent sire thus far with 5 stakes winners from 69 runners. It’s possible Constituency is simply going to be a late bloomer.
Con Unit’s offspring are by 4 very different sires. The eldest, Congressional, was by a very dirt-y sire and took on that characteristic but inherited Con Unit’s preference for routing. The middle two offspring are also routers, though quite turfy. The youngest really hasn’t shown what she’s capable of quite yet. In thinking about Con Unit’s 2007 baby, her owner might consider giving Empire Maker or Galileo a shot. Both would reinforce Con Unit’s routing ability, and both are quite capable of producing dirty and turfy babies. As for the name, it’s pretty clear it’ll begin with “Con”. Maybe we’ll see a Confessional or a Continuance or Conclusion.
In Conclusion:
It’s pretty difficult to get one or two stakes winners from a single mare, let alone multiple graded-placed and winning offspring. Add in the possibility of getting multiple graded winners by sending the mare to different sires for each offspring, and the odds of productions records like those held by Amanda Jane and Con Unit must be pretty much through the roof. It’s pretty clear that both mares are passing on a huge chunk of their talent, which is fairly unusual in the sim. In the next installment of the Best of the Broodmares series, I’ll profile three more mares who were very succesful in their own right and like Amanda Jane and Con Unit have produced some very accomplished runners.