Hall Of Fame - Throne

Original article written by Danny Warren posted 12 years 0 weeks ago

In Orange County, at the Orange Park Stud an orange hued stallion wanders through the orange tinted sunlight at the end of another sunny day in California.
The old horse who has earned his life of leisure nowadays, is still revered as one of the biggest names the SIMWorld has ever known.
He is, and always shall be SIMRacing royalty and aptly his name is Throne.

He still has that glint in his eye, that little something that great horses have that others don’t, that “I know I am better than you and I can and will prove it” attitude that some simply possess and leads them to the Hall of Fame, while others are simply known as talented types.

Throne is King of Orange Park Stud and even in his now frail dotage, he still lets those around him know that he is in command. He is not beyond dishing out a small nip or a stomp of his foot if he is displeased, but is always available for a mint, carrot or pat from the many children who visit him in his kingdom.

Throne was perfectly named as there are few horses who could claim bluer blood within the SIM.
His Sire was the outstanding Heir To The Throne, the winner of six Gr.1’s, including the Long Island Classic and Desert World Cup amongst his haul of eleven wins, earning nearly seven million dollars along the way. Unfortunately Heir To The Throne became a victim of circumstance, siring just 56 foals. But of those 56 foals, 42 turned out to be winners, an incredible percentage of 75%, with average earnings of $335,854 once his career was over.
He in turn was Sired by Loki Flame, a Gr.1 Louisville Derby winner of over $3.5 million, who had an even better winners to runners percentage of 83.2% and average earnings of $510,572, out of undefeated super filly Forever Risk, who had over $3 million in racetrack earnings and who would eventually foal seven millionaires.
Throne’s Dam was Crown, a mighty filly restricted to just two seasons of racing, but who burned up the track to win five of her seven starts, including the Gr.1 Louisville Oaks. She was by Symbol, who shared her race record bar the fact that he won the Gr.1 Baltimore Crown. At stud, Symbol was perhaps ruler of them all, with a near perfect record of winners to runners, with just five of his 140 runners unable to have their day in the winners circle, a record of 96.4%. Symbol also had nearly 40% stakes winners from his foals, including the immortal Conduit.
Crown’s Dam was Royalty, who after winning a Gr.1 Stewards Cup Distaff and just over $2.5 million on the track herself, would in time, become regarded as one of the greatest broodmare’s of all time, having six foals, five of them millionaires and the other unraced, including now household names, Tiara, Empire and Sceptre. She was out of The Princess, who in turn was foaled by Soldier Girl…….more racing royalty.
Alysse Peverell could nearly not fail to produce something special with those bloodlines available and as sunrise approached on a moonless night, Crown delivered into the world a small, but strong little chestnut colt with a long, thin star and even more slender snip down his short forehead.
Sadly Crowns, suffered the same fate as her own Dam, dying while foaling a few years later after delivering her sixth foal, who would turn out to be Duke, her fourth millionaire.

Throne knew nothing about his long heralded pedigree and it was still up to him to try and live up to the expectations that surrounded him. The youngster soon developed into a neat, strong ball of muscle and handled his early education without any hitch, however, one young trackwork rider might argue otherwise after being tipped off the wilful young prince’s back and into a water trough after taking too long to dismount after a session.

Clearly bred to develop into a router, Alysse was desperate to see how Throne was measuring up to his contemporaries and entered him into a 5F maiden at Mountain Park, West Virginia. As quite often happens in two year old racing, their was a gulf in class between the runners and Throne had little trouble in winning by two lengths over nine rivals, who were all well spaced apart in the run home, with Throne over 20 lengths clear of the last runner.

Knowing well that Throne’s best was going to be shown over much, much further, Alysse chose to run Throne in the 7F Tilt A Whirl Stakes where amongst his our opponents was Wave, also a good winner on debut and Runtoapremont, who was hot favourite after his two runs had resulted in two wins with a combined margin of twelve lengths.
New Jersey’s Garden State Racetrack was packed as the five runners stepped into the stalls, but the race soon came down to a three way battle as Wave rushed to the lead and took off for home. Runtoapremont, to the stunned silence of the crowd, seemed to be struggling to make any headway, but Throne saved ground along the fence and flew as is he had wings to breeze past Wave, reaching the line a length and a half clear, with Runtoapremont making some ground late to just miss taking second by a half length.

Making sure that Throne would stretch out to a distance without being overburdened, Alysse resisted the temptation to jump straight to a longer journey and sent Throne to Florida for a run in the mile Flight Of The Hero Stakes. While on paper an easier race to win, it took all of the young colt’s resolve to dig deep and surge past a gutsy Some Have It Tough in the last couple of strides to grab the win by half a length.

