Flaring Top combined with Northern Dancer to crown the progress of Canadian breeding

If Federico Tesio must be acclaimed the most dominant figure in a single country's history of Thoroughbred breeding, Edward Plunkett Taylor cannot be far behind. Taylor single-handedly grabbed the Canadian breeding industry by the scruff of the neck in the 1950s and deposited it center stage in the international spotlight by the mid-1960s.

Flaring Top
chestnut mare
Menow-Flaming Top, by Omaha

Foaled: 1947, Claiborne Farm, Kentucky
Bred by: Arthur B. Hancock Sr.
Raced by: E. P. Taylor
Owned at stud: E. P. Taylor
Line imported: *Torpenhow imported by Wickliffe Stud in 1915
Family: Bruce Lowe family number 8-f tracing to the Bustler mare

Born into a well-to-do family of Canadian brewers in 1901, Taylor expanded the basis of his fortune in the 1930s by buying up and consolidating many small breweries into one company, Cosgrave Breweries. By 1936, he had acquired enough disposable income and time to transform his lifelong hobby of gambling on horses into a racing stable he first named after his principal business.

Trainer Bert Alexandra claimed four horses with Taylor's small initial investment; one of them, Jack Patch, became his first stakes winner. Another, the Stimulus mare Nandi, produced the first Taylor-bred stakes winner, Windfields, by Bunty Lawless, in 1943 at his Windfields Farm in Willowdale, Ontario. In 1977, Nandi's fourth-generation tail-female descendant Right Chilly became the 193rd Taylor-bred stakes winner, breaking the record previously held by Harry Payne Whitney. To date, Windfields has bred a record 358 stakes winners, the vast majority of them in the name of E. P. Taylor.

Taylor began breeding Thoroughbreds in earnest after World War II and purchased Parkwood Stables near Oshawa, Ontario, in 1950, renaming it National Stud. As part of his campaign to build a world-class breeding establishment, he asked bloodstock agent George Blackwell to buy the best mare on offer at the 1952 Tattersalls December sale.

Blackwell paid the top price of the sale, about $30,000, for *Lady Angela, an exquisitely bred Hyperion mare in foal to Nearco, and negotiated a return to that great stallion in 1953. Imported to Canada after that covering, *Lady Angela arrived carrying 1958 Canadian Horse of the Year Nearctic in utero. Nearctic sired Northern Dancer, first Canadian-bred to win an international classic, the 1964 Kentucky Derby, carrying Taylor's silks. The horse that put Taylor's Windfields Farm at the pinnacle of the international commercial breeding industry was Northern Dancer's son Nijinsky II, winner of the English Triple Crown in 1970.

Nijinsky II was a second-generation offshoot of an earlier Taylor investment.

Taylor was the second-leading buyer at the 1948 Keeneland July sale, purchasing five horses for $95,200. Best of these was Bull Page, a $38,000 Bull Lea colt who became Canada's Horse of the Year in 1951, but the group also included 1949 Great American Stakes winner Navy Chief, by War Admiral.

Among those five yearlings of 1948 was Flaring Top, a Menow filly out of Flaming Top, by Omaha, bred by Arthur B. Hancock Sr., first master of Claiborne Farm. Purchased for $8,500, Flaring Top proved only a modest success on the racecourse, but she founded the most important of many good Windfields Farm families, establishing herself as a 20th-century Foundation Mare.

The Headley touch

Although Claiborne bred Flaring Top, her pedigree was more closely associated with Hal Price Headley's Beaumont Farm. Her sire, Menow, was perhaps the best horse bred by Headley in more than five highly successful decades as a Thoroughbred breeder. Flaring Top's dam, Flaming Top, was a granddaughter of Summit, by Ultimus, a mare Headley acquired in the 1930s to breed to his top stallion, *Pharamond II.

