“Planning matings is always fun, putting all the tools you have available to make the best decision for your mare in hope of breeding the next champion,” said Barry, a long-time advisor to the late Josephine Abercrombie and now serving the farm's current owners, Jim and Dana Bernhard. “As a team, we sit around the table and make the best decisions we can to help our mares achieve the best outcome. Here is a sample of our choices.”

SWEET SAMI D (8, First Samurai–Treaty of Kadesh, by Victory Gallop)

She is a young graded-stakes mare and earner of over $250,000. Her first foal is now a yearling by Gun Runner, and she is currently in foal to Flightline. She will return to Gun Runner in 2024, as the yearling is very nice and the cross has already produced two Grade I winners in Echo Zulu and Gunite.

Welcome to the world, little one! Sweet Sami D foaled this Flightline (@LanesEndFarms) colt last night. #FoalFriday #Foalsof2024 pic.twitter.com/GdE5wbakGU

— Pin Oak Stud (@PinOakStud) February 9, 2024

QUERELLE (8, Violence–Orbital Affair, by El Corredor)

A very attractive young mare by Violence who earned $187,000, she has a very racy yearling filly by Constitution and is in foal to Tapit. We plan to send her to Street Sense this year. The team thinks the size and substance of Street Sense will help this mare–what a solid sire he has become, and he gets a top horse yearly. The cross has produced four stakes winners in 16% with a Grade III winner in First Mission.

OMA THE GREAT (5, Tapit–Rise Above, by Violence)

We bought this mare in foal to Candy Ride (Arg) at Keeneland November ($60,000). She is a winning daughter of Tapit from the family of Grade I winner Twilight Eclipse and Grade III scorer Grand Contender. She will visit the very underrated sire, American Pharoah. A very similar mating has produced the Grade I-winning filly Harvey's Lil Goil, and the American Pharoah over Tapit cross is yielding 30% stakes winners.

MIND OUT (7, Tapit–Kid Majic, by Lemon Drop Kid)

She is another Tapit mare that we bought in 2021 ($1.2m KEENOV). A 'TDN Rising Star', she is half-sister to graded stakes-placed Miss Mischief and is multiple stakes-placed herself. The mare seems to have a lot of her family coming through and needs some refinement and athleticism. That is the reason we have chosen Gun Runner for her in 2024 and look to illuminate the success of Gun Runner with Tapit mares (Grade I winner Society, Grade II winner Wicked Halo).

GLITTER AND GOLD (9, Bodemeister–Expo Gold, by Johannesburg)

A winning half-sister to champion and GI Preakness S. winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), her first foal is now a 2-year-old by Curlin named Cajun Curls who is pre-training at the farm. She has an excellent Tapit yearling colt, so that is the main reason for Glitter and Gold to visit Tapit again this year.

DIAMOND SPARKLES (7, War Front–Diamondsandrubies {Ire}, by Fastnet Rock {Aus})

She is a winning graded stakes-placed mare from an amazing prolific family–that of Group 1 winners Diamondsandrubies, Quarter Moon (Ire) and Yesterday (Ire). We have had a nice update in the 3-year-old half-sister with Aidan O'Brien named Pearls and Rubies (No Nay Never), showing a lot of promise (second in the 2023 G1 Cheveley Park S.) and will be one to watch this year. The mare will visit the sire of the moment, Not This Time. She looks a lot like her sire, War Front, and we believe this mating will offer her some size and scope. There are four very amazing broodmares up close in this mating: Mariah's Storm, Miss Macy Sue, Starry Dancer and Quarter Moon.

CORE VALUES (6, Honor Code–Sweet Awakening, by Street Cry {Ire})

A very attractive daughter of Honor Code (a broodmare sire of the future), she is a multiple stakes and graded stakes-placed winner of over $220,000 and half-sister to Are You Kidding Me, a champion in Canada with earnings over $1 million. The mare is currently in foal to Curlin and will visit Candy Ride (Arg) this year. This cross has produced 20 stakes winners to date, including Grade I winners Game Winner, Ollie's Candy and Mastery.

