Society Dream Continues Success Through Progeny

When Amerman Racing imported the French filly Society Dream in 1997, they surely didn't expect that she would she would prove a "gift that kept on giving" nearly 30 years later. Bred by Jean-Luc Lagardere—best known for the outstanding French sire Linamix—Society Dream was by the Marcel Boussac-bred/Aga Khan-raced Akarad out of Society Bride, a Blushing Groom mare that was foaled in America, but raced in Ireland, where she managed one third in four starts. Society Dream ran four times in France winning at Saint-Cloud, and finishing second in a pair of French listed events, the 1997 Prix des Tuileries and Prix de Thiberville. In the colors of Amerman Racing, she kicked off her American career with victories in an allowance race at Santa Anita Park and the 1 1/4-mile Ack's Secret Stakes at the same venue in 1998. She failed to win again in eight subsequent starts, but did take second in the Windsharp Stakes, third in the Honey Fox Handicap and Hillsborough Handicap (G3), and fourth in the Matriarch Stakes (G1T). At stud, Society Dream produced eight foals, seven that started and six that won. None of them earned black type, but three have gone to be black-type producers. The winning Quality Road mare Post Script was sold for by the Amermans for the $25,000 carrying a foal by Lea at the 2016 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, and with her third foal came up with the Oscar Performance son Act a Fool, winner of the 2023 Hawthorne Derby. The unraced Langfuhr daughter Dream Fuhrever was retained, and she too produced a talented Oscar Performance colt. This was her 2021 foal, Endlessly, winner of the 2023 Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes (G3T) and Zuma Beach Stakes (G3T) at 2, and the 2024 El Camino Real Derby and Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at 3. Neither Post Script or Dream Fuhrever, however, are the most notable daughters of Society Dream, that honor going to the Royal Academy mare Miss Chapin. A 3 1/4-length winner of a 2004 Del Mar maiden special weight on her only start, Miss Chapin came up with a top-class horse for the Amermans in Coffee Clique (Medaglia d'Oro), winner of four graded contests, including the 2014 Just a Game Stakes (G1T), and a second talented performer in Admission Office (Point of Entry), successful in the 2022 Arlington Stakes (G3T) and 2020 Louisville Stakes (G3T). Two of Miss Chapin's daughters are also already dams of black-type winners. Naval Academy is dam of King Mo (by Vancouver (AUS)), a graded winner in Peru, and Joy of Learning is dam of the Amerman's latest star, Test Score, who July 4 took the Belmont Invitational Derby Stakes (G1T). Joy of Learning, who won a five-furlong maiden at Churchill Downs in three starts, is by Kitten's Joy, which is significant given that Oscar Performance—sire of Act a Fool and Endlessly from the family—is by Kitten's Joy. Furthermore, Kitten's Joy is by El Prado, whose son Medaglia d'Oro is the sire of Coffee Clique and grandsire of King Mo, the former out of Miss Chapin, the latter out of a daughter. It took Test Score three tries to break his maiden at 2 last year, a feat he achieved when getting home by a neck over West Beach—who'd himself missed by a neck in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes in his previous start—in a maiden special weight over a mile at Keeneland. He completed his first season by finishing second by the same margin in the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar. Test Score kicked off his 2025 campaign with a third in the Kitten's Joy Stakes, then gained a first black-type score in the Transylvania Stakes (G3T). Second in the American Turf Stakes (G1T) last time out, he was stretching out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time in the Belmont Derby. Test Score is one of 37 stakes winners from the first 11 Northern Hemisphere crops sired by Lookin At Lucky. The first runner since Spectacular Bid (a foal of 1976) to earn an Eclipse as champion 2-year-old male and champion 3-year-old male—a feat since emulated by Essential Quality—Lookin At Lucky's victories included, at the highest level, the 2009 CashCall Futurity (G1), Del Mar Futurity (G1), and Norfolk Stakes (G1), and 2010 Preakness Stakes (G1) and Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1). Retired to stud at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky., for the 2011 breeding season, he moved full time to Chile, where he had shuttled to great effect, in 2024. Test Score is Lookin At Lucky's third Northern Hemisphere-sired grade 1 winner, following 2018 champion older male and Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) victor Accelerate, and the 2019 Kentucky Derby (G1) captor Country House. In Chile, he has sired 47 stakes winners in eight crops, 17 grade 1, with those who have made an impact outside their home country including the 2018 Beldame Stakes (G1) scorer Wow Cat (CHI), and Look Pen (CHI), who took the 2021 Champions & Chater Cup (G1) while racing as Panfield in Hong Kong. Lookin At Lucky has sired Test Score and Chilean grade 1 winner Lukka (CHI) from 17 starters out of Kitten's Joy mares. There is, however, a more interesting twist to this pedigree. Test Score's fifth dam, the four-time stakes winner Chic Belle, is by Mr. Prospector out of Sleek Belle, a daughter of foundation mare Sleek Dancer (by Northern Dancer). Sleek Dancer is ancestress of 11 grade 1 winners, and two of those are the 1978 Monmouth Oaks (G1) winner Sharp Belle, and Sharp Belle's great-grandson, Lookin At Lucky. Thus, Lookin At Lucky and Test Score are from the same mitochondrial family, the G2a haplogroup. For optimum function, the mitochondrial DNA, which only travels through the direct female line and is outside the nucleus of the cell, needs the appropriate nuclear DNA. The success of Lookin At Lucky and Chic Belle, both from the Mr. Prospector sire line and from the same female line, suggests that Mr. Prospector is a good combination for the female line. Here the connection is strengthen by the fact that Lookin At Lucky's third dam, Sharp Belle, is by Native Charger, a son of Native Dancer, and then Mr. Prospector is by a son of Native Dancer, making Sharp Belle and Chic Belle close relatives.