Two families, two shores

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 November sale, where she was listed as sold to R. O. Nuzum for $30,000. History does not relate whether that name is one of the many pseudonyms that appear in Keeneland's sale records, but Ampola emerged from that sale as the property of Drymon's principal client, Mrs. P. A. B. Widener II.

Born Gertrude T. Douglas and known forever to her many friends as ÒGertie,Ó Mrs. Widener married Peter Arrell Brown Widener, son and heir of Joseph E. Widener, in 1924. Gertie Widener was either very lucky, a very good judge of horses, or both, because her successes began very early and lasted right up until her dispersal in France in 1968.

In a 30-year career, Mrs. Widener bred or raced champions Polynesian, Hula Dancer, Prudent, and *Grey Dawn II, as well as top-class runners Dan Cupid, Neptune, Spy Well, Timmy Lad, Blue Tom, and Right Away. Mrs. Widener was also a pioneer in racing American-bred stock in France.

Her first good racehorse was *Ambrose Light, by Pharos out of *La Roseraie, by Niceas. Bred in France, *Ambrose Light was given to her by her father-in-law. In 1943, her husband offered her the pick of his Elmendorf Farm's yearling crop as a wedding anniversary present. With the aid of farm manager Chester Gates, she chose Polynesian, future winner of the 1945 Preakness Stakes and champion sprinter of 1946. Polynesian also inflicted the first career defeat on Pavot in the 1945 Withers Stakes.

By the mid-1950s, Gertie Widener lived primarily in France and transferred most of her racing stable to young French trainer Etienne Pollet (later immortalized as the trainer of *Sea-Bird) on the advice of Elizabeth Couturie, who had managed Joseph Widener's French farm.

Polamia

Mrs. Widener sent four yearlings to Pollet in 1956, three of which became stakes winners. Best of these was Neptune, second-best two-year-old colt in France in 1957, but Ampola's second foal, Polamia, a filly by *Mahmoud, was not far behind.

Very fast and precocious, Polamia won the 1,000-meter (about five-furlong) Prix du Bois, now the first French two-year-old stakes of the season, finished second in the Prix d'Arenberg and Prix de Sablonville, and third in the Prix de la Vallee d'Auge. Polamia was rated sixth-best among two-year-old fillies on the French Handicap Optional, ten pounds below the brilliant champion Texana, who defeated her in the Arenberg.

All of Polamia's juvenile races were over the minimum distance, but the following year her contemporaries had passed her by, and the *Mahmoud filly could not win in three starts.

Polamia retired to stud along with Mrs. Widener's other French mares at Mme. Couturie's Haras du Mesnil in Normandy, where she produced nine foals, five of them stakes winners. Best of these was *Grey Dawn II, a *Herbager colt foaled in 1962.

Like all of Mrs. Widener's stock, *Grey Dawn II was trained by Pollet, who happened to have a chestnut two-year-old (sired by Mrs. Widener's Dan Cupid) in 1964 named *Sea-Bird. *Grey Dawn II dominated the early two-year-old races that year, winning the Prix Morny and Prix de la Salamandre.

*Sea-Bird was not as precocious but won his first two starts, including the Criterium de Maisons-

Laffitte. Considered much the better of the pair by his trainer, *Sea-Bird was favored in the Grand Criterium, but *Grey Dawn II set a steady pace on the Longchamp course and held off the fast-finishing *Sea-Bird by a neck, inflicting the only defeat on that great champion.

Transferred to U.S.

Like Polamia, *Grey Dawn II had taken advantage of his precocity at two, but the rest of his generation caught up with him at three. He disappointed after winning the Prix de Fontainebleau but won the Brandywine Turf Handicap at four after being transferred to the United States.

Retired to Domino Stud (then managed by Jimmy Drymon, Ira Drymon's son), *Grey Dawn II developed into one of the best and most consistent sires in America, ranking second on the general sire list in 1983 and ranking among the three leading sires on three occasions.

