Retired Mare Series – Multiple Stakes Winners

I hope that the previous two articles have given a little insight on some of the top retired mares in the Sim today.  There are plenty of great mares out there, and unfortunately, this series can only draw attention to a very small number of them.  With a look at some retired mare statistics on the horizon, this week’s article will be one final glimpse at some of the top retired mares roaming the sim farms today.  These 3 horses were simster-nominated mares for the unofficial 2008 Sim Broodmare of the Year award – ones who may have fallen through the cracks or who barely missed out on the top 4 that the 2008 stats had shown.  The three horses spotlighted today are foxon4’s Bring Me Joy, brentuk’s Credit Busting, and reacher’s Dream Dragon.  To get things started, we’ll begin in alphabetical order, with foxon’s prized mare, Bring Me Joy.

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At the end of 2003, Foxon decided that it would be a good idea to breed a high-priced, blueblood, scratch horse.  After consulting the sire book, he opted for super-sire Forty Niner, son of Mr. Prospector, for his new horse.  Mating with a Nijinsky II x Theatrical(IRE) mare, Foxon was presented his new filly, which he had hoped would bring him joy.  To make sure she did, Foxon named his new filly Bring Me Joy.  She would debut as a 3yo early in 2004.

Bred for distance with a decent turf backend, Foxon decide to open his filly’s career on the turf at 8f.  He shipped her overseas to Japan for her first career race in January, but it did not go according to plan.  After staying near the pace through the backstretch, Bring Me Joy quickly faded and finished 13 lengths behind the winner, coming in 4^th.  Worried that the turf might not be her thing, Foxon shipped his filly back to the US for a race 2 weeks later on the dirt in North Florida.  He also shortened her distance from 8f to 6.5f.  However, the 10,000 mile trip proved to be too much to overcome, and Bring Me Joy showed no speed in the race, finally finishing 10-1/2 lengths back in 8^th.  Thinking that the dirt may have been the problem, Bring Me Joy was shipped overseas once again, this time to England, to try her foot at a turf sprint.  There, she finally broke through, winning by ¾ lengths.  She followed this win with 2 3rds and a 1^st in allowance company, finally settling on Asia as a running ground.

The trend remained, as Foxon kept his filly in the Far East, running on three week intervals (with one minor 4 week exception).  This remained for 8 allowance races which saw Bring Me Joy finish with a record of 2-2-1.  It was the third of these 8 in which Foxon decided to try routing once again, and here, Bring Me Joy showed that it was first-race jitters that made her run poorly in her last try.  She barely missed taking the race, coming up 2-1/2 lengths short but closing very quickly on the winner, and finished second.  From there, Foxon tried to stretch her out and achieved some success.  The last race, her longest at 10f, was her best to date, as she won it by nearly 4 lengths with a 100 SP.  This prompted Foxon to try to get Bring Me Joy to higher company.  To do that, he sent her back to the US.  Specifically, Nebraska.

Eyeing an 11f stakes 4 weeks out, Bring Me Joy was entered into an 11f allowance prep in Nebraska.  Here, she ran her best race, with a 106 SP and a 4-1/2 length win.  She followed this up with not only a stakes win in her 11f Nebraska stakes, but a win in a 13f Iowa stakes 3 weeks later as well.  She finally stumbled a little in her last race of 2004, finishing 3^rd in a 13f Colorado stakes.

Bring Me Joy stuck with the stakes company for all of her 4yo season in 2005.  She opened strongly, with her only finish worse than 2^nd in her first 9 stakes was in a Minnesota vs. Great Plains residency stakes, where she finished 4^th.  The remaining 8 races saw her take home 6 first place checks and 2 for 2^nd.  The wins spurred Foxon to once again put his filly on a plane, this time to Ireland, to try her hand at Graded Stakes company for the first time in the G2 That Goat Just Fainted Cup.  Off of only 2 weeks rest, Bring Me Joy showed that she was more mature than her previous travel endeavors.  After starting off a bit slow and dropping nearly 7 lengths back, farther back than any race that year, she started to rally.  As they reached the far turn, Bring Me Joy picked off horses one by one, swiftly moving closer to the leaders.  As they hit the top of the stretch, she was 3 back.  By the time they hit the 8^th pole, she was 3 in front.  The romp by Bring Me Joy resulted in a 4 length victory and a large purse for her owner.

