In a typical year, 1,600 Pennsylvania-breds compete on the racetrack for average earnings of $27,600. Of the 50,000+ who have raced across the globe since 1985, only an elite group of 31 horses have broken the seven-figure mark in earnings. Over the course of summer 2020, the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association will be chronicling a ten-part series featuring the select group of Pennsylvania-breds who reached the unique and rare accomplishment of $1,000,000 in racetrack earnings. Join us to celebrate and remember some of the greatest racehorses the Keystone State has produced.
Tikkanen: The Globetrotting Champion
George Strawbridge has etched his name into Pennsylvania lore as the owner and breeder of a record five Pennsylvania-bred millionaires. While this series has already recalled the careers of Strawbridge-breds Smart Bid, Lucarno, and Rochester, the very first to start the honor roll was Tikkanen.
In 1982, George Strawbridge acquired and raced a filly sired by French Champion Two-Year-Old, Targowice. Named Reiko, the filly campaigned in both France and the United States for Strawbridge, bagging four wins in fifteen starts before retiring for broodmare duties at age six.
Strawbridge sent Reiko to Derry Meeting Farm in Cochranville, Pennsylvania to begin her new career, and she quickly established a name for herself among the broodmare ranks. Sent to three-time Group 1 winner Caro for her first foal, Reiko produced a gray colt in 1986 that Strawbridge named Turgeon. Sent to Europe, Turgeon stormed to two Group 1 victories in the Irish and French St. Legers, as well as four additional Group 2 wins in France. He was named France’s Highweight Three-Year-Old Colt in 1989 and Ireland’s Champion Stayer in 1991.
While Turgeon was picking up group success in France as a three-year-old, Caro passed away unexpectedly. With Reiko’s next three foals doing little to match their older half-brother’s prowess, Strawbridge was hoping to find more success with the Caro line. But after Caro’s untimely passing, Strawbridge had to go with the next best thing.
In 1990, Strawbridge sent Reiko to Cozzene, one of Caro’s best sons both on the track and in the breeding shed. The following year, Reiko welcomed her fifth foal into the world on January 23rd. Keeping with the theme of naming Reiko’s offspring after professional hockey players, Strawbridge named her latest foal Tikkanen, and he was sent to France to prepare for his racing career.
On October 7, 1993, Tikkanen debuted at Evry Racecourse in France, easily winning at first asking. His performance warranted an immediate jump to top company, and he made his stakes debut twenty-four days later in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. Facing off against the heavily favored Juddmonte pair of Sunshack and Zindari, Tikkanen checked in third in his first stakes outing.
Put away for the winter, Tikkanen made his three-year-old debut the following April in the listed Prix de Courcelles. Over ground listed “heavy” the colt struggled home to finish third. For the remainder of his career, Tikkanen would show that he was not in favor of soft grass.
Returning by the end of the month, Tikkanen caught a firm turf course in the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe. Sent off at 8-1, the colt took the lead from Dare and Go approaching the final furlong and held off longshot Solid Illusion to win by a diminishing nose.
With a group win under his belt, Tikkanen returned to the Group 1 level in the Prix Lupin. After settling in midpack early, Tikkanen moved up to take the lead by the final furlong. Celtic Arms and Solid Illusion issued late challenges and passed Strawbridge’s colt in the final strides.
Tikkanen took his show to the classics for his next two races, finishing fourth beaten 2 ¾ lengths behind Celtic Arms in the French Derby and fifth behind Balanchine in the Irish Derby.
Given two months rest, Tikkanen began to pick up more stamps on his passport. Starting next in the Group 3 Furstenberg-Rennen in Germany, Tikkanen could not quite run down the frontrunning Twen who held on to win by a nose. Moving onto Italy for the Group 1 Gran Premio d’Italia, the colt caught another heavy turf course and could only manage to come home in fourth, beaten only one length by Close Conflict.
With the opportunity of firm ground beckoning, Strawbridge decided it was time to return Tikkanen to his home country. Only twenty days after his run in Italy, Tikkanen stepped into the starting gate in the United States for the first time. Sent off as the 9-1 longest shot in the field of six for the Grade 1 Turf Classic, Tikkanen finally got the firm turf he was hoping for. Settling into fourth place early, the gray colt launched a bid around the far turn to put himself within contention by the top of the stretch. Vaudeville had taken the lead by the quarter pole and was quickly opening up on the rest of the field, but Tikkanen had dead aim on his rival. In a perfectly timed ride, he swept up alongside Vaudeville in the final strides to stick his neck in front at the wire to finally get his G1 score.