In a long career at stud, *Grey Dawn II sired 73 stakes winners (10%), including champions Heavenly Cause, Christmas Past, Grey Classic, Bye Bye Paris, and Dawn Deluxe as well as the high-class runners Vigors, Bounding Basque, Shy Dawn, Mr. Redoy, Swing Till Dawn, and Navajo.

*Grey Dawn II was even more successful as a broodmare sire, leading the U.S. list in 1990 and ranking among the top five on four other occasions. His daughters to date have produced 116 stakes winners, including Itsallgreektome, Opening Verse, Silver Patriarch, Waquoit, Zoffany, Alphabatim, El Senor, Midnight Bet, and Two Punch.

A big, lengthy, correct horse with good bone who inherited *Herbager's long, deep shoulder, *Grey Dawn II frequently passed on his exceptionally straight hind leg and slightly weak hind pasterns.

Right Away

Although *Grey Dawn II did not manage to win a classic for Mrs. Widener, his half sister Right Away, by Mme. Couturie's great horse Right Royal, did. A big, raw-boned filly, Right Away won only two races, but the second of those was the 1966 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (the French equivalent of the One Thousand Guineas). Right Away produced stakes winner Timmy's Way, by Mrs. Widener's good runner Timmy My Boy, but her most important offspring was the stakes-placed Sicambre filly Royal Way, who finished third in the 1972 Prix Fille de l'Air.

Royal Way produced two high-class runners in High Sierra (by Chaparral) and Garde Royale (by Mill Reef). Garde Royale won the 1984 Prix Jean de Chaudenay (Fr-G2), and has been a useful sire in France despite covering mostly steeplechase mares. Garde Royale has sired 13 stakes winners, including the high-class fillies Carling (Fr), winner of the 1995 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) (Fr-G1) and Prix Vermeille (Fr-G1), and Gazelle Royale.

Polamia's 1966 daughter by Relko, Mia Pola, was at least as talented as Right Away, winning the 1968 Prix la Rochette to earn second highweight among fillies on the French Free Handicap for two-year-olds. Like her dam, Mia Pola did not train on but made up for that deficiency in the breeding shed.

Mia Pola produced two stakes winners, including San Luis Obispo Handicap (G2) winner Regal Bearing (GB), by Viceregal. Her stakes-placed daughter by Northfields, Normia (GB), is dam of 1992 Gamely Handicap (G1) winner Metamorphose (by Lord Avie) and grandam of 1998 Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) (Fr-G1) winner Dream Well(Fr), by Sadler's Wells.

Mia Pola's daughter Turquoise Bleue, by Blue Tom (a French classic winner for Mrs. Widener), is grandam of the top-class grass filly Tuzla (Fr), by Panoramic (GB), who ran second in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1).

Polamia's 1960 colt by Tyrone, Tryptic, was also a high-class runner, winning the Prix de St. Firmin and Prix Maurice de Gheest and running third in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.

Right Away's winning full sister *Belle Promesse produced two stakes winners, while her half sister by *Val de Loir, Vallee Sarthoise, produced French Group 2 winner Viteric (Fr) (by Versailles).

Sly Pola

Ampola failed to produce a foal in 1956, but her 1957 filly by Spy Song was even better than Polamia. Second in the Prix du Bois early in the season, Sly Pola won the prestigious Prix Robert Papin and Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp (now Group 1) and ended the season ranked second best among French two-year-old fillies of 1959. Sly Pola also trained on better than Polamia, winning the 1,400-meter (about seven-furlong) Prix de la Grotte at age three and running third in the Prix Pourtales.

Sly Pola's record as a producer of runners was not as good as Polamia's, but her daughters have made a similarly significant contribution to the breed. Sly Pola's only stakes winner from ten foals was the moderate *Herbager horse Green Herb, but her winning daughter El Palomar (Fr), by Le Mesnil, produced Pareo (by Armos), the champion Italian two-year-old of 1979.