Foxon sent Bring Me Joy back to the states following the Graded triumph to prepare for the Breeders Bowl.  In two stakes prior, she finished 5^th and 1^st, bolstering her credentials for the race.  Unfortunately, the Breeders Bowl did not go according to plan.  Bring Me Joy was a step off on that day, and she never showed any speed, finishing 17 lengths behind the winner.  That race seemed to signal the end for her, as her two later attempts back in listed stakes company both resulted in 4^th place finishes.  One 6^th place finish in January would be all that she would receive, as she was sent to the breeding shed with a C grade after 34 races.

Foxon decided to test out a rarely used sire, Frenchman Ange Gabriel(FR) for Bring Me Joy’s first trip to the breeding shed.  The resulting mare, Retrieving Angel(FR), came to the stable as a 3yo and was sent to the track the following week.  Her debut on the good dirt at 5f looked decent, as she gained a little ground at the end, but could only manage a 5^th place finish.  Her four following races, all in dirt or turf sprints, all had similar results, with 2 2nds and 2 4ths, with SPs of 73-74 for each.  Finally, in race 6, only her 2^nd race against fillies, she broke through, taking a $50,000 maiden claimer wire to wire.  Following that, she was entered in the $30,000 Alpine Turf Claimer and finished 2^nd, but was claimed by fredje.  Foxon waved goodbye to Bring Me Joy’s first daughter as fredje’s van drove off.

The van brought Retrieving Angel(FR) from Spain to Dubai, where she was entered in her longest race to date, a 9.5f allowance.  There, she showed that she might have the staying power of her mother, as she held up most of the way before fading at the very end to finish 3^rd.  Fredje figured that he could train the horse to go a little farther, but first he took her back to 8f and a starter allowance.  Here, she managed to wire the field to pick up a ½ length win after being up by as many as 4 lengths early on.  Seeing the tiring, fredje decided to take Retrieving Angel(FR) back even farther, down to 7.5f.  Staying in the 7.5-8.5f range, Retrieving Angel(FR) ran 9 times, both in 2006 and to start 2007, winning only one.  In April 2007, fredje entered his filly back in longer route races, this time at 9f.  She ran 2^nd the entire race, and as the winner pulled away at the end, she maintained her 2^nd place position.  This led to longer races and a brief switch to dirt, which saw a win and a 5^th in 2 dirt allowances at 10f.  Heading back to the turf and going even longer, Retrieving Angel(FR) reeled off another win-5^th combo.  A win at 12f on the dirt was then followed by a 5^th back on the turf.  After winning one of her next three with a 100 SP, Retrieving Angel(FR) tried stakes company for the first time to end 2007.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough to compete, and finished a beaten 6^th.

2008 saw 3 allowance wins in long turf races.  One stakes try, a 10f turf stakes in June, did not turn out well, as Retrieving Angel(FR) tired at the end and finished 4^th of 5.  Overall for 2008, she had a record of 11:3-1-3, and has 1 3^rd place finish so far in 2009.

Foxon decided, for his second breeding with Bring Me Joy, to send her to a more valuable sire.  For this, he chose Aptitude, and receivable Mr. Inconspicuous(KY) for his efforts.  Arriving as a 2yo, Mr. Inconspicuous(KY) did something that his mother and sister could not.  He broke his maiden in first asking by wiring the Alpine Turf Club field in a 5f turf race.  Staying in Alpine Turf company, he took home an allowance at 6.5f in his next race.  From here, foxon4 sent Mr. Inconspicuous(KY) to real stakes company.  In his first try at 5.5f, he managed to stay up for 3^rd after leading for the first half of the race.  In his second try at 6.5f, he sat just off the front-runner before pulling ahead in the stretch to win by ¾.  To try longer distances, foxon kept his 2yo in residency company.