Tikkanen’s winning performance in the Turf Classic warranted a crack at the Breeders’ Cup. Contested that year at Churchill Downs, Tikkanen lined up against a full field of thirteen foes in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf. The horse to beat was Paradise Creek, sporting a record of eight wins in nine starts on the year, and bettors sent him off the 4-5 choice in the full field. Despite his Grade 1 win last out, Tikkanen was discounted at 16-1 as the gates sprung.
Breaking from post nine, Tikkanen fell back to last of fourteen as the field approached the first turn, falling as much as fifteen lengths off the lead in the opening quarter mile. Mike Smith, aboard Tikkanen for the first time, was content to remain towards the back of the pack until the field began approaching the final turn. As Paradise Creek contested a pressured pace with Vaudeville, Smith and Tikkanen started to launch their bid with a half mile remaining. Weaving between horses, Tikkanen easily picked off his foes one-by-one around the far turn. As they rounded into the stretch, he had moved from last to third. By the time Paradise Creek had shaken off Vaudeville, Tikkanen was offering a new challenge on the outside, and he collared the heavy favorite by the ⅛ pole. While Paradise Creek put up a fight for a few strides, Tikkanen surged past and held off the late run from Hatoof to secure Breeders’ Cup glory by 1 ½ lengths. His final time of 2:26.50 for 1 ½ miles was a track record. Twenty-six years later, that track record still stands.
Although he returned to campaign at age four, the Breeders’ Cup was the final time Tikkanen found the winner’s circle. Returning to Europe and campaigning in England, Tikkanen finished second while beaten a neck in the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes. Once returning to the Group 1 level, he checked in fourth in both the Coronation Cup and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Tikkanen traveled back to the United States that fall in hopes of defending his Breeders’ Cup title, but they never materialized after two off-the-board efforts in Grade 1 events. He was finally retired following a poor performance in the G1 Hollywood Turf Cup on December 10, 1995.
Tikkanen entered stallion duties at Arrow Stud in Japan for the 1996 breeding season. He remained there until 2004, moving to Glebe House Stud in Ireland. His top progeny include Japanese Group 3 winner Success Strain and group steeplechase winners Buywise and Golden Chieftain. He passed away in 2015 at the age of twenty-four.
From three years on the racetrack, Tikkanen started fourteen times with four wins, two seconds, and three thirds for earnings of $1,599,335. He campaigned across six different countries, picking up three group/graded wins, with his shining moment coming in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. He was the second of five Pennsylvania-bred Breeders’ Cup winners.
Mor Spirit: Met Mile Champion
When acclaimed attorney Stuart Grant purchased his first racehorse in 2002, he would quickly rise above the ranks as a top owner and breeder under his moniker The Elkstone Group. Only two years after his exploits in horse racing began, Grant purchased the successful Camden Training Center in Aiken, South Carolina. As a Delaware local, he bases the majority of his breeding operation at C-Dog Farm in Chesapeake City, Maryland, but ironically the best horse he’s bred to date was foaled next door in Pennsylvania.
While attending the 2010 Keeneland November Sale, Grant snagged Im a Dixie Girl, a two-time stakes winning daughter by Dixie Union, for a bargain $75,000. In foal to Curlin, the colt she was carrying would bring $150,000 as yearling. After delivering her first foal, Grant bred Im a Dixie Girl to Wood Memorial winner Eskendereya and sent her north to Pennsylvania. With the colt selling for $125,000 as a yearling, Grant sent the mare back to Eskendereya the following year, and on April 1, 2013, she delivered her seventh foal and her second for Grant in Pennsylvania.
Similar to his previous siblings, Stuart Grant opted to sell the dark bay colt as a yearling, and he was picked up by Redwings for $85,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale. The colt developed beautifully over the next few months, and he was accepted to the Fasig-Tipton Florida Select Two-Year-Old Sale the following March. Only five months after selling for a mere $85,000, Im a Dixie Girl’s colt hammered for $650,000 to Bernard Shiappa and Michael Petersen.
Michael Lund Petersen, co-owner of Pandora Jewelry, had taken the jump into owning racehorses the previous year, and he currently had a stable of four horses with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. After purchasing the colt for $650,000, Petersen named him Mor Spirit and sent him west to join Baffert’s California barn.
