Retired Mare Series – 2008 Sim Broodmare of the Year

Where does a horse earn greatness?  Most people would probably agree that this term is derived from its ability in the field of battle.  In our case, that field is actually oval (or, depending on your viewer of choice, an infinitely long straight line) and is called a “track”.  The all-time greats; the Man O’ War’s, the Secretariats, the Native Dancers, all have their sim counterparts; the Storm Dog’s, the I Seek U’s, the Allied Assault’s.  When we look at the all-time great Sim horses, whether from memory, the Sim Hall of Fame, or the most recent Breeders Bowl, we think about the greatness that these horses had.  Whether it’s I Seek U’s Triple Crown, Horseshoe Bay’s 6 consecutive G1 wins, or the 40 win mark that only 2 horses, High Cozzene and Sister Rum, have ever reached, we are reminded of what it is like to achieve an ultimate goal.  These horses and these records all become a part of Sim legend.  And it’s something that they all deserve.  Having been a part of the Sim for nearly 1/3 of my life, I have yet to know the feeling of what it is like to win 1 Grade 1 race, let alone 6 in a row.  These horses that hold a special place in our Sim hearts are the definition of greatness.  But does that mean that this is the only way that a Sim horse can become an all-time great?

With horses now living on in the sim world long after their racing days have ended, retired mare breeding has opened the door to another shot at greatness.  Some would argue that no amount of ability on the part of the mare is involved with the breeding of a sim foal.  However, the number of sim horses that have given birth to multiple graded stakes winners is likely more rare than winning multiple graded stakes.  To get one horse to win a graded stakes takes a certain amount of luck.  To get multiple horses from the same mother to that point requires a lot more.  By this argument, it is my interpretation that greatness can be achieved in the breeding shed just as it can on the track itself.  So with that, it’s time to take a look at one example of this greatness.  As voted on the message board to kick off the BTB’s Retired Mare Series, the unofficial 2008 Sim Broodmare of the Year is…

Dancer Prospector.

Dancer Prospector is not a multiple graded stakes winning broodmare.  In fact, she is not even a single graded stakes winning broodmare.  Instead, she has done something that some consider even more impressive.  Out of her 6 children, 4 have earned stakes wins, with a 5^th being a 4-time stakes placed horse.  Two of her daughters, one 11 (and still “active”, although unraced since 2003), and one six, are graded placed.  Her youngest daughter, now 3, is the only one of the group who has not gotten into stakes action, but with wins in her last 2 starts (an MSW and an Allowance), it appears that it may only be a matter of time before she gets there herself.  But before we get into the record that the children have put together on the track, let’s take a look at the mare herself.

Dancer Prospector was not a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination.  What she did have, however, was one of the greatest bloodlines anyone could ask for.  She was a daughter of Mr. Prospector himself, out of a dam by the great Northern Dancer.  It was a dream cross for trainer airjordyn, who owned the mare at the beginning of her career.  But while she had the bloodlines to be an all-time great, she didn’t show the special blend of speed and stamina that her bloodlines seemed to suggest.  In fact, it took a while for her to see the track.  A long while.  Trainer airjordyn finally let her off of the pasture and onto the dirt oval at the beginning of her 6 year old year in 2000.  With CD Williams aboard, and entered in an 8f MSW for F-4yo+, Dancer Prospector  managed to stay in a stalking position the entire race, finishing 4^th by 4 lengths.  Entered in a career-long 10f race for her second run, this time in Michigan, she again held her ground against tiring horses and finished a well-beaten 2^nd.  Entered in an 8f race 3 weeks later, again in Michigan, her bloodlines would finally catch up with her.

