Hall Of Fame - Valentine

Original article written by Nena Olson posted 13 years 2 weeks ago

The last time I had the honor and pleasure to sit down and write about a SIM legend as well as Hall of Fame inductee, I had the distinct pleasure to write about a horse who had a rags to riches background. However, this time around, I am more then honored to write about one of my favorite SIM horses, a blue blooded filly with a huge heart, and devoted owner and breeder. Her name? Valentine. While Jon Xett waited patiently for one of his mares to produce the perfect filly, his wait soon came to and end when one calm February night, perfection was born in the form of a filly.

The filly's dam was the undefeated stakes winner, Pike Place Dancer. This mare, while quite talented on the track, was more known for her ability to produce superstars as she was the dam to Derby Dancer, earner of $7.7 million dollars; Pi Kappa Dancer, earner of $2.3 million; Tremendous, earner of $6 million; Awesome Dancer, earner of $3.3 million; Fighting With Wit, earner of $2.2 million; Alpha and Omega, earner of $1.6 million; Prevail, earner of and Walkover, earner of $7 million. With a mare like Pike Place Dancer, you can bet that her owner Jon Xett, thought long and hard about his decision on who to send her to before deciding to send her to Louisville Derby winner and earner of $3.6 million dollars, Loki Flame, even though it was his first year at stud and his success as a stallion was still unknown.

When Pike Place Dancer produced the lovely chestnut filly, who Jon appropriately named Valentine, thanks to the perfect heart on her forehead, all that was left to answer was: could she fulfill her owner's wishes and win the Louisville Oaks? As Jon watched his beautiful filly mature into the lovely mare that we are all familiar with and love, it almost seemed like the lanky filly knew what was expected of her and her prestigious pedigree.

Soon enough, Jon was picking out Valentine's first race which would take place Year 8, Week 5 in a six furlong maiden special weight for two-year-old fillies. The track was listed as fast and eight other fillies lined up to challenge Valentine. When the gates flew open and Valentine settled just off the leaders, and in the homestretch effortlessly took the lead to win her debut by a length

The ease by which the chestnut filly won her debut, led to big dreams and plans for the 16.3 hand high filly. Three weeks after her easy debut, Valentine was once again in the gate, and this time she was making her stakes debut in the one mile G2 Oak Leaf Stakes, against a field of three other fillies. When the gate flew open, Valentine once again set herself just off of the pace while Daring Dance set the pace. As they headed into the far turn, Valentine was asked to make her move, and powered to the lead but as she flew home, Kayak started closing furiously to duke it out with Valentine to a photo finish with Valentine winning the G2 Oak Leaf Stakes by a mere head.

The fact that the filly had heart was no longer in question, but could she stretch out? That question was going to have to wait as Jon Xett put Valentine in the G1 Inglewood Starlet in her next start, where she faced three other fillies going a mile on the dirt once again. This time, Valentine shook loose from the field and never came close to being touched as she romped to an easy victory all alone on the lead.

After this easy victory, Jon thought it would only be proper to send his beautifully bred and talented chestnut star to the Steward's Cup Juvenile Fillies, which would be her first attempt at going 1 1/16 miles. The SC Juvenile Fillies brought forth a field of eleven other fillies with Valentine being the twelfth horse in the full field. The day of the race brought a lot of tension for many owners with many of the fillies racing the distance for the first time. As the gates flew open and the field hurtled out onto the track, it was clear that the pace was a quick one. With the opening fractions in a blistering :22.5 seconds, it was clear that anybody near the front end was going to be cooked and the race was setting up for the closers. Valentine sat about four lengths off of the lead, but it was definitely close enough to make one worry about how she would hold on in the end. As they hit the final turn, Valentine started to make her patented move and swept to the lead but soon as they hit the homestretch, it would be clear that the filly was out of gas as the closers started to rev their engines. Valentine wasn't going to give up though and dug in, trying to use all of her reserves to keep the lead but soon she found herself eyeball to eyeball with Kayak, the same filly who almost ran her down in the Oak Leaf Stakes, and soon Kayak was pulling away with Valentine not having anything left to give. As she swept under the wire, she was fourth and pretty exhausted from such a taxing effort but her owner, Jon Xett, was proud of her none the less. Valentine was led back to the barn, where she was showered with love and affection by all of the stable hands.

