Hall of Fame - Five Circles

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 13 years 0 weeks ago

During the excitement of last season, one of the sport’s greatest stars chose his own moment to exit the stage quietly.

Five Circles, who proved to be one of the most influential sires in horse racing died at the venerable age of 28 while snoozing underneath his favorite oak tree at Vishtaspa Stables in Florida. Diminutive in physical stature, but not in his zest for life he left behind a tremendous legacy which earned him a place in the sport’s Hall of Fame and admirers all over the globe. His final owner Brianna McKenzie was tremendously proud of the stallion that sired some of the most memorable names in the sport. Reading through his roster of success stories is enough to take a person’s breath away, especially his versatility inside the breeding shed, a rarity in the sport that’s evolved so much during his lifespan.

“Nine millionaires and one more very close. He gave us turf routers, turf milers, dirt routers and then there is that whole AW thing too,” she recalled.

He proved to be that type of sire who could generate winners on all three flat surfaces, even though the majority of his horses favored the dirt. He sired four all weather winners which isn’t bad considering his advanced age and the relatively newness of that discipline. His more important influence on all weather runners took place in the next generation when his own runners started their own breeding careers producing and siring racers who would prove influential in this rapidly evolving discipline.

His own breeding goes back to horses that died quite a while ago, and he was bred by Kellie Whitehead a name very familiar in the sport’s earlier years. He changed hands several times on the way to McKenzie’s barn where he found his last home at the age of five. It was one of those defining moments in the careers of a horse and an owner when they finally crossed paths.

I bought Five Circles off the for sale page.. He'd had some bad luck with owners being inactive/quitting, so that's why he was available and why the gaps are in his race record. I can't remember the price tag. I picked him up because he looked to be a solid money making animal, nothing flashy just a nice consistent horse. I didn't give him enough credit, clearly.

He was by far the most successful son of Champion Two Year Old Colt Worldly Manner and was out of Miesque who produced quite a few foals during her second shift. He was the most successful offspring of both his parents although his dam also produced a nice mare in Hall of Famer and Champion Shepickedupadance not to mention a stallion named Kingmambo. He sired a bunch of offspring including European Champion Older Mare Calais who is the dam of a new sire Bold who’s by Colorado.

Still Five Circles entered into a racing world much different than the ones encountered by later generations in his family tree. As McKenzie described it, evaluating a horse’s racing performance was more of a guessing game because there were no clues like running lines, or ways to tell if runners liked or disliked running surfaces and particular distances. This did leave a lot of room for experimentation which was done with Five Circles’ own racing career.

He made his racing debut at five furlongs on the dirt, by sprinting which isn’t nearly as much a common avenue for dirt routers as it was back in his day. Five Circles received a brief mention in the Complete History of the SIM Year Five, when he broke his maiden in his second start, also at five furlongs.

“A handsome dark bay named Five Circles broke his maiden Week 4. He would go on to be a superhero in years to come, and a spectacular sire, but we will get to him later.”

That little teaser hinted that the racing world was beginning to see a powerhouse of a racehorse but it would take him a little while to get there in part because he did change ownership several times before reaching McKenzie.
He capped off his first season with a second place finish in the Grey’s Steward Cup Stakes. Then he came back once as a three year old winning an allowance, before returning the following season to place second at his first route, the Baltimore Stakes. He won an allowance and then took another long break before being purchased by McKenzie and after that, he never looked back. He capped off his career by winning the Steward’s Cup Classic over a field which included Triple Crown winner Tremendous who finished fourth.

After that, he went to stud having run successfully from sprints to classic routes, never finishing worst than third. With that kind of record, excitement soon emerged at what kind of mark he would make as a stallion, and his offspring happily answered that question soon enough. As a sire, Five Circles eclipsed his racing successes and for most people, is probably better known in the breeding shed where 59.5 % of his runners became winners and he sired 19 stakes winners including those nine millionaires. But his influence on bloodlines goes much further than that.

The beauty of Five Circles is that he didn’t favor one gender over the other even though he’s probably best known for this two extraordinary daughters who both were appointed in the Hall of Fame. McKenzie along with a lot of racing fans remembers both of them very well, although more on a personal note than most.

“Piece Of The Moon was a career changing horse for me. Wonder is one of the most important mares EVER is SIM history.”

Wonder (who passed in the course of this writing) of course was the premier broodmare of the sport whose advancing age has led to nail biting vigils every time’s she been bred For years, she has cheated death valiantly until birthing her youngest, a filly by War Daddy named Sleep to Dream. She was also one of the industry’s biggest bargains costing a mere $5,000 and displaying the versatility that won her the honors of being a duel champion on the racetrack as well as broodmare of the year. It’s pretty safe to say that this bargain basement horse at a two year old in training sale is priceless to most who knew her. An Amazon on the race track, this elegant dark bay runner with the star hit the board in two Triple Crown races and smoked a field of runners in the Oaklawn Park Handicap. She finished third in her final race, the Steward’s Cup Classic to Pillar of Strength and California, and finished a career much like her sire’s in the sense that she could handle a variety of distances on the dirt.