Going off as the even money favorite in the 8f dirt MSW in a field of 5, and with S Wilkerson aboard, she never strayed too far from the lead.  Going through the first half of the race 1 length back, she grabbed the lead in the far turn and never looked back.  Ridden hard the entire stretch, she stayed in front and went on to win by 2.  Airjordyn took the win and moved her up a notch, to NW1x company, while also scaling back the distance to 5.5f in an attempt to take after her father.  Once again at Michigan, but with 3^rd different jockey V Mustoe aboard, Dancer Prospector showed no kick during the race, and finished a dull 11^th.  From there, it was a 6^th and an 8^th place finish in 2 different allowances.  Realizing that his horse didn’t quite have what it took to achieve the greatness that all trainers desire, airjordyn entered his well-bred mare into a $40,000 NW3L claimer in NY at 8f.

Dancer Prospector ran another poor race, finishing 7-1/2 lengths behind the winner in a fourth place effort.  Her enticing odds of 4/1 coupled with her bloodlines, however, encouraged trainer Sanibel to place a claim on her.  Thus, after spending 6 years with her and racing 7 times, trainer airjordyn would no longer be taking care of his mediocre mare.

New trainer Sanibel did not have much more luck with the mare than her previous trainer did.  In an effort to get something to click with the new horse, Sanibel switched her from the dirt to the turf, by putting her on a plane from JFK Airport in New York to Berlin Airport in Germany.  Entered in an 8f allowance race, Dancer Prospector did show a little more speed than she had previously, running a career-best 87 speed figure.  Unfortunately, it was not enough to do better than 3^rd, beaten by 8 lengths.  So trying to repeat the 2^nd place performance from earlier in the year, Sanibel sent the mare to Ireland and entered her in a 10f turf allowance.  Jockey Z Kentucky earned what would become the final ride aboard Dancer Prospector.  The mare finished a very well beaten 4^th, losing by nearly 11 lengths.  So Sanibel returned home to the US with Dancer Prospector, winless in her two European starts.  It was then that Sanibel decided to test something new within the Sim universe.  Deciding that although the mare was not that good on the track, she had a terrific lineage, and therefore Sanibel opted to use the relatively new breeding system to produce an offspring.  And with the mating to top stallion Sadler’s Wells, the racing career of Dancer Prospector came to an end.  In her place stood a much stronger horse named Kalahari Gold.

Kalahari Gold did something that his mother was not able to.  He won his first time out.  Beginning his racing career on July 8, 2000 (as mares give birth to 2yos in the sim world), trainer Sanibel struck “gold” in a 6.5f turf MSW at Newmarket.  Going off at 7/5 in the 12 horse race, KG cruised to win by 2-1/4 lengths and an 80 SP, nearly matching his mother’s career best speed.  In his third race, the G3 Tiny Toes Stakes, KG had the lead briefly before losing ground to the winner, finishing 2^nd by 1-1/4.  He ended his 2yo season with his first stakes win, and kicked off his 3yo season with 2 more.  By the end of his 3yo season, he had 4 stakes wins.  He has not raced since 2003, however, where he finished 5^th in his 1 start of the year.

In 2004, with the addition of retired mare breeding, Dancer Prospector’s original owner, airjordyn, jumped at the chance to breed to the now Graded Placed mare.  To do so, he sent her to Rahy.  The result was a filly named Hip Hip Hurrahy.  Like her half-brother, she broke her maiden in her first start, winning a 4.5f MSW by a head in May of 2004.  It took 5 races before she became a stakes winner, winning a 7f WV stakes race by 1-1/4 in November of that year.  A switch to the turf in her 3yo year resulted in 4 stakes wins and 3 stakes places, as well as a decent 4^th place finish in the G3 Panhandle Oaks.

Aside from one more stakes race for Vermont residents, Hip Hip Hurrahy has been in allowance company since the end of 2005.  2008 was a successful year for the now 7yo mare.  Having discovered her affinity for 9f turf races, airjordyn has kept her stabled in Jamaica, running in open allowances.  She started off 2004 with 4 straight wins, the last three of which were all by 1-3/4 lengths, and all in full or nearly full fields.  Over her next 5 races, she picked up 3 wins and 2 2^nd place finishes, although these had shorter fields.  The final 5 only resulted in 1 off-the-board finish, a fourth place effort.