COMPETITIVE SPEED (6, Competitive Edge–Shopped Out, by Mineshaft)

A nice, young stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed mare of $191,000, this mare was purchased in November 2022 and produced a Maxfield colt last year. She is in foal to Justify and will visit Constitution this year as the cross has produced two Grade I winners. The team at Pin Oak really likes the sire; we have a 3-year-old, 'TDN Rising Star' Parchment Party, that is 2-for-2, and we bought two yearlings in September that we like a lot and are pre-training at the farm.

BROADWAY LADY (7, Constitution–Livi Makenzie, by Macho Uno)

She is a young Grade III-placed mare we purchased in 2022 ($500,000 KEENOV) from the family of GIII Ohio Derby winner Tawny Port and Grade II winner Surf Cat. She will visit Candy Ride (Arg) this year. Constitution is a young broodmare sire, so we are hoping his sire's Tapit's affinity for Candy Ride comes into play.

Broadway Lady | Keeneland

SUMMERTIME MAGIC (5, Carpe Diem–Tap Softly, by Tapit)

We purchased this mare in November ($225,000 KEENOV). She is a stakes winner in Canada and from the family of Silver Prospector, winner of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club. She is currently in foal to the exciting young sire Jackie's Warrior and visits Twirling Candy in 2024. A similar cross has produced Grade I winners Pinehurst and Rombauer.

CHECKERED EMPIRE (6, Empire Maker–Checkered Past, by Smart Strike)

This young mare is a recent purchase and is a very elegant filly by Empire Maker with size and substance. She is the full sister to multiple Grade II winner and Grade I-placed Messier. She will visit Twirling Candy and this mating has inbreeding to the great mare Toussaud. We are hoping we can have some of that Juddmonte magic rub off on her.

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“Jim and Dana Bernhard are on cloud nine,” Pin Oak's Clifford Barry said Monday. “I think they can't believe it. I have spoken to them multiple times and they are some kind of excited.”

While Barry would not commit to the newly minted Grade I winner standing at Pin Oak, he did admit the sophomore was an extremely attractive option to stand in Kentucky.

“He's a very, very important young horse at this point, there's no doubt about it,” Barry said. “He's a son of Candy Ride out of an Uncle Mo mare, he's such an outcross to a lot of mares here in Central Kentucky right now. Obviously, he's a horse with lots of speed, breaks his maiden going six furlongs, second in the GII San Felipe and then comes back and wins the Haskell in his fourth start in what was probably one of the strongest Haskells in several years.”

While the Bernhards, advisor Matt Weinmann and trainer Richard Mandella are still to discuss options for the colt's next race and how best to get to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in November, Barry said the current plan is to race Geaux Rocket Ride at four.

“I think the plan is to race him in his 4-year-old year, just talking to Jim and Dana this morning,” Barry said. “He's a lightly raced horse at this point and you hope he's got a really, really bright future ahead of him on the racetrack.”

As for his future beyond that, Barry said, “I think it would be premature to say he will stand at Pin Oak. I think it would be unfair on the horse to say that. But definitely Jim and Dana have had dreams of standing stallions here for sure. I think when they bought the farm, that was very much a focus on what they were thinking. Obviously, Pin Oak stood stallions–Maria's Mon, Peaks and Valleys, Sky Classic. We are very well known for standing stallions, so it won't be anything unusual to stand stallions here and it won't be unusual to take in partners at that time. We had some very loyal partners in all our stallions here.”

Barry added, “We're just excited that we even have a horse to be thinking in that way for sure. I don't think anybody was thinking to come up with a horse this quickly. Two years ago, Geaux Rocket Ride was bought as a birthday present and lo and behold, here we are after winning the Haskell. Everybody dreams those things, but you know how dreams in this game don't always turn out.”