As days passed by, many rumors and other talk was starting to rise about the filly's ability to stretch out. Many doubted that she would be able to handle anything longer then a mile and believed that she folded due to the distance in the Juvenile Fillies, but her connections never gave up faith. After the filly was well rested, they aimed her for her first start as a three-year-old and the first step into reaching the Louisville Oaks by entering the G1 Ashland Stakes, also going 1 1/16 miles on the dirt.

Not only was Valentine testing the distance again after her trying defeat, and once again facing off against Kayak. However, this time, Valentine got to sit off of a relaxed pace and when she swept into the lead, she didn't have the closers chasing her down. Valentine sailed home to a open length victory while Juvenile Filly winner, Kayak, never firing and wound up fourth.

Well, the dreams were once again alive and well for Jon Xett and the Valentine team, and continued to burn strong as Valentine headed into the Louisville Oaks as the clear favorite over four other fillies. As the field headed into the post parade, many eyes were on the darling Valentine as she pranced alongside her pony, looking every inch the superstar that she was bred to be. As the field loaded into the gate, Valentine stood as still as a statue, with the only movement coming from her ears as they flicked back and forth waiting for the moment to come. The gates flew open with a crash, and Valentine launched out of the gates with her powerful hindquarters propelling her forward. There was little pace in the field, and soon Valentine found herself sitting on the lead quite early in the race but her ears were pricked and she was doing it with very little effort. As the field continued down the backstretch, Valentine opened her lead to a good two lengths over the rest of the field, and the margin kept growing as the field fell further back as Valentine drew off to romp home in the Oaks by six lengths.

The celebration in the Xett barn was clear, as many shouts and screams of happiness mixed in with tears of joy, as they all went down to greet the copper filly blanketed with her lilies in the winner's circle. Jon, so overjoyed with his filly, threw his arms around her neck and planted a kiss on her chestnut nose. The filly snorted, and tossed her head in the air, still high on adrenaline from the victory. Reporters wanted to know where the filly was pointed to next, and as Jon composed himself, he replied with Alabama and Distaff.

Valentine would go to win the Alabama easily before heading into the Steward's Cup Distaff, where she would have to face off against her stablemate, Fading Star, who looked almost unbeatable in this race. The buzz all over the backstretch was how the two fillies would handle each other and what the strategy was for Xett's two super fillies. The dark bay four-year-old Fading Star, was a petite filly as she stood almost a hand shorter then the three-year-old Valentine but Fading Star was coming into the race with much more experience. As the horses flew out of the gate, Valentine settled just off of the leaders with Fading Star breathing down her neck. As the horses fought for position into the first turn, Valentine sat against the rail with the smaller Fading Star pinned to her side and as they headed into the backstretch, it seemed as if Valentine was going to end up stuck on the rail since Fading Star was not giving her breathing room and the leaders were still going strong in front of her and the rest of the field was still running right behind her. “And as they hit the far turn, Fading Star is starting to rev up and stablemate Valentine is still stuck on the rail with nowhere to go!”, the announcer cried as the field got closer and closer to the homestretch. As soon as they straightened back out, a tiny hole opened up and Valentine squeezed her way through and focused on running down Fading Star, who was now leading the field. “Fading Star has the lead, but here comes Valentine! Valentine is flying after her stablemate and its going to be the two Xett fillies battling out to the wire! They are now neck and neck, nose to nose! Who will it be!!! Valentine, Fading Star, Valentine! Fading Star! They are under the wire and its TO CLOSE TO CALL!” the whole crowd was erupting, but the Xett connections sat in awe as reality dawned on to them, they were just first and second in the Steward's Cup Distaff and no matter what the outcome of the photo was, they had won it. As the two fillies circled around on the track waiting for the photo results, the Xett barn was already in the winner's circle waiting to see if they would be joined by the amazon chestnut or the petite bay. Low and behold, when the numbers flashed on the board, it was Valentine on top. The courageous chestnut filly had done it, she had won the Distaff! After her stunning three year old season, it was only right to award the filly the Champion Three Year Old Filly Simmy to cap off the end of a fantastic season.

While many people would have thought to retire their Louisville Oaks and Steward's Cup Distaff winner in a heartbeat, not Jon. Valentine would make her four year old debut in the G1 Santa Margarita Handicap, going 1 1/8 miles on dirt, where she would face four other mares including the G1 winner Loki Angel. The race would just be a warm up, as Valentine bounded home to an easy 2 ½ length victory over Loki Angel, who was another six lengths ahead of the nearest competitor.