In 4 Alpine Turf races, Mr. Inconspicuous(KY) picked up 2 wins, 1 2^nd (in stakes company), and 1 3^rd.  This ended his 2yo campaign.  He began his 3yo year, 2007, on the dirt in a sprint stakes.  Here, he did not have the staying power that he typically had on the turf, and faltered to finish 4^th.  Heading back to the turf, he ripped off another stakes win in a 7.5f stakes race by ½ length.  A try in the G3 Kcusrocek Stakes failed as Mr. Inconspicuous(KY) fell to 10^th at 8f.  However, in his 11 following races in 2007, all of which were in stakes races between 6.5f and 8f on the turf, he finished with a record of 2-5-2.

The jump to a 4yo was a large one for Mr. Inconspicuous(KY).  After starting off the year with a win in the EAAA Inter-Residency Challenge and his highest to date SP of 112, he headed back to Graded company for another try.  This time he would not fail, finishing 3^rd in back-to-back G2s, the Vermont Is 4 Lovers and the Arcade Handicap.  This was followed by a 2^nd in the G1 Sydney Mile.  Finally, on May 10, Mr. Inconspicuous(KY) finally broke through, taking the G1 7f Rising Sun Spring Cup in Japan by a nose.  Unfortunately, it would be another 5 races, all in graded company, before he was able to break through again in the 8f G2 Utah BB Mile.  His try in the Breeders Bowl Mile came up well short, but he nearly redeemed himself a month later in the G1 Kingab Mile, in which he fell only a length shy of the victor.

Unfortunately, Mr. Inconspicuous has seemed to reach his peak.  He may still have a few good races left, but in his last race of 2008 and first two of 2009, he has yet to run better than 5^th.

Trying again with his filly in 2007, Foxon decided to drop even more on a sire and elected to use Point Given as the sire of his new colt, Pullin’ Overtime(KY).  The colt, like those before him, began his career in Alpine Turf restricted races on the turf.  Spending most of his 2yo season in Germany, he opened up in a 5f MSW and finished in 2^nd, ½ length behind the winner.  This run attracted the attention of jockey T Small, who hooked up with Pullin’ Overtime(KY) for his next 4 races, all of them victories in Alpine Turf Club allowances ranging in distances between 5.5f and 8f.  Trying to extend the streak to five in a row at 8f in November, Pullin’ Overtime(KY) finally ran a poor race, finishing a dull 4^th.  This led Foxon, under stable name stormcat55, to pull his horse from the German turf and shipped him off to Ireland to try the dirt.

Pullin’ Overtime(KY)’s first attempt on the dirt was not a complete success, nor was it a complete failure.  In the 8f race, he lost some ground at the finish.  However, he was able to put together his fastest race, by a fairly substantial margin, running an 84 SP.  This led Foxon to keep his colt on the dirt for the 2008 season.  To start off the season, Pullin’ Overtime(KY) was entered into an EAAA inter-residency 8f dirt race.  The trip to Australia seemed to cause some issues though, and he showed absolutely nothing with a 10^th place finish.  Deciding that the cure was longer racing, Foxon stretched his colt out to 9f for his next 2 races in Portugal.  Pullin’ Overtime(KY) responded with 2 allowances wins.  Securing the services of B Tate for his Portuguese runs, Pullin’ Overtime(KY) managed to continue to stretch out, maxing out at 12f under the jockey, and ending the run of 7 races by only missing the board once (a 4^th place finish on an off-track).  Adding 2 extra furlongs in July also led to a jockey switch, which unfortunately did not help, as T Waddle could not guide the horse to any better than a 3^rd place effort.