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The structure, a renovation of an old tobacco barn, will be named in honor of the horsewoman, philanthropist, and late owner of the renowned Pin Oak Stud in Versailles, Ky.

To date, $150,000 for the project has been raised, which includes a $50,000 donation by the Georgetown/Scott County Tourism board.

According to Old Friends President and Founder Michael Blowen, the President and CEO of Fasig-Tipton, Boyd Browning, was instrumental in introducing the Foundation to the idea of a structure to memorialize Ms. Abercrombie's legacy.

“After watching the television coverage regarding Old Friends on Kentucky Derby day last year, where Michael discussed wanting to build a new visitors' center, I called him and offered to help with the fundraising because I believed that it would fulfill a great need for the entire thoroughbred industry,” said Browning. “I can't think of a better combination than Old Friends and Ms. Josephine Abercrombie, because they symbolize such a wonderful commitment to horse welfare.”

Pin Oak Stud's Clifford Barry agreed that the concept of building such a facility at Old Friends is something Ms. Abercrombie would have truly liked.

“Ms. Abercrombie had entrusted us with some charitable endeavors, and after her passing, we felt like this was something that was very close to her heart and something she'd be very passionate about,” said Barry. “Through her whole life it had been about the care of the horse,” said Barry. “And this is a wonderful way to honor her name and her legacy here in the Bluegrass.

“Ms. Abercrombie was a part of the Bluegrass for a long, long time,” he continued. “She had a vision for philanthropy and did a lot of great things here locally, and I think this will just be one of those impactful contributions that would mean a lot to her. And, I think it would mean a lot to all of her friends, too.”

To help kick-start the project, Old Friends Board of Director's member Corey Johnsen, former co-owner of Kentucky Downs, enlisted the services of Todd Gralla, Director of Equestrian Services at Populous, the architectural firm's staff member responsible for the planning and design of the equestrian facilities at the 2012 London Olympics, among many other projects. According to Johnsen, Gralla, a longtime horse person, “stepped up to the plate, and we started working on the conceptual drawings and schematics.”

According to Blowen, when the renovation is complete, the climate-controlled center will be broken up into three big spaces. On one side there will be big-screen monitors for race viewing, while on the other side there's going to be a little stage for things like handicapping seminars, symposiums, guest speakers, and more.

There will also be display space showcasing a collection of horseracing memorabilia, artwork, and racing trophies donated to Old Friends by the Bobby Frankel Estate.

“In this way, not only will it be a great space for events, but it will also give people a place to go in the event of a rain storm during their tour of the farm,” said Blowen. “They'll be able to come inside and look at all the displays.

“We're also going to have these giant big-screen monitors to show the races of Old Friends horses,” he continued. “And, they'll not only get to watch the races, but G.D. Hieronymus, who does the video for Keeneland and for the Hall of Fame Inductions, is developing a kiosk, where a person can press a button on the name of any horse on the farm and watch their race.

“I want to thank everybody involved in Josephine Abercrombie's Pin Oak Foundation, Inc. for this, including Clifford Barry and John Backer, because I think it's certainly going to be, not only great for us, but it's going to be a very nice testament to have Ms. Abercrombie's name talked about on every tour we ever do,” Blowen said. “To have her name on the barn; it's an honor and a privilege to name it after her.”

To donate to help in the construction of The Ms. Josephine Abercrombie Center at Old Friends, click here.

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The Pin Oak homebred won nine of 14 career starts, and won or placed in six graded stakes, earning $725,296. Trained by Graham Motion, Broken Vow won the GII Philip H. Iselin H. and GIII Ben Ali S. and placed in the GI Gulfstream Park H., GIII Fayette S., and the GII Meadowlands Cup H. before retiring to start his career at stud.

“He was an incredibly influential horse on my career and was probably my first 'big' horse,” commented Motion. “I'm so glad that I got to visit him in his field this past Spring. He was a happy horse enjoying his retirement. This truly is the end of an era.”