Hip Hip Hurrahy was a BP cash-cow in 2008, earning 353 BPs for her trainer.   She earned $99,053 with a final record of 14:8-3-2, all in 9f turf allowances at Jamaica with M Chreky aboard.

Airjordyn hoped for his luck to continue as in 2005 he sent Dancer Prospector to Red Ransom, hoping for some more of the turf ability that the two previous breedings had brought.  Sure enough, he hit the jackpot again with filly Red Rock Lass.  Unlike her two predecessors, she did not break her maiden on her first try, instead finishing 2^nd in a dirt sprint in July 2005.  It was her second race that saw her break her maiden, again in a dirt sprint, and she followed that up with a 3^rd place finish in a stakes.  After not taking home a stakes win in her 2yo season, and starting 1 for 2 in allowances in 2006 as a 3yo, airjordyn sold the horse at auction.  The winning bid of around $4 million went to Donny Beisbol.

Donny had originally planned to use the horse as a broodmare, he told me while looking highly fashionable in his smoking jacket.  Instead though, he decided to enter his new filly in a 9f stakes on the turf.  There, she picked up her first stakes win, taking the race home by 2.  2 races later, she ran 3^rd in the G2 Full Moon Handicap.

In 2008, Red Rock Lass was at the top of her game at the ripe-old age of 6.  After opening the year a little slow, she picked up 2 2^nd place allowance finishes, running the fastest speeds of her career.  That prompted beisbol, who discovered her ideal distance was 8f, to push her up into stakes level.  There she ran a career best 109 SP, followed by a 108 SP, to win back-to-back stakes races.  An attempt at the G1 Queen Ascot Stakes came up a little short, as Red Rock Lass bounced and finished 5^th.  Ending the year with 3 more stakes, she finished 2^nd, 2^nd, and 1^st.  She has continued her excellent ways, winning a 7.5f turf stakes to kick off the 2009 campaign, showing signs of good things to come for the bubble-blowing, cheese-kazoo-playing Beisbol.

Overall for 2008, Red Rock Lass earned 83 BPs in her 10 races.  She finished the season with a record of 10:3-4-0, with the 3 wins and 2 2nds all coming in stakes races.  She earned $126,425.

Breeder-extrodinare airjordyn decided to send Dancer Prospector to freshman sire Midas Eyes in 2006.  The result was a horse named Eyes Ore(NY).  After finishing 5^th in a Freshman Sire Series race, Eyes Ore(NY) broke his maiden in his second attempt.  It took 6 races before he became a stakes placed horse, finishing 2^nd in a 7f dirt stakes in Ontario.  2 3^rd place stakes finishes ensued to cap off his 2yo season with 3 stakes placings.  He spent all of 2007 in allowance company, picking up a couple of dirt sprint wins.

2008 started with the same allowance trend that 2007 took for Eyes Ore(NY).  He began his 4yo season on the turf, with a 3^rd and a 7^th in two attempts.  A switch back to the dirt was in order, and airjordyn delivered, trying a 7f dirt allowance.  There, he ran a 108 SP, finishing a fast-closing 2^nd.  Vanning to Michigan and entered in a 7.5f allowance, Eyes Ore(NY) followed up the previous 2^nd with an allowance win.  Airjordyn decided to set-up shop in Michigan, keeping Eyes Ore(NY) in 7.5f allowances at the track there.  In his next 4 races, all allowances, he earned 2 wins and 2 seconds, including a 111 SP that was a career high at the time.  This led to a stakes attempt at 7.5f in Maine, where he once again rattled off a 111 SP but came up just short, finishing 2^nd by 1-1/2.  Finally he bounced, finishing 10^th in another 7.5f stakes in Maine in September.  In his final 3 races of the year, with 2 in Ohio, he managed to put together a career-best 113 SP, but was unlucky and only managed a 2^nd in the 3 races.

