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Hall of Fame - Agronomist

Original article written by Nathan Klein posted 3 years 0 weeks ago

There are lots of great horses that were able to transfer their brilliance onto there progeny but most of the time that describes a stallion. It's even more impressive when it describes a mare who earned over $636,400 on the track and even a Simmy Award. Her name was Agronomist and like her name suggests she knew how to grow seeds into champions. But before she was a successful broodmare she was a racehorse and her career started as a turf router. A far cry from what she would become. Surprisingly enough she was able to hold her own in the maiden special weight at 1 mile and 3/8 settling between horses and then moving willingly to be a distant second-place finisher. After the maiden attempt, it was straight into stakes company in the La Prevoyante Handicap. But after stumbling at the start she was only able to beat 1 of her 4 challengers. It would be the last time she raced on the turf and her next stop was on the All-Weather. It seemed finally she would get the right surface she needed to succeed. Then she finished sixth nearly 20 lengths behind the winner.

It would be her third straight loss but it would also be her last time running at a mile or higher. She cut back as an All-Weather sprinter and all the pieces for a champion finally fell together. She would run in the $75,000 Equi Dash Stakes breaking well and ran away with the race winning the race by a remarkable 6 1/2 lengths the second-highest Beyer that day was 51, she had a speed figure of 80. What was even more impressive is that it was her smallest winning margin that year. In her next start, she stumbled hard out of the gate but even with this setback she still went on to win the race by 7 3/4 lengths. Things were no different in her graded stakes debut in the grade 3 Tatiana Stakes when she broke well and was hand ridden at the wire winning by 8 1/2 lengths. She finally reached the peak when she went for her first attempt at grade 1 glory in the grade 1 All-Weather Filly and Mare Sprint. Despite a jump in purse money, the race was no race at all winning the race by 10 1/4 lengths. Following this, the unbeatable sprinter swept the All-Weather Damsel to finish an amazing year. Unfortunately, she would not win All Weather champion 3-year-old-female as the award had not been introduced yet.

But she would finally be recognized for her ability when she won the Y22-All-Weather Champion Older Female at the age of 4. She came back just as good as ever and continued her reign as the undisputed queen of All-Weather. She would first sweep a grade 2 by 6 1/2 lengths. She would go on to defend her titles in the non-graded Equi Dash, Sky Of Rains Stakes, and in the grade 3 Tatiana Stakes which would mark her 10th straight career win. As well as adding other stakes races in between her title defenses. She even raced against the boys in the Parole Stakes and won by 9 3/4 lengths. No horse could get close to her. All that was left was to defend her title in the All-Weather Filly and Mare Sprint. She would take her final prep Twilight Hero Stakes by 8 1/4 lengths slightly above average winning margin for Agronomist who throughout the year had won all of her races by 6 1/2 lengths or more. As she ran the All-Weather Filly and Mare Sprint the race turned out to be easier than the year before with only 4 rivals. It was a walk over to her as she won the race by the greatest margin of her entire career 10 1/2 lengths. After that, she had nothing to prove on the track. She had won 12 straight races with no horse getting any closer than 6 1/2 lengths. She was a near-unanimous winner of the Y22-All-Weather Champion Older Female.

She was retired and bred every year from the age of 4 to 13. Out of her 10 progeny, all made it to the track, 9 out of 10 were winners on the track. 5 were grade 1 winners, 4 were millionaires with one of the 4 - Scientist - being a grade 1 winning steeplechaser. She would produce champions until she tragically died while foaling Truly Emazing. Truly Emazing would go on to win All-Weather Champion Two Year Old Female, and All-Weather Champion Three Year Old Female and would continue her legacy producing two millionaires herself.


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