Klassic (Bask Clasix x
Khemogina), was 25 in June. Until her final day she was as
feisty as ever, but her old body was slowly starting to betray
her. This very special little mare ruled the broodmare pasture
and the hearts of all at Greymoor Farm. On her best day,
if she stood on her tippy toes, she stood 14.1. The legacy
she left behind, however, is giant.
A Canadian National Top Ten mare herself,
Klassic took the job of being a broodmare very seriously. She
was an Aristocrat Mare, a Dam of Distinction, one of the
first mares chosen by the MN Breeders program to be honored as a
Broodmare Elite and, at the time of her death,
one
of the breed’s leading
living dams of champions.
She has produced a remarkable 9 champions, all of them regional
winners, 4 of them National winners, and 3 National winner
producers. Her champions include Region 8 Top Ten Sweepstakes
Filly CLEARLY KLASSIC, Region 6 Top Five Stallion and National
winner sire TF KHOUMOTION++ (also winner of 3 regional halter
titles as a gelding), Regions 13 and 18 Top Ten Sweepstakes Colt
and halter champion SHAKLANS PREMIER, Region 10 Top Five Mare TF
KHOUROS GIRL(dam of 4 champions, including 2 regional champions
in halter), Region 18 Champion Walk/Trot SHAKLANS RANSOM, U.S.
Reserve National Champion Gelding JOTH and Top Ten Gelding AOTH
TF DESTINY+/ (a multi-champion in hunt pleasure and western
pleasure), Canadian Top Ten Futurity Filly and Region 8 Champion
Sweepstakes Filly HARLEQYN, Canadian National Champion Mare and
U.S. Top Ten Mare TF QUEEN AHEARTS, and U.S. National Champion
Sweepstakes Filly and Top Ten Futurity Filly and Canadian
Reserve National Champion Futurity Filly DRAMA QYEEN.
Her offspring who
have produced National winners include her daughter TF KLASSICA
(dam of 5 champions including 2007 Canadian Top Ten Futurity
Colt MILANO LRA and U.S. Top Ten Sweepstakes Colt KLASSIC
SHAKLAN, himself sire of 2007 U.S. Top Ten Sporthorse Stallion
and Sporthorse Stallion ATH GOLDEN ESSENCE). TF KHOUMOTION++
(sire of U.S. Top Ten Hunt Pleasure Futurity and Hunt Pleasure
and Canadian Top Ten Hunt Pleasure and Hunt Pleasure JTR 14-17
GR KHALEIDOSCOPE and of U.S. Top Ten Futurity Gelding and
Canadian Top Ten Jackpot Gelding and Gelding AOTH GR KHAPTION
and maternal grandsire of 2007 Canadian Top Ten Jackpot Filly GR
REYCHELL), and TF QUEEN AHEARTS (all of whose foals are
regional winners in halter including Canadian Top Ten Futurity
Filly QUEEN ADIAMONDS). Her daughter TF KHOVER GIRL is the dam
of five times regional winner in Half-Arabian hunt pleasure
KHOVERED IN COLOR. Her maternal granddaughter SHOWGIRL SP (a
daughter of TF KHOUROS GIRL) is the dam of 2006 U.S. Top Ten
Mare AOTH ANASTASIAA.
I was lucky enough to buy this mare in June of 2000. I had her
vet checked because of her age and was told she had a benign
tumor. I bought her without seeing her. Because she had a foal
at her side and I bought her to breed to First Cyte, I shipped
semen and got her in foal while I waited for her filly to be
weaned. My shipper called me after he picked her and asked if I
had seen her before I bought her. I said no and he said I was in
for a little surprise. That was an understatement. The tumor on
this mare was in the center of her belly, was the width of a
grapefruit and hung down almost 12 inches. She was horribly
arthritic with a huge swollen knee. I was horrified that I had
put her in foal, but there was nothing I could do but wait until
she foaled. It was a long wait, her knee kept getting bigger and
the tumor was so big she could not lie down at night. When she
finally foaled she literally threw herself to the side so that
she could get down. When her filly was two months old I took
Klassic to the University of MN. Tracy Turner, the head surgeon,
looked at the thing from all angles and told me he could remove
it, but there was a fifty-fifty chance she’d never carry another
foal. I looked into those big brown eyes and told him to take it
off. I was concerned about how we would get her on her feet
after the surgery because of her knee. Tracy laughed, looked at
all 14.1 hands of this little mare and said that we’d all just
pick her and stand her on her feet. (And we did- 10 of us!). The
tumor, once removed, weighed 17 pounds.
Once she could lie down, Klassic’s arthritis got better and
better. She was not bred that year. The next year we bred her
and she repaid us for our kindness by producing National
Champion Drama Qyeen. That was followed by a filly, a colt and a
filly. Apparently no one told Klassic she had only a fifty-fifty
chance of having more foals!
I retired Klassic after the birth of her seventeeth foal last
year. Although I have had plenty of requests to use her
for embryo transfers I chose not to do that. She had too
many cysts to make her a great candidate and she HATED being
away from the farm. When she received her Broodmare Elite award
at the MN Coliseum, this little mare that rarely opens her mouth
screamed and blew the whole time. She made it exquisitely clear
to everyone that she was not happy. She was to spend the rest of
her days in the pastures she loved at Greymoor. She kept her
stall in the main barn because she had earned it. It was a
privilege to be this mare’s caretaker for the last years of her
life. I just wish that privilege could have lasted longer.
Donna Hentges
(Pedigree research by Arlene Magid)