Summit's dam, *Torpenhow, by Torpoint, had been imported to the United States in 1915 by Elizabeth Daingerfield at Wickliffe Stud. *Torpenhow produced stakes winner How High to the cover of Ultimus's son High Time and, through her first foal, Herd Girl, by Colin, is also third dam of Foundation Mare Stolen Hour.

Summit finished second in maiden races three times and fourth in a minor stakes but never won in seven career starts. She produced 1936 champion two-year-old filly Apogee to the cover of *Pharamond II for Beaumont. Winner of the Fashion and Arlington Lassie Stakes, Apogee also was a highly successful broodmare, producing stakes winners Flood Town, Acoma, and Sofarsogood. Sofarsogood was dam of Group 1 winner Ace of Aces, by *Vaguely Noble.

The family member who undoubtedly attracted Hancock's attention, however, was Columbiana, a Petee-Wrack mare out of Firetop, a Man o' War half sister to Apogee, bred at Claiborne (by John R. Macomber) who won the 1937 Widener Challenge Cup Handicap, the predecessor of the Widener Handicap. Columbiana produced two good runners by *Blenheim II for Calumet Farm in Free America and Ocean Wave. Macomber also bred the 1941 Omaha filly Flaming Top out of Firetop, who was acquired by Hancock.

By breeding Flaming Top to Menow in 1946, Hancock was duplicating the pattern Headley used to produce Apogee ten years earlier, because Menow was *Pharamond II's best son. The cross also created a 4x4 inbreeding to Ultimus, who was one of the prime sources of pure speed in American pedigrees.

Bred by Headley in 1935, Menow staked his claim as champion two-year-old of 1937 with a track-record victory in the Futurity Stakes and a season-ending triumph in the Champagne Stakes. Although he did not stay the distance of the Kentucky Derby (fourth to Lawrin), Menow managed to finish third in the 1938 Preakness Stakes and then romped easily in the one-mile Withers Stakes. Menow scored his greatest victory, though, in the nine-furlong Massachusetts Handicap later that year, pinning an eight-length upset on a field headed by the great War Admiral, who endured a rare off day.

Menow was also quite a high-class sire, ranking third on the general sire list in 1951 when his best son, Tom Fool, was champion juvenile colt. That great colt was the Headley stallion's second all-around champion; he had sired 1949 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old Capot in 1946. Menow also sired 1942 champion two-year-old filly Askmenow and 29 other stakes winners for a sparkling 11% ratio of stakes winners to foals.

The *Pharamond II horse sired only 291 foals in 18 crops, however, a small number of foals even in those ancient days of 40-mare books.

"I don't know if he was a shy breeder or not," said Alice Headley Chandler, daughter of Hal Price Headley, "but he was an awfully slow breeder. The old saying around town was, 'If you're going to breed at Beaumont, take your lunch.' He took forever."

Menow's best son, Tom Fool, was a progressively shy (and very slow) breeder at Greentree Stud, and Capot was almost sterile, siring only 13 foals.

Menow was an effective broodmare sire, too. His daughters produced 51 stakes winners, including champions Castle Forbes, Flaming Page, and High Voltage as well as the top-class racehorse and sire Red God.

Modest racer

Flaring Top began her racing career for Taylor and Alexandra on June 2, 1949, at Detroit Race Course, the closest American racecourse to Toronto. Lightly regarded at 46.70-to-1, she ran to those odds and finished ninth, beaten more than eight lengths in a five-furlong maiden race. That did not encourage bettors for her second start two weeks later, but she improved somewhat, beaten only two lengths in fifth place in a similar race, starting at 43.50-to-1.

