“The legacy and memories will stay with us forever” – Angela Perrin
Two-time Horse of the Year and fan favourite MIGHTY HEART has been retired by his owner Lawrence Cordes and family and has arrived at Ballycroy Bloodstock near Loretto, ON.
The family will weigh options as to where Mighty Heart may stand at stud for the 2024 season.
“He’s just going to eat grass and hang out with other horses for now,” said racing manager Angela Perrin, daughter of Cordes. “We are glad that he retired sound and he’s happy.”
Perrin said that Mighty Heart, the one-eyed six-year-old wonder who was trained by Josie Carroll through 2022 and then moved to Patrick Country, Jr. this spring, had a bruised foot and popped a pus pocket upon returning to Woodbine after a stint at Tampa Bay Downs.
“There really weren’t any races for him coming up for some time, so we just decided to retire him,” said Perrin. Mighty Heart was a winner in January at Tampa Bay for County, Jr., who has a couple of other horses for the family at Woodbine.
Mighty Heart came along at the outset of the crushing COVID-19 pandemic. He was making the first starts of his career at Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans when the world began to shut down in March 2020. Under the care of Hall of Fame trainer Josie Carroll, Mighty Heart was able to race at Woodbine once the track was given the all-clear to have races, without fans, beginning in June. The colt won his maiden and then finished third in an allowance race before starting in the 1 1/4 mile Queen’s Plate as a 13 to 1 outsider.
In front of an empty grandstand for the delayed Plate (it was run in August 2020), Mighty Heart galloped to a stunning 7 1/2 length win in near-track record time under Daisuke Fukumoto, capturing the imagination of racing fans everywhere. The handsome bay colt then went on to a decisive score in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, sending fans and media into a frenzy in the hopes of a Triple Crown sweep. Unfortunately, Mighty Heart was burned out in a hot pace battle in the third leg of the Crown, the Breeders’ Stakes on turf, and finished seventh.
He was named Canada’s Champion three-year-old and Horse of the Year at the 2020 Sovereign Awards.
As a four-year-old, Mighty Heart began the year with a gritty win in the Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs in Kentucky. He returned to Woodbine and competed in the July 1 Dominion Day Stakes (G3) on Canada Day, which was also the first day that fans were allowed back at the track. He won that day in front of a cheering crowd.
Mighty Heart traveled to West Virginia where he finished second by 1 3/4 lengths in the West Virginia Governors Stakes (G3) and then placed in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup (G3) and Durham Cup (G3) upon his return to Woodbine. He then romped in the Autumn Handicap (G2) with Patrick Husbands, defeating 2019 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Sir Winston. Mighty Heart completed his 2021 campaign with a third-place finish in the Harlans’ Holiday Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park. He earned his second Horse of the Year title as well as Champion Older Male in Canada.
While Mighty Heart did not win in 2022, he did place third in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes and Grade 3 Dominion Day and he experimented with grass racing, finishing a close fifth in the Niagara Stakes and then sixth in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile behind eventual Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Modern Games.
On January 6, Mighty Heart made a victorious return to racing for County, Jr., who has returned to training after time away to raise a family. Mighty Heart won an allowance event at Tampa Bay Downs at 1 mile and 40 yards with great determination. The horse returned to Woodbine following two unplaced efforts in Tampa Bay stakes races before incurring the foot bruise.
For Cordes, Perrin and family, the incredible success of their homebred was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“The legacy and memories will stay with us forever,” said Perrin. “It was my dad’s dream come true. We have a big cabinet here full of all of his memorabilia that we love to look at every day.”
The book Run With a Mighty Heart (Amazon, Chapters, Woodbine Gift Shop), tells the incredible story of the champion horse and his team.
Bred by Cordes and foaled at Curraghmore Farm in Waterdown, ON, Mighty Heart had to have his eye removed when he was only a few months old after a paddock injury. The colt spent his yearling season at War Horse Place in Kentucky with Dana Aschinger and was prepped as a juvenile by Geoff and Sandra Mulcahy in Kentucky.
His human team during his two Horse of the Year seasons included groom Siobhan Brown, exercise rider Des McMahon and Cordes’ granddaughter Jennifer Perrin, who worked on the colt with massage therapy.
A book about the colt’s incredible Plate run and his resilient human team entitled Run With a Mighty Heart has sold over 700 copies.
Mighty Heart retired with a career record of 25-7-2-5 and earnings of $1,139,221.
Mighty Heart, 2020 Horse of the Year, fittingly won the Dominion Day Stakes (G3) on July 1, 2021, the first day fans were allowed back at the track during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Will Wong photo)
Coady Photography of Mighty Heart’s win in the Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs in 2021.
Lawrence Cordes of Uxbridge and his Horse of the Year, Queen’s Plate winning homebred MIGHTY HEART. (J.M. photo)
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