The stallion, who stood two decades at Pin Oak, was among the top 15 active sires, with 15% black-type horses from starters. He is the sire of 159 black-type horses in total, 80 of those black-type winners and 27 graded scorers. He also is responsible for six champions. Included among his six Grade I winners: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and Eclipse Champion Champagne Room, the co-topweight female sprinter of her year Sassy Image, as well as Cotton Blossom, Unbridled Belle, and Rosalind. As a broodmare sire, his daughters have already produced three champions and approximately 100 black-type horses, including Eclipse Champion Runhappy.

“Words cannot express the loss of Broken Vow to everyone here at Pin Oak,” said long time manager Clifford Barry. “We had been with him from birth to breaking, his races and his stud career.”

Barry continued, “As we reflect on the many great memories he provided, how we cheered for him in the royal blue and gray silks of Pin Oak, and we cheered even louder for his offspring as if they were ours and for the loyal breeders that supported him. He was a very special horse to be around–smart, classy and a huge will to succeed. And if he could speak, he would have said thank you to the vets and grooms that cared for him throughout his life. It's testament to Ms. [Josephine] Abercrombie's program that he spent his whole life here at the farm. I know she's getting to feed him sugar again.”

Broken Vow will be buried alongside other former Pin Oak stallions Sky Classic, Peaks and Valleys, and Maria's Mon.

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“Mrs. A.”, as she was known to those blessed by her friendship or patronage, embraced the extraordinary opportunities to which she was born with so commensurate an appetite that one might ask how anyone could have compressed so much into a mere 95 years. Besides her careers as horsewoman and breeder, she threw herself with equal gusto into walks of life as diverse as boxing, skiing, dancing and Broadway.

Nor did Mrs. A. measure her benedictions only in material terms, having so prolonged the fulfilment she found in Pin Oak that the stable was only dispersed a matter of weeks before her loss. That said, the fact is that she was never going to require a GoFundMe page to sustain her final days, as was poignantly the case for the 81-year-old trainer of Seattle Slew.

(Listen to this column as a podcast)

Affectionate tributes to the skill and charm of Billy Turner did not tiptoe around the corrosion of his prime by a struggle with alcoholism. But he would be very comfortable with that, given his own, hugely commendable candor in reflecting, in later years, on the demons that had accompanied him to one of the summits of Turf history. Turner was only 37 when a $17,500 Bold Reasoning colt came his way, and it's right that people understand why he appeared to receive such scant reward.

Before the Derby, many considered Seattle Slew insufficiently seasoned after just three sophomore starts. The habits of trainers today, however regrettable, make Turner appear to have been ahead of his time. But his true legacy was securing the male line of Bold Ruler, with all its old school virtues.

Like so many of our finest horsemen, Turner learned the ropes in steeplechasing. But in trying to keep his weight down, even as his height soared (by six inches in his 19^th year alone), he yielded to temptations natural in a fraternity that rode so hard—and drank so much harder. Then, in soaking up the pressures of a Triple Crown campaign, he found the press equally willing to normalize excess at the bar. (Which charge I, for one, am certainly not going to refute). Those pressures, by the way, can be judged from Turner's pronouncement to a reporter while Slew was still a juvenile. “If he doesn't win the Triple Crown,” he said, “I haven't done my job.”

Turner and exercise rider Mike Kennedy on the way to the track with Seattle Slew in 1977

Doubtless the succor he found in drink contributed to Turner's notorious sacking by the owners of Seattle Slew; certainly it dragged him into desperate times thereafter. Much to his credit, however, he regrouped. If the home stretch brought fresh difficulties, in healthcare and its costs, it's edifying to know that Turner had overcome a still greater challenge, in his own life, than the one he met with Seattle Slew. By any measure, this was a man of accomplishment.