After finishing second on debut at Santa Anita, Mor Spirit returned on October 23, 2015 to post an eye-opening 4 ¼ length score under a hand ride. He quickly became one of Baffert’s most talked about two-year-olds of the season, and he was pointed straight to stakes company for his next race. Stepping up to the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs, Mor Spirit went off the 2-1 favorite in the field of thirteen. Tracking the early pace over the sloppy track, the colt took command but could not hold off the late charge from Airoforce, finishing second by 1 ¾ lengths.
Returning to his home base of California, Mor Spirit came out of the Kentucky Jockey Club so well that he was entered in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity only three weeks later. Installed the heavy favorite off his previous runs, Mor Spirit hung towards the back of the pack before sweeping around the field and confronting the fellow Baffert-trained Toews on Ice by the top of the stretch. As the two stablemates cleared away from the rest of the field, Mor Spirit skipped past Toews on Ice under a hand ride to cross the wire 1 ¼ lengths in front, notching the first graded stakes win for both himself and Michael Petersen.
Already a Grade 1 winner as a two-year-old, Mor Spirit had lofty expectations heading into his three-year-old season and the Kentucky Derby trail. He returned in Santa Anita’s February Derby prep race, the G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Sitting in third early, Mor Spirit swept up past frontrunners Uncle Lino and I Will Score for a workmanlike 1 ½ length victory.
With the G2 San Felipe next on the agenda, Mor Spirit went off the 8-5 favorite in the field of six. While taking up his customary midpack position in the early going, the colt encountered some traffic trouble and checked off of a rival’s heels heading around the first turn. Meanwhile, Danzing Candy was carving out quick fractions on a lone lead. Mor Spirit managed to improve position after his first turn mishap and moved up to third approaching the top of the stretch, but he was still 3 ½ lengths back. Although able to run down eventual Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator, Mor Spirit couldn’t catch frontrunning Danzing Candy, who had enough in the tank to hold on by two lengths.
Santa Anita Derby Day turned up with a sloppy track, and rain showered down on the racetrack throughout the entire day. Facing off against Danzing Candy and Exaggerator again in his final prep for the Kentucky Derby, Mor Spirit was still installed a slight 7-5 favorite. As Danzing Candy jetted away to more lightning quick fractions, Mor Spirit settled into midpack while Exaggerator fell as far back as 16 ½ lengths. Heading into the far turn, Gary Stevens and Mor Spirit started to launch their bid on the tiring frontrunners, but suddenly Exaggerator, notorious for his sloppy track ability, was catapulting past the entire field to take the lead turning for home. He was long gone, but Mor Spirit still managed to rally past the others to finish second, beaten 6 ¼ lengths.
While he made the 2016 Kentucky Derby, Mor Spirit offered little impression in the rough and tumble Run for the Roses, checking in tenth of twenty. Sent away for a freshening following the race, Mor Spirit reemerged in the final days of 2016, closing from last to finish fourth in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes.
With a long freshening and his return race already under his belt, Mor Spirit entered his four-year-old season a new horse, and he made his first start of 2017 in the G2 San Antonio Stakes. Sent off the slight favorite, Mor Spirit sat just off a hot early pace. By the time he finally gained an advantage on stubborn frontrunner El Huerfano, Baffert-trained stablemate Hoppertunity was charging from last place and swept past to take the spoils by a length.
Opting for a change of scenery, Mor Spirit was sent to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas for his next start. Contesting the Essex Handicap, the colt was a heavy 1-2 favorite and did not disappoint. Utilizing more of his speed early on, Mor Spirit pressured the early pace before taking control and scoring his first victory in over a year by an easy 2 ½ lengths.
With the G1 Metropolitan Handicap his main goal, Mor Spirit prepared for the historic one mile race in the G3 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park. The 2-5 favorite, Mor Spirit went straight to the lead for the first time in his career, leading throughout before pulling away to a dominant 5 ¾ length score.
With a field of twelve lining up for the Met Mile on the Belmont Stakes undercard, Mor Spirit was made a slight 5-2 favorite over Sharp Azteca. With Sharp Azteca going for the lead straight out of the gate, Mor Spirit glued himself to the outside of his rival. The two favorites set down quick fractions of 23.10, 46.05, and 1:10.10 before approaching the top of the stretch. Mor Spirit slowly whittled away at Sharp Azteca’s advantage and eventually poked his head in front as they turned for home. It was game over from there as Mor Spirit shook clear of his foe and continued on powerfully to put himself 6 ¼ lengths in front at the wire. A Grade 1 winner at two and a Grade 1 winner at four, Mor Spirit became the first horse in twenty-five years to be a G1 winning juvenile who went on to win the historic Met Mile.