Flaring Top showed a bit more early speed in her third attempt, another

Detroit maiden race nine days later, running fourth early, but she could not keep up and was beaten nine lengths, finishing sixth. A month later, Flaring Top made her final juvenile start at Jamaica Race Course in New York in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race for $5,000 claimers. Theoretically, Flaring Top was dropping down in class, but since Jamaica's racing was on a much higher level than that at Detroit, it is doubtful if that change in conditions accounts for her sudden transformation. Never having been close to the lead in three previous starts, she went right to the front under Racing Hall of Fame rider Ted Atkinson and drew steadily away for a nine-length victory over the colt Mezzanine while running the distance in 1:07 2/5. The Menow filly did not race again for almost exactly a year, so that effort may have been a costly one.

Flaring Top was transferred to the care of Gordon "Pete" McCann, who had become Taylor's principal trainer, and spent the entire 1950 racing season in Canada. She ran second throughout in a six-furlong allowance race at Fort Erie on July 21, beaten a length by the stakes-placed colt *Yogan. Flaring Top finished first in a similar race ten days later, but she was disqualified after bearing in twice in the final furlong and bumping second-finisher Fighting Fit.

Fourth in a six-furlong allowance race at Hamilton Park, she scored her second victory on September 9 at old Woodbine, coming from far behind to beat stakes-placed Tab Field by 1 1/4 lengths while running six furlongs in 1:12 1/5.

That form cut no ice at the next allowance level, and Flaring Top finished seventh, beaten seven lengths in another Woodbine allowance race on September 21.

The Ontario racing circuit in that era consisted of short meetings at more than a dozen different racetracks known as the "leaky-roof circuit," and Flaring Top followed the circus to Long Branch, winning a six-furlong allowance eight days later, beating stakes-placed four-year-old colt Ladolee by three lengths.

This was probably the best form she ever showed. She ran the distance in 1:12 2/5, winning easily at the unique odds of 37.5 cents to $1. (Taylor began transforming the "leaky-roof circuit" in the late 1950s by buying up most of the small, independent tracks, closing them, and building the new Woodbine in Etobicoke. Modern Woodbine, which hosted the Breeders' Cup in 1996, stands as a monument to Taylor's vision of what Canadian racing could be.)

Flaring Top tried a longer distance for the first time in a mile-and-70-yard allowance race at Long Branch on October 6 but finished a well-beaten fifth. She did a little better at 1 1/16 miles ten days later, finishing fourth, beaten three lengths by stakes winner Everness. Around the "bullring" track at Dufferin Park, she put in a mild rally to finish second, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Bard of Avon, at seven furlongs on October 10. The daughter of Menow was well beaten over 1 1/16 miles at the same track on November 11, however, and that proved to be her final race.

Good start

Flaring Top was obviously below stakes caliber, even on the Canadian circuit, but she was a very well-bred filly who had shown enough ability to earn a significant chance at stud. After her purchase at Keeneland, her year-older half brother, Illuminable, by Sun Again, had won the 1948 Spalding Lowe Jenkins Stakes. Later in the 1950s, her pedigree improved further when her half sister Doubledogdare, by Double Jay, earned champion two- and three-year-old filly honors in 1955 and '56, respectively.

Flaring Top more than did her part in improving the pedigree as well. Her first foal, Gleam, by Taylor's French-bred stallion *Tournoi, won two of five starts in Canada as a three-year-old in 1955. Sold to Catesby Clay's Runnymede Farm, Gleam produced the stakes-winning Bagdad filly Evening Bag for Clay, as well as the unraced Coz O'Nijinsky, by Involvement (by Intent). To the cover of Raja Baba, Coz O'Nijinsky produced the top-class two-year-old Royal Ski, winner of the 1976 Laurel Futurity (G1) and Remsen Stakes (G2). Royal Ski did not train on at three but was spectacularly successful in America with his first two crops of foals. However, he had been sold to Japan after those two covering seasons and was unable to duplicate that success in Japan.

Royal Ski sired 14 stakes winners in his two American crops, including Grade 1 winners Ski Goggle and Snow Plow. In Japan, however, he sired only six more stakes winners from 18 crops, headed by 1990 champion Japanese three-year-old filly Agnes Flora.