True, while renewing his personal stability, he could not fully reverse the professional odds that had steepened in the meantime. Even so, a Hall of Fame nomination should surely have been revived for Turner by the time he retired in 2016. Fully two decades after the glory days of Slew and Czaravich (Nijinsky), after all, he had supervised a 21-for-55 near-millionaire in Punch Line (Two Punch) plus a third Grade I winner in Gaviola.

The latter was by Cozzene, who also happened to sire the horse that first brought Mrs. A. to the attention of many of us Englishmen.

As in selecting her long-serving farm manager, Clifford Barry, Mrs. A. showed unerring judgement in entrusting Hasten To Add to Newmarket's peerless Victorian throwback, Sir Mark Prescott.

In 1993, Hasten To Add became subject of one of the great gambles in the long history of the Cesarewitch H.

“How far is this race?” asked Mrs. A., when Prescott introduced her to the project.

“Two and a quarter miles.”

“Gee, and how often do they pass the stands?”

“They don't,” Prescott replied. “It's a dogleg course, starting in Cambridgeshire and ending in Suffolk. And it's a handicap. The topweight concedes 28 lbs to some of the others.”

Prescott recalls a moment of silent incredulity at the other end of the phone.

“Really? And how many runners are there?”

“Thirty-six.”

“This I gotta see.”

On the day, when the cavalry emerged from the drizzle and mist, Hasten To Add was just in front. While apparently engaged in a desperate duel to the line, however, he was overhauled by two others on the other side of the track. But Mrs. A. avowed that for all the world she would not have missed an experience she condensed as “all those Dukes ['Dooks'] and Duchesses, standing in the rain looking at nothing…”

Mrs. A.'s immersion in the world of boxing confirmed her to be equal to any social milieu. On the Turf, of course, we take pride in the fact that nowhere else does High Life meet quite so comfortably with Low Life. To the young man I was then, that lent an exotic glamor to this Houston heiress, with her five husbands—and five divorces! But I'm not sure I quite understood, at the time, that Low Life fundamentally comprises a ruinous succession of low days; or that it can do, at least, with the kind of problems that had meanwhile withdrawn Billy Turner from the limelight filled so joyously by Mrs. A.

There's always been a seductive glamor to the Runyonesque margins of our sport, and I've seen good people succumb to it: smart, talented people deceived that flirting with addiction, whether to alcohol or betting or umpteen other temptations, would redeem them from the dread charge of dullness.

People who think this way are also tempted to suspect that the greatness of Seattle Slew, for instance, could only be drawn out by parallel flair. Either a double-edged sword, they say, or none at all.

Well, that's a pretty dangerous formula for living. Doug Peterson was just 26 when the owners transferred Seattle Slew to his barn from Turner. Though he secured the champ his Eclipse Award, as an older horse, Peterson would disappear from the racetrack barely a couple of years later, lost in a spiral of drugs and drink. Like Turner, he showed the resilience and character to embrace rehab; he edged his way back to the track, after stints as an entry clerk and in the gate crew, and in 1999 he saddled 40 winners from just 175 starters. But he was only 53 when he died, from an accidental overdose, in 2004.

All these different lives, rotating with the twists of fate like a kaleidoscope against the shining light of the racehorse. All these different legacies, too. From intimate, domestic ones we cannot know; to the kind of public benefaction that prompted Mrs. A. to found her school in Lexington. But if so many of our comforts prove shallow, or even downright perilous, then how wonderful that we can all share the immortality available through the medium of a Seattle Slew or Sky Classic.

With his famously eccentric libido, Seattle Slew's genetic bequest was a fragile one. Its rescue is one of many debts, by no means confined to such lessons in horsemanship, our community owes to John Williams. Lest we forget, we are blessed to have in our midst the most exemplary people. And little wonder, when they share devotion to the horse: this paragon of constancy, courage and beauty, so innocent of our avarice and addictions.

