Bred in Virginia, and sold at Saratoga and Timonium, Stellar Wind got her start with owner Barbara Houck and trainer Donald Barr at Laurel Park at 2 and wound up on the nation's biggest stages. She was voted the top Mid-Atlantic-bred of 2015 by the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz poll.
A daughter of Curlin representing three generations of Peggy Augustus' Keswick Stables, Stellar Wind won four of six starts during her 3-year-old season in 2015 -- two Grade 3 stakes, a Grade 2 and a Grade 1 -- and finished second by a neck, after getting carried wide and bumped, in the Breeders' Cup Distaff-G1. Many connected to her during her career were interviewed: Augustus, sales consignor Marshall Silverman, trainers Barr and John Sadler, owners Houck and Kosta Hronis of Hronis Racing, Goree Smith (who advised Houck to buy her as a yearling) and bloodstock agent David Ingordo (who went to Laurel to see her at the end of her 2-year-old season and made the purchase for Hronis Racing).
Bred in partnership with Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Stellar Wind became the first Virginia-bred Eclipse Award winner since Paradise Creek in 1994.
The West Virginia Racing Commission formed a committee charged with generating new ideas for the racing industry after years of significant reduction of available purse money due to legislative actions. The resulting report, "Reflecting, Reimagining, Restoring," identified key areas to address. "To me, the most valuable part of the process wasn't so much the final report," said Erich Zimny, vice president of racing operations at Charles Town. "It was being able to sit around a table with some other folks in the industry and maybe blow some ideas back and forth. It was really just the cross-section of people. That was the value more than anything."
The $30,000 spent on a Maryland-bred Street Boss filly at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale was a deal for Cash is King Stable, according to managing partner Chuck Zacney. "I just thought she was worth a shot," he said. Named Cathryn Sophia after one of his nieces, the 2-year-old romped home in the Gin Talking Stakes by 161⁄4 lengths, five weeks after a 123⁄4-length maiden win at Parx Racing to remain undefeated.
When her first start was delayed by minor setbacks, Zacney asked trainer John Servis about whether to run her in an upcoming race for $40,000. Servis replied: "Nah, Mr. Zacney, I don't think you want to run this filly for a tag."
Cathryn Sophia won the Kentucky Oaks-G1 five months later, earned $1,229,720 in nine starts, and was sold as a broodmare prospect that fall at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky sale for $1.4 million.
Pennsylvania-bred Mor Spirit closed his 2-year-old season with a win in the Los Alamitos Futurity-G1 (formerly the Hollywood Futurity) for Marylander Michael Lund Petersen. The colt became the eighth Bob Baffert trainee to win the race.
A son of Eskendereya, Mor Spirit was bred by Stuart Grant's The Elkstone Group, which sold him for $85,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale. Less than six months later, Baffert went to $650,000 to buy him at the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale. Out of Im a Dixie Girl (by Dixie Union), his third dam was Sequins, the second dam of Stellar Wind.