Eyes Ore(NY) was another big-BP earner for his mother, picking up 203 BPs in 13 races.  The now-5yo had a 2008 record was 13:3-5-1, with 1 2^nd place stakes effort in 2 tries, earning $80,055.

Heading back to the golden mare, airjordyn once again used his prized mare Dancer Prospector, this time teaming her up with 2007 freshman sire Artie Schiller.  Again he debuted his filly, Artie’s Prospect(KY) in a Freshman Sire Series MSW.  She finished 2^nd, earning a birth in the allowance round of the race.  Here, she broke her maiden at the 6f dirt distance, running an 80 SP in May and taking the race by a nose.  That began a streak of 4 straight victories, the last of which was a stakes win at 7f in North Dakota.  She ended her 2007 2yo season with 6 wins in 9 races.

Artie’s Prospect(KY) opened her 2008 3yo campaign losing an 8.5f dirt allowance by a nose in Michigan, with L Kraft aboard.  L Kraft would stay aboard the 3yo in her next two races, winning both allowances at 8.5f and 9f, respectively.  Airjordyn then decided that it was once again time for stakes company, and he sent his filly off to New Jersey for an 8.5f stakes.  Here she stalked the pace and gained ground at the finish, but came up 1-3/4 length short and had to settle for 2^nd.  Airjordyn then returned her to the comfort of L Kraft and the Michigan track, where she once again ran in 2 allowances at 8.5f and 9f, finishing 1^st and 3^rd in the 2 races.  A 9f stakes on a sloppy Mississippi track followed, and Artie’s Prospect was able to get up for 3^rd.  Being in the south and wanting to consolidate, Airjordyn then shipped Artie’s Prospect to his Jamaica operation with half-sister Hip Hip Hurrahy.  There, Artie’s Prospect ran 6 more allowances during the year, one at 10f and 1 on the turf, with the others all at 9f on the dirt.  On the dirt in these six, she did not finish out of the money, with one win in the five.  Her one turf experiment was a failure and she finished fourth, her only off-the-board showing of the year.  She has kicked off 2009 with a win and a 3^rd in 2 allowances.

Artie’s Prospect(KY) picked up 275 BPs in 13 races in 2008.  For the year, her record was 13:4-5-3. with a 2^nd and a 3^rd in 2 stakes races.  She earned $97,024.

Ending his experiment with freshman sires, airjordyn turned to veteran sire Arch for Dancer Prospector in 2008.  2yo filly Curved(KY) made her debut on the turf in August of 2008, with a decent, but not spectacular, 5^th place finish.  In a deviation from the norm for Dancer Prospector, Curved(KY) did not break her maiden on her 2^nd attempt either, finishing 8^th in a 6f dirt MSW in Arkansas.  2 more off-the-board finishes for Curved in turf sprints lead airjordyn to stretch her out to a mile.  It was there that she finally hit her stride.  In her 5^th race on December 20, to end her 2yo season, she finally broke through in North Carolina, winning an 8f turf MSW by 1-1/4.  She has shown signs of getting even better, running a career-high 87 SP in her first race as a 3yo in 2009, winning a NW1x allowance by 2 lengths.

Curved(KY) earned 44 BPs in 5 races in 2008.  Her record was 5:1-0-0 for $11,309.  However, she only looks to be improving, with 1 win from 1 start in 2009.

5 of 6 foals by Dancer Prospector have broken their maiden within 2 starts.  All 5 of those have been stakes placed within 6 races.  2 are Graded Placed.  4 are Stakes Winners.  The two that have not reached that level yet appear to be on the upswing of their careers.  It seems like only a matter of time before the last two earn their stakes wins.  So what gives a horse a claim to greatness?  Because whatever it is, Dancer Prospector seems to have it.

Dancer Prospector.  A GREAT broodmare.  And now, the unofficial 2008 Sim Broodmare of the Year.

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Coming up next week: A look at some of the other nominees for unofficial 2008 Sim Broodmare of the Year.