After such a taxing effort, Mor Spirit was given a lengthy layoff, although it ended up being a bit lengthier than originally expected. Not returning again until the Breeders’ Cup five month after his Met Mile score, Mor Spirit still went off the 5-2 favorite in the Dirt Mile. On November 3, 2017, he broke from the gate for the final time, but the long layoff proved too much to overcome and he checked in eighth of ten.
Although Mor Spirit intended to race at age five, the plans never came to fruition. He was officially retired the following September to enter stud duty at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. He stood his first year for $10,000 and had his first foals born in 2020.
From three years on the racetrack, Mor Spirit started fourteen times with six wins and five seconds for earnings of $1,668,400. He recorded five total stakes wins, four of which were graded, and placed in four others. He was a two-time Grade 1 winner with scores in the Los Alamitos Futurity and Metropolitan Handicap. Mor Spirit finished first or second in eleven of fourteen starts, with his only off-the-board efforts coming in the Kentucky Derby and off of lengthy layoffs.
Plum Pretty: A Filly for the Lillies
Since bloodstock agent Mark Reid purchased Walnut Green Farm in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania in 2005, it has quickly become one of Pennsylvania’s most esteemed thoroughbred breeding farms. Of the many broodmares who have called Walnut Green home over the years, an A. P. Indy mare named Liszy was one of the very first.
While Liszy originally started her broodmare career in Kentucky, she was moved to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania to deliver her third foal in 2007. Returning to Kentucky for a date with leading sire Medaglia d’Oro, Liszy was back at Walnut Green to deliver the filly on March 8, 2008.
Bred in the name of Silent Indy Stables and DDS Stable, Liszy’s filly was raised at Walnut Green for the first year of her life. While accepted to the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, she failed to meet reserve when only bid up to $100,000. They tried again on a smaller stage one month later in the Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale. Bid up to only $75,000 this time, she failed to sell again.
Tucked away until she turned two-years-old, the filly took a third crack at the sales ring in the OBS Selected Sale of 2yos. Third time ended up being the charm for the filly as the hammer fell on a winning bid of $130,000 to John Fort.
John Fort had been a horse owner for nearly thirty-five years when he purchased the filly. The South Carolina native started out with a $500 racemare that he purchased off of University of South Carolina’s quarterback. Five years later, he moved his racing venture to Georgia and named his operation Peachtree Stable. The stable reached new heights with stakes caliber horses in the 2000s, and he had notched his first Grade 1 win in 2008.
Fort named his newest acquisition Plum Pretty and sent her to the Southern California barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Seven months after he purchased the filly, she made a winning debut while going wire-to-wire to win by a head over the all weather surface at Hollywood Park on October 27, 2010.
The victory would be Plum Pretty’s lone start as a two-year-old, but she started her three-year-old season at Santa Anita Park in January while diving straight into graded stakes in the G2 Santa Ynez Stakes. Sitting just off a hot early pace, Plum Pretty faded to finish third in a respectable first stakes showing. The effort earned her a crack at the G1 Las Virgenes the following month, and while discounted as a 15-1 longshot, she checked in with another third place effort while soundly defeating the Santa Ynez winner.
While trying to carve a path to the Kentucky Oaks, Baffert opted for something a bit off the beaten path. Sunland Park, tucked in right along the southernmost part of the New Mexico/Texas border, offered a $200,000 pot for their listed Sunland Park Oaks. Plum Pretty shipped east for the race and was installed a whopping 1-20 favorite in the field of six as the only horse in the race not based at Sunland Park. Contesting the early pace in the opening stages, she took control approaching the second quarter and never looked back, rolling to an ever-growing twenty-five length rout.
The score at Sunland Park put enough earnings in the bank to qualify for the Kentucky Oaks, and Plum Pretty was among a field of thirteen three-year-old fillies entered in the nation’s premier sophomore filly race on the first Friday in May. Hung out wide in gate twelve of thirteen, the filly was made the fourth choice and would end up at closing odds of 6-1.
When the gates sprung in the 137th running of the Kentucky Oaks, Plum Pretty briefly lost her footing. With the athleticism only a racehorse can possess, she quickly collected herself and rushed up to contend the pace. With Summer Soiree zipping out to an early lead, Plum Pretty and jockey Martin Garcia were content to track in second place.
