2003 Maryland-bred champions

Horse of the year
Older female

Sprinter
Shine Again

Dk.b./br.m., 1997, by Wild Again—Shiner, by Two Punch;
bred by Mrs. Richard C. duPont;
owned by Bohemia Stable;
trained by H. Allen Jerkens.
Foaled at Woodstock Farm, Chesapeake City.

Shine Again could have retired a year ago with nothing left to prove. But why send her to the breeding shed, when her races brought such joy to her 90-year-old breeder/owner Allaire duPont?

So the aptly named mare, a fourth-generation homebred from duPont’s Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, Md., returned at age 6, and put the final polish on a brilliant career. Shine Again passed the million-dollar mark in earnings with her first start of the season, a six-furlong allowance victory at Aqueduct on April 19, and underscored her class and consistency in each of her subsequent six starts.

She captured the six-furlong Genuine Risk Handicap-G2 on May 11 at Belmont, roundly defeating the speedy Carson Hollow, to remain flawless in her first two outings of 2003. Then came a series of five close-up second-place finishes, all in top New York graded stakes company, at distances of between six and seven furlongs:

The Vagrancy Handicap-G2 (June 8, Belmont), to Shawklit Mint, defeating Gold Mover. The Honorable Miss Handicap-G3 (August 1, Saratoga), losing out to the powerful closing kick of Maryland-bred Willa On the Move.  The Ballerina Handicap-G1 (August 24, Saratoga), barely missing to Harmony Lodge (in receipt of five pounds) after making victories in this race the high point of her season in 2001 and 2002. The Floral Park Handicap-G3 (September 13, Belmont), beaten three-quarters of a length by Bauhauser.

And, finally, seeking a repeat in another race she won in 2002, coming within a neck of the winner Randaroo in the First Flight Handicap-G2 (October 25, Belmont). Shine Again (by Wild Again) has joined her dam Shiner (by Two Punch), and Grade 2-winning sister Shiny Band, in the broodmare band at Woodstock Farm. She was bred this spring to Deputy Minister.

Voted champion sprinter for the second year in a row, and champion older mare for the third consecutive season, Shine Again took the horse of the year title, by near-unanimous selection, in a season in which Maryland was without a Grade 1 stakes winner. Ironically, her biggest accomplishments came during her two earlier campaigns, when she won Grade 1 stakes in New York but was overshadowed in horse of the year voting by Ohio Derby-G2 winner and Preakness runner-up Magic Weisner (2002) and Pimlico Special-G1 winner Include (2001).
Shine Again retired as the ninth leading Maryland-bred money-earner of all time, with $1,271,840 earned in 34 starts, 14 wins (seven stakes), 10 seconds (eight stakes) and seven thirds (five stakes). She is one of 14 Maryland-breds, including four mares, to have earned over $1 million.

Two-year-old male
Perfect Moon

B.g., 2001, by Malibu Moon—Perfectly, by Parfaitement;
bred by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh J. O’Dono-van;
owned by Royce S. Jaime Racing Stable Inc.;
trained by Doug O'Neill.
Foaled at Grasslands Farm, Upperco.

Perfect Moon’s juvenile campaign on the West Coast reverberated like a rocket launching in his home state of Maryland.  His young sire, Malibu Moon, having entered stud at the Pons family’s Country Life Farm in Bel Air, Md., quickly landed in the top ranks of the nation’s freshmen sires, and was whisked off to Kentucky.
And two longtime Maryland horsepeople were lifted to cloud nine by the best horse they’d bred.

Perfect Moon, bred by Hugh and Achsah O’Donovan at their Grasslands Farm in Upperco, Md., was sold by his breeders for a bargain $4,700 at the 2002 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling sale. The buyer was West Coast-based trainer Mel Stute, who trained Malibu Moon during his brief but promising career.

Stute sent out Perfect Moon to break his maiden in a four and a half-furlong $40,000 claiming event, his fourth start, at Hollywood Park in May. Moving right up to stakes company, Perfect Moon then finished second to commanding winner Stalking Tiger in Hollywood’s Haggin Stakes (June 21).