Then she went on to do what few mares have done and that’s produce a Triple Crown winner, the sport’s most recent one in Awake As I Am, the result of her date with another Hall of Famer, Loki Dynasty. That champion horse and likely future Hall of Famer had a sister named Asleep As I Am who won the Steward’s Cup Distaff while her half sister All Sleep Well finished third. But Wonder also produced a mare named More who produced the stakes winning mare Boann who’s own daughter by Boise, Macha is already off to a promising start as a racer. So she became the gift which keeps on giving from one generation to the next.

But even though Wonder’s shined and one of her fillies by Flames named Sleep Soundly fetched a cardiac inducing $58.5 million at auction last year, Five Circles also sired an equally formidable daughter in Piece of the Moon.
McKenzie shared breeding and ownership credit with Jon Xett and the Steward after the three of them together came to the decision to breed this mare’s parents to each other, which would alter the course of racing history. McKenzie took great pride in the talented filly who would become the formidable broodmare as she recalled the chain of events leading to the birth of the future Hall of Famer.

“Hands down by far my favorite foal of his is Piece Of The Moon, who's story has been told a million times before but just goes to show the kindness of veterans and how being in the chat room at the right time can change you sim life.”

This filly was bold and she was bossy, she looked every runner male or female in the eye and then refused to give an inch of ground. In one of her career highlights, the deceptively gentle looking filly won the wreath of roses by claiming the Louisville Derby as her own in battle that went down in history. Her only loss took place less than a week later in the Baltimore Crown where she perhaps feeling a bit of her hard effort in the Derby finished third behind the two colts she had vanquished in that earlier race.

But she saved her toughest effort for last when she battled some fillies and mares to prevail in the Steward’s Cup Distaff by a mere noise. Ironically also in that long ago race, ran the filly who became the iron queen of the sport, Shalevet Pass. Last year, she once again dared the fates to take her out and instead survived to birth a foal by Don’t Mess before getting insured.

She retired in grand style but when she hit the breeding shed, she made her superstar status known quickly producing six millionaires including the famous stud Life Worth Living and Out of Kindness who sired the very nice mare, Gift of the Moon whose progeny Most Gifted and Gift of the Sun both hit the dirt miler wars last year. But this broodmare also produced some really nice females in the family tradition including stakes winning Part of My Heart (by Loki Dynasty) who produced Brash and Part of the Dream who birthed an undefeated son named Mission Bay who will probably show up on the Derby Trail as a sophomore. Not to mention North American Champion Three Year Old Filly Salute the Sky who produced the likes of Triumph and The Other Man early on in her breeding career and Unfathomed who gave the racing world Father’s Day.

Still, another daughter of Piece of the Moon proved to be memorable enough to be in the Hall of Fame like both of her parents and that was Piece of the Dream who produced a foal at the age of 17 by Awake As I Am who’s now a yearling. Her most successful offspring was tri-surface sire, The Right To Dream who’s stellar son Champion All Weather Male Answer the Dream will be sending his first crop of foals to the races this year.

If breeding were an Olympic sport, the daughters of Five Circles definitely would have brought the medals home but the stallion boasted some seriously fine male offspring himself including Moon Beam, the younger full brother to Piece of the Moon. He was a stakes winner who achieved of his career wins earlier on but at stud, he struck gold on the all weather surface when he sired Astonishing, the two time champion all weather older male whose sired 15 winners so far in his first racing crop including 12 on the all weather. That’s not shabby considering that this stallion favors routers, which debut later in the racing season than other juvenile runners and Astonishing himself blossomed later in his career.

What was amazing was all the connections between numerous members of the same families when Minuit, another stellar daughter of Now produced Astonishing after having hooked up two years earlier with Moon Beam to produce his most successful offspring, Chretiens.

That handsome bay horse with the wicked stripe down his face was the terror of the Islands and South American circuits during his racing career and he won two championships in the latter including South American horse of the year. He defeated horses like East, Fighter Pilot and Fang during a career run solely on the dirt. His dam, that Minuit, however had a dark side meaning that she had more than flirtation with all weather racing. Not through personal experience but through her babies. She produced South American Champion Three Year Old Male Annihilating who also won the Plastic Classics and All Weather Marathon during his walk on the wild side defeating the likes of Defend Your Rights and Widdo. And then there was Minute by Loki Superior who won two all weather titles including champion all weather female. Krazy Taco, her son by multi-surface runner West, broke his maiden on the plastic in good fashion last season and the sport looks forward to his future contributions.

So Five Circles provided many opportunities for those who bred mares to him to create horses that would shine at testing the different disciplines of thoroughbred racing. He’s a horse that veterans remember first hand back to the time he first broke that maiden that hinted at his potential. Many newcomers have been introduced by examining the pedigrees of his roster of stars and the offspring they’ve produced. The horse named after the five rings that represent the pinnacle event in athleticism, scored the gold for his contributions to the sport and thus earned his rightful place in its highest honor, the Hall of Fame.

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