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Hall of Fame - Inspired Star

Original article written by Susie Rydell posted 15 years 0 weeks ago

Brianna McKenzie has won the Kentucky Derby, the Canadian Triple Crown (twice), the Two-Year-Old Turf Triple Crown, and at least one edition of the Steward’s Cup Distaff, Steward’s Cup Turf, Steward’s Cup Classic, Steward’s Cup Mile, English and Irish Derbies, not to mention Los Campeones events, several of the major races in Dubai, and pretty much every other highlight on the racing calendar. Any short list of the best route mares in history would have to include her remarkable duo of Three Day Event and Piece of the Dream while Loki Dynasty, Tejano Causeway, and The Scarlet Nite more than hold up the boy’s end. And yet her reputation has always been based on her prowess with dirt sprinters. Much of that is due to Inspired Star.

The story of Inspired Star really starts with the story of her parents, Tri Star and Raise Fury, who were two of McKenzie’s first horses. A Hall of Famer in his own right, Tri Star was one of the stars of one of the fiercest rivalries the SIM has seen. After a career of knocking heads with Mischief Maker and Ready For Apremont, the grand little bay retired to stud and the match made in heaven with Raise Fury. The petite filly had torn through her competition, ending her career with a triumphant victory in the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and a SIMMY as Champion Female Sprinter. As McKenzie pointed out, “It was a complete no brainer to breed Fury to Tri when they retired. It was just pure dumb luck that the cross turned out to be such a golden one. I only wish I could take credit for it.”

Those in racing can be prone to hyperbole, but to call the cross golden might actually be selling it short. The two met three times and the resulting offspring earned over $5,000,000, won 27 of 34 starts while never finishing off the board, two Steward’s Cup races, a Sprint Championship, and four SIMMYs. Of course, while Inspired Fate and Inspired Fury were brilliant, the oldest of the trio, and the only girl, was the best.

Inspired Star’s two-year-old campaign was a carefully mapped homage to perhaps the greatest “what might have been” story we’ve ever seen. Just a year before the racing world had been treated to a glimpse of sprinting sublimity. Ara Davies’ The Look took racing by storm, reeling off five wins in five starts in tremendous fashion, including a leg of the Sprint Championship Elimination Trials. Heartbreak struck, however, when she was tragically lost in a barn fire prior to her date in the Championship event. While The Look was posthumously awarded a SIMMY as Champion Two Year Old Filly, Inspired Star struck out to finish what The Look couldn’t. After breaking her maiden, her two preps for the prestigious Sprint Championship matched the preps The Look used, although the first had appropriately been changed in name from the Ontario Debutante Stakes to The Look Stakes. Both were wins, as was her leg of the Trial. In the days leading up to the championship event, McKenzie formerly dedicated “Starlette”’s start in the Championship to the fallen heroine, and the dark bay filly didn’t disappoint. She stormed to victory over a field that included future G1 winners Lokite Excellence and Loki Charm to finish her year five-for-five and seal a SIMMY for Champion Two Year Old Filly.

Her abbreviated three-year-old campaign (two starts, predictably both wins) was marred by injury, but she came back in style at four. After crushing allowance company, McKenzie made a move that many would not be brave enough to try. Inspired Star stretched out to a mile, a distance further than she was probably suited to, and took the Metropolitan Mile by a comfortable 3 ½ lengths. As McKenzie said of the effort, “she was the kind of horse who makes her trainer look good and pulled if off somehow.” Her proud owner/breeder was also quick to point out that her time of 1:33.40 still stands as the mile record. After that taxing effort, the fleet filly was allowed a break to recover for what would be the final race of her career. At nine-for-nine, Inspired Star could have retired on that note as one of the most brilliant sprinters racing had seen, but there was one more race on her dance card. In Year 7, the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint had been the exclamation point on the career of her dam, Raise Fury. In Year 10, in was Starlette’s turn. In a field stocked with graded stakes winners, including the defending champion, representing the strongest barns of the time, Inspired Star put in a performance to remember. The six length romping triumph ranked as McKenzie’s favorite of her prize filly’s career. She retired a perfect 10-for-10 and added SIMMYs as Champion Older Mare and Champion Female Sprinter to her trophy case.

The Hall of Fame is about racing prowess, not breeding proficiency, but it is a fitting footnote that Inspired Star’s six children earned over $3,300,000, highlighted by Cherish, whose Year 12 victory in the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (and subsequent SIMMY for Champion Female Sprinter) made it a remarkable three consecutive generations to accomplish that feat.


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