Perfect Moon’s breakout victory came in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes-G3 (Hollywood, July 19), which he captured by an unthreatened two and a half lengths. Still more impressively, he came back to win Del Mar’s Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes (August 17).  Campaigned up to then under the ownership of Annabelle Stute (the trainer’s wife) and The Hat Ranch, Perfect Moon was sold privately and made his final three juvenile starts for Royce S. Jaime Racing Stable Inc. and trainer Doug O’Neill. That consisted of thirds in the Del Mar Futurity-G2 (to Siphonizer), Nor-folk Stakes-G2 (to Ruler’s Court) and $1 million Delta Jackpot.
In 10 starts last season, Perfect Moon registered three wins, one second and three thirds, for earnings of $353,870. He was the topweighted Mid-Atlantic-bred on the 2003 Exper-i-mental Handicap, assigned 119 pounds.

Sadly, Hugh O’Donovan, a former director and officer of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, died in December 2003, a few days after Perfect Moon’s weanling full sister brought a sales-topping $150,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed sale. Achsah O’Donovan continues to own Perfect Moon’s dam, Perfectly (by Parfaitement), who is a third-generation homebred. The mare was bred in 2004 to Rock Slide.

Two-year-old filly
Richetta

B.f., 2001, by Polish Numbers—Riscay, by Rahy;
bred by Elk Manor Farm,
owned by Higgins and Bowman;
trained by Robin Graham.
Foaled at Elk Manor Farm, North East.

Richetta was the unanimous choice as champion Maryland-bred 2-year-old filly, based upon her superb record that included three consecutive stakes wins—the Maryland Million Lassie, Heavenly Cause and Selima—by a combined 12 lengths.

Purchased for $100,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-year-olds in training sale by Tom Bowman and Milton Higgins, Richetta soon convinced her longtime Maryland owners that she might be their horse of a lifetime. She broke her maiden at first asking, scoring by seven and a quarter lengths in a five and a half-furlong maiden special weight at on August 16 at Laurel Park, and started as the favorite in four of her next five outings at 2.

Her only serious disappointment came in the Mary-land Juvenile Filly Championship Stakes, on December 31, when she injured her left knee while finishing next to last in the race won by Pour It On.

Richetta concluded her juvenile campaign with $168,110 in earnings, and is expected to be back in action by early summer. She was assigned 108 pounds on the 2003 Experimental Free Handicap.

Richetta, by deceased Maryland sire Polish Numbers, is one of two top Maryland-bred 2-year-olds of 2003 bred by Jim Moran at his Elk Manor Farm in North East, Md. The other is the undefeated White Mountain Boy, who captured last year’s Maryland Juvenile Championship and Rollicking Stakes and started on the Triple Crown trail with a victory in Laurel Park’s February 7 Goss L. Stryker Stakes.

Moran bought Richetta’s dam Riscay (by Rahy) for $100,000 from the Clovelly Farms consignment at the 1995 Keeneland September Yearling sale. A better than average runner, Riscay won or placed in 10 of 19 starts, including a second in the 1998 April Run Stakes, and earned $90,669 before retiring to Elk Manor, where she produced Richetta as her first foal. Moran sold Richetta for $22,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling sale.  Owned in partnership by Jim Moran and his brothers Mike and Ranney, Riscay has a Two Punch juvenile colt and yearling filly, and was due to foal to Carson City in 2004.

Three-year-old male
New York Hero

Dk.b./br.c., 2000, by Partner’s Hero—Nin Two, by John Alden;
bred by Dark Hollow Farm and William Beatson;
owned by Paraneck Stable;
trained by Jennifer Pedersen.
Foaled at Dark Hollow Farm, Upperco.

New York Hero vaulted to national prominence with his surprise victory in the Grade 2 Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway Park in March. And although that would be his first and only stakes win at 3, he continued to race in top-quality competition, amassing $465,860 to rank as the leading Maryland-bred earner of 2003.

