A Tribute to My First Great Horse

Original article written by Brian Leavitt posted 10 years 1 week ago

If I remember correctly, Chord of Pity was a purchase off the sales page from her breeder Karie McBrian in year 25 at some point for $25,000. Going into Year 26, I had played for 3 SIM seasons, and had won a total of 15 times in 178 starts as a trainer. I thought I would never have anything good to race, and if you think me getting melodramatic nowadays after I have a big horse lose a big race is bad, you have no idea how bad it was back then. I thought I was nothing on the SIM, and that I would quit during Year 26.

Year 26 had other plans. My first ever stakes win, I believe, came in Week 9 in the Ueno Park Stakes with my turf miler World of Hurt. It was only a few weeks later, in week 14 in the Barbados Juvenile Turf, that Chord of Pity would win her first stakes - against an open field nonetheless! Year 26 had been, by far, my best year on record: 19 wins in 103 starts, with 3 stakes wins. Year 27 would only prove to be even better - especially on the earnings front - as both Chord of Pity and her aforementioned stablemate World of Hurt had extremely solid years, with the latter finishing 2nd in the Steward's Cup Turf Mile. But I remember feeling extremely disappointed by the result, despite running a good race against several amazing horses and only losing to Steph Lonrho's Lanarkshire. I wanted to taste my first Steward's Cup victory, as I was now completely entrenched in the game for a good long time.

After her 3 year old season that was Year 27, she had raced extremely well in many races, but had only won 4 out of her 12 career races, and only one out one of her 6 in year 27. From what I knew about sprinters, I knew that she could likely retire right then and there, since some sprint horses didn't run at all after their three year old season, and most certainly they should retire after their four year old season! I decided to race on with the hope that maybe I could earn a little bit more money.

I had no idea what brilliancy lied ahead.

I knew that I had to keep Chord of Pity to 7 or more furlong races, since all of her best races of her career had been at those distances, and she tended to bomb at shorter distances. She immediately won week 1 in a stakes in Malaysia, winning by a head with a 73 speed figure over Ease into Love. She would vanquish Ease into Love again in Week 5 in the Tickle Trophy. Week 8 put her in Australia, up against one of the toughest competitors she had ever faced: an up and coming three year old named Aria out of the superstar broodmare Duet. And Aria, too, would fall to my filly by 2 1/2 lengths. Weeks 10 and 13 also saw her race in Australia, earning two more wins with twin speed figures of 76. She had raced five times this year, all at 7 furlongs, and she had won all 5 races. She had immense momentum. A victory in a 7f stakes near where she was would almost be guaranteed if she chose to stay there, and I would be assured that I would have campaigned my first undefeated season. But I remembered that feeling I had with World of Hurt getting 2nd to Lanarkshire the SIM year before, and, with World of Hurt's one-win year, I knew that Chord of Pity was easily the best horse in my stable. Unfortunately, she was a 7 furlong specialist whereas the Steward's Cup race was a 5 furlongs. I was faced with a choice: do I take the safe win in the southern hemisphere to virtually guarantee her undefeated season, or did I risk the shorter distance and the big ship from Australia to Washington on 3 weeks rest and go for absolute glory in the Steward's Cup?

I chose the Steward's Cup.

December 10th, 2010; this was the day where the racecalls for the Year 28 Steward's Cup would be announced, and I was nervous to the point of near fright. The Filly and Mare Turf Sprint was the third race on the docket, and the calls for the first two races - the Turf Sprint and the Filly and Mare Dirt Mile - felt like agonizing waiting as a result.

I remember, when the emcee got to previewing the race, I felt my heart in my throat at that instant. Chord of Pity was the third filly to be previewed, and I'm almost certain that I shouted her name several times, cheering her on. She was the best horse in my stable. She had to do well! There was a full field of 14 to preview, and it was agonizing waiting for the preview to end, and then I had to wait through a content!

But finally, the time had arrived. The Steward announced that it was time for the race call. I was almost rock solid in my seat in that brief moment of silence in between the announcement and the beginning of the race call, and when the race call started, I could feel my adrenaline rise. Out of the 14 horses, Chord of Pity was way back in the field in the first part of the race, but that by itself didn't worry me, since Chord of Pity had always been a closer. But she hardly made any movements through most of the rest of the race, and with more than half the race over, Chord of Pity still was hardly in the top 10 if she was at all. With the race being so short, I thought for sure that she would finish where she was, a disappointing finish to an otherwise immense season.

Then it happened. With the fillies in the race breaking for home, she suddenly says, "and look at Chord of Pity, flying between horses out of nowhere!" I was stunned and my heart was pounding faster than it ever had before, my palms and probably my face sweaty from the excitement runnning through my mind and adrenaline running through my body. My eyes clenched tight and my head bowed a little as I didn't want to look at the screen. I just wanted to listen. The Steward continued, and she began to go into detail about how Chord of Pity was picking off horses left and right, and then suddenly, "she just blasts past the rest of the field! Chord of Pity wins!" I remember hollering - maybe even shrieking - as I jumped up out of my seat and bounced around, tears freely streaming down my face as I now knew what it was like to be a Steward's Cup winner. Chord of Pity won the race by 1 1/4 lengths over her closest rival, Isle of Wishes. She had gone 6 for 6 in her final season, a legendary season for my stable topped off with my first ever Steward's Cup victory. Although Chord of Pity never did much in the broodmare barn, she always held a special place in my SIM heart.

Today, June 30th, 2013, Chord of Pity died while foaling a colt sired by Typhoon Bay. In turn, I decided to write this article in her honor, the first ever great horse that my stable ever saw. I have won three Steward's Cup victories since then - To Sirius in Year 30 Filly and Mare Dirt Mile, Pingu in Year 32 in the Turf, and Ecailles de Lune in Year 35 in the Dirt Mile - but I still fondly remember Chord of Pity's victory all those years ago. I will miss her.

And if you must know, yes, I did shed tears while writing this. After all, "it's not the horses that are real, it's the emotions."

---

Back to Racing articles