Leaving Portugal for England, which he did following the 3^rd place finish, brought along improvement in Pullin’ Overtime(KY) speed.  He opened up the string with 2 strong 2^nd place finishes, and followed that up with a 3^rd place effort in a 16f turf race.  Heading out to east Asia, Pullin’ Overtime(KY) picked up his first win in nearly 6 months in a 14f dirt allowance race.  This gave Foxon hope that the streak would continue, so he brought his colt back to Europe, heading over to Spain.  There, Pullin’ Overtime(KY) grabbed another victory, again in a 14f allowance.  The decision was then made to send the colt up the ranks to take on Stakes company.  And that he did, going up against 6 in a 12f dirt stakes in Denmark in November.  There, Pullin’ Overtime(KY) grabbed the lead and attempted to wire a field for the first-time ever.  He showed a lot of speed and heart, but was caught in the stretch and beaten.  Still, he managed to hold on for 2^nd, giving Foxon yet another idea; that his colt liked pace-setting.  He capped off 2008 trying to wire the field again, and again giving way at the end to finish 3^rd.

2009 has seen Pullin’ Overtime(KY) run twice.  In the first, he went back to his typical off-the-pace routine and pulled out a win.  In the second, a stakes race, he once again tried to wire the field and got caught at the wire, losing by a mere ½ length.  It seems like only a matter of time before he picks up his first stakes win.

Opting to go again with his excellent mare in 2008, Foxon sent Bring Me Joy to Dehere to create colt Thriller Sweeps(KY).  Starting on good dirt, this one never seemed to gain his footing, finishing 3^rd but closing.  Taking the same route as his siblings, he went over to the turf, but was never able to break his maiden.  Finally, in race 8 of his career, to end 2008, Foxon switched Thriller Sweeps(KY) over to fast dirt and let the colt take off.  Thriller Sweeps(KY) went on to break his maiden by 2 with a furious outside move in the stretch, coming from as far back as 12 lengths to win the race.  The powerful closing kick has carried into 2009 for this horse, who is 2:1-1-0 so far in the year.

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Credit Busting was a well-bred mare, with Sadler’s Wells playing the role of father and a Machiavellian x Irish River(FR) mother.  Like many of the other retired mares in this series, she did not debut until she turned the mature age of 3.  Debuting on the turf at 8f, she immediately showed an affinity for the track, breaking 5^th but soon after grabbing the lead and hanging on to break her maiden.  A quick dirt effort at 9.5f would be the only race she would ever see on that surface, but it was far from bad, as she finished a decent 3^rd.  But Brentuk knew that his horse was better than that, and so he sent Credit Busting back to the turf in Australia for an allowance.  She took that race down and was sent to the US for her first stakes effort.  Unfortunately, the flight was a rough one, and Credit Busting had nothing in the tank for the race, finishing a very well beaten 6^th.  She bounced back, however, and took home her next race, followed by a 3^rd in another stakes.  This prompted Brentuk to try his hand at Graded Stakes competition.

The Graded Stakes experiment was a short-lived one, as Credit Busting ran horribly in the G2 9f Michigan Sophomore Turf Invitational, where she finished 9^th.  To get the winning ideas back into her head, Brentuk sent his filly back to allowance company3 weeks later, where she righted herself and picked up a 4 length victory in the 9f race.  Another 3^rd in a stakes race ensued, followed by 4 straight 2^nd place finishes, in both allowance and stakes company.  The streak was broken by a 2^nd Graded Stakes attempt, in which she faltered once again and finished a dull 8th in a Grade 1.  Credit Busting rounded out 2003 with 1 more allowance win and a stakes 2^nd in 3 races.

Her time would come, however, in 2004.  She broke through with her first stakes win in her first race in 2004, an 8.5f stakes in which she ran a 117 SP.  She followed that up with a win and a 2^nd in two more stakes races.  Another try at graded company meant another big loss, but this time Brentuk was confident that this time, his filly would be able to take home a check.  Sure enough, he was right, as he kept Credit Busting in graded company to attempt the G2 Frank’s Love Stakes.  There, she finally put something together, and earned a 3^rd place finish in the race after closing from 8 back.  That was followed by another 3^rd place G3 finish.  Grade 1s continued to elude Credit Busting, however, as she once again hit hard times in the G1 Turf Invaders Stakes and finished 10^th on the good turf.  That proved to be a demoralizing loss and would be the last time that Credit Busting attempted graded stakes company. 