Alysse got the feeling watching Throne in his last start that the time had come for him to get out to the sort of trips he was bred for. She chose the Gr.2 Remsen Stakes over 1 1/16 miles, with two big challengers in Vampire who had two wins from two and Speedboat, an easy winner of each of his three starts. In a field of nine, Speedboat tore out to a big lead, still having plenty of leeway as he swung for home. Vampire had been leading the rest of the pack and was clearly making ground, while Throne was buried in the pack, searching for a way clear. A tired Speedboat had nothing left when Vampire reached him and Vampire skipped away for the win. Throne weaved through the pack and flashed home late, failing by just a half length to grab second.

Throne enjoyed his short rest, and returned to a new stable, that of Ali LaDuke, if possible more muscular, looking ripped as a bodybuilder and went to California for what was thought to be a nice, easy confidence building assignment. No one told future Gr.1 winner Goliath though, and an everyday new season Allowance race was transformed into an epic battle, with Goliath and Throne refusing to give in to the other through the final two furlongs, hitting the line together. Throne was given the nod by the judge by a head, but all the media reporters agreed that both colts should be followed with interest in future.

Practically everyone wants to win the Gr.1 Louisville Derby and Ali sent her powerhouse down to Florida again to tackle the Gr.1 Sunshine Derby. The majority of the field knew they were fighting for the minor prize money though as apart from Throne, there was the runner up from the previous years Gr.1 Stewards Cup Juvenile, Edict and the promising Pillar Of Strength, fresh from a close call behind Speedboat.
Look At Him Go went out hard and ensured that the race would be a true staying test, leading until midway down the straight, when Throne made his move to take over. Edict who had beautifully ridden, dove under Look At Him Go to make a run on the fence and battled with Throne before taking the lead. Throne battled on, but Edict looked home and hosed. Then with a roar of expectation from the crowd, Pillar Of Strength, who had been last in the early going, hit the accelerator and storming down the centre of the track, ran away for a great win.
A disappointed Ali abandoned the triple Crown races and went away to think of where to send Throne next, while Pillar Of Strength would go on to win the Gr.1 Long Island Classic and Edict would win the Gr.1 Baltimore Crown after running second in the Louisville Derby.

Ali wondered whether a change of locality would help bring Throne’s mind on the job and sent him to Dubai to run in the Gr.1 UAE Derby, worth $750,000. Considering such a huge purse, it was a bit of a surprise that Throne had just five rivals, none of which would have been considered a threat in his previous race, and as such he went to the stalls a warm favourite. The stifling conditions had all the horse sweating up very badly, with most looking as if they’d just lost an ice cream fight and the horses were all a little on edge. The gates swung open and a crazy pace was set by the trio of Prowler, Onetobereckonedwith and Pachabel who all fought and wrestled with each other for a full mile of the 1 1/8 mile journey. Throne meanwhile was simply letting the three leaders burn each other to the ground, and with the slightest flick of the reins, only needed to stride out in the final half furlong to cruise to an easier than it looked length win. Ali was justified in her choice of avoiding the Triple Crown races and happily took home a $450,000 cheque.

The flight back home left Ali with plenty of time to consider Throne’s next challenge, settling on the Gr.1 Swaps Stakes in California. The opposition here was much more fearsome, with old foe Speedboat as well as the winner and runner up of the recent Gr.3 Illinois Derby in Fog City and Tot Ziens. The $500,000 race was led early by He’ll Charm You II, being pressured by Fog City with Speedboat, Throne and Cavort chasing them in a line of three and Tot Ziens on the fence behind them. Fog City surged to the lead just before the turn, with Throne and Speedboat both straining to give chase. Neither of them could make any ground, but Tot Ziens came with a slashing run around the outside and whisked past them all for a length victory from Fog City, while Throne held off Speedboat for third. Ali noted that Throne didn’t have his usual acceleration and wondered if the overseas trip had taken more out of her colt than she suspected.

Ali allowed Throne a longer than usual break to try and rejuvenate the chestnut before selecting a rematch with Fog City in the Gr.2 Kentucky Cup Classic over 1 1/8 miles and worth $400,00.
Only three other horses dared to challenge them including Le Chateau Classique who had run unsuccessfully in the Gr.1 Louisville Derby. Chateau led early, with Fog City in his favourite stalking role right on his heels with Le Chateau Magique in front of Throne. Fog City looked to make his move halfway down the straight, but Throne was right there with him and the pair went head to head, with Chateau not giving up and trying to fight back. This time Throne’s lack of recent racing told against him and the little bit fitter Fog City was able to hold him off by three quarters of a length with Le Chateau Magique, who had been left flat footed when the sprint was on, making great strides late to just cut out the early leader for third.

