Breeders' Cup Boon for Canadian Broodmare Owners

If you live in the horse country of Hillsburgh and Erin, Ontario, then you may have heard some really loud cheering during the Friday Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 6. SHERRY MCLEAN, owner of Northern Dawn Stables, said she was screaming at the television as the filly VEQUIST charged up the rail to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Keeneland for owner/breeder Swilcan Stable and partners Gary Barber and Wachtel Stable.

The almost jet-black juvenile filly, already a Grade 1 winner of the Spinaway Stakes, went a long way to getting some votes for the Eclipse Award for Champion 2-Year-Old filly.

McLean’s own broodmare SUMMERS EDGE (The Cliff’s Edge) is the granddam of Vequist as the Breeders’ Cup winner is a daughter of Grade 2 placed Vero Amore, dam of Vequist.

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Summers Edge, who has a 2-year-old racing this week by McLean’s stallion Reload at Woodbine, is back in foal to Canada’s leading first crop sire.

McLean, longtime manager at famed Gardiner Farms, Sovereign Award winning breeder, opened Northern Dawn about five years ago and welcomed Reload (Hard Spun) in 2016 to stand in 2017.

He is off a rousing start at stud and has several offspring in stakes races coming up on the weekend of Nov. 14 and 15 at Woodbine.

McLean stumbled upon Summers Edge a few years ago in foal to Rattlesnake Bridge. As a dedicated student of pedigrees, McLean, when she is not running her large breeding operation, is sifting through race results daily and is always seeking gems like Summers Edge.

“That’s what you look for, hope for, that little something in the breeding that can boost a mare and maybe get a few more dollars for the foals,” said McLean.

*Breeding plans are underway for the mare Seattle Splash, who is owned by Lori, John and Dawson Guhle and Bruce Terman and is the granddam of GAMINE, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Sprint (G1) winner who set a track record for 7 furlongs. The Alberta-based mare is the dam of Peggy Jane (Kafwain) who produced Gamine, a $1.8 million auction purchase by Into Mischief.

The Guhles also own the mare Salazar, a 7-year-old by Discreet Cat and her half-sister is She’s a Julie, Grade 1 winner of over $1.2 million who just sold at Fasig-Tipton’s November sale for a whopping $3 million.

“It was every exciting,” said Dawson Guhle about Gamine’s Breeders’ Cup win. “We are still trying to figure out where to breed Seattle Splash and Salazar.”