Following the G1 flop and a subsequent stakes debacle in which Credit Busting finished the 8.5f race 30 lengths behind the winner, Brentuk sent his filly out the following week to get her back on track.  And that she did, taking an allowance race by 4 after sitting midpack through the early part of the race.  Jumping once again to stakes class, Credit Busting proved that she still had something left, as she demolished the 11 horse field in an 8.5f stakes race in Ohio.  Brentuk kept her in stakes company for the rest of the year, where she finished the remaining 4 races with an 0-2-1 record.  Unfortunately, in her last race, an 8f New Hampshire stakes, she pulled up lame.  The decision was made to keep her in training and not yet retire her, but it was being taken on a race-to-race basis.

The injury turned out to be more hampering than originally thought in 2005.  So much so, in fact, that Credit Busting was only able to run 4 times in the year, with long breaks in between each race.  The first was a 5^th place stakes effort, and the other 3 netted a 1-1-0 result in allowances.  Brentuk gave his mare one more run in 2006, in an attempt to send her off to the breeding shed on a winning note.  Unfortunately it was not to be, as she ran 7^th in an allowance race.  With that in tow, he sent Credit Busting to the breeding shed of Forest Wildcat.

Credit Granted was the horse that resulted from the breeding, and he took to the track first as a 3yo in April 2006.  Debuting in an 8f dirt MSW, he showed the same ability that his mother had by closing 6-1/2 lengths to take the win.  He followed that up with another win in a track-restricted allowance, also at 8f on the dirt.  Travelling to Connecticut for another allowance, Credit Granted showed that he had a bright future by running a 96 SP and finishing 2^nd in the race.  However, 3 subsequent tries at longer distances and turf all failed to reach that potential.  He broke through once again in an 8f allowance on the good turf, but faltered in his following race.  However, bouncing back 1 week later, Credit Granted showed his affinity for 9f races, as he earned a win and a 101 SP in a Kentucky turf allowance at the distance.  His remaining 3 races in 2006 all came at the stakes level, and although he showed a good closing kick in each, he could not get closer than third.  But seeing his dirt skill, Brentuk decided to start Credit Granted there in 2007.

Credit Granted opened 2007 in very good fashion.  After running 3^rd in a stakes to open the season, Credit Granted was finally able to get over that initial hump, taking an 8.5f dirt stakes by 4 after closing from 9 back.  This prompted a frivolous jump to graded stakes company which resulted in 4 off-the-board finishes.  Unfortunately, the stakes win appeared to be the peak of his career.  After the failed graded attempts, Brentuk took his horse back in class, down to stakes level, while also trying the turf once again.  However, after two failed stakes efforts, Credit Granted dropped even farther to allowance level.  Still, he could not regain that winning form that he had earlier in the year.  It would be 6 races before Credit Granted would win again, with that win coming to close out the 2007 season.

2008 kept Credit Granted in 8-9f dirt allowances through October.  He was a decent horse at the level, winning 3 of the 9 races.  In his final four races of 2008, he ran twice in stakes and twice in allowances.  In each of the 4 races, he finished 3^rd.  So far in 2009, he has run in 3 allowance races, picking up 1 2^nd and 2 4ths so far. 

The week after Credit Granted was bred, Brentuk took his mare to Azamour(IRE) and came away with a filly named Credit Clone(IRE).  She, however, was not as good as her brother or mother.  After a first race SP of 47 in a 5.5f turf MSW, brentuk unloaded the filly into the auction.  There, she was picked up by the computer.  Although the computer ran the horse four more times, Credit Clone(IRE) is still a maiden, with a career record of 5:0-1-1.  She has not raced since January 2007.