Despite his name—which honors the many heroes who battled the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center tragedy—New York Hero is totally a product of Maryland breeding.

To put it more succinctly, he is a tribute to the breeding program at David and Jo Ann Hayden’s Dark Hollow Farm in Upperco, Md.

The Haydens not only bred New York Hero (in partnership with Annapolis businessman Bill Beatson), they also bred his sire, Partner’s Hero. A Grade 2-winning sprinter voted champion Maryland-bred older male in 1998, Partner’s Hero (by Danzig) is one of two top performers bred by the Haydens from their foundation mare Safely Home. The other was 1989 Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Safely Kept.

The Haydens sold Partner’s Hero for $390,000 at the 1995 Saratoga Yearling sale, then purchased several shares in him when he retired to stud at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md.

Nin Two (by John Alden), purchased by the Haydens and Beatson in partnership for $19,000 at the 1998 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic February Mixed sale, had a hard-hitting but far from illustrious racing career similar to that of Safely Home.

When mated to Partner’s Hero, in his first year at stud, Nin Two produced New York Hero. Sold by the breeders for a bargain $6,000 at the 2001 Keeneland September Yearling sale, New York Hero was then resold for $135,000 at the 2002 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale, where bloodstock agent Buzz Chace bought him on behalf of New Jerseyan Ernie Paragallo.

Campaigning for Paragallo’s Paraneck Stable, and trainer Jennifer Pedersen, New York Hero—unraced at 2—broke his maiden in his second start, at Aqueduct in January, and moved swiftly through his allowance conditions. He finished first or second in his first five outings, including the Lane’s End Stakes, and was fourth in the Wood Memorial Stakes-G1 (won by Empire Maker) and sixth in Funny Cide’s Preakness.

Three-year-old filly
Finally Here

Ch.f., 2000, by Yarrow Brae—Neolithic, by Deputed Testamony;
bred by James M. Courtney;
owned by Pop-A-Top LLC;
trained by Thomas Amoss.
Foaled at St. Omer’s Farm, Forest Hill.

The highest of highs and lowest of lows are etched into Finally Here’s 3-year-old campaign.  Bred from a $1,000 mare, and sold for $100,000 in May after three promising starts, Finally Here rocked the racing world with her victory in the Grade 3 Duchess Stakes on August 9 at Woodbine.

She was the first stakes winner from the first crop of Yarrow Brae, standing at Murmur Farm in Dar-lington, Md.

Finally Here soared undefeated through five races in a row, including the Duchess and Arlington Park’s September 13 Smart Deb Stakes, before making a homecoming on Maryland Million Day, October 11, and affirming her talent with a flourishing second to the ever-powerful year-older Willa On the Move in the Distaff.

Tragedy struck Finally Here in her next outing, an allow-ance race at Churchill Downs on November 5. She broke down approaching the quarter pole, and was euthanized. Finally Here left behind a record of seven wins or placings from eight starts (all at 3), earnings of $189,200, and an album’s worth of memories for her breeder Jim Courtney of Lanes End Farm in Monkton, Md.

Courtney, who has owned horses since 1989, counted Finally Here as his horse of a lifetime. He bought her dam Neolithic (by Deputed Testamony) for $1,000 in 1996, after she had bowed a tendon, and patiently awaited the mare’s first foal. Neolithic failed to get in foal for 1997, lost her 1998 foal, and for 1999 aborted twins at nine months. The Yarrow Brae filly, born on May 10, 2000, at Stephen and Sue Quick’s St. Omer’s Farm in Forest Hill, Md., came by her name quite naturally. “The Jockey Club wouldn’t give us ‘Finally,’ so we added the ‘Here,’” said Courtney.

Finally Here launched her career for Courtney and trainer Jeff Runco, breaking her maiden at Charles Town in April. Courtney sold her privately, for $100,000, to Pop-A-Top LLC (P.L. and Shirley Blake of Birmingham, Ala.) and she rose to prominence with the stable of Midwest-based conditioner Tom Amoss.

