This article was inspired by a request from VAULT reader, John Embry. But as we began to research Zarkava, as per John’s request, we came across a number of astoundingly good European fillies and mares. As you might imagine, each one of these great thoroughbreds was loved as passionately as Personal Ensign, Ruffiian, Rags To Riches, Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta during their racing campaigns and subsequent broodmare careers. Since there are too many great Euro fillies and mares to write about in one article, the plan is to continue this series, though not necessarily in consecutive instalments. At a later date, our visit with champions from “across the pond” will include Goldikova, Miesque, Allez France and Dahlia.
ZARKAVA (2005) bred in IRELAND by owner HRH the Aga Khan
Zarkava has a WOW! kind of pedigree and her owner-breeder acknowledges that she represents the zenith of his breeding program to date, even though the Aga Khan’s breeding operation has produced the likes of Epsom Derby winners Shergar, Shahrastani and Kahyasi. Quite the complement to a quirky, gutsy mare who won all seven of her starts, retiring undefeated.
So deep is Zarkava’s bloodline that it is difficult to imagine how she could have been anything but a superstar. For starters, her sire, Zamindar (1994) is by the great American stallion, Gone West (1984), a grandson of Secretariat (1970). Zamindar’s dam, Zalzafon (1982) is a daughter of Epsom Derby winner, The Minstrel (1974), one of the gutsiest thoroughbreds ever trained by the esteemed Vincent O’Brien. In addition, Zarkava is inbred to Northern Dancer (4 X 5) and to the dam of Nijinsky II, Flaming Page (5 X 5).
Zarkava’s dam, Zarkasha (1999) is the daughter of Epsom and Irish Derby winner, Kahyasi (1985), a grandson of the last British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky II (1967). Zarkasha is out of Zarkana (1992), a daughter of Doyoun (1985), the sire of champions Daylami (1994) and Kalanisi (1996). Doyoun’s sire, England’s beloved Mill Reef (1968), won both the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
How’s that for royal blood?
During her racing career, the incomparable Zarkava took pretty much all of France’s most prestigious classic races, beating the likes of Goldikova (twice), Da Re Mi, Youmzain, Duke of Marmalade and Soldier of Fortunes, all outstanding horses in their own right. Noted for her exuberance out of the starting gate at 2 (see the “Zarkava leap” above), it took time for her trainer, Alain du Royer-Dupre and her jockey, the talented Christophe Soumillon to “get her right.” But even as they puzzled over the right way to get Zarkava into a more relaxed stride leaving the gate so that she could really call on her stamina in longer matches, the bay daughter of Zamindar just went right on winning. By 3, Zarkava had learned to race at a more relaxed, steady pace, saving her energies for the home stretch. Despite her relentless marches to victory that preceded it, her most spectacular victory came in the Arc in 2008 and raised her to the status of a French heroine:
A lovely (though long) video that features all of Zarkava’s victories and includes some rather rare footage:
Now retired, Zarkava produced a filly by another Arc winner, the handsome grey, Dalakhani (2000), in 2010. In 2011, she delivered a colt by the incomparable Sea The Stars (2006), who, like Zarkava herself, was retired following his victory in the Arc. These two babies are the progeny, between them, of 3 Arc winners. Wow! Here’s hoping that each of their futures shines as brightly as their parents. As we said at the beginning, it seems unlikely that we’re not looking at champions in the making.
ALL ALONG (1979) Bred in France by owner Daniel Wildenstein
She raced in France, Japan, the UK and the USA, as well as in Canada, and wherever she went, they fell in love with All Along. Angel Cordero dreamed (literally!) that he would get a chance to ride her even before he piloted All Along to a second place finish in the 1983 BC Turf. The loss was heartbreaking, but Cordero noted the slow pace and had only praise for the mare. Clearly, in his eyes, she had lost nothing in defeat. Barbara Livingston, America’s best loved equine photographer, writing about meeting All Along in her exquisite and informative book, Old Friends, had this to say in her conclusion, ” She was tickled to be brought in from the Midway, Kentucky paddock where she grazed with friends. Still awed by her racing performances, I was equally tickled to rub her face and say I’d touched All Along.”
As is the case with Zarkava, All Along’s pedigree bespoke depth and stamina. The beautiful mare was a granddaughter of America’s champion, Round Table (1954) out of Agujita (1966), a daughter of Vieux Manoir (1947), winner of French and English classics, from the British sire line of Blandford (1919) and Swynford (1907). In her third generation, All Along carries Bold Ruler (1954), Princequillo (1940) and Coastal Traffic (1941), a son of the immortal Hyperion (1930). She is also inbred to the great Prince Rose (1928) in her fourth generation.