Trying a turf sire in 2007, Brentuk bring Credit Busting to the services of Castledale(IRE) to result in a colt named Credit Castle(IRE).  Credit Castle(IRE) immediately showed some ability.  After running a narrow 2^nd in his first race, he broke his maiden in a 6f turf MSW in his 2^nd try, winning by 1-1/2.  Immediately he went to 8f where he took an allowance by a nose, and then jumped into stakes company and picked up his first win there in a 7.5f turf stakes in North Carolina.  He rounded out 2007 with 2 more stakes run and a Minnesota Residency allowance, winning one and running 2^nd in the other two. 

Credit Castle(IRE) opened his 3yo season of 2008 in the G3 Roasting Weanies Stakes.  His first graded effort was also his first off-the-board finish, although he did not miss by much, coming in 4^th in the race.  Taking a step back and down in class, Credit Castle(IRE) bounced right back, taking a 7.5f turf stakes by 1-1/4.  This propelled him into the G2 Vermont Is 4 Lovers Stakes at 8f.  There, he finally made his mark, taking home the gold after stalking the pace by 1-1/2 lengths.  He followed that up by barely missing the G3 Chantily Lace Cap, losing by 1/4 lengths.  Brentuk then opted to make a bold move by shipping him to England for the 2000 Guineas.  However, the travel took a lot of out him, and he had nothing in the race, finishing 12^th by 12 lengths.

After faltering for a second race in a row in the Smackdown series, Credit Castle(IRE) once again returned to form when lowering to the stakes level, taking a 7.5f stakes by 1-3/4.  From there, it was a failed G1 attempt, a 2^nd place G3 effort, and a G2 victory, which led Credit Castle(IRE) into the Breeders Bowl Turf Sprint.  Running a huge race for a 3yo against elders, Credit Castle(IRE) held on gamely for an excellent 3^rd place finish.  However, one more attempt in a G1 to end the season in Japan failed, as he finished 8^th.  Credit Castle(IRE) hit the new year in a good turf graded sprint, but clearly did not like the soft footing.  Returning to Vermont to defend his title in the Vermont Is 4 Lovers event, he came up a mere ½ length shy.  With this though, he career appears to be headed in the right direction.

Seeing the success with turf sires in the previous horse, Brentuk went back to one, this time Rock of Gibraltar(IRE), in 2008 to produce colt Credit Spent(IRE).  Like his half-brother, he ran 2^nd in a turf sprint MSW in his first try, followed by breaking his maiden in a 7f sprint next time out.  Making the immediate jump to Graded stakes, Credit Spent(IRE) ran 3^rd in his first try at 8f in the G3 Tiny Toes Stakes.  G1s appear to evade the family line, however, as Credit Spent(IRE) finished a dull 8^th in his attempt at the class.  A ½ length loss in a stakes ensued, and Credit Spent(IRE) capped off the year with back-to-back stakes wins.

To kick off 2009, Credit Spent(IRE) decided to finally break the family curse, taking home the win in the G1 Fainting Goat Nightmares Stakes over the 8f turf in Arizona by 1-1/2.  Keep an eye on this one, as he may not have hit his prime yet.

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Late in 2004, Given headed off to the breeding shed to pick out a new filly.  He decided to go with a daughter of Deputy Minister, out of a mare of Danehill x Secretariat lineage.  Looking at the new filly’s potential, he decided to name her Dream Dragon.  After showing a lot of ability in training, Given, using the reacher stable, decided to put his filly in a tough battle.  He entered her in a 7f MSW in open company, putting her up against the boys in her first try.  And sure enough, he proved to know what he was doing, as the filly was not intimidated and stayed close to the pace throughout, pulling away at the end to win by a resounding 2-1/4.  Seeing no ends to her ability, Given immediately sent her into stakes company against other fillies.  Unfortunately, Dream Dragon ran up against an off-track, and did not get along with it, dropping back at the end to finish 8^th.  After a failed attempt on the turf, Given brought her back to a 7.5f dirt stakes where she showed that her future was bright.  Here, she earned a 91 SP by staying with the pace the entire race and barely getting edged out at the wire.  But it opened the door to an excellent 3yo season in 2005.

