My Charmer (March 25, 1969 – December 4, 1993) was an American

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

best known as an outstanding

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

Background

My Charmer was a bay mare bred by Ben Castleman in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. She was sired by

Bowling Green Handicap The Bowling Green Stakes is a Grade II American thoroughbred horse race for horses age four years old and older over a distance of miles on the turf held annually in late July at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. History The in ...

winner Poker, a son of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee

Round Table The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that e ...

. Her dam was Fair Charmer, a daughter of Jet Action, a multiple stakes race winner for

Maine Chance Farm Maine Chance Farm was an American Thoroughbred horse racing stable in Lexington, Kentucky owned by cosmetics tycoon Elizabeth Arden. Elizabeth Arden raced under the '' nom de course'' "Mr. Nightingale" until 1943 when she adopted the name Maine ...

Racing career

Trained by Larry Robideaux, My Charmer won six of her thirty-two starts, with her most notable win coming in the

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Fair Grounds Oaks The Fair Grounds Oaks is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt run annually in March, usually on Louisiana Derby day at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orle ...

in 1972. However, My Charmer is most remembered as a broodmare.

Breeding record

My Charmer produced eleven

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal i ...

s. Her first was for owner Ben Castleman in 1974 and was her most successful. By

Bold Reasoning Bold Reasoning (April 29, 1968 – April 24, 1975) was an American thoroughbred racehorse. He is best known as being the sire of the 1977 Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

Seattle Slew Seattle Slew (February 15, 1974 – May 7, 2002) was a champion American Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who became the tenth winner of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States), American Triple Crown (1977). He is one of only ...

became the 1977 U.S. Triple Crown champion, won four

Eclipse Awards The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century Great Britain, British racehorse and Father, sire, Eclipse (horse), Eclipse. An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is ...

, was inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame, and was the

Leading sire in North America The list below shows the leading sire of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America for each year since 1830. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the year. It is restricted to stallions which are based in N ...

in 1984 and the

Leading broodmare sire in North America The list below shows the leading Thoroughbred sire of broodmares in North America for each year since 1924. This is determined by the amount of prize money won during the year by racehorses which were foaled by a daughter of the sire. The most freq ...

in 1995 and 1996. My Charmer's mating to

Northern Dancer Northern Dancer (May 27, 1961 – November 16, 1990) was a Thoroughbred who, in 1964, became the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He then became one of the most successful sires of the 20th century. He is considered a Canad ...

produced Lomond in 1980, the 1983 winner of the British Classic, the

2,000 Guineas The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year at ...

. From her mating to Northern Dancer's son,

English Triple Crown The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, often shortened to Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for Thoroughbreds, often restricted to three-year-olds. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplis ...

winner,

Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...

, in 1984 My Charmer produced

Seattle Dancer Seattle Dancer (April 22, 1984 – June 2, 2007) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who in 1985 became the world's most expensive yearling ever sold at public auction. Background Seattle Dancer was bred in Kentucky by Warner L. Jones, Willi ...

, who was sold as a yearling at the 1985 Keeneland July Yearling Sale for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

13.1 million (equal to about $ million today). My Charmer died at age twenty-four in 1993 and is buried at Gerald J. Ford's Diamond A Farm near

Versailles, Kentucky Versailles () is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 9,316 according to 2017 cen ...

References

{{Reflist
Karen and Mickey Taylor's official Seattle Slew website with information on My Charmer
1969 racehorse births 1993 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Thoroughbred family 13-c