Vieux Manoir’s sire, Brantome (1931) had a dramatic story of his own. The Arc winner was retired to stand in France, but during the Second World War, he was seized by the Germans, along with some 600 other French thoroughbreds. During the war years, Brantome stood as a kind of hostage at the German National Stud, before being recovered and returned to France in 1945. Lucky, too, since Brantome’s son, Vieux Manoir was also the grandsire of Ivanjica (1972) who won the Arc, as well as Val de Loire (1959), an outstanding French stallion who was the broodmare sire of the ill-fated but brilliant Shergar (1978).
All Along started 21 times, winning 9 and only being out of the money in 6. Trained by Patrick Biancone, All Along showed promise until the beginning of her four year-old campaign, where she sustained three losses. However, come her fourth race that year, the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, All Along began a stunning array of victories that would see her victorious in three different countries, including her homeland. It was her second try at the Arc, but this time All Along was not to be denied. Given her losses that year, it is not surprising that in the footage below the track announcer never mentions her name until the field turns for home. Ridden by a young Walter Swinburn, All Along showed an astonishing turn of foot that day to cross the wire first. Watch for Swinburn’s navy silks and white cap on the thoroughbred against the rail as the horses near the finish line:
Following her victory in the Arc, the commanding bay mare shipped to Toronto, Canada for the Rothman’s International, where she would again vanquish the colts. Next on the hit list was the American Turf Classic, which she won by almost nine lengths going away. Her final race that year was the Washington D. C. International. Did she win it? Of course she did, defeating the likes of Majesty’s Prince and other international turf stars. That same year, All Along was the Horse of the Year and Champion Older Female in the USA and her native France, respectively. The gifted mare was also inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1990.
All Along spent her broodmare career at Three Chimneys in Kentucky. As a broodmare, All Along was less lucky. Of her 13 foals, the ones who raced proved to be mediocre, despite having brilliant parents on both the top and bottom of their pedigrees. Pensioned in 2003, All Along died on February 23, 2005 at the age of 26. She is buried at Three Chimneys.
Despite her lack of success in the breeding shed, All Along had already attained racing immortality before her attention turned to motherhood. Her exploits on the turf against international fields of colts and fillies are the stuff of legend. Neither time can diminish her, nor racing hearts ever forget her.
THE VAULT credits Barbara Livingston’s outstanding thoroughbred ethnography, Old Friends, for the excerpt in which Barbara’s admiration for All Along is quoted. Readers interested in purchasing a copy of Old Friends or any of Livingston’s books should visit the Eclipse Press (Blood-Horse web site) or abebooks.com
have to read the whole of the article, but thumbs up already for writing about such a topic which is very close to my heart. there were many many outstanding fillies and mares in europe over the years, please consider the wonderful wonderful Lochsong, and of course Pebbles.
http://www.spontano.net/FrauenPower
pebbles and lochsong are here (scroll down)
http://www.spontano.net/Racing-Greats-I-
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I also sent you a gmail response but in case you didn’t receive it: GREAT IDEA! How could I have forgotten Pebbles? They are both on my list!!!!
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Great, great post!
I love the “Zarkava leap” it’s become an almost iconic photo now. Her foals are both beautiful but her Dalakhani filly is really striking!
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Brian: That leap is really something, isn’t it? Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it!
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Fabulous idea to highlight the great European mares; we in the US tend to not be as conscious of horses that race elsewhere. One small correction though: Sea the Stars was NOT undefeated as he finished fourth in his first race. He then won his next eight races to go 9-8-0-0.
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Laura: Thanks for pointing that out. I don’t know why I thought that he had never been bested….but I WILL CORRECT IT! I’m glad you like the idea of a Euro series. It could make for an interesting read for North American readers.
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Abigail, I don’t comment often, but please know that I devour each and every one of your posts! I love to read about the bloodlines and the history. One question on this one – you cite Majestic Prince as one of the horses All Along defeated in the 1983 Washington DC International. The only Majestic Prince I know of won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1969, and died in 1981. Is this a different horse? Or just a typo?
Thanks again for all the work you put into each and every one of these blogs. I’m so happy when I see a new one has been posted!
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Cleone: Thanks so much for your enthusiastic support of THE VAULT. It’s just so terrific to know some of my readers, although I do know that the majority never leave comments. I understand that. I’m not much of a “comment person” myself! Thanks for pointing out the error. It should have read Majesty’s Prince. Am correcting it immediately!
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Just breezed through this quickly and am in the process of going back through, as I do with all your posts, Abigail! After watching Zarkava’s win in the Arc, I had to re-watch Zenyatta’s 2009 Breeder’s Cup, and, besides their names beginning with a “Z”, rather unusual in itself, these two fillies looked almost like twins in how they ran the race, how they finished, and even down to their white shadow rolls!! Both have a very long stride…Zarkava looked almost like Istabraq in that one picture!! Am curious why they retired her after such a short career.
Thanks for another wonderful and juicy “lesson”.
So very sorry about Rewilding! Could not believe it…I was not watching when it happened, but had put together my racing blog with info about the race and then got stuck and couldn’t watch it live. I hate it when people make knee jerk judgments about the decision to euthanize him. If there is one stable whose decisions I would not try to second-guess, it would be Godolphin’s. And, if ever we can know for sure it was not a decision that had a financial component, it would certainly be this one. My heart goes out to them.
