Moccasin

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Keeneland's GI Darley Alcibiades S., a race with a number of notable producers to its credit. Keeneland's first president, Hal Price Headley, held that position until 1951. The next year, the Alcibiades S. was inaugurated in honor of his exceptional homebred two-time champion. The Kentucky Oaks winner was an even better broodmare than racehorse. Among her best foals were champion and influential sire Menow, while...

We're all guilty of it. A horse shows talent; we seek its source in the pedigree; and, however discouraging the initial sifting, eventually we pluck out some plausibly glinting nugget to brandish triumphantly aloft. "See! This proves there is a seam of gold!" And that's fair enough. We all have a stake in the viability of selective breeding, albeit we don't actually want its outcomes to become too predictable. If the mysteries of pedigree were entirely transparent, the guy who buys the sale-topper would win the Derby every year and...