Dam of Bayern, Alittlebitearly Dies After Foaling
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Bayern and jockey Martin Garcia after winning the 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park
Alittlebitearly, dam of 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner and Hill 'n' Dale Farm stallion Bayern , died Feb. 10 at Helen Alexander's Middlebrook Farm after producing a healthy filly by 2015 champion juvenile and Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Nyquist .
Bred by Alexander in partnership with her mother Helen Groves and sister Dorothy Matz, Alittlebitearly produced six foals to race, five of which were winners. Bayern was her only stakes winner.
A son of the Middlebrook raised and sold stallion Offlee Wild, Bayern earned $4,454,930 in two seasons, winning six races in 15 starts. He won or placed in eight graded stakes. In addition to his victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Bayern won the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1), the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2), and set a track record in the Pennsylvania Derby (G2).
An 18-year-old daughter of Thunder Gulch, Alittlebitearly was produced from the Alydar mare Aquilegia, who was a multiple graded stakes winner for owner/co-breeder Groves and partners and a full sister to 1983 champion 2-year-old filly Althea. Aquilegia produced three stakes winners, including major stakes producer Amelia, and was a daughter of foundation mare and Broodmare of the Year Courtly Dee.