As the field banked into the far turn, Plum Pretty and Garcia made their move, pouncing on Summer Soiree midway around the bend and bounding away to a daylight advantage. Plum Pretty roared into the homestretch with a wall of horses behind her, quickly widening her lead to three lengths. She looked to be in for another massive score when longshot St John’s River cut the corner into the stretch and switched to Plum Pretty’s outside. Launching a massive move from second to last, St John’s River came at Plum Pretty with a full head of steam. But she was just a beat too late, and Plum Pretty soared under the wire a diminishing neck in front.
Earning her first graded score in a Grade 1 classic race, Plum Pretty gave owner John Fort his second career Grade 1 victory. It remains still the first and only classic win of his career as an owner. It marked the second Kentucky Oaks victory for trainer Bob Baffert, and it was his first in twelve years. For Walnut Green, Plum Pretty became the first Grade 1 winner ever bred and raised on the Pennsylvania farm.
Back in California, Plum Pretty returned in the Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks. While sitting just off a moderate early tempo early on, Plum Pretty took command turning for home but could not hold off the late charge of Kentucky Oaks third-place finisher Zazu, who swept by to win by 1 ½ lengths.
Plum Pretty returned east for her next start, taking on a well matched field of five in the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Heading to the lead for the first time since her Sunland Park Oaks romp, Plum Pretty carved out the early fractions before being confronted by Mother Goose winner It’s Tricky at the top of the stretch. Plum Pretty fought on gamely but eventually gave into her rival, falling short by ¾ length. Finishing 3 ½ lengths back in third was Royal Delta.
Remaining at Saratoga for the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes the following month, Plum Pretty faltered at the 1 ¼ mile distance and gave up the lead turning for home to finish fourth as Royal Delta rolled to a 5 ½ length score.
Despite the first off-the-board effort of her career in the Alabama, Plum Pretty was still on track for that year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships. With one final prep race needed, she made her homecoming to Pennsylvania to contest the Grade 2 Cotillion Stakes at Parx. It’s Tricky, who finished second behind Royal Delta in the Alabama, was made the slight 6-5 favorite to Plum Pretty’s 7-5. Plum Pretty headed straight to the front once again in the Cotillion, and while pushed through challenging early fractions by Love and Pride, she managed to shake off her rival to open a sizable lead around the turn. It’s Tricky tried to close the advantage but the damage was already done as Plum Pretty drew away under a hand ride to exact her revenge by 7 ½ lengths. The following year, and much to Plum Pretty’s credit, Pennsylvania received its first Grade 1 stakes race when the Cotillion was finally upgraded.
Returning to Churchill Downs for the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic, Plum Pretty and Royal Delta were sent off as co-favorites at 2-1 in the nine horse field. While Plum Pretty skipped away to a fairly easy lead in the early stages, she was caught by the head of the stretch and faltered late to finish fifth as Royal Delta bounded away to a 2 ½ length score to securely claim the three-year-old filly championship.
Plum Pretty remained in training as a four-year-old and was spotted making her debut in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. With only four rivals to face, she was an overwhelming 1-2 favorite. Breaking from the gate a beat slow, the filly settled just off of early frontrunner Twelve Twenty Two before moving in draw even with her rival. Taking command heading into the turn, Plum Pretty kept her other foes at bay before skipping away in the stretch, flashing under the wire by an easy 2 ¼ lengths to notch her second Grade 1 score.
On May 4, 2012, one year since her biggest career win, Plum Pretty returned to Churchill Downs to compete in the G2 La Troienne on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. Going off a 2-5 favorite, the filly set the early tempo but ended up giving way to longshot Juanita and old rival St John’s River to finish third by three lengths. It would end up being the final race of her career.
Six months after her racing swansong, Plum Pretty stepped into the sales ring for the fourth time in her life in the Keeneland November Sale. Entered as a broodmare prospect, she brought home a whopping $4,200,000 to Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm.
Plum Pretty continues to reside at Timber Town Farm alongside the rest of Pope’s elite and expensive broodmare band. From four foals to race, Pretty At War remains her only winner owing to maiden and allowance scores at Arlington Park. Three-year-old colt Plum Funny is currently in training at Gulfstream Park and has two seconds in two efforts. Her two-year-old filly by Curlin, Plum Awesome, is currently breezing at Belmont Park in anticipation for her first start.
From three years on the racetrack, Plum Pretty raced twelve times with five wins, two seconds, and three thirds for earnings of $1,688,746. She never finished worse than fifth. Four of her wins came at the stakes level, including two G1 victories and a G2 score in her home state of Pennsylvania, and she placed in five others. Her name is forever etched in Pennsylvania-bred lore as a classic race winner.
