Best In Show

One of the most acclaimed broodmare lines in recent decades originates with Best in Show, daughter of Traffic Judge out of the Mr. Busher mare Stolen Hour. Her daughters (and their daughters) have produced a litany of successful sires and multiple-graded/group winners, whose names are worth recording:

1. Unraced Sex Appeal (Buckpasser) produced two champions, G1 Irish Derby winner El Gran Senor and G1 Dewhurst victor Try My Best, both top sires as well. Among the other descendents of this vein are Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Domedriver, JPN-G1 QEII victress Fusaichi Pandora, Irish Derby runner-up Dr. Johnson, G1 Nunthorpe winner Bahamian Pirate, and G2 Jim Dandy victor Strong Hope.

2. IRE-G1 Phoenix victress Aviance, a daughter of Minnie Hauk (Sir Ivor), produced multiple G1 turf winner Denon, as well as ENG-G1 Coronation victress Chimes of Freedom, the latter’s offspring including two G1 winning sires, Good Journey and Aldebaran. Another Aviance daughter, G1-placed Imperfect Circle produced Breeders’ Cup Mile winner (and sire) Spinning World, while yet another daughter Remote Romance birthed German G1 winner Saddex.

3. Runner-up in the IRE-G1 Phoenix, Monroe (Sir Ivor) produced the European champion Xaar. Other notables from this line: G1 United Nations victor Senure, and G1 Manhattan runner-up Requet.

4. Nijinsky’s Best (Nijinsky) produced Yagli who, after finishing second in the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Turf, reeled off G1 victories in the United Nations, Manhattan and Gulfstream Park Turf handicaps in 1999.

5. Blush With Pride (Blushing Groom) not only won the Kentucky Oaks (among other black-type races), but also produced in the shed, including graded stakes winners Smolensk and Better Than Honour, the latter dam of dual Belmont Stakes winners Jazil and Rags to Riches, not to mention Breeders’ Cup Marathon victor Man of Iron. Blush With Pride also produced G1-placed Maryinsky (dam of G1 winners Peeping Fawn and Thewayyouare), and an unraced son named Desert God, whose best progeny at stud is the undefeated sensation Pepper’s Pride. Blush with Pride died in 2005.


While Blush With Pride usually gets the most attention, perhaps the greatest of Best In Show’s daughters was actually the unraced Sir Ivor mare Show Lady. While Show Lady didn’t actually produce many good race horses (her daughter Diamond Syl ran second to eventual Canadian Triple Crown winner Dance Smartly in the Star Shoot Stakes, the same year her son Great Regent won the listed Cup and Saucer), she did produce by the great Nijinsky a filly called Dancing Show.

In 12 lifetime starts, Dancing Show only finished in the money once, winning a maiden special weight event at Belmont Park on July 13, 1987. After two more unplaced starts that year, she retired. In foal to Miswaki, Dancing Show was sent to New Zealand where, in 1988, she birthed Umatilla—the first of her G1 winning sons Down Under. The other was Hurricane Sky, born in 1991. Both are successful sires.

Her daughters have also turned out to be tremendous producers. Show Dancing’s progeny includes G1 Australian Guineas victor and sire Al Maher, while Shantha’s Choice outdid them all, with her G1 winning sons Manhattan Rain (by Encosta de Lago), Platinum Scissors and Redoute’s Choice (both by Danehill). Redoute’s Choice in particularly has sired a host of remarkable Group 1 race mares—Miss Finland, Samantha Miss, Fashions Afield, Melito, Gallica, Allez Wonder, Dariana, and Anamato—that should continue this rich bloodline for generations to come.