We may envy the worldly fortune of Mrs. A., and the wealth of experience it supported; but her loyalty is within the compass of the poorest among us. She brought Barry to the farm in 1984. Donnie Von Hemel trained for Pin Oak for 30 years, Graham Motion nearly as long, with Mike Stidham a novice at around 15 years. Before the dispersal, Barry told TDN: “She's about as competitive a person as you could come across, but there'd never be a finger pointed. It was always just, 'We got outrun today and we'll do better tomorrow.'”

That's a motto that would serve us all well—whether seeking the next Seattle Slew, or patching up some old claimer; whether drilling oilwells, or just seeking an oasis in a world full of dangerous mirages.

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When Clifford [Barry]'s number flashed on my screen [Wednesday] I had a gut wrenching feeling because I knew why he was calling. We both lamented that Mrs. A was in a better place and how it was “time.” She was one of a kind, a true horse woman, a philanthropist and all the other superlatives people will be mentioning. But for those of us who were fortunate enough to really know Mrs. A, there has never been, and I doubt there ever will be another one like her. When I listened to Terence Collier talk of her accomplishments at the Pin Oak dispersal last fall, I thought of all the stories I would like to share about Mrs. A, but that would take days and some of them aren't exactly appropriate for this publication.

The first time I met Mrs. A, she and her entourage came to Ocala to buy a stallion that we owned. After a few volleys back and forth with offers, she turned and said “aren't you from Texas?” I replied, “yes, M'am” and she said, “let's go in your office and cut this deal.” In less than five minutes we came out and she bought her first stallion Caller I.D. from me and that was done on a handshake. We sold her another stallion and she had fun with it and then said she wanted a good horse if I ever saw one. A year later I called about a horse I was managing for my longtime owner Morton Rosenthal. She and Clifford flew to Florida and once again–on a handshake–she bought Maria's Mon.

But more enjoyable are the Josephine stories that she loved to share when we got together. Here are just a few:

The time she left her dear friend on the tarmac because he was five minutes late to the plane to go to a dog show. He was running towards the plane and she instructed her pilot to take off as she waved to him. Every time we got together after hearing that story, we made sure we were 15 minutes early to any meeting with Mrs. A.

Then there's the one she enjoyed telling a story about how she was a much better skier than her instructor, but she always followed him down the slopes because she enjoyed the view.

And the tales of her travels all over the world were fascinating to hear. She once offended someone at a dinner party in a foreign country and her father sent the plane to pick her up the next morning. But that was Mrs. A, she was truly a lady, but she did it her way as Frank Sinatra would say (but that's another Mrs. A story better told by her than me).

Then there were all the Thanksgiving dinners in Virginia, the birthday parties in Kentucky and Ocala and all the memories of our visits to Pin Oak.

When Maria's Mon died, we sent Mrs. A ,and Clifford each a champagne flute and I still have her letter thanking me and suggesting that every New Year's Eve we would make a toast to Maria's Mon. Just the other evening we got out the flutes, but this time we raised our glasses to Mrs. A, and to Maria's Mon.

She used to ask me to stop addressing her as Mrs. A ,and just call her Josephine and I would almost always respond, “yes, Mrs. A” and we would laugh.

The last time I walked her up those long winding stairs after a dinner outing, I wondered how many more times I would be in her company.

Susie and I will always be grateful to Mrs. A, and we'll get out those Moët & Chandon flutes again and toast a very special lady.

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Abercrombie, the only child of Texas oilman and Cameron Iron Works founder J. S. “Mr. Jim” Abercrombie and Lillie Frank Abercrombie, was born Jan. 15, 1926, in Kingston, Jamaica. Growing up in Texas, her love of horses begun at a young age, evolving into a passion of American Saddle Horses, which led to her winning a 17 of 20 classes–the most blue ribbons during a single season–at Madison Square Garden. She was also one of only a handful of amateurs to show a World Grand Champion. Her passion for the sport, combined with her strong desire to support civic projects, led her to join her father in creating the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show in the mid-1940's, which supported the Texas Children's Hospital. Abercrombie's success on the horse show circuit eventually led her to major competitions in Kentucky, where she fell in love with the land and the horses.