Dream Dragon opened 2005 with a nice sightseeing trip to Italy.  While there, she decided to take a crack at an 8.5f dirt stakes.  The Italian air seemed to agree with her, as she once again hung tough with the pace-setter throughout the early part of the race before making her move in the backstretch.  She easily pulled 4 ahead and finished under a hand ride to win by nearly 2, earning her first stakes win.  Two ensuing stakes would not turn out as well, as she would finish off-the-board in both 9f attempts.  Shrinking back to 8f and heading down to South Africa, she engaged in the battle of her career.  Staying just off the leader into the backstretch, she again made a big move to open up by 2.  But she was met by a difficult challenge in another horse’s closing, and it took every ounce of strength and power she had to maintain her lead.  Luckily, the finish line came at the right time, and Dream Dragon’s nostrils were in front as they took the photo.  Unfortunately, this would be her last photo of the season.  After a Graded Stakes effort ended in a 5^th place run, she tried another 8f stakes, but pulled up lame in the race.  Given kept her in training and ran her 5 more times in the year, but she was never able to run better than 3^rd.

It would take another 4 races, including 1 try on the turf, before Dream Dragon would get back to her pre-injury form.  Finally, after stabling up in Maine to rest and relax, she was able to take home the win in a NW1n allowance at 8.5f, as she showed the same moves she had at the peak of her career, winning by 3.  Following a poor off-track run, Dream Dragon once again returned to the winner’s circle in a NW2y allowance.  After three more allowance runs with 2 2^nd place finishes, Dream Dragon reach the finish line ahead one more time, wiring the 5 horse field to take an allowance by 3.  However, the injury woes started to creep up again.  She finished a dull 7^th in her next race, and at that point, Given felt it would be a good idea to retire her.  He decided to spend the extra BPs to push the envelope on his mare, and soon the mare gave birth a 2yo son of A.P. Indy named Perfect Dragon(KY).

Perfect Dragon(KY) managed to get in two races in his 2yo season of 2006.  However, both were on the dirt, and the races did not live up to his name.  He went into 2007 winless, so Given decided to try something new by switching his colt to the turf.  Trying an 8f race, Perfect Dragon(KY) easily got out to the lead from the start and then had to hold on through a tough stretch.  But, he was successful, taking the race by ½ length.  After two failed allowance attempts, Perfect Dragon(KY) catapulted his career forward with a resounding 1-3/4 length win in an allowance under a hand-ride, as he led the 5 horse field the entire way.  The GR Simsters residency provided the colt with his first stakes opportunity, and he jumped at it, wiring the field in impressive fashion by 1-1/4 lengths.  Moving back into open sim stakes, Perfect Dragon(KY) brought along his winning ways, once again wiring the field to win by ¾ lengths.  However, once he hit July, Perfect Dragon(KY) hit a snag in his season.  He attempted a Smackdown race but drastically tired at the end.  Given then sent his colt to NY for the G1 Big Red Stakes, but he was distanced in the 10f race while again showing no stamina.  Following that was a 6^th place finish in an allowance.  To try and get his colt back on track, Given took Perfect Dragon(KY) back to sprints, where he finished 2^nd three times to round out 2007.

A 2 month break to start 2008 got Perfect Dragon(KY) his strength back, and he opened the season with 2 allowance wins.  Unfortunately he was pulled up in his 3^rd race of the season, a stakes try, and was forced out of training for a month.  He quickly recovered though, picking up an allowance win two months after his minor injury.  Jumping back into stakes races, Perfect Dragon(KY) still needed a little more recovery time, as he tried and failed twice to hit the board.  One more trip to allowance level, however, was all he needed, as after a win in a 7f allowance, he was able to pick up a stakes win in a 7f turf stakes in early October.  He followed that win with 2 more in two consecutive stakes, winning the two by a combined 6-1/2 lengths.  This convinced Given to again try Graded Stakes company, in the G1 Penn Dash.  There, however, he did not have enough to hang on and finished 5^th.  That would be the last race of his season.  He has run once in 2009, finishing a dull 11^th in a 7f stakes race, but appears to be getting some time off after the race.

