A routine workout at Delaware Park for brilliant grade 1 winner Alva Starr turned tragic in a split second July 3 when the 4-year-old daughter of Lord Nelson suffered a catastrophic injury.
The powerful bay was in her second work of a four-work series in preparation for the July 24 Honorable Miss Handicap (G2) at Saratoga Race Course. She was supposed to work Wednesday, walk Thursday, and get shipped to Saratoga Friday.
As she came out of the turn in the midst of her four-furlong work, her right rear fetlock fractured.
"There was no stumble, no bobble. Her ears were flicking back and forth like she always does and then in one jump she was non-weight-bearing," said trainer Brett Brinkman. "The attending vet called it a 'Barbaro-type' injury."
Barbaro, winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby (G1), suffered a fractured leg during the Preakness Stakes (G1) and later succumbed to laminitis. While efforts were made to repair Barbaro's injury, there was no such option for Alva Starr, according to Brinkman.
The filly was taken back to the barn on a horse ambulance and radiographed in the ambulance. Brinkman said he talked to two highly regarded equine surgeons and one of them gave Alva Starr a 1% chance of surviving because he did not want to say she had no chance at all.
Alva Starr was a homebred for Brinkman and owner Dale Ladner, who together owned and raced the filly's dam Sittin At the Bar. The mare, a daughter of Into Mischief , was acquired for $30,000 at the 2011 Breeders' Sales Co. of Louisiana Yearling Sale. Sittin At the Bar went on to win nine stakes and earn $705,896. When Sittin At the Bar was retired from racing, Brinkman suggested to Ladner that he think about getting into the breeding side of the business.
"He never envisioned being in the breeding industry but he recognized the value of what Sittin At the Bar accomplished, and I think he was looking forward to seeing foals out of her," Brinkman said. "When all the valuations of her (for the sales) were not what she was valued to him, she put him into the breeding business."
Sittin At the Bar has produced four stakes winners from four to race, with Alva Starr being her most accomplished runner. Alva Starr won six times and was runner-up four times out of 10 career starts. She won five stakes that included the 2023 Prioress Stakes (G2) at Saratoga and this year's Madison Stakes (G1) over Vahva at Keeneland. She most recently won the Rehoboth Stakes at Delaware Park. She has career earnings of $1,028,450.
"This is what you dream about and strive for when you step into this industry," said Brinkman of the filly he'd hoped to see start in the Breeders' Cup World Championships. "If you are going to be a breeder, this is the kind you want to breed. If you're an owner, she's the kind you want to race. And, if you're a trainer, this is the kind you want to train."
Ladner said when he decided to make Sittin At the Bar his only broodmare, he and Brinkman chose stallions they thought would produce racehorses and didn't worry about commercial appeal.
"We wanted horses we could keep to race and put in the right spots, not only to be successful racing but to move Sittin At the Bar up the ladder as a broodmare. I've been really lucky at it, and Brett's been really good at it," he said.
"It has been an incredible ride. I never in my wildest dreams expected to have a grade 1 winner and certainly never envisioned even racing at Saratoga, let alone win a graded stakes there," Ladner continued. "I keep thinking of the country song, 'This one is gonna hurt you for a long, long time.' I feel so badly for everyone on Brett's team because she meant so much to so many. It will be tough not to compare everyone else to her."