Turning her energies toward Thoroughbred breeding and racing in the 1950's, she and her father purchased 4,000-acre Pin Oak, in Woodford County, Kentucky, and after 35 years on the original Pin Oak tract–where they raised cattle and grew tabacco–Abercrombie decided to move to a smaller 750-acre farm–named Pin Oak Stud–just down the road to focus solely on Thoroughbreds. A hands-on owner, she was present at many of the births of her Thoroughbreds and was active in the early schooling of young racehorses. Pin Oak hombreds were campaigned in her blue and gray racing silks, the school colors of her alma mater Rice University.

Pin Oak Stud has nearly 70 stakes winners–bred or raced-to its credit, including Classic winners in America and England and Grade I/Group 1 stakes winners in three countries. Among Pin Oak's homebreds are 1990 champion grass mare Laugh and Be Merry (Erins Isle {Ire}) and GISW Confessional (Holy Bull) in addition to top colts who went on to become successful stallions, including 1995 Canadian Horse of the Year and champion sophomore Peaks and Valleys (Mt. Livermore) and MGSW and GISP Broken Vow (Unbridled).

A total of 23 mares and foals were offered at Fasig-Tipton in a dispersal of Pin Oak Stud's stock this past September. Headlining the dispersal with a $650,000 finial bid was MGSW Don't Leave Me (Lemon Drop Kid), who was in foal to Authentic.

Recognized as the National Breeder of the Year, she also has been honored by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders with the Hardboot Award as well as the William T. Young Humanitarian Award. Additionally, Abercrombie was inducted into the Texas Horseracing Hall of Fame. In 2018, she was the Honor Guest of the Thoroughbred Club of America in appreciation for her “enduring sportsmanship, acumen and vision, and her devotion to the loftiest principles established by earlier leaders on the Turf.”

With a strong sense of responsibility to future generations, Abercrombie provided generous philanthropic support of civic, educational, and Thoroughbred industry projects, including support of her alma mater Rice University and the founding of The Lexington School.

Funeral arrangements are private. Contributions in Abercrombie's memory can be made to The Lexington School, attention Una McCarthy, 1050 Lane Allen Road, Lexington, KY 40504; Woodford Humane Society, attention Katie Hoffman, P.O. Box 44, Versailles, KY; or the Thoroughbred Charities of America, attention Erin Crady, P.O. Box 910668, Lexington, KY 40591.

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Racing as a homebred for Pin Oak Stud, the nom de course of Josephine Abercrombie's historic racing and breeding operation, Broken Vow was a five-time stakes winner for trainer Graham Motion. His top wins included the 2001 GII Philip H. Iselin H. and the GIII Ben Ali S., as well as another four graded placings, including the 2001 GI Gulfstream Park H. Broken Vow retired to his birthplace to stand his first season in 2002 at age five for $10,000.

Broken Vow's first crop included GI Beldame S. winner Unbridled Belle and GII Futurity S. winner Private Vow. While he only topped 100 foals twice in 17 crops of racing age to date, the bay continued to deliver consistent quality, with runners including MGISW Sassy Image, GISWs Rosalind and Cotton Blossom, and MGSW Imprimis. Overall, the 24-year-old's 80 stakes winners include 26 graded winners to date and progeny earnings of more than $80 million. Broken Vow is also making a name for himself as a broodmare sire with the 36 black-type winners out of his daughters including champion and sire Runhappy (Super Saver).

“First as a race horse and then as an anchor to our stallion roster for 20 seasons, Broken Vow is the embodiment of Ms. Abercrombie's breeding program, producing sound, competitive racehorses whose bloodlines endure,” said long-time Pin Oak Stud manager Clifford Barry. “We appreciate the industry's support through the years, but mostly we thank Broken Vow for his loyal service to the farm and look forward to providing a well-deserved retirement for him here at Pin Oak.”

