The right horse can change many lives.

Perhaps the horse that changed more lives more dramatically than any other was America's horse of the century, Man o' War. Bred by August Belmont II and purchased for $5,000 by Samuel D. Riddle at Saratoga in 1918, Man o' War transformed Riddle from a Pennsylvania textile miller into a pillar of the Turf.

When Riddle retired Man o' War to stud in Kentucky at the end of his three-year-old season in 1920, he needed a stud farm to stand the greatest horse America had produced. Riddle bought 420-acre Faraway Farm on Huffman Mill Pike near Lexington in partnership with his nephew by marriage, Walter M. Jeffords. A Philadelphia-born investment banker, Jeffords had married Sarah Dobson Fiske, niece of Riddle's wife, in 1914.

Riddle maintained Man o' War primarily as a private stallion for the use of his own and Jeffords's mares, and the great horse made the pair two of America's leading breeders in the 1920s and '30s. This occurred despite Riddle's statement: ÒIt's senseless for me to buy good mares; $500 is enough to pay for one. Man o' War is the whole pedigree. ... He's so great, so dominant.Ó

One of the mares Jeffords sent to Man o' War in 1931 was Bel Agnes, a full sister to William Woodward's very good handicap runner Peanuts, by *Ambassador IV out of *Agnes Sard, by Sardanapale. *Agnes Sard had been bred in France by Baron Maurice de Rothschild in 1917 and was imported to America by Delbert Reiff.

Opportunistic buyer

Reiff, brother to the famous jockey Lester Reiff, was something of an opportunist who had built a career buying well-bred foals from French breeders who could not afford to feed them in the depths of World War I and reselling them in America.

Reiff could not have profited much from *Agnes Sard, who was listed as purchased for only $700 by F. K. McAfee at the same 1918 Saratoga sale that produced Man o' War. As her name hints, *Agnes Sard was a member of the famous ÒAgnesÓ family that numbered *Ormonde and Sceptre among its members, but she could not add to the family's racetrack reputation because she never started.

She produced her first foal in 1921 for Woodward, and it is probable that the master of Belair, who built his broodmare band on French imports, had acquired another French mare very cheaply through McAfee.

If so, Woodward, who was mostly a private breeder, made a relatively quick profit on *Agnes Sard because he sold that first foal, Bel Agnes, to Jeffords for $3,700 at the 1922 Saratoga sale. Bel Agnes was sufficiently well regarded to make her first two starts at two in the Fashion Stakes and the Clover Stakes, but she finished last each time and never raced again.

At stud, Bel Agnes's second foal was Good as Gold, a daughter of *Golden Broom. A speedy son of Sweeper II, *Golden Broom had been purchased by Mrs. Walter Jeffords at the same Saratoga sale as Man o' War and was for a brief time more highly regarded than future champion. Good as Gold won three stakes at two and earned her dam a mating with Man o' War.

The result was Judy O'Grady, a very talented filly who ran second in the 1934 Matron and Selima Stakes at two and second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Manhattan Handicap at three, but she never won a stakes.

Judy O'Grady in turn produced the high-class staying filly Snow Goose, by *Mahmoud, winner of the 1947 Beldame and Ladies Handicaps and the 1948 Saratoga Cup for Jeffords. Snow Goose is ancestress of the top-class runners Fair Salinia (Ire), Faraway Son, Liloy (Fr), and Baillamont.

Judy O'Grady also is grandam of Kiss Me Kate (by Count Fleet), Jeffords's champion three-year-old filly of 1951, but her most important contribution was the Blue Larkspur mare Blue Denim, who produced six stakes winners. Blue Denim's most important contribution by far, however, was her daughter Ampola, who did not win a stakes but who developed into one of the Stud Book's most important Foundation Mares.

Ampola
Chestnut mare
Pavot-Blue Denim,
by Blue Larkspur

• Foaled: 1949 at Faraway Farm in Kentucky
• Bred by: Walter M. Jeffords Sr.
• Raced by: Walter M. Jeffords Sr.
• Owned at stud: Ira C. Drymon and J. C. Metz; Mrs. P. A. B. Widener II
• Line imported: *Agnes Sard imported by Delbert Reiff in 1918
• Family: Bruce Lowe family 16-c tracing to Hutton's Spot Mare

Sired by Pavot

Ampola was a member of the first crop of Pavot, the best horse Walter Jeffords ever bred. By Case Ace out of Coquelicot, by Man o' War, Pavot was undefeated champion two-year-old of 1944 but was not so dominant as a mature horse. Still, he was good enough to give Jeffords his first classic victory, in the 1945 Belmont Stakes. Although obviously possessing tremendous speed and sired by speed influence Case Ace, Pavot won not only the 1 1/2-mile Belmont but also the two-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, albeit a very slowly run edition, at age four in 1946.

Pavot retired to stud at Faraway in 1948 with a record of 14 wins in 32 starts and earnings of $373,365. Although well patronized at the beginning of his career, he achieved only modest success and never sired a horse of anything approaching his own first-rate ability.

Best of his 14 stakes winners (7%) were probably Cigar Maid, a very fast two-year-old filly from his first crop, and Impromptu, a fast sprinter who won the 1956 Fall Highweight Handicap. Interestingly, the vast majority of Pavot's offspring were sprinters, pure and simple.

As often occurs with brilliant horses that attract well-bred mares but do not succeed as sires of runners, Pavot did rather better as a broodmare sire. His daughters produced 30 stakes winners, including 1962 champion steeplechaser Barnaby's Bluff, 1965 Delaware Oaks winner Juanita, 1960 Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap winner Dotted Swiss, and the very fast juvenile filly Rudoma.

As a racehorse, Ampola was pretty typical of Pavot's offspring. Trained by the Jeffords family's longtime trainer, Oscar White, she made her debut as a three-year-old in a six-furlong allowance race on April 2, 1952, at Laurel Park. Ampola broke poorly but rallied in the stretch only to hang near the wire and finish second by a length to Cobber.

The Pavot filly learned from that experience and duly won her second start a week later at the same track, again in allowance company, rallying from midpack and getting to the wire 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Psychogenic in ordinary time of 1:14 1/5.

Ampola was apparently fairly well-regarded at that point because her next start was in the prestigious Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park on May 3. A 14-to-1 longshot coupled with stablemate Lily White, Ampola made no sort of effort, running along in the middle of the pack early before fading to finish 11th, beaten 15 lengths by Parading Lady, while her stablemate finished a good third.

The remainder of her racing career was undistinguished. In four more starts as a three-year-old and two as a four-year-old, including one desultory effort for a $5,500 claiming tag, Ampola never got closer than nine lengths or fifth place at the finish.

Gertie Widener

No matter how poorly she raced, Ampola was bred well enough for anyone's broodmare band. Ira C. Drymon and J. C. Metz purchased Ampola privately after her last start in February of 1953 and bred her to Polynesian, who stood at Drymon's Gallaher Farm near Lexington.

The result of that first mating was the colt Do-It-Yourself, who was sold for $20,000 at the 1955 Saratoga yearling sale. Do-It-Yourself made only three starts at three, winning once and running third once for earnings of $2,070.

Drymon and Metz bred Ampola to *Mahmoud in 1954 and consigned her to the 1954 Keeneland Novembe