February 27 Rags to Riches

Let's jump right to her claim to fame, she is one of the rare fillies to win a leg of the Triple Crown when she won the 2007 Belmont Stakes. She's wonderfully bred by A.P. Indy whose stud career makes him the most successful son of Seattle Slew in the stud barn. Of course, Seattle Slew was a Triple Crown winner who went on to be an amazing stallion. On Rags To Riches dam side, she is out of the super mare Better Than Honor who produced two Belmont Stakes winners, R2R and Jazil who was raced by Sheikh Hamdan of Dubia. She also produced a talented runner in Casino Drive who race races/raced for Hidetoshi Yamamoto in Japan.

Oh when Rags To Riches won the Belmont, she did so with a head bob over Curlin who had won the Preakness three weeks earlier and would later win the Breeders' Cup Classic on his way to earning Horse of the Year honors, making Rags To Riches win the Belmont even more impressive.

Shortly after Rags To Riches joined the broodmares at Coolmore in Kentucky, I was able to visit her with my friend, Joe Brocklebank. This past December I went to the Kentucky Farm Managers' Dinner and in the silent auction was this really old, beat up, covered in dried mud halter, it was Rags To Riches. I had to get it. I talked with the gang from Coolmore when I was checking out and they told me that it was the only halter Rags To Riches ever wore at the farm for the past 16 years. Funny, that exactly what Jess Jackson said, when I bought the Curlin halter in 2008 at a gold tournament in Philadelphia for Alex's Lemonade Stand. For whatever reason, I still have the painting of Curlin winning the Dubai World Cup and the painting of Rags To Riches beating Curlin the Belmont and now I have the halter that Curlin wore through his entire racing career and the only halter Rags To Riches wore at Coolmore so, they hang on my easel side by, divided by the narrowest of distance, just like they were in the Belmont.