Finally, Jon Xett decided it was time to shock the world with the announcement that he was sending his superstar filly to Dubai to run in the Desert World Cup. The race was invite only, and three other horses were invited to big stage including Long Island Classic and Haskell Invitational winner, Heir to the Throne; Midsummer Classic winner Caccio al Ladro; and multiple graded stakes winner Lost Manners.

The flight was long but the stage was set for Valentine's first race against the boys. The question was obvious but many fans of the filly thought that she could do it, she had the heart, she had the pedigree, and she was very fast. With the ease that she had been handling the fillies, it was hard to picture her not handling the males with the same domination. Soon it was race time and the field of four was in the gate waiting to see who would be the best horse in the world. As the gates flew open, Lost Manners, flew to the lead with Valentine just sitting off of the pace while Caccio al Ladro and Heir to the Throne sat just off of her flanks. The heat was scorching, but the pace was moderate as the field headed down the backstretch. Valentine shifted slightly to the outside of Lost Manners as the colt started to lose ground while the horses turned for home. Soon Valentine was, once again, finding herself in front with the closers still sitting behind her with plenty of gas left in the tank. The jockey gave Valentine the cue to go and off she went! The crowd was roaring their approval as she tried her hardest to hold on to the lead with only a few furlongs to go but Heir to the Throne was gaining quickly! The noise was deafening as the big chestnut colt matched strides with the chestnut filly, her ears pinned flat against her head, as she dug down deep but with a few strides left before the wire, Heir to the Throne got the jump on her and found himself with his head in front of the filly denying her of the Desert World Cup.

The filly had tried hard but it just wasn't meant to be that night. She had tried so hard and everybody was so proud of her but Jon decided that Valentine would return back to the fillies for the rest of her career. Before she attempted her second Steward's Cup Distaff, Valentine won the G2 Chula Vista Handicap by seven and a half lengths and the G1 Spinster Stakes by eight lengths. With performances like that, you can almost guarantee that she was the heavy favorite for the Y10 Steward's Cup Distaff.

Unfortunately, Jess Paquette decided to load the race since five of the ten entrants belonged to her. Valentine drew the #1 spot and everybody knew exactly where she wanted to be in the race. As the field burst through the gate, Valentine's nightmares seemed to unfold as she found herself missing the break, and stuck behind a wall of horses as well as pinned down against the rail. It was still early so the jockey didn't seem to be to worried but as the horses headed down the backstretch, it was obvious that Valentine was unhappy and quite rank as she had nowhere to go without running over the horses in front of her. As they headed to the final turn, a small hole opened up for Valentine and she broke through it but by this time her energy had almost been completely spent fighting the rider. The announcer cried out 'down the stretch they come', but it was apparent that it was not going to be Valentine's day today as she seemed to make no headway on catching the top three and crossed the finish line in fourth, three and a half lengths behind the winner.

While it wasn't the ideal end to Valentine's career it was nothing to be ashamed of and the filly received much praise for her gallant four year old season, even though she was denied the Older Mare Simmy. The apparent love that Jon had for the filly definitely shined through as he spoke words of greatness about her while announcing her retirement and that she would be bred to Sunday Silence for her first foal.

As a broodmare, Valentine had a very brief career, with her first foal being Yellow Roses, a multiple graded stakes winner, and earner of over $800k. Yellow Roses also went on to being the dam to millionaire, Giant Risk, as well as G1 winners Geared Down and Thirty One Lengths, as well as the nice mare Recently, who is the dam to G2 winners Yellow Calla and Solo Hope, plus the talented miler Alligator Pie, who ran a 72sf in his debut going a mile in 1:37.95. After Yellow Roses, Valentine was bred to AP Indy and produced the stallion, Quench My Heart, who earned a little over $700k on the track, while unfortunately never getting to stand at stud. Her third foal was Cross My Heart, a tiny chestnut mare sired by Ichi Forever, who earned $262k on the track. Her best progeny was Left to Chance, earner of $227k and dam of G3 winner Chance Kindness. Valentine's fourth foal was Elixir, who was sired by Chesapeake Bay and earner of $89k and then we have Valentine's last foal, Vee to Shining Zee, sired by Zinfadel and earner of $449k on the track and sire of Either Or, earner of $234k on the track and You Need Your Head, earner of $219k on the track.

This is how a royally bred filly who captured the hearts of many racing fans with her determination, heart, speed, looks and pedigree made her mark on many hearts across the SIM world. While horses in the Hall of Fame have found their way there for many reasons, it is apparent that this chestnut filly has rightfully earned her place right next to the others for many chestnuts may cross our path on their march to greatness, none will capture our heart quite as perfectly as Valentine.

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