Post by creativecause on Mar 24, 2015 19:56:18 GMT -5
If someone had told Grayson Meadows eleven months ago that a feisty black mare by the name of Passion Heart was going to make a huge leap to G2 in one season and lose by a hair in the Breeders’ Cup they probably would have sat back and laughed at you.
“She stepped off of that bus with Spirit Of Joy and he looked utterly horrified when he came down that ramp. We figured he was just freaked out by his surroundings, then this dark black mare with a little white star on her head stepped down that ramp and shot Andrew, Steve, and I this look. She literally looked like she wanted to kill all of us and Andrew literally said ‘what did we just get ourselves into’ and not five seconds later she completely lost it. She threw her legs into the air and started trying to break free. We’d been told she had something of a hateful streak at times, so we just figured it was her way of adjusting.” Tanner Grayson commented, giving us a wild smirk. “Least to say, days turned into weeks and weeks to months. She didn’t change, not a bit.”
Passion Heart was an unknown and invisible. She was lightly raced, but with what record she had well, it wasn’t exactly something flashy (18-3-3-4). Her record was so tarnished no one really bothered to give her a second look. She was a rabbit, fast as lightning and seemed to be good for not much else, however; it is what caught Tanner Grayson’s eye when he first met the mare and ultimately what lead to his decision to purchase her.
“I saw her four furlong work over the turf in a solid time of 45 seconds flat and Steve agreed with me that these times weren’t matching up with how she performed. We thought maybe she just didn’t like the competition. So I thought maybe if we paired her well with some top notch studs she’d produce some brilliantly fast foals. We could have used more horses at the time so we decided why not let her finish out her four year old season and retire her. Turns out that was probably one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.” Tanner Grayson answered when questioned about what made his decision to buy the underdog mare.
“Of course things weren’t always that easy, heck no,” the young 24 year old co-owner of Grayson Meadows laughed. “We had put Andrew on her because he’d shared a similar pattern with his career and he was literally the only one that could sit on her for more than a minute before getting dumped, and believe me he had his fair shares of getting dumped by her.”
It was a solid month before Passion Heart even snatched up a win for Grayson Meadows after her purchase. Rumor has it the mare was rather occupied with rearing, bucking, and dumping Andrew Martin midway through her workouts. Her first time out under Grayson Meadows silks didn’t exactly go well either. She crossed the wire in 4th, not dead last, but pretty close. It wasn’t the May Turf Stakes at Green Horse Fields where the magic happened, but the week following in the Summer Cup.
Passion Heart lead from gate to wire in impressive fashion. It was a race that no one really expected to be life changing. “I looked over at Steve and he had the biggest grin on his face, sure I was excited and so was he but he had this look in his eye. So I asked him what the look was for and he told me we stumbled on something big. I didn’t think much of it, yes she’d been geared down in the final furlong of the race, but I’ll admit I never thought she’d make it as far as she has. Enter the second week of June when she ran a very solid second in the Whipping By Stakes and followed that up the following week with a victory in the Golden Fortuna Stakes. The underdog mare with 8 out of money finishes to her name when she came to Grayson Meadows was something of the past.
“We we’re chasing what seemed like an impossible dream, and then some of the other trainers suggested that maybe we work her towards the Breeders’ Cup at the end of the season. Least to say we didn’t really think she would improve enough to be able to face off against the best that the country had to offer. Then she went on and won back to back horse of the year races including the Just A Game Stakes over The Devil’s Hourglass and Night Goddess. We started to question exactly how good she was and soon we started chasing what we thought would never be possible when she stepped off of that trailer in April of last year. She really did train well going into it too, she got to G2 and had three very close races, all in which she lost by a nose. She was nearly uncontrollable. Let me tell you this, there are a lot of things Passion Heart hates, but above all she absolutely hates losing, big margins or small. She gets all this pent up anger and she absolutely dominates every workmate we paired with her. Even reaching out and taking a chomp out of poor Daddy’s Overdraft’s neck.”
Well, Breeders’ Cup day came and Passion Heart was the very strong favorite for the race, which surprised a lot of people including the Grayson Meadows Staff. They had expected Fleet Majesty would have been, but the public backed the underdog mare who was chasing an impossible dream. Really Passion Heart hadn’t looked better, the staff thought they were going to come home a winner with either Passion Heart or Dare To Impress. Well they sure did, Grayson Meadows ran 1-2 in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Dare To Impress was the winner by a whisker on her nose over the gutsy underdog mare Passion Heart.
“It was a bittersweet thing, but she was coming back for year fifteen and I think a lot of us found comfort in that. She’s been hard at work too. Passion Heart has a vigorous schedule ahead of her until May, but it’s one that we wouldn’t have given to her unless we thought she could handle it. Twelve wins, including the Queen Cup* she’s well on her way to a well deserved retirement. She may never be in the hall of fame, but one cannot deny that she’s brought a lot of joy to the sport of kings and she’ll be dearly missed on the track. It’s not everyday you see a horse with eight out of money finishes come back and win nine races and narrowly miss a Breeders’ Cup victory like she did. We really are blessed to have had such a great horse in our first year of racing.” Tanner Grayson commented when asked about the narrow loss in the Breeders’ Cup.
Although her story is full of heartbreak, it’s full of brilliance and joy as well. Today the name Passion Heart is one that is very well known. Her story is one that is sure not to be forgotten soon either.
Tanner Grayson wasn’t all too willing to tell us exactly where she would be heading in the future months but he did offer us this poetic statement about her final race plans. “We aren’t for sure exactly what May will look like for her, but we do want to finish out her career in the same place that it really started. In the Summer Cup at Green Horse Fields, hopefully as a Grade One champion too. I think everyone can take something away from this incredible mares comeback story, but above all, she’s taught us all a very valuable lesson. It’s never too late to do something amazing.”
Passion Heart will be returning to the tracks in the Stable Face Off this week where she will be facing a challenging field of three other horses including Wish Upon A Star, Desert Amber, and A Royal Legacy.