Royal Ski also has established a legacy as a broodmare sire, primarily through Agnes Flora, who is dam of 2000 Japanese Derby winner Agnes Flight and 2001 Japanese Two Thousand Guineas winner Agnes Tachyon, both by Sunday Silence. Royal Ski is also maternal grandsire of 1999 champion Japanese sprinter Air Jihad, by Sakura Yutaka O, and of Ski Paradise, by Lyphard, winner of the 1994 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Fr-G1) and second in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1).

Coz O'Nijinsky's half sister Tomorrowland, by *Pappa Fourway, is grandam of an equally effective racehorse of an entirely different type. Her daughter by Bold Reasoning, Why Me Lord, is dam of the very good stayer Allez Milord, by Tom Rolfe. Allez Milord won the 1986 Europa Preis (Ger-G1) and finished second in the Japan Cup (Jpn-G1) at three, and then added another Grade 1 triumph in the Oak Tree Invitational Handicap (G1) at four. Since 1 1/2-mile turf runners possessed little stud value in the U.S., Allez Milord also was exported to stand in Japan but found little success, siring only six stakes winners from 419 foals.

First stakes winner

Gleam's ultimate value to the breed lay in the breeding shed, but her full brother, Top Tourn, Flaring Top's 1953 colt by *Tournoi, revealed his dam's potential as a producer. Sold for $7,500 to McCracken Stable at Taylor's annual prepriced yearling sale in 1954, Top Tourn was a formidable racehorse on the Canadian circuit for eight seasons. Winner of 23 of 108 starts, Top Tourn won four stakes at sprint distances, equaling the track record for 6 1/2 furlongs at Fort Erie in the 1958 Inferno Handicap.

Barren in 1954, Flaring Top's third foal was the '55 Windfields filly Flaming Wind. Not sold at the 1956 Taylor prepriced sale, doubtless because she was extremely pigeon-toed, Flaming Wind overcame that flaw sufficiently to win three of 12 starts at two and three, earning $5,275.

This writer became intimately acquainted with Flaming Wind and several other offspring and descendants of Flaring Top while working at Windfields Farm's Maryland division in 1970-'71. All were somewhat pigeon-toed, with the notable exception of Flaming Page, and all were big, slab-sided, deep-shouldered horses, including Flaming Wind's best daughter, French Wind, by *Menetrier. Winner of the 1963 Display Stakes, French Wind and her mother both were fiery-tempered mares with very aggressive personalities.

Flaming Wind's daughter Flaming Fields, by New Providence, produced Blondy (Ven), by Lord Gayle. Probably the best horse ever bred in Venezuela, Blondy won 19 of 23 starts in her native land, earning the equivalent of $1,093,701. Blondy produced an excellent filly in multiple graded winner An Empress, by Affirmed.

Flaming Wind's great-grandson New Regent, by Vice Regent, was a useful two-year-old in Canada and achieved modest success at stud in Australia, siring 15 stakes winners (3%), including 1988 AJC Oaks (Aus-G1) winner Savana City.

Descendants of Flaming Wind's daughter Flaming Issue, by Ace Marine, have formed a strikingly successful alliance with sons of Caro (Ire). Flaming Wind's great-granddaughter Rosedon, by Vice Regent, produced Canadian champion Benburb, by Dr. Carter, and stakes winner Lady Aloma, by Cozzene. Rosedon's daughter, Amynteon, by Rahy, produced My Girl Lisa, by With Approval. Muravera, another granddaughter of Flaming Issue, produced Myrakalu (Fr), by Kaldoun.

Flaring Top's fourth foal, the 1956 *Menetrier filly Merry and Bright, also proved more valuable as a broodmare than as a racehorse. Led out unsold at the Windfields prepriced yearling sale, Merry and Bright won only one of five starts at two and three and earned only $1,300.