Midway through 2007, Given decided to try to breed Dream Dragon again.  This time sending her to Unbridled’s Song, Frost Dragon(KY) was soon born.  He first took to the track, like his half-brother, in a dirt MSW.  Also like his half-brother, he hated the surface, running a poor 6^th.  The switch to the turf in race 2 helped though, as he stayed on or near the pace the whole way and ran 2^nd in the race.  After an equipment mishap caused the colt to be pulled up in his next race, Frost Dragon(KY) finally got on the winning track by picking up an 8f turf MSW.  Moving up to allowance class for his last two races of 2007 though did not yield any more success, as a 2^nd and a 6^th were all he could accomplish.

With a little break before he got 2008 underway, Given decided to prepare Frost Dragon(KY) for longer races.  The prepping succeeded, as Frost Dragon(KY) came out of the gate in his first race with a new fire, bolting to the lead and nearly hanging on, instead finishing 2^nd in the 9.5f turf race.  Trying 11f next time out, he got out to a 12 length lead on the backstretch in the 5 horse field and then proceeded to walk home to a 4 length win.  Armed with that romp, he then entered stakes company and again destroyed the competition, gathering a 7 length lead before a jockey error managed to make the race a mere head apart, rather than the easy run it should have been.  Unfortunately, his win streak would end with a 5^th place finish in the G1 Adelaide Derby, but Frost Dragon(KY) got right back on track with an allowance win by 3-1/2 one month later.  After a ¼ length loss in a stakes in his next race, Frost Dragon(KY) tried a race that his half-brother attempted the prior year, the G1 Big Red Stakes.  He fared better than his brother, but not much, finishing 5^th after setting the pace early on.  He rounded out his 3yo season with 2 more allowance wins circling a bounce race in a 9.5f stakes race.  With one 2009 run so far, Frost Dragon(KY) finished a close 2^nd in a 9f allowance race.

With 2 stakes winners already in tow, Given decided to give Empire Maker a crack at his terrific mare.  When the baby arrived, Given chose to name it Crystal Dragon(KY).  Learning from previous efforts, Given started his new filly out on the turf, and she delivered with a photo win in a 6f MSW.  She followed that with a 2-1/4 length win in a 6f turf allowance, before finally losing, but coming in 2^nd, in a 6f turf stakes.  A 5^th place run in an 8f turf stakes prompted Given to attempt the dirt for Crystal Dragon(KY).  That switched worked very well.  Unlike her two half-brothers, Crystal Dragon(KY) seemed to prefer the dirt, taking a 7f allowance by 2-1/2 before ending the 2008 season with a 2 length victory in an 8f dirt stakes.

Crystal Dragon(KY) is quickly progressing and may soon be the best of the lot.  After finally faltering in her first race of the year, an 8f dirt stakes, she rebounded nicely by running a 103 SP and wiring the field in an 8.5f stakes in New Hampshire in the middle of February.  Don’t be surprised to see this filly break the family Graded stakes curse.

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That’s it for the spotlights on Retired Mares in the sim.  There are far too many to give them all the justice that they deserve, but hopefully these first few articles have given you all a glimpse at 7 of the sim’s finest.

Over the next few weeks, the stats will start flying, looking at some of the best sires, the impact of mare-ability, blue-blood mares, and various other information based off of 2008 racing statistics of 54,625 horses in the sim.  Don’t be surprised to find a few additional mares get a little attention in these articles as well.  So start saving the BPs, purchase the credits, and get ready to breed some mares.