Grand Fashion and a great lady

by Alan Leavitt

The point out of the 2-12 months-old trotting filly Grand Fashion caught my eye for a couple of explanations. I’ve had a very little to do with her pedigree, but more about that later. The major attraction was the truth that she was bred and owned by Jules Siegel’s Manner Farm.

Style Farm has been a big player in harness racing for decades. It was the development of Jules and Arlene Siegel, or probably I need to say Arlene and Jules Siegel. I’d been shut to them down by way of the years, and I shared Jules’ sorrow when Arlene passed away in 2010. She was a amazing lady, normally gracious, wise, and blessed with a sly, delicate feeling of humor that in no way misplaced also considerably time getting to the level. She often took the direct in selecting out yearlings or picking out broodmares, and when she did, she picked perfectly.

Collectively, the Siegels received nearly every single big harness race, commencing with the Hambletonian, which they gained in 1995 with Tagliabue. Like all of their major horses, Tagliabue was educated by Jim Campbell, one of the major trainers in our biz, much of it performed with horses owned by the Siegels.

Listed here, an aside. The title, Style Farm, arrived with the farm residence when the Siegels acquired it. It was provided that name by somebody very long back, whose name escapes me, but he was a client of Stanley Dancer’s. He owned horses in partnership with Lou Silverstein, and he was a manufacturer of women’s clothes: That’s why the use of phrase “Fashion” in naming his residence.

Now to the filly that begun all this workout in memory, Grand Style. She’s by Walner, and out of Broadway Schooner, by Broadway Corridor. Broadway Schooner was a champion race filly, earning $865,933. As a producer, she strike the jackpot with her next foal, the Donato Hanover filly Broadway Donna, a terrific stakes winner who gained $1,434,735.

The only cross close plenty of to be specified by name is a 3 by 4 cross to Conway Hall, which technically is explained as line bred. In circumstance you forgot, when the sum of the generations in which the similar title seems two times is six or significantly less, that is inbreeding. When the sum of the generations is 7 or 8, as it is here, that is line breeding. When no name appears twice to in good shape possibly of all those two phrases, this sort of a pedigree is effectively explained as an outcross.

I acquire some delight of authorship below, due to the fact Broadway Schooner, the dam of Grand Vogue, is sired by Broadway Hall, a horse which Meg and I bred and bought as a yearling to the Siegels.

Conway Hall is a different shining illustration of the decisive job 2-12 months-previous racing brilliance performs in pinpointing the long term good results of a probable stallion. Conway Hall was bred by Meg and me, and raced by a major coach, Bob Stewart. He was excellent at 2, and was voted the Winner Two-Year-Outdated Trotting Colt in each individual poll.

As a sire, Conway Hall’s affect is however felt. His son, Windsong’s Legacy, won the Hambletonian, and then from his initial crop sired Fortunate Chucky, who was 2nd in his Hambletonian, and Chapter 7, a top stakes colt who received $1,954,986.

Retired to the stud, Chapter Seven was the top revenue profitable trotting sire in North The united states in 2021, and his champions involve the good mare and Hambletonian winner Atlanta, and the main sire of 2-12 months-outdated income profitable trotters from his 1st crop in 2021, Walner.

Lastly, just one previous notice about the horses in Grand Fashion’s pedigree.

It was a great decline to our activity when Windsong’s Legacy was struck down by a coronary heart attack right after siring only two crops of foals. He was owned at the time by Monthly bill Perretti, and I have to confess I even now often overlook the seem of Perretti’s roar, which was often even worse than the chunk. Just one of these times I’m anticipating to listen to Invoice up shut once again, and, with luck, Arlene Seigel, not to mention a gazillion other individuals. And if that will work out, I’ll attempt to publish yet another piece for HRU, to let you know what you’re missing.

Again in Grand Fashion’s pedigree, in the fifth era is a sire named Prakas, who gained the Hambletonian in 1985. The horse was named right after Mike Prakas, who was a significant time bloodstock agent less than the nom de training course Headline Brokers. Prakas bought a great deal of superior horses in his day, and I acquired very a number of of them.

It was a nice surprise, just after all these several years, to hear from Prakas not long ago. He now life in South Florida, and I look ahead to viewing him yet again and, as he claimed, reminiscing.

And talking of men and women, just one of these days I’d like to meet up with Joe and Jennifer Bongiorno. As it happens, I understood their mom when she was six years old.

I was good close friends with Sonny and Sandy Dancer, and they had a heated swimming pool at their farm in New Jersey. I was also near with Sonny’s dad, Harold Dancer, Sr., who was a good horseman and a higher human becoming. Just one Christmas Eve he stayed up all night time putting collectively all of the toys that were sitting down, unassembled, underneath Sonny and Sandy’s Xmas tree.

My two kids, who are the two in their 50s now, were being beneath 10 all through the summers we expended Sundays at the Dancer’s pool. And their six 12 months old daughter was always accompanied by her German Shepherd, who constantly stayed glued to the minor girl’s facet. You can be confident no a single manufactured the slip-up of rushing up to the small girl way too rapidly.

I just think her son and daughter may possibly like to know about that.