Merry and Bright's best offspring, Fanfaron, by Victoria Park, won a division of the 1969 Plate Trial and ran second in the Queen's Plate. Merry and Bright's granddaughter Flight, by Barachois, however, is busily establishing a highly successful branch of the family. Her daughter Cheval Volant, by Kris S., won the 1989 Hollywood Starlet (G1) and '90 Las Virgenes (G1) Stakes and is grandam of 2000 One Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) winner Lahan (GB), by Unfuwain.

Kingfield Farm purchased Top Tourn's full brother Quintain, Flaring Top's 1957 colt by *Tournoi, for $12,500 at Taylor's 1958 prepriced sale. Over five productive seasons in Canada, Quintain won 11 of 61 starts and earned $41,096, winning the Continental Handicap and running second in the 1960 Queen's Plate. Flaring Top's 1958 filly Flashing Top, by *Menetrier, another pigeon-toed filly, did not find a buyer at Taylor's annual sale but won seven of 40 starts for Windfields, including the 1960 Shady Well Stakes, and earned $30,457. Flashing Top produced only six foals, five of them colts. Four of the colts placed in stakes, but her lone daughter has not carried on the line.

Flaming Page

Flaring Top's seventh foal was a big, handsome, correct filly by Bull Page who did not find a buyer at the Windfields prepriced yearling sale in 1960.

Trained by Horatio Luro, Flaming Page showed promise at two in 1961, winning two of seven starts, including the Shady Well Stakes. At three, she proved she was a high-class filly in any context, finishing second to the great racemare Cicada in the 1962 Kentucky Oaks.

Although not as good as Cicada, Flaming Page was a champion in Canada, winning the Canadian Oaks and defeating colts in the Queen's Plate. She did not last long after the Queen's Plate and retired at the end of her three-year-old season with a record of four wins in 16 starts, earnings of $108,836, and recognition as Canada's champion three-year-old filly of 1962.

Flaming Page produced only three foals; a prolapsed uterus suffered while attempting to deliver her fourth foal ended her reproductive career.

Her first foal, Fleur, by Victoria Park, was a big, coarse, rather masculine filly who was only good enough to finish third in the Summer Stakes as a two-year-old. Fleur, who won three of 22 starts, proved a wonderful broodmare for Windfields at the height of its fame as a source of top international racehorses. Her fourth foal, Far North, by Northern Dancer, was rated one of the best two-year-olds in France in 1975, when he won the Prix Saint-Roman (Fr-G3), but his form at three was compromised by illness.

Although far from a consistent sire, Far North had his moments at stud, siring 39 stakes winners (5%), including 1994 champion older horse The Wicked North, '86 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas) (Fr-G1) winner Fast Topaze, and '85 Grade 1 winner Dawn's Curtsey.

Far North's year-younger full brother, The Minstrel, was a far different individual and a much better racehorse and sire. While Far North showed some of the lack of physical polish of his dam, The Minstrel was a small but elegant colt, an early exemplar of what was rapidly becoming known as the Northern Dancer type.

Purchased for $150,000 by Robert Sangster and partners at the 1975 Keeneland July sale, The Minstrel was rated the best two-year-old in England and Ireland in 1977, counting the Dewhurst Stakes (Eng-G1) among his three wins. After winning his first start at three, The Minstrel was narrowly beaten in both the Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) and the Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1), but he showed his stamina and determination by scoring thrilling, gut-wrenching victories in both the Epsom (Eng-G1) and Irish (Ire-G1) Derbys. The Minstrel closed his career with an easier victory over older horses in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Eng-G1) and was then quickly reimported to the U.S. for stud duty before the contagious equine metritis crisis closed down international horse shipping.

