Bessarabian | |
---|---|
Sire | Vice Regent |
Grandsire | Northern Dancer |
Dam | Tete de Linotte |
Damsire | Turn-To |
Sex | Filly |
Foaled | 1982 |
Country | United States |
Colour | Bay |
Breeder | Welcome Farm (Richard Winn) |
Owner | Eaton Hall Farm |
Trainer | Michael J. Doyle |
Record | 37: 18-5-4 |
Earnings | $1,032,640 |
Major wins | |
Gardenia Stakes (1984) Ontario Debutante Stakes (1984) Mazarine Stakes (1984) Selene Stakes (1985) Lady Angela Stakes (1985) Ontario Colleen Handicap (1985) Hibiscus Stakes (1985) Woodbine Breeders' Cup Stakes (1986) Ontario Matron Stakes (1986) Seaway Stakes (1986) Canadian Stakes (1986) Tattling Handicap (1986) | |
Awards | |
Canadian Champion Older Female Horse (1986) | |
Honours | |
Bessarabian Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack |
Bessarabian (foaled 1982 in Pennsylvania) is a Canadian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Owned by Thor Eaton's Eaton Hall Farm, the Eaton family member entrusted her race conditioning to Mike Doyle. The millionaire granddaughter of Northern Dancer, Bessarabian raced in Canada and the United States.
As a two-year-old, Bessarabian had an outstanding season with wins in the Ontario Debutante and Mazarine Stakes. [1] Sent to compete in the United States, on October 26 she scored an impressive victory at Garden State Park, winning the $200,000 G2 Gardenia Stakes by more than nine lengths. [2] [3] That performance would see Bessarabian sent off as the parimutuel betting favorite in the 1984 inaugural running of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies held that year at California's Hollywood Park Racetrack. However, coming out of the first turn of the race, Fran's Valentine veered wide and knocked another horse off stride and into Bessarabian who never recovered and finished fifth. Fran's Valentine won the race but was disqualified and the win awarded to runner-up, Outstandingly. [4]
Bessarabian began her 1985 three-year-old campaign with a win in the Hibiscus Stakes at Florida's Hialeah Park Racetrack. [5] Returned north to Canada, she was the winner of three important stakes at Woodbine Racetrack. [1]
Following her most successful year in racing, four-year-old Bessarabian was voted the 1986 Sovereign Award for Champion Older Female Horse. She was then retired from racing having won eighteen of her thirty-seven starts. [6] [7]
Retired to broodmare duty, Bessarabian produced four foals, the most successful of which in racing was probably Dagda, a stakes-winning gelding born in 1992 sired by Alysheba.
In 1996 the Woodbine track renamed the Etobicoke Handicap in her honor. [1]
Sire Vice Regent | Northern Dancer | Nearctic | Nearco |
---|---|---|---|
Lady Angela | |||
Natalma | Native Dancer | ||
Almahmoud | |||
Victoria Regina | Menetrier | Fair Copy | |
La Melodie | |||
Victoriana | Windfields | ||
Iribelle | |||
Dam Tete de Linotte | Turn-To | Royal Charger | Nearco |
Sun Princess | |||
Source Sucree | Admiral Drake | ||
Lavendula | |||
Pink Nightie | Windfields | Bunty Lawless | |
Nandi | |||
Pink Sapphire | Vincentive | ||
Lump Sugar (family: 5-g) |
The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles for a maximum of 17 three-year-old Thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer, normally in June or July, at Woodbine Racetrack in Etobicoke, Ontario. It is the first race in the Canadian Triple Crown.
Desmond Sandford "Sandy" Hawley, is a Canadian Hall of Fame jockey.
Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the Queen's Plate. The track was opened in 1956 with a one-mile oval dirt track, as well as a seven-eights turf course. It has been extensively remodeled since 1993, and since 1994 has had three racecourses.
Norcliffe (1973–1984) was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. He was sired by U.S. Hall of Fame Champion Buckpasser out of the mare Drama School by Northern Dancer.
The Coronation Futurity Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old horses foaled in Canada. It is run annually in mid-November at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at a distance of 1+1⁄8 miles. Along with its turf counterpart, the Cup and Saucer Stakes, the Coronation Futurity is the richest race for two-year-olds foaled in Canada.
The Cup and Saucer Stakes is a thoroughbred horse race held annually in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Open to two-year-old horses foaled in Canada, it is currently run at a distance of 1+1⁄16 miles on turf. Along with its dirt race counterpart, the Coronation Futurity Stakes, the Cup and Saucer Stakes is the richest race for two-year-olds foaled in Canada.
Glorious Song (1976–2003) was a Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who was a Champion in Canada and the United States and became an important broodmare. Bred by the prominent horseman E. P. Taylor at his Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario, she was sired by Halo and out of the mare Ballade, who also produced U.S. Champion Devil's Bag.
Carotene is a Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who holds the filly or mare record for winning the most Sovereign Awards. Bred by David Willmot's Kinghaven Farms, she was a daughter of the British sire Great Nephew, who also sired Epsom Derby winners Grundy and Shergar. Carotene's dam was Carrot Top, a mare David Willmot purchased in foal from the Whitney family at the 1982 dispersal sale of their bloodstock in the United Kingdom.
Droll Role was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He is best known for a series of wins in major North American turf races in 1972, including the Canadian International Stakes and the Washington, D.C. International Stakes
Flaming Page was a Canadian Thoroughbred who was a Champion racehorse and then an outstanding broodmare. She is best known as the dam of English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky. She was elected to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1980.
Robert P. Tiller is a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. A resident of Brampton, Ontario, he has long been one of the top trainers at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack. He has won four training titles at Woodbine Racetrack, earned three Sovereign Awards for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2008.
Northernette was a Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse. A Canadian champion at both ages two and three, she was also a Grade I stakes winner in the United States.
The Bessarabian Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually since 1985 at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Raced at a distance of seven furlongs, it is held during the latter part of November and is open to fillies and mares, age three and older. It has been a Grade II event since 2013.
Classy 'n Smart was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by Sam-Son Farm, she won five of nine career starts, including two legs of what would later be known as the Canadian Triple Tiara. Although she was voted the 1984 Canadian Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, her primary legacy is as a champion broodmare.
Lauries Dancer was a Canadian National Champion and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racemare who won top races in Canada and the United States.
Gold Strike is a Canadian Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. Bred and raced by Dick Bonnycastle's Harlequin Ranches, she was out of the mare, Brassy Gold. Her sire was the outstanding Smart Strike, a two-time Leading sire in North America who also sired Curlin, Soaring Free, and English Channel, among others.
Saoirse is a Canadian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.
Deceit Dancer is a Canadian Champion filly Thoroughbred racehorse.
Outstandingly (1982) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was voted an Eclipse Award as the American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1984.
Fran's Valentine was a Thoroughbred racehorse filly, who, in 1985 as a three-year-old, won the Graded stakes races the Hollywood Oaks, Kentucky Oaks and Santa Susana Stakes. Trained by Joseph Manzi, she was the first filly to win both the Kentucky Oaks and Hollywood Oaks. Her lifetime earnings were $1,375,465, and she had 13 wins from 34 races.