An eye-catching thoroughbred now raising her babies in the hills north Markerville is four-footed proof that beauty is more than skin deep.
Breeder Dave Lovlie of Winsome Acres purchased Summer Theater at a race horse sale in Keeneland, Ky., in 2007, shortly after she weaned the foal she had produced earlier that year.
That foal — Dean’s Kitten by Kitten’s Joy — will be among the high-performance race horses entering the starter’s gate for this Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
A thoroughbred breeder for the last 20 years, Lovlie said he first noticed the smallish bay mare while doing business for a fellow breeder at the sale.
Something just caught his eye as her groom walked her past in the ring where sale horses are shown to prospective buyers.
At 15 hands and two inches tall (1.57 metres), she was not big for a thoroughbred. But she was put together really well and had won three races as a three-year-old.
Looking through her race record and pedigree, Lovlie learned that she was a speedy horse with a lot of stamina in her bloodlines.
He brought her back to his farm, already in foal to an Irish stallion, Castledale.
Now 12, Summer Theater has produced a foal every year since she was retired from racing, for a total of eight.
Two of them are now racing in North America, including Dean’s Kitten, whose wins total US$418,000.
Altogether, her foals have earned more than $500,000 on the track, and that’s bound for a dramatic increase if Dean’s Kitten pulls off a good run in the 136th Kentucky Derby, which is the first jewel in thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown.
It’s a little more difficult to watch the track records of two of the fillies Summer Theater has produced, said Lovlie. Both were exported as youngsters, one to Russia and the other to Korea.
With Summer Theater’s babies doing so well, Lovlie has watched his mare’s value skyrocket since he first brought her home. He plans to keep breeding her as long as she remains healthy or until another breeder comes along with “a trainload” of cash.
“I’ve been waiting a lifetime for a mare like that,” he said.
But he won’t be offering his special mare any extra carrots on Saturday, regardless of how well her son makes out in this year’s run for the roses.
Last Sunday, Summer Theater and her 2010 foal hopped onto a Kentucky-bound horse trailer for a hot date with her new mate, Mucho Uno.
As for predicting how Dean’s Kitten will finish, Lovlie said he doesn’t bet on the horses.
“I’d bet on him.”
Post time for the 136th Kentucky Derby is 4:24 p.m. MDT.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com