The Minstrel was also a very good sire, though never in the same class as his close relative Nijinsky II. He sired 58 stakes winners in 13 crops for a highly respectable 11% strike rate, but the best horse he sired was 1983 champion French miler L'Emigrant, who was only modestly successful at stud. The Minstrel also sired 1986 champion Irish two-year-old Minstrella, 1988 Kildangan Stud Irish Oaks (Ire-G1) dead-heat winner Melodist, 1985 champion English two-year-old Bakharoff, and 1982 German champion Shicklah as well as the top-class runners Treizieme and Opening Verse.

His most famous contribution to the breed, though, was an indirect one. His good son Palace Music, winner of the 1984 Champion Stakes (Eng-G1), sired two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, whose infamous infertility virtually guaranteed that The Minstrel's branch of the Northern Dancer sire line would disappear.

Fleur also produced the stakes-winning filly Flower Princess, by Majestic Prince, who died after producing only two foals, including the stakes-winning Northern Dancer filly Dance Flower, a very disappointing broodmare.

Nijinsky II

Flaming Page was barren in 1965 and 1966, but her second foal, the 1967 Northern Dancer colt Nijinsky II, became one of the greatest racehorses and sires of the 20th century and in the process permanently altered the international commercial breeding industry. Purchased for a Canadian record $84,000 at Taylor's sale in 1968 for the account of Charles W. Engelhard, Nijinsky II raced unbeaten through the first 11 of his 13 career starts.

Although fiery-tempered and excitable, Nijinsky II dominated his contemporaries in England and Ireland at two, winning all five starts easily.

After the colt dismissed his foes contemptuously in the Two Thousand Guineas, jockey Lester Piggott barely allowed Nijinsky II to come off the bit to win the Epsom Derby, defeating *Sea-Bird's best son Gyr by 2 1/2 lengths in near-record time. After adding easy wins in the Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Nijinsky II went to Doncaster with a chance to become the first winner of the English Triple Crown since *Bahram in 1935. Despite suffering from a bad case of ringworm, he accomplished that historic feat by holding off the closing surge of Meadowville.

Nijinsky II's mission to crown an unbeaten career with a victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1), seemed a foregone conclusion, but Piggott held him too far behind the pace. Though Nijinsky II made up the ground, the ultra-game French champion Sassafras (Fr) fought back in the final yards and won by a nose.

That destroyed the myth of Nijinsky II's invincibility, but the great colt did not deserve the ignominy of a second defeat two weeks later in the Champion Stakes. Looking nervous and unhappy before the race, Nijinsky II showed his connections had asked too much by finishing second to *Lorenzaccio, a horse he normally would have outclassed.

Nijinsky II's greatness convinced trainer Vincent O'Brien of the special talents of the Northern Dancers and led O'Brien and partners Robert Sangster and John Magnier to concentrate their efforts on sons of Northern Dancer at American yearling sales over the next two decades.

Physically, Nijinsky II was a larger, masculine version of his dam, bearing little external resemblance to Northern Dancer. In appearance, he was much more from the mold of the offspring of Bull Lea (sire of his broodmare sire Bull Page), who made Calumet Farm famous in the 1940s and '50s. Nijinsky II's primary physical fault were his sickle hocks, a conformational defect inherited from both Nearctic and Bull Lea. He also sired a different physical type than most sons of Northern Dancer, but Nijinsky II most thoroughly passed on the fiery Northern Dancer spirit.

Nijinsky II was almost as good a sire of racehorses as Northern Dancer. He broke his sire's all-time record for number of stakes winners, siring 155 from 862 foals, although his 18% ratio of stakes winners to foals was about five percentage points lower than his sire's 23%. Nijinsky II sired an almost equally lengthy series of champions and classic winners, including Caerleon, Ferdinand, Sky Classic, De La Rose, Ile de Bourbon, Golden Fleece, Lammtarra, Royal Academy, Shahrastani, and Green Dancer. Nijinsky II led the English sire list in 1986, and he was leading broodmare sire in the U.S. in 1993 and '94.

Nijinsky II sired a far higher percentage of real stayers than did Northern Dancer, and that factor militated against him somewhat as a sire of sires.