Best wishes,
Ann Maree
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Ann Maree: I know — I found that both Zarkava and Along Along reminded me of Zenny, and All Along shares blood relatives with Z as well. RE: Retirement of Zarkava — my guess would be that, given the fact the Arc is the zenith of European racing, their feeling would have been that she had nothing left to prove. Also, she’s a very valuable lady as a broodmare and they wouldn’t have wanted to take any risks with her. Other possibility is that, like many fillies, once they come into season they really don’t want to race any more & might be upset by the colts. I would guess that this is really what happened to our Rachel @ 4. She got a taste of freedom on the farm, was ready to breed and just didn’t want to race any longer.
Rewilding — it will take me some time to get over this. He was a brilliant colt and a real possibility for the Arc. Now I do love Nathaniel. He blew me away @ Ascot this year. Even more so than Frankel. Plus, he wears a heart on his brow as did my love, Nijinsky. (This must be a “sign” I keep telling myself.) But Rewilding….. Sheikh Mohammed LOVES his horses like the Mosses & Sherriffs love Zenny. I mean, this is the man that brought Lammtarra back from Japan — where he turned out to be a bust as a sire — because he loved him & wanted to protect him from harm. The Godolphin people are all like this. The pain they must have felt destroying that outstanding colt.
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Abigail, I love reading your blogs and learning the history of thoroughbred horses thru your eyes. I’m so glad you’ve chosen to keep the history alive, there are so many champion racehorses that have literally fallen from the face the earth once their racing careers are over, never to be heard from again! May I suggest two outstanding horses, who I’m sure people would be truly interested in learning about, my first horse-love Canonero II and Pebbles. I would love to hear their stories told for the world to know how special each one was! Keep the stories coming……!
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Valeria: Thanks so much for taking the time to write. I agree about the history. It’s so important to honour these great horses while they are among us. It’s my contribution to a sport I have loved since I was a child. I really do believe that if people knew the proud history of thoroughbred racing they could see what a vibrant sport horse racing really is. And I just love hearing from readers such as yourself, because you are the people that I write THE VAULT for. Interestingly, you are the second reader to ask for Pebbles. I will add her to my list of other great Euro fillies & mares. She was just extraordinary and is a good example of how easily great thoroughbreds “fall off the earth,” as I am somewhat shocked about how little information there is on her out there anymore. I will add Canonero II to my list as well. Another fabulous thoroughbred. Steve Haskin did a great piece on him some time ago now. Here’s the link: http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2011/03/26/viva-canonero.aspx
Have you read it? I thought it was just fabulous! Given that Haskin reprinted it a very short time ago, I’ll need to wait before I write on him again. But I promise you: I will !!!
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Thanks Abigail, yes I was able to read Steve’s piece on Canonero II, after years of trying to find any piece of info on him. I was only 11 years old when I saw him win the Kentucky Derby in 1971, a skinny, leggy colt, who looked out of place there with the crown princes of racing, but oh could he run! That’s when the love affair with the horse began for me, my mom always said I had a soft spot for longshots! I ‘d liked to think it’s that special essence of the Champion heart that calls out to mine! As for Pebbles, what can I say but as the song goes, ‘The lady is a tramp!’. She was the first filly I ever saw take on the boys in a BC race, she always reminded me of a tomboy! What guts!!!! She was good, and she knew it!
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Abigail, somehow I missed this post until now (not linked on FB?). I am further ashamed to admit that I have never heard of those outstanding fillies until now! 😦 What a treat to read about them. I have never seen a leaping TB in a race besides You-Know-Who’s move in the Preakness, so that photo of the “other Z” is truly spectacular. I will be waiting to see how her babies turn out! And All Along was a gorgeous and talented girl…
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Tracie: It should have gone up on Facebook but HOME pages there change so quickly, don’t you find? I’m forever back-pedalling on my FB page! Glad you enjoyed part one of the Euro series. It’s gotten a lot of very positive feedback. I’m working on the next one in this series now, on Miesque & Goldikova. HUGS!
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IMO All Along is THE most underrated Filly ever. What she did in 6 weeks to win 4 GR1 races like that is in heard of. Not to mention it was vs Open Company. Zarkava had a turn of foot that no filly racing at that time could cope with. NONE. Thank you for a delightful article of two of my FAVORITE fillies ever!. Just Add Dance Smartly and I am good as gold :):) Cheers.
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Woodbine Guy: I completely agree with you. All Along & Zarkava were just AMAZING thoroughbreds and it was a privilege to write about them. Thank you so very much for taking the time to comment. I appreciate hearing from readers so much, since you’re the ones I write to and for!
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http://www.google.com I’m quite about to make this step. This post got me wondering whether i can do it. Again. And thank you very much!
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oShane: Thank you for taking the time to comment!
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