Viva La France!

    Seeing as how all of us live in the real world and know that sooner or later we are going to lose the people and horses we love, blows like the recent deaths of 26-year-old All Along and 25-year-old Estrapade are not unexpected.  However, what they are – as in the death of our one and only Dahlia – are precious gems that cannot be replaced.

        There will be no more of them – as there will be no more Round Tables or *Forlis or Island Whirls because the bloodlines are simply not there.  Certainly, there will be other good racemares – they are with us now – and good producers, too.  But there will be no more All Alongs or Estrapades because there are no more Targowices or Vieux Manoir mares inbred to Bruleur or Vaguely Noble and No Robbery mares inbred to Beau Pere. 

        This is terribly sad for the breed.  Because these two, like Dahlia, were tough and sound runners who performed wonderfully well in more than one country at the highest level.  All Along achieved the highest honor the sport can bring a mare and was 1983 Horse of the Year.  Few were more richly deserving.  And she had a special place in our hearts as she was by Round Table’s champion son Targowice.

        As a runner she did something not even our glorious Dahlia could do – she took the Arc.  That was her first in a series of four G1 or Group 1 races that would earn for her the gold Eclipse Award.  She followed the Arc with a win in the Rothmans International at Woodbine and the Turf Classic and Washington D. C. International in the U. S.

        For those of us who loved Round Table, the Arc and D. C. International victories were especially meaningful.  Table was set to run in the D. C. International and was retired instead as Mr. and Mrs. Kerr feared he would encounter soft turf, something he utterly detested.  He did not travel to France for the Arc for the same reason.  So when his granddaughter won those crown jewels of turf racing for him, these were glorious moments.

        The next year when All Along returned to the U. S. for the first Breeders’ Cup, we “met” her.  I shall never forget watching her walk along the hurricane fence with her exercise rider up that morning – back and forth, back and forth – stopping here and there to inhale the Southern California air and the smell of the stranger who drew ever closer.

        Patrick Biancone, who trained her, was standing there watching as well.  Finally, armed with our rusty high school and college French, we introduced ourselves and asked if we could pat her. 

        Biancone smiled his impish smile and answered in English.  “Wheen one loves zee mare as you do,” he said, eyes twinkling, “You must not merely pat heer, you must kees her as well.”  And so we did.  We “keesed” her several times in fact, and she seemed to love the unexpected affection, rewarding us with a horse “kees” of her own, a soft tongue on our palm, which nearly brought us to tears.

        Her loss to Lashkari in the first Breeders’ Cup Turf actually did bring us to tears.  It was so close and she deserved it so much.  We were hoarse for the rest of the day from cheering her on.

        In addition to All Along’s wonderful travels through the U. S., and her Arc and Rothmans win, she also ran second in the Japan Cup, and in her native France she had previously recorded wins in the G1 Prix Vermeille, the G2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil and the G3 Prix Penelope as well as running second in the G3 Prix Foy.

        At the moment, her produce record is spotty at best.  But it is still early, believe it or not.  Her two best runners, Along All by Mill Reef, a Group 2 winner who stands in Japan, and Arnaqueur, a Group 3 placed runner by Miswaki, both were colts.

        Of her daughters, the one who had done the most to date is the unraced Riverman mare Artua.  She has produced the stakes winner Juliette (IRE) by Sadler’s Wells and G3 stakes placed Plato, a colt by Lure who ran third in the Lexington Stakes.

        Another daughter, All Dancing by Dancing Brave, ran only once and was unplaced but she has produced a multiple stakes placed German runner named Asolo by Surumu who also ran third in the French St. Leger. 

        Her 1987 Kris filly Allez Les Bleus (GB) is the dam of the stakes placed Shirley Heights (GB) gelding Golden Allez (IRE), who placed in a small stake in Italy. 

        Her youngest producing daughter is Armure Royale by Woodman who has a winning colt by Red Ransom named Raffet and an unraced Singspiel filly named Recamier (IRE) who is three this year as well as fillies by Rock of Gibraltar (a foal of 2007) and Galileo (IRE) (a foal of 2006).  Then there is the 2000 mare American Adventure who is a full sister to Arnaqueur (by Miswaki).  She has produced two foals to date, the unraced 2006 Peintre Celebre filly Adventurous Lady (FR) and the unplaced 2005 Hernando (FR) filly Argonne (IRE).

        All Along had an older pedigree with her Round Table/Vieux Manoir cross.  She needed some updating.  And that takes time.  So it is perfectly logical that this queen of the turf will still make her mark via a daughter or granddaughter, perhaps via a swift runner like Tale of the Cat who brings Round Table’s sister Monarchy to the mix.

        All Along took her time coming to hand and had her best year at four.  As a broodmare, she will be no different.

        And yet, as the raw speed of today’s runners is added in ever increasing doses to her classic pedigree, one cannot help but mourn a bit.  Once the stamina is gone, it is gone forever and there is no bringing it back.