A frustrated Ali, now silently cursing coming back to the US, saw an opportunity again overseas in the Gr.1 Japan Cup Dirt, which would see Throne stretch a little further out to a mile and a quarter. It was a risk, but with a $750,000 Gr.1 up for grabs and a change in venue, Ali was bold enough to take the chance.
There was another small field, but not an easy one, with Worth Dying For in reasonable form and soon to embark on what would be a Gr.1 winning steeplechasing career, Dance On Moonbeams beginning to find his best form and four time Gr.1 winner and relative For What It’s Worth, who was hoping to go into retirement in glory in this his last start.
Dance On Moonbeams ran off into the lead closely pursued by For What It’s Worth at his flanks, with Throne a couple of lengths back and settling beautifully. The other two were not far behind, but started to drop out sharply as the turn approached. The extra distance was just what the doctor ordered, and Throne moved up on the outside as they reached the turn. After a short battle, Throne began to edge away and with the jockey up in the irons and motioning to a frenzied Japanese crowd, strolled across the line two length clear of For What it’s Worth with another two back to a tiring Dance On Moonbeams. Throne wrapped up his three year old season winning this, his second Gr.1 race with both of those being the only times he had ventured away from home.

Ali sent Throne for another short break over the new year, thrilled to the core to have such a high class horse in her yards, who had yet to finish worse than third despite contesting against some of the worlds best. But one thing still nagged at her. Throne had yet to win a Gr.1 on home soil, leaving doubt with some reporters that he truly was at the top of the class.
The short break may have been worrisome for Ali, but for Throne it was exactly what he needed.
Throne strutted back into work, feeling on top of the world and he was not afraid to let everyone know who was boss. Many a stablehand got a nip on the shoulder for failing to fill his water quickly enough and while being walked, if he wanted to pick at some of the grass, no one alive could stop him from dragging his handler across to the sweet, fresh greenness.
He was looking just as scary in his work, dominating every racing partner he worked with and leaving them far behind. Ali had a feeling he was ready to show his absolute best and quietly began to feel very, very excited about the new year.

Throne was set for a first up race in the million dollar Gr.1 Arcadia Handicap. It is said that no Gr.1 is easy and Throne’s assignment was anything but. His opposition included reigning Gr.1 Louisville Derby winner Mighty Big, fierce rival and recent Gr.1 Stewards Cup Classic winner Fog City and the ever dangerous Fighter Jet. The race was a classic.
Mighty Big was sent out into the lead and kept up a frenetic pace, with Fog City as per usual, giving the leader little peace. Fighter Jet was three lengths back on the fence, with Throne right behind him. The three lesser lights began to drop off, unable to compete with this calibre of horse over the testing mile and a quarter and there was not a soul in their seats as Mighty Big kicked clear on the turn, with Fog City setting out after him again. Fighter Jet was now coming strong but with Throne appearing on his outside, was relying on a gap opening up on the inside. With a furlong to go, anyone could win and the sound was deafening from the stands. Mighty Big, now eye to eye with Fog City, began to show signs he was weakening. Fog City too began to hang a little under pressure and this was what Fighter Jet was waiting for. He dived through between them to make his bid. Throne meanwhile had to change course as Fog City diverted, but now began to reach for the line. Fighter Jet cleared clear of Fog City and Mighty Big and was being hailed the winner, when a chestnut streak came with a rush and lunged at the line. Sadly, Throne was just too late, going down by a neck to Fighter Jet, with Fog City and Mighty Big still close at hand.
He ran a magnificent race, but again Throne had been thwarted for a home Gr.1.