Broken Vow stood his final season this year for $20,000. Last month, Pin Oak Stud dispersed 23 mares and foals at a special sale held at Fasig-Tipton. In addition, Chris McGrath recently delved into the legacy of Pin Oak and Abercrombie.

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The Pin Oak homebred won nine of his 14 starts, and won or placed in six graded stakes, earning $725,296. Trained by Graham Motion, Broken Vow won the Grade 2 Philip H. Iselin Handicap and G3 Ben Ali Stakes and placed in the G1 Gulfstream Park Handicap, G3 Fayette Stakes, and the G2 Meadowlands Cup Handicap, etc., before retiring to his birthplace in Kentucky to start his career at stud.

The 24-year-old stallion retires having been among the top 15 active sires, with an impressive 15 percent black type horses from starters. Broken Vow sired 159 black type horses in total, 80 of those black type winners, as well as six champions.

His six Grade 1 winners include Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and Eclipse champion Champagne Room, the co-topweight female sprinter of her year Sassy Image, as well as Cotton Blossom, Unbridled Belle, and Rosalind.  Additionally, Broken Vow is making his mark as a broodmare sire, as his daughters have already produced three champions and some 100 black type horses, including Eclipse champion Runhappy.

“First as a race horse and then as an anchor to our stallion roster for 20 seasons, Broken Vow is the embodiment of Ms. Abercrombie's breeding program, producing sound, competitive racehorses whose bloodlines endure,” said Clifford Barry, manager of Pin Oak Stud. “We appreciate the industry's support through the years, but mostly we thank Broken Vow for his loyal service to the farm and look forward to providing a well-deserved retirement for him here at Pin Oak.”

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The sale topper came in the form of Don't Leave Me (Hip 18), a 9-year-old graded stakes winning daughter of Lemon Drop Kid. Woodford Thoroughbreds purchased the mare, who was offered in foal to Horse of the Year Authentic, for $650,000 (video).

Don't Leave Me is out of Grade 1 winner See How She Runs, and has produced two foals to date, including I'm So Sorry (Uncle Mo), who is placed in one start this year at two, and a weanling filly by Medaglia d'Oro (Hip 19). The latter preceded her dam into the ring, and was purchased by Rigney Racing for $370,000, the top price paid for a weanling during the sale (video).

“We started showing Saturday morning,” said Denali Stud's Craig Bandoroff. “They were here at quarter to eight, and her 23 horses showed 1,056 times… [w]e were hoping that the community would appreciate the quality of the offerings and the quality of Ms. Abercrombie and Clifford's lifetime work, and they did. It was gratifying.”

Point System (Hip 5), a seven-year-old stakes winner by Pin Oak's own Broken Vow, sold for $420,000 to Shepherd Equine Advisors, agent from Larry Hirsch (video).

The second highest price of the evening, Point System was offered in foal to Eclipse champion Improbable. To date, Point System is represented by a yearling colt by Candy Ride (ARG).

Late in the session, Eaton Sales took home multiple Grade 1 placed stakes winner Gold Medal Dancer (Hip 23) for $400,000 (video). The 11-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro is represented by Dance Recital, a winner this year at 4, as well as an unstarted 2-year-old in Dance Routine, and a weanling colt by Candy Ride (ARG).

“This has been her baby for 60-plus years,” added longtime Pin Oak Stud farm manager Clifford Barry of Abercrombie. “It's kind of nice to coming in tonight and showcase… [T]here are mares here today she's got three, four generations of. Very, very proud of her.”

Of three racing and/or broodmare prospects on offer, Fascination (Hip 20) took the top spot, selling for $185,000 to Harbut Bloodstock. A daughter of two-time and current leading sire Into Mischief, Fascination placed third in her debut this year at three. Her dam, Whimiscality (Hip 10), in foal to Collected, sold earlier in the session to BBA Ireland for $200,000.

All told, 23 horses sold for $3,999,000, good for an average of $173,870 and a median of $130,000.

Full results are available online.

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