Hall of Fame - Cadeauje

Original article written by Matty Dubs posted 13 years 0 weeks ago

Raise your hand if you could pronounce Cadeauje correctly the first time you saw her name? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? That’s okay, I was clueless as well. For those of you, like me, that are not fluent in the Dutch language, Cadeauje means gift. It’s hard to think of a more appropriate name for this newly elected Hall of Famer, as she was truly a gift to the world of SIMhorseracing.

Cadeauje (Sports Jersey x Elusive by Design (Symbol)), bred by The Steward, was destined to be a legend. It is virtually impossible to find a more royal pedigree than you find here.

Sire - Sports Jersey - Hall of Fame.
Dam Sire – Symbol – Hall of Fame.
Second Dam Sire – Priceless Forever – Hall of Fame.

Then when you look at her siblings, she is a half sister to three millionaires: Avonds, Moed, and Reis. Cadeauje’s dam, Elusive by Design is a millionaire in her own right. As you can see, Cadeauje’s family is littered with success stories. The fact that she was a talented horse is certainly no surprise. What makes Cadeauje truly stand out is that she is arguably the most talented horse in the family, as well as one of the most influential horses in the history of the SIM.

Trainer Jon Xett began her racing career began with a five furlong maiden race in Year 13 that resulted in a strong, if not impressive, victory by a length and a half. She did not beat any world beaters in this race, but Traction and Mi Corazon certainly enjoyed their share of success in the SIM. A few weeks later, Cadeauje found herself in a six furlong allowance race. This field was not as talented as the field she met in her maiden race, but Cadeauje waltzed to victory, finishing ten lengths ahead of the second place finisher. The convincing win against an allowance field was enough to convince Xett that it was time to enter Cadeauje against stakes competition. Cadeauje’s proving ground would be the Toronto Racecourse in the Grade 1 “The Look Stakes”. Once again, Cadeauje emerged victorious by two lengths over One Hopes. While One Hopes was not the greatest racehorse, she is the dam of Desert Golden Sprint winner, One Proves. Clearly One Hopes was bred to sprint, but Cadeauje was so classy that she was able to defeat her in a sprint, even though we would later find out that Cadeauje’s true strength was routing.

“The Look Stakes” would be Cadeauje’s final sprint of her career. With the beginning of Year 14 came Cadeauje’s transition to routing. The Grade 1 “Arcadia Oaks” would see her face off against future millionaire, Midnightrendevous. Another race just meant another win for Cadeauje, though, as she cruised in a length and a half ahead of Gerry Hardie’s star, who had finished second in the Steward’s Cup Juvenile Fillies the year before. This outstanding victory seemed to scare off competitors for Cadeauje’s next race, the Grade 1 “Inglewood Oaks”. Cadeauje cruised to another win by two and a half lengths for her third straight Grade 1 victory.

In Week 10 of Year 14, Xett stretched Cadeauje out to nine furlongs for the first time. The added distance, combined with the challenge from Is My Star to Come and Whatareyouwaitnfor was the next obstacle in the way for still undefeated Cadeauje. In the end, the Grade 2 “Tropical Oaks” were just another easy victory as she cruised to the finish line two lengths ahead of the competition. The “Tropical Oaks” would be Cadeauje’s final race as a three year old.

Year 15 began with Cadeauje taking her six wins in six starts to the “Piece of the Moon Stakes” in New Jersey. This time, Xett wanted to try Cadeauje at the classic distance of ten furlongs to see what kind of router he really had on his hands. Her sterling record heading into the race may have scared off competition again, as her chief competition came from Silent Laughter. Silent Laughter was a competent horse, but she was no match for the machine that was Cadeauje. This time she cruised to a three and a half furlong victory, her largest margin of victory since her ten length victory back in the second race of her career. Xett dropped the distance back to the distaff distance of nine furlongs for the Grade 1 “Vanity Handicap” in California. She found a complete lack of competition there as well, as she cruised to another victory by two and a half lengths.

Eight wins in eight starts; certainly the Steward’s Cup was on the horizon, but first Cadeauje needed to get past another millionaire – Laura Ferguson’s Kudos. You may know Kudos as the dam of Steward’s Cup Marathon winner Tremendous Machine, but she was a pretty strong race horse in her own right. The site for this showdown was Arcadia Park in the Grade 3 “Lady’s Secret Breeder’s Cup Handicap”. In the end, the showdown turned out to be nothing more than another impressive performance by Cadeauje as she cruised to victory by three lengths.

