Beyond Perfection Saves Best for Last

This week's pedigree analysis on BloodHorse.com is a "Porter on Pedigrees" column about the grade II winner Misremembered, the first stakes winner bred by top trainer Bob Baffert.  As I was proofreading Alan Porter's story, I pulled up a catalog page for Misremembered's dam, the Quack horse Beyond Perfection.  It wasn't all that impressive.

While Beyond Perfection herself was a good stakes winner (including a juvenile grade II score), I wonder how many breeders would've still found potential in her at age 17. Here's what her broodmare production record looked like prior to her 2005 mating:

  • 1994 Barren (bred to Lucky North).
  • 1995 Perfect Launch, f. by Relaunch. 2 wins at 3, $18,600. Producer.
  • 1996 Dead foal (bred to Holy Bull).
  • 1997 Perfect Run, c. by Cherokee Run. Winner at 4 and 5, $40,556.
  • 1998 The Griff, g. by Housebuster. 5 wins, 2 to 7, $201,960.
  • 1999 Beyond Our Wildest, g. by Honour and Glory. 3 wins at 4 and 5, $48,400.
  • 2000 Broodmare aborted (bred to Alphabet Soup).
  • 2001 Broodmare aborted (bred to Lost Soldier).
  • 2002 Barren (bred to Lost Soldier).
  • 2003 Lost Perfection, f. by Lost Soldier.
  • 2004 Barren (bred to Lost Soldier).
  • 2005 Broodmare aborted (bred to El Corredor).

But Baffert did see something in her -- despite the unimpressive production record -- and sent her to first-year sire Candy Ride (ARG) (SRO). The result:  at age 18, Beyond Perfection produced her first black type progeny. 

Awhile back, I posted about Archipenko's dam, another mare who waited until late to start producing top runners.  The comments from that post were mainly negative, and mostly along the lines of "the mare (Bound, dam of Archipenko) should've been retired long ago."  So I'd like to know, based on Beyond Perfection's previous record -- multiple slips, multiple barren years, and no standout runners -- would you have kept her in the broodmare shed?  Was this a case of finally getting her to the right stallion?  Or a situation where the mare has a good stakes production record -- 17%, or one from six foals -- but since it came at the end of her career rather than at the beginning her perceived failure was unfair? Are good stakes-winning mares generally worth a second chance (or third, or sixth, or tenth) even if their first foals aren't anything special?

By the way, Beyond Perfection was apparently barren in 2007 and 2008 -- and her 2003 daughter raced in 2006 (after the mating that produced Misremembered, and therefore information that wasn't part of the mating considerations) with total earnings of $430. 

Misremembered (profile) and Beyond Perfection are the first representatives of the 2-p Thoroughbred female family that I recall seeing in years.

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