No Mistakes
January 4th, 2002by Jude T. Feld
Small Thoroughbred breeding operations can be found from coast-to-coast. Monetary and space constraints are often the reasons that these breeders send only one or two mares to stud each year.
Lady Argyle’s Best Daughter Queenie Belle At Santa Anita
Many breeders dream of having hundreds of bluegrass filled acres in Kentucky with fields full of “blue hen” mares, but you need deep pockets to fund such a farm, making it out of range for most of the population.
“Old family money” or sprawling acreage is not required to be a successful Thoroughbred breeder however. A good plan and a little luck can take you on the ride of your life.
Elliot Alexander breeds one mare a year. His “farm” is operated from his apartment on Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills, California. He has spent nearly forty years developing his “family” and his mare Lady Argyle has produced two graded winners, Canon Can, winner of the Doncaster Cup (G3) and $624,790 winner Queenie Belle, who captured the Lady’s Secret Stakes (G2) and the Princess Stakes (G2) in her illustrious career.
Although Lady Argyle’s second dam, the War Jeep mare Wardoura would not be considered “blue hen” material by anyone but Alexander, she provided him with some very solid racehorses including the tough campaigner Fleet Grounded, who won 25 races!
“Wardoura was in-bred 4×5 to Pretty Polly, the greatest broodmare of all-time,” Alexander stated. “When I found Wardoura, I decided to dedicate my career as a breeder to developing that cross.”
Wardoura had four foals who were all winners on the racetrack, but most importantly, her daughters, Doura’s Shadow, Dana’s Eden and Fleet Polly all produced black-type winners.
Doura’s Shadow foaled Haste Ye Home who won the Kerrisdale Stakes. She also produced Leos Aussie, another 25-race winner who placed in the Noor Invitational Handicap as well as the Citation Invitational Handicap.
Dana’s Eden is the dam of The Argyle Kid, who won nine races and $236,695 as well as placing in the Seabiscuit Stakes.
Fleet Polly is Wardoura’s best-producing daughter however. She is the dam of Truffles, who won the Track Robbery Stakes and Miss Grillo Stakes while earning $212,300 and Don B. Blue who placed in the Malibu Stakes (G3) and banked $174,790. It is Fleet Polly’s daughter Lady Argyle however, who has really improved the family’s page.
“I can’t afford to make any mistakes,” the 74-year-old Alexander says. “I have one shot every year. The stallion has to be right and then I need to get lucky. People tease me about how much time I spend working on my matings, but this is my life. I am in the horse business.”
It is a tribute to Alexander’s program that in the four decades he has been breeding horses, his mares seem to produce better and better foals.
“There is a knack to finding stallions,” he stated. “And I seem to have it. I never had the dough to go to the famous names. I had to be creative. I found Don B. before he became popular in California. Haste Ye Home, Leos Aussie, The Argyle Kid, Truffles, Don B. Blue and Lady Argyle were all by Don B. There’s no doubt that he had something to do with my success.”
“I bred Lady Argyle to Green Dancer because I had seen a horse of his out of Truffles run one of the most incredible races I had ever seen a first-time starter run,” Alexander continued. “Canon Can proved that was a good decision. I think the Cozzene filly, Fleet Cozzene was a runner too. She was a grand-looking filly and was training well when she kicked a wall in her stall just before she was ready to run and fractured her ankle. I make mental notes of things that I see on the racetrack and they are always helpful when I make my breeding decisions.”
Wanting to breed Lady Argyle to Bertrando, but unable to secure a season to him, Alexander was forced into a coin flip foal-sharing agreement of the same type that Meadow Stud and Claiborne Farm used which produced Secretariat.
“I had a lot of confidence in Bertrando,” Alexander said. “He was such a good racehorse. Eddie Nahem, who was a partner in Bertrando, and I foal shared for two years in a row, I got the colt, who was brilliantly fast but hard to train and Eddie got Queenie Belle. Unfortunately, Eddie sold Queenie Belle before she ever ran. Now she’s a multiple group-winner in-foal to Fusaichi Pegasus and worth a gazillion dollars.”
Lady Argyle, currently in-foal to Fantastic Light, has a beautiful two-year-old filly by General Meeting who is joining Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel’s barn soon.
“She’s a lovely filly,” Alexander tells of The General’s Daughter. “And she’ll have her best chance of success with Bobby. Like I said before, I can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