So now, with nine wins in nine starts it was time for Cadeauje to head to the Steward’s Cup. It is difficult to consider that a horse with a track record like Cadeauje was not the hands down favorite to win, but when you look at the Steward’s Cup Distaff field that year; it may have been one of the best ever. Cadeauje was not even the only horse to enter the race undefeated; Piece of the Dream was undefeated as well. For that matter, Hall of Famer Tiara only had one loss, but it came at seven furlongs so it was hardly a blemish on her routing record. Throw in Architect, Dual Legacy, La Sorciere, Parade, Remember to Smile, and Traumatize and the field was loaded. In the end Cadeauje could not emerge victorious, as she finished four lengths behind the winner, Tiara, and only a nose ahead of her less accomplished stable mate, Architect. Of course, Architect would go on to produce a future Hall of Famer in her own right, Temple, but at the time it was very disappointing for Cadeauje. In fact, that disappointing performance in the Steward’s Cup would lay the foundation to the “Curse of Cadeauje”.

For all her success on the track, the real reason that Cadeauje was elected into the Hall of Fame was her legendary ability as a broodmare. Cadeauje is the dam to eleven race horses; nine of which finished their career with at least a million dollars in earnings. One of the two horses that did not finish her career with a million dollars in earnings was Big Dreams. While she may have failed to meet that million dollar mark, she finished her career with nine wins in nine starts. Undefeated. A career that was strong enough to earn her a spot in the Hall of Fame in her own right. The “nag” of this group was Tiger, who finished his career with “only” $837,250.

Here is an outline of the millionaire tree that has come from this majestic horse. While it is an incomplete list of her successful progeny, it does give an outline of how strong her influence carries through the SIM:

The Old Guard (progeny with ample breeding data):

Kiddo - $2,836,000
---Lowered Head - $1,000,500
Radee - $1,149,700
---Bragging Rights - $4,019,500
Indian - $3,194,800
---Pacific Classic - $1,551,000
Big Dreams - $895,000
---Derby Dreams - $1,440,000
---Big Gamble - $1,005,450


The New Guard (oldest progeny are five years old at max):

Theonethatgotaway - $1,110,000

Something Better - $4,609,250

Clearly Best - $2,188,300

Lofty Goals - $3,146,500

Sword and Shield - $1,021,500

Stay Awake - $3,245,500 (still racing as of Cadeauje’s Hall of Fame induction)

Since The Steward owned Cadeauje, many of her progeny were for sale in Trial by Summer Auctions. Another set of numbers that demonstrates how valuable Cadeauje’s bloodlines are in the eyes of trainers would be how much each foal sold for at auction. When you look at the SIMuseum at the list of “Highest Sales Prices”, it’s littered with Cadeauje’s progeny.

Below is a list of Cadeauje’s progeny and what they sold for on the open market:

Kiddo - $211,411
Radee - $1,500,000
Indian - $7,125,000
Tiger - $8,701,000
Theonethatgotaway - $18,500,000
Something Better - $13,000,000
Clearly Best - $12,501,000
Lofty Goals - $12,501,000
Stay Awake - $23,001,000

As you can see, the price escalated as time went on. Once breeders’ knew that Stay Awake was the last foal out of Cadeauje, people were willing to pay well over $20 million.

The aforementioned “Curse of Cadeauje” was a phrased coined by a writer on the Feature Race to describe the inability that Cadeauje’s family had when it came to winning the Louisville Derby or a Steward’s Cup race. Everyone knew that this family was immensely talented, but for one reason or another, this family had a history of coming up short in the big races. The curse became very frustrating, as Cadeauje was a very popular horse. It was not until Year 25 – a full ten years after Cadeauje retired in Year 15 - when Something Better won the Desert World Cup and Clearly Best won the Steward’s Cup Ladies’ Route to break the curse. Once the curse was lifted, the flood gates opened with Clearly Best winning the Ladies’ Route again in Year 26, while Lofty Goals brought home the biggest prize of all by winning the Stewards Cup Classic. Stay Awake made it back to back Stewards Cup Classic wins for sons of Cadeauje in Year 27. Though the curse is no longer the unstoppable force it once was, no horse directly related to Cadeauje has won an American Triple Crown race to this date.

When you add up her supremacy on the track and in the shed, Cadeauje is one of the true legends of the sport. With Stay Awake still on the track and many other sons and daughters of Cadeauje still active in the shed, it is safe to say that the Cadeauje is the gift that keeps on giving.

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