Muriel Lennox's Blog, page 8
June 13, 2018
Justify and Canada’s ‘Rivers of Gold’
Justify, needless to say, has renewed my mission to champion Canadian-bred horses. His lineage is brimming with some of the very best Thoroughbreds this country has produced. And a lot of them: Nearctic, Northern Dancer, Flaming Page, Nijinsky, Windfields, Victoriana, Vice Regent, Iribelle, Bunty Lawless, Ladder, Mintwina, Bunty’s Flight, Mint Copy, Storm Bird, Awesome Again, and Deputy Minister.
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Nijinsky:
Windfields equine royalty
British Triple Crown 1970
One of the things that distinguish our horses is their toughness and resilience. Let’s face it, with our weather they have to be and I am reminded of the time, all those years ago, when Eddie Taylor set out to breed great champion Thoroughbreds. His Kentucky friends advised him that with all that ice and snow he was on a fool’s mission. Thoroughbreds, they assured him, are accustomed to temperate climates. In their opinion he might as well be attempting to breed and raise Thoroughbreds on an ice floe.
Yet as with our horses, Eddie Taylor was tough and resilient. His passion for horses was unrivaled. Prior to Taylor, Joseph Seagram met with the same skepticism. Yet, he too, shrugged off the naysayers. Year after year, both men set out to purchase the finest blueblood mares Britain had to offer. Today, Seagram and Taylor mares provide the bedrock for Canada’s Rivers of Gold and solid foundation for exceptional animals like Justify.
June 12, 2018
Justify, the Triple Crown and Canada’s “Rivers of Gold”
No doubt about it, Justify deserves Horse of the Year, if not the century.
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Justify
We are all in awe of his courage, stamina and power. Hence, at least from my perch, it comes as no surprise he boasts a long and marvelous list of Canadian ancestors. Indeed his lineage includes the mighty Bunty Lawless, Kings Plate, two-time Canadian International winner and, according to Gordon ‘Pete’ McCann,”the toughest horse I have known.”
And since McCann, former Windfields Farm resident trainer, told me this long after he had retired from training countless champions, he clearly knew a ‘tough’ horse when he saw one. Or in the case of McCann, a former jockey, when he rode one. Indeed, much of the enormous success of the legendary Windfields Farm is due to this extraordinary horseman and his ability to calm the demons inhabiting the souls of some of the most challenging horses. Horses that included the ever-volatile Nearctic, sire of Northern Dancer, and the sole stallion in modern history responsible for the ‘speed gene’ in Thoroughbreds.
Writing and researching “Rivers of Gold” demanded I take the ‘convergence factor’ into account when dealing with the hybrid Thoroughbred and in the process introduced me to so many of Justify’s Canadian ancestors
Hence, over the next while we will look at many of these unsung heros and heroines.[image error]
