Affectionately (April 26, 1960 – 1979) was an American
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...
racehorse.
Background
She was sired by 1956
American Horse of the Year Swaps, out of the racing mare
Searching. Searching's dam was Big Hurry, by
Black Toney out of
La Troienne.
[La Troienne]
Retrieved 2011-06-25. Searching's sire was
War Admiral, winner of the
American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, often shortened to Triple Crown, is a series of horse racing, horse races for Thoroughbreds, often restricted to three-year-olds. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse races i ...
, whose own sire was
Man o' War .
Foaled on April 26, 1960, at the farm of Dr. Charles Hagyard near
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...
, she was bred by the partnership of owner/trainer
Hirsch Jacobs and
Isidor Bieber.
Racing career
Campaigned under the name of Jacobs' wife Ethel, Affectionately won nine of her first ten starts as a two-year-old. In the
Matron Stakes she was finally beaten by
Smart Deb.
Racing Hall of Fame
Retrieved 2011-06-25.
At ages three and four Affectionately was very good, winning two Interborough Handicaps, the Vosburgh, and the Correction Handicap. When she turned five, however, she gained the successes that put her on the list of the 100 best racehorses of the twentieth century. Under high weights, she took the Top Flight Handicap, the Vagrancy Handicap and a number of other important stakes races. She retired sound with eighteen stakes wins, one of only two females to break the half-million-dollar earnings mark.
Retirement
Her first foal was 1970 co- American Horse of the Year Personality
Personality is any person's collection of interrelated behavioral, cognitive, and emotional patterns that comprise a person’s unique adjustment to life. These interrelated patterns are relatively stable, but can change over long time per ...
, who shared the honor with Fort Marcy. Affectionately produced three other foals, of which one started and won.
She died in 1979. Ten years later, she was voted into the Hall of Fame, an honor her dam, Searching, was accorded the year before.
Assessment and honors
At the end of 1962, Affectionately was voted American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly by ''Turf & Sport Digest''. The rival Thoroughbred Racing Association and '' Daily Racing Form'' awards were won by Smart Deb.
Jacobs, who was a Hall of Fame conditioner, called her "the best horse I've ever trained". He had trained Stymie and Hail To Reason, the sire of Personality.
In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Affectionately's granddamsire Man o' War was at #1, her damsire War Admiral at #13, her sire Swaps at #20 and Affectionately herself at #81.
Pedigree
References
{{Reflist
1960 racehorse births
1979 racehorse deaths
American Champion racehorses
Racehorses bred in Kentucky
Racehorses trained in the United States
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
Thoroughbred family 1-x