Courtney continues to own Neolithic, who is his only broodmare. She was due to foal this season to Yarrow Brae.

Older male

Turf runner
Dr. Brendler
B.h., 1998, by Distant View—Lady of Vision (Ire), by Vision;
bred and owned by Francis J. O’Toole;
trained by H. Graham Motion.
Foaled at Northview Stallion Station, Chesapeake City.

Dr. Brendler had a brush with greatness as a 3-year-old in Ireland, winning the 2000 Guineas Trial (over eventual European sprint champion Mozart-Ire).
High hopes for the Maryland-bred, billed as the “little guy’s horse” in the 2000 Guineas, soon fizzled due to severe bleeding, however, and that fall he was returned to the U.S., where he could race on Lasix.

The pay-off for such patient handling came last year when, at age 5, Dr. Brendler rose to become one of the top grass horses in this country.

Carrying the colors of his breeder Frank O’Toole, a Dublin (Ireland) native and prominent Washington, D.C., lawyer, Dr. Brendler burst on the national scene with his surprise victory in the Grade 2 Dixie Handicap on Preakness day at Pimlico. The longest-priced starter in a field of six, he fought his way to a half-length score and a memorable $39.40 mutuel return. Dr. Brendler, trained through-out the season by Graham Motion, went on to finish a close third, behind Denon and Requete (GB), in the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap (Belmont Park, June 7) and then was second to Ballingarry (Ire) in Arlington Park’s Stars and Stripes Breeders’ Cup Turf Handicap-G3 on July 5. He concluded his 5-year-old campaign with a fifth-place finish (beaten only three and a quarter lengths by the winner Whitmores Conn) in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Handicap on August 9 at Saratoga.

From four wins or placings in eight 2003 starts, Dr. Brendler earned $259,935, boosting his career total to $377,517. He ranked as the fourth leading Maryland-bred money-earner of 2003.

O’Toole bred Dr. Brendler (by Distant View) from the mare Lady of Vision (Ire), whom he bought as a yearling at the 1988 Goffs sale in Ireland. Lady of Vision (by Vision) carried O’Toole’s colors to a fifth-place finish in the Irish 1000 Guineas and has produced two other stakes horses for him—Polish Vision and Leading Question, both by the late Maryland sire Polish Numbers.

Steeplechaser
Lord Kenneth

Ch.g., 1995, by Lord Avie—Raw Sugar, by Judger;
bred by James B. Steele Jr.;
owned by Kinross Farm;
trained by Neil Morris.
Foaled at Shamrock Farms, Woodbine.

Top this, Victory Gallop.
In his second career start, 2003 champion Maryland-bred steeplechaser Lord Kenneth met the future Belmont Stakes winner and lost by 14 lengths in a 2-year-old maiden special at Laurel. That was 1997. Victory Gallop of course went on to stardom and a budding stallion career. Lord Kenneth took another path, but is still adding victories to a long racing career.
Bred by Jim Steele, Lord Kenneth won three of four starts over timber in 2003 and earned $60,600 to place second in the National Steeplechase Association timber standings.
Owned by Kinross Farm and trained in Virginia by Neil Morris, Lord Kenneth captured the four-mile Virginia Gold Cup, a $50,000 stakes in the spring, and added the $35,000 International Gold Cup in the fall.

On the flat, Lord Kenneth competed for owner Arnold Smolen and trainer John Salzman and was stakes-placed as a 2-year-old. The son of Lord Avie made his first-level allow-ance condition and then slid down the ladder to claimer.
Purchased by trainer Kathy Neilson, Lord Kenneth made his steeplechase debut in 2000 and won twice over hurdles before being claimed by Kinross and Morris in 2001. Converted to timber, Lord Kenneth has been worse than second just once in eight starts and will be back for another run in 2004 at age 9.