Ill health forced Mrs. Widener to disperse her stock at Deauville in 1968, where one of the star attractions was Sly Pola's yearling filly by *Val de Loir, who set a new French record price of $82,000. Named *Green Valley II by her new owners, the Wertheimer family, she never made it to the races but carried on the family tradition in the breeding shed by producing six stakes winners.

Best of these was Green Dancer, a strikingly handsome son of Nijinsky II who was the second highweight on both the English and French two-year-old handicaps in 1974 after winning the Observer Gold Cup (Eng-G1). Green Dancer more than justified that ranking at three, winning the classic Poule d'Essai des Poulains (France's Two Thousand Guineas equivalent) (Fr-G1) and the Prix Lupin (Fr-G1), but he failed to stay the distance in the Epsom Derby (Eng-G1).

Retired to stud at the Head family's Haras du Quesnay, Green Dancer led the French sire list in 1991. Transferred to Gainesway Farm in 1983, Green Dancer has continued his good work, numbering Suave Dancer, Eishin Preston, and Green Tune among his eight champions or highweights and 83 stakes winners (8%). A big, powerful, correct, and exceptionally handsome horse himself, Green Dancer seldom passed on his own exceptional physique, siring horses of all shapes and sizes.

Green Dancer's full brother, Val Danseur, was more of a stayer, winning the Golden Gate (G2) and Rolling Green (G3) Handicaps, but made no impact as a stallion.

Green Dancer's stakes-winning half sister Pink Valley (by Never Bend) has produced three stakes winners, including the Northern Dancer horse Pink, winner of three group races in France but a moderate sire. *Green Valley's daughter Vallee Dansante (by Lyphard) is dam of the good filly Brooklyn's Dance (Fr) (by Shirley Heights), herself dam of two stakes winners.

*Green Valley's unplaced daughter by Irish River (Fr), Irish Valley, is the dam of Alhaarth, by Unfuwain, England's champion two-year-old of 1995 when he was the unbeaten winner of the Dewhurst Stakes (Eng-G1). Like many members of Ampola's family, Alhaarth did not train on as well as some of his contemporaries, but he won group races at up to 2,000 meters at three and four.

Takawalk

Ampola slipped in 1958 and was barren in '59 and '60. Her fourth foal was the massive Native Dancer colt Takawalk, who won the Prix la Rochette as a two-year-old in 1963 and ran third in the prestigious Prix de la Foret. Takawalk trained on well enough to win three conditions races at three at about a mile and ran second in the Prix du Rond-Point at four, but he never captured another stakes race.

Retired to stud in Ireland, Takawalk sired only nine stakes winners before he was exported to Japan. Best of his stakes winners was 1971 Portland Handicap and Ayr Gold Cup winner Royben.

Although Takawalk was only Ampola's fourth foal, he turned out to be her last. She produced a dead foal in 1964 and never got in foal again.

Inbred to Man o' War

Ampola was inbred to Man o' War 3x3, since her sire's dam and her own grandam were both daughters of Samuel Riddle's champion. Her dam, Blue Denim, is renowned as a blue-hen broodmare, but the best of her six stakes winners, Blue Prince and Piano Jim, did not match the class of Ampola's best. Other branches of Blue Denim's family have produced numerous stakes winners such as November Snow, Naturalism, Santa Catalina, Catatonic, Quiet Crossing, Gladwin, and steeplechase great Lonesome Glory, but none achieved anything like the pervasive influence of the descendants of Ampola. Her top-class offspring include Green Dancer, *Grey Dawn II, Alhaarth, Right Away, Sly Pola, Dream Well, Pareo, and Tuzla.

As with most of the mares profiled as Foundation Mares, Ampola's career is inextricably entwined with those of some of the most important human families in the history of Thoroughbred racing, in this case the Jeffords and Widener families, with a dash of William Woodward thrown in for good measure.

It is, of course, difficult these days to find private breeding operations such as those run by the Wideners, Jeffordses, and Woodwards of the first half of the century, but one day in the future, mares from the Phippses, the Maktoums, the Abdullahs, and the Salmans, among others, will be available.

Those on the lookout for the Foundation Mares of the 21st century should know where to find them.