Recalling his heroics in the previous years Derby, the powers that be in Dubai invited Ali to bring Throne back to the United Arab Emirates to contest the Gr.1 Desert World Cup, worth a phenomenal $6,000,000 and run under lights at Desert Oasis Park over the mile and a quarter.
Ali, knew deep down that it was far too big an offer to refuse, and Throne again boarded a plane away from the US in search for glory. An extraordinary race brought an extraordinary field. The consistent Hollywoodhotshot, dual Gr.2 winning Simpatico, four time Gr.1 winner Moon Beam, and fellow four year old superstars in triple Gr.1 winner Righteous and old Gr.1 winning rivals, Pillar Of Strength and Fighter Jet.
Simpatico, Prowler and Nightfall II battled for the lead with all the major players busy watching each other, none willing to blink first. Righteous made the first move, surging to the lead as the others rushed to respond. Fighter Jet, making up for his tardy start flashed up to join him, with Moon Beam and Pillar Of Strength gaining fast and Throne beginning to peel off around the outside.
Lord Tennyson described the next two furlongs perfectly when he wrote “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward………forward the light brigade”. This was no longer a race, but by all means a genuine cavalry charge as five horses, straining every sinew, flatly refused to give in to the others as the line approached and ran for all that they had to give.
Righteous was perhaps still in front, it was near impossible to tell, but Throne was flying out wide, Fighter Jet in the middle and in between Pillar Of Strength and Moon Beam as the flashing of camera’s and the hum of the maddening crowd were dulled by the sight of the five hurtling across the line, with no one sure who had won the day, with heads bobbing out of unison and from one side of the track to the other. The photo though left no doubt. In the very last stride, the snip at the end of Throne’s orange toned forehead had reached the wire first, by a head from Righteous and a neck to Pillar Of Strength, with Moon Beam a surprising half length back with another neck to Fighter Jet. The breathless steeds came back to the saddling enclosure to a standing ovation, which did not die down until the beginning of the presentations. Ali, resplendent in a local traditional veil, was overwhelmed by it all, barely able to speak as she received Throne’s cheque of $3,600,000 and the Desert World Cup trophy, saying simply that Throne was a once in a lifetime horse and that she couldn’t be prouder of her boy, who was draped in a magnificent silken blanket and happily picking at the lawn in the background.

Again back home to the USA, Throne was given the hero’s welcome he deserved, but Ali still wanted that homesoil Gr.1.
The Gr.1 Whitney Handicap in New York was next, and another date with Edict and Le Chateau Magique. Edict made the early running while his two main rivals sat back, and with the remainder of the field struggling to keep up, Edict dashed off before the turn to a big lead. Throne had a lot of ground to make up, but he steadily clawed back the deficit with Le Chateau Magique trying to come along with him. The post was closing in fast, but today was finally the day and Throne reached Edict just before the line to finally win a Gr.1 in the US by a half length to Edict, with Le Chateau Magique just three quarter of a length behind. Tears of joy streamed down Ali’s face, sharing the moment with breeder Alysse Peverell in a warm embrace.

The Gr.1 Jockey Club Gold Cup worth a million dollars was next on the agenda, with Ali weighing up options for one final race. First Throne had to contend with Fog City and Righteous and a shock rang through the huge New York crowd when Throne defied his normal pattern to push forward on the outside of Righteous for the lead. Fog City had uncharacteristically blown the start and was struggling to get into his usual stalking position. An enormous boilover looked a distinct possibility when Gezellig loomed up alongside, but it was only short lived and Throne kicked away from both Gezellig and Righteous for the run home. Throne was eased near the line and won by a length from a fast finishing Fog City, with Righteous giving treble punters a fright by barely hanging on for third.

Ali knew that there was only one thing for it, Throne had earned his shot at the $5,000,000 Gr.1 Steward’s Cup Classic. Here he would face an exceptional field, with the entire field of eleven runners all destined to earn well in excess of a million dollars, most of them winning two million and more. The field had many names still revered to this day like Tot Ziens, Pillar Of Strength, Empire, Fog City, Fighter Jet and Mighty Big.
For such a gifted field of champions, the race itself was a one act affair as Throne settled perfectly and then to a final standing ovation, broke through the pack and stormed away for a brilliant three length win from Pillar Of Strength and Tot Ziens. To further illustrate the dominance of Throne on this day, reining Steward’s Cup champion Fog City was eleven lengths behind the mighty chestnut and Righteous who had been so close in Dubai was fourteen lengths astern.

With nothing else to prove, Ali announced that Throne had run his final race and would immediately be sent to stud.
Throne finished his career on the track with ten wins, two seconds and three thirds from 15 starts, earning to this day the fourth highest amount in the history of the SIM with $9,032,500, with five Gr.1’s to his credit.

With his incredible racing record and racing royalty pedigree, Throne proved to be a very popular stallion, siring 295 foals with just two never reaching the track. Throne proved to be just as impressive as his predecessor’s, with 84% winners to runners, with 246 winners of 734 races and an average earnings per runner figure of $151,841.
Throne sired 59 stakes winners, including one over the fences and had nine millionaires, with three of them, Believe The Hype, Looking For Light and Shining On all being out of mares by Worth Fighting For. He was also the Sire of the remarkable filly and Hall of Fame member Temple and his biggest earner with over $5 million was the four time Gr.1 winner Literature, who like his famous Sire won the Desert World Cup.

The mighty Throne was SIMRacing royalty in both blood and deeds and still lives like a king at home in his paddock in Orange County, wearing the crown of a true legend of racing and one of the most loved horses in the history of the SIM.

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