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Hall of Fame - Cabaret
Original article written by Laura Cameron posted 15 years 3 weeks agoJon Xett’s turf star Cabaret was deservingly voted into the Hall of Fame as a Contemporary Female in Year 23. The big chestnut mare was a monster on the race track and carried that success through to the breeding barn.
Cabaret made her debut early in Year 9 in a five furlong maiden at Hot Springs Park, where she ran out the winner. Five weeks later she returned to the track, with the addition of blinkers, to contest the Grade I Natalma Stakes in Canada. In winning there Cabaret defeated three future Grade I winners, all of whom also went on to produce Grade I winners. The blinkers came off again at her third and final start as a juvenile when Cabaret took on the colts in the Grade I Magellan Stakes over a mile and a sixteenth and was a winner once more. For her efforts in that season she was voted the SIMMY Champion Two Year Old Filly of her generation.
Returning as a three-year-old, Cabaret coasted to a four length win in a Grade III race and followed this up with a brilliant ten-and-a-half length victory in the Grade II Flawlessly Handicap at Metropolitan Park. There she crushed the future SIMMY South American Champion Older Mare Afraid To Love. Her final preparation for the Year 10 Steward’s Cup was the Grade II Kentucky Cup Ladies Turf over a mile and an eighth. Again, she cruised to a comfortable win. Four weeks later, Cabaret lined up in the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Turf for the finale of her career. She powered to a one-length victory to end her racing days as the unbeaten winner of seven races. Xett quinellaed the race, as his multiple Grade I winning Future Hero mare All In Fun finished second. Cabaret picked up her second SIMMY Award, being voted the Champion Female Turf Horse of Year 10.
Cabaret was sired by the Summer Squall son Charismatic. From his 95 foals to race, Charismatic sired twelve stakes winners in addition to Cabaret. The maternal side of Cabaret’s pedigree begins to get interesting with her second dam, the Theatrical mare Auntie Mame, herself a SIMMY Champion Female Turf Horse. Auntie Mame produced four stakes winners from her eleven runners. The best of these was the dual Steward’s Cup Turf Mile winner Give Applause (by Feature Attraction) who went on to become an outstanding sire with his average earnings per runner exceeding $700,000. There was also A Star Of Fame (Astarabad), a multiple graded stakes winner and decent sire in his own right, and Emotional (Yokoa Cat), a dual graded stakes winner. The sole filly of this quartet was Cabaret’s dam On Broadway (Danzig).
On Broadway won six from twelve including the Grade I Beverly D Stakes. As a broodmare, however, she was even more impressive, producing eight graded stakes winners from eight foals. Her highest earner was Kismet (Tejano Causeway), who emulated her dam by winning the Beverly D Stakes but also won two other Grade I affairs. Kismet was voted the SIMMY Broodmare of the Year in Year 21, a year in which her offspring Atlantis, Frayed and Have Faith won nine stakes races between them. On Broadway also produced Chorus Line (second dam of former SIMMY North American Champion Female Turf Horse Crown A Star) and Analysis (second dam of Grade I winner Motives And Acts) in addition to Cabaret.
Cabaret herself went on to become a very successful broodmare. All six of the foals she produced were graded stakes winners, with five of them triumphant at Grade I level. Her son Stage Magic (Lokite Magic) has had limited exposure at stud but currently boasts a 74% winners-to-runners ratio while her daughters Enjoy Every Moment (Conduit), Pas De Deux (Tulloch) and Up In Lights (Star Studded) have produced twelve stakes winners to date including Opening Night and Sahara Star (herself the dam of recent Steward’s Cup Turf winner Sahara Dune).
Jon Xett’s Hall of Fame inductee Cabaret was an outstanding mare both on the track and in the breeding shed. Her legacy lives on through her descendants, who continue to impress at the races.