The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association will honor national award winners at its awards dinner Sept. 7 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington. Five national winners have been announced ahead of time and BloodHorse Daily is offering profiles of these winners throughout the week.
Today we profile Dance Card, who will be recognized as TOBA's Broodmare of the Year.
Boasting the Horse of the Year as well as an additional graded stakes winner in 2023 helped Godolphin's Dance Card land the national Broodmare of the Year award from the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
Leading the way for the winning broodmare of 2023 would be Cody's Wish , who posted grade 1 wins in the Metropolitan Handicap, Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and Churchill Downs Stakes, as well as a grade 2 score in the Vosburgh Stakes to secure Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male.
"She's very special to us," said Godolphin USA director of bloodstock Michael Banahan. "This of course is an award that means a lot to us and it's the first time we've had a broodmare honored like this since Cara Rafaela (dam of classic winner Bernardini)."
A homebred for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin, Cody's Wish, a son of Curlin , has begun his stallion career at Darley near Lexington, where he stood the 2024 season for $75,000. Before his 2023 Horse of the Year campaign he won the 2022 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and Forego Stakes (G1). He finished with five grade 1 wins in his career.
Also lifting Dance Card in 2023 was Mark Breen's 7-year-old Endorsed , by Medaglia d'Oro , who captured the Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes (G2). Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin, Endorsed initially raced as a homebred before being sold privately to Breen. He showed durability on the track in posting a 7-8-5 record and $970,133 in earnings from 36 career starts. The two-time stakes winner stood the 2024 season for $5,000 at Northview Stallion Station near Chesapeake City, Md.
On the track, Dance Card delivered an impressive 3-year-old season in 2012 for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin topped by a victory in the Gazelle Stakes (G1) and the Belle Cherie Stakes. At age 4 the daughter of Tapit would add placings in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) and the Gallant Bloom Handicap (G2).
While it was not an extensive racing career, Dance Card showed her superior talent in her biggest races. Banahan said as a broodmare her conformation is a good fit with a number of stallions and that after a bit of a slow start, she hit her stride and then went to the very top level with Cody's Wish.
Bred in Kentucky by Bruce McMillin, Dance Card is out of the stakes-placed Editor's Note mare Tempting Note, who also has produced Tempted to Tapit, a full brother to Dance Card who placed in a pair of graded stakes.
Currently Dance Card has a 2-year-old filly by Street Sense named Spirit of Hope, a yearling filly by Gun Runner , as well as a weanling filly by Curlin.