Still, his male line continues to thrive through Caerleon, Ile de Bourbon, Green Dancer, Royal Academy, and his grandson Strawberry Road (Aus).

Flaming Page's last foal, Nijinsky II's full brother Minsky, inherited some of the coarseness sometimes found in the Bull Leas and a somewhat uncertain temperament. Minsky earned championship honors in Ireland as a two-year-old but was not good enough to compete with England's best at three. Reimported to North America, he won two editions of Canada's Durham Cup Handicap but never reached the top of the tree. Minsky proved to be a very poor foal-getter and was eventually exported for stud duty to Japan. Silksky, Japan's champion two-year-old filly of 1978, was his only significant stakes winner.

Final contributions

Flaring Top's 1960 foal died, and she was barren in 1961. Her 1962 Victoria Park colt, Top Victory, was gelded and won nine of 42 starts in six seasons, earning $33,455, and placing in the '66 Canadian Handicap.

Flaming Victress, another pigeon-toed daughter by the pigeon-toed Victoria Park, won three of 11 starts at two and three, earning $6,290. Her 1976 One for All colt, All for Victory, set a track record in the 1979 Canadian Derby. Flaming Victress's granddaughter, Phoenix Factor, by Briartic, won Canadian champion two-year-old filly honors in 1987.

Flaring Top's third consecutive foal by Victoria Park, the 1964 filly Flamatory, won three of nine starts at two and three and placed in the '67 Bison City Stakes. Flamatory died before producing a foal.

Flaring Top's 1965 foal died, but she produced her final foal, Friendly Relations, by Nearctic, in 1966. Friendly Relations won only once in 12 starts, earning $3,690, but, like each of Flaring Top's surviving daughters, she was quite good as a broodmare. Her best foal, Viendra, by Raise a Native, won the 1982 Convenience Stakes and produced three stakes winners, including '93 Selima Stakes (G3) winner Irish Forever, by Irish River (Fr). Friendly Relations's daughters Kindheartedness, Elzevir, and Timely Affair are all stakes producers.

Torchbearers

The contributions of Flaring Top and her prolific family to the Thoroughbred breed are inestimable and everlasting. The Menow mare herself produced 11 foals.

Every one of them made it to the races and won at least one race. Four of them were stakes winners, including champion Flaming Page. Two others placed in stakes. Six of her seven daughters to survive produced stakes winners, and the seventh produced four stakes-placed runners from six foals.

Like virtually all Foundation Mares, Flaring Top was a very well-bred mare. Her pedigree included almost all of the most important strains of the 1930s and '40s, including that double cross of Ultimus, Phalaris through *Pharamond II, *Sir Gallahad III through Gallant Fox, and Man o' War.

Flaming Page added another crucial cross of *Teddy through *Sir Gallahad III's full brother *Bull Dog, sire of Bull Lea, sire of Bull Page. As has often been noted, that concentration of *Teddy crossed especially well with Northern Dancer to produce the immortal Nijinsky II.

Although it is the Flaming Page branch of the Flaring Top family that brought international renown to both her family and Windfields Farm, other branches of Flaring Top's voluminous brood produced two champions, an English classic winner, and top racehorse and sire Royal Ski. Few families can match that record. Unfortunately, the branch descending from Flaming Page, limited by its small numbers, has not carried the flame forward, but the 2000 classic victory of Lahan shows that other descendants of Flaring Top are quite capable of picking up the torch for her.

The story of the Flaring Top family is inextricably intertwined with those of E. P. Taylor and Northern Dancer. Taylor bred the majority of the best members of the family, including Northern Dancer's champion sons Nijinsky II and Minsky and their three-quarter brothers The Minstrel and Far North.

It is primarily through that fortuitous combination-Northern Dancer on Flaring Top's daughter Flaming Page, and her daughter Fleur-that the blood of Flaring Top will be found in 21st-century pedigrees.