Clydesdale Nurses Thoroughbred Filly to Future Success

When 4-year-old Descente lined up in the starting gate for the Dec. 5 Claiming Crown Glass Slipper Stakes at Gulfstream Park, breeder Bernard McCormack had a feeling that the filly's time had finally come.

Two years and exactly two dozen starts since she left her Ontario birthplace, the daughter of Bodemeister  had managed to work her way through the claiming ranks and was poised, at last, to take home the one thing that had eluded her so far: a stakes victory. 

Though it may not have been the most high-profile race on the Saturday card and not a black-type stakes, the track was fast and Descente was keen. The filly sewed up her first stakes win by 3 3/4 lengths in just under 1:37. 

"We celebrated like it was a grade 1," said McCormack. "We've had lots of good winners in 2020—some really nice stakes horses. But I'll honestly say I got as much joy out of watching her win as I have with any of the others. Of course, we have our memories of her as a foal from her most fragile state to now, and it's just nice to see her succeed." 

Unlike the majority of Thoroughbreds bred and sold each year by McCormack, Descente started life in a most unconventional manner. Foaled in Ontario in 2016, she was only the second foal out of the Street Sense  mare Work N Flirt, who had had trouble foaling the previous year as a maiden. 

"She colicked about six days out from foaling that first time and needed surgery," said McCormack. "So we were careful with our monitoring of the mare when she foaled this little filly."

On April 25, 2016, Descente arrived in the world. While the birth appeared routine, it didn't take long for McCormack to see that Work N Flirt was once again struggling. 

"The filly got the colostrum, which was great, and she was healthy from that point of view," said McCormack. "But very shortly thereafter—and it's not uncommon—if a horse has had some kind of surgery when foaling, the next year when things move around and they foal again there can be problems. That's exactly what happened to her and sadly, we lost her at the clinic." 

In the midst of the loss, McCormack turned his attention to the newborn foal, who—without her mother—had to be bottle fed until a nurse mare could be found. McCormack sent a call out on social media, asking friends and family if anyone knew, or owned, a mare that would be available to nurse his filly posthaste. 

"For breeders, it doesn't matter what state or what country, some breeding organizations have a colostrum bank that we give to and can withdraw from, but a nurse mare is the best option," said McCormack. "In bigger foaling states like Kentucky or Pennsylvania, I think they have people who rent out nurse mares. Eventually I called David Anderson of Anderson Farms who has several types of horses including Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, Clydesdales, and Percherons. He's a good personal friend so when I called I asked if he knew of anyone that maybe has a nurse mare of any kind, and he directed me to a gentleman named Lee Smith who has Clydesdales.

"I got in touch with him, and he told me he had an untried mare named Rose, who had just had a foal in December and the foal was weanable. He told me directly, 'I've not tried her as a nurse mare before Bernard,' and I said, 'I'm a beggar, not a chooser. All I want to know is, is she kind and is she all the things you would ask?' And she was." 

Purchased by Smith for his daughter, Breanne, Rose was a gregarious personality whose days were spent as a lead mare for Smith's six-hitch teams. A consummate professional, Rose competed with the Smiths' other horses in shows throughout Canada and the United States before, and even after, she began having foals. 

"We got her when she was 4 years old," said Breanne Smith. "She was super sassy and spunky. When my dad first took her to be broke, we went to pick her up and she was so wild that they told us, 'I think you should come back in another two weeks.' But she ended up being fantastic." 

Packed up and sent to his farm, Rose's arrival was an anxious moment for McCormack, who worried briefly that the mare's sheer size would intimidate his filly. Weighing on average between 1,800 and 2,300 pounds, Clydesdales like Rose tower over adult Thoroughbreds. 

"Clydesdales are big horses no matter what and with that size and those feathered legs, Rose looks like she just stepped out of the Budweiser hitch," said McCormack. "But one sniff, two sniffs, and the foal was on her nursing. The story takes off from there. She was just the perfect mare." 

From that moment on, Rose and Descente were rarely without each other—Descente never far from the shadow of her statuesque stepmother. When McCormack's additional mares arrived home from Kentucky with their own foals in tow, it didn't take long for a new paddock hierarchy to be established. 

"A lot of our mares foal out in Kentucky, and when they arrived back at the farm, the whole social order of the paddock changed," joked McCormack. "Weight and size matter, so our alpha mare lost a very early battle. I don't think Rose much cared, but it helped create a protective bubble around the foal. 

"When you talk about heavy horses, they're kind and gentle giants. That's what she was and the foal grew up in a perfect situation. Emotions do play into things a lot because the mother of the foal was a mare we really liked and it was terrible to lose her. She was just a kind, sweet mare. But when we saw the filly doing so well with Rose it was so great to see. At the end of the day, she had a normal upbringing. It was a sad day to see her leave the farm." 

Descente and Rose's time together would last until mid-September when the filly was weaned in preparation for the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Consigned under the banner of McCormack's Cara Bloodstock, she was purchased by Roger Keith Long for $42,000. 

With Descente safely through the auction ring, Rose was returned to Smith, and the filly she helped nurse through her first precious months began her racing career. Now owned by Walder Racing and trained by Peter Walder, that career reached a new apex this year with her resounding Claiming Crown success. She now holds a 7-3-4 record from 24 starts and $176,260 in earnings. 

"Descente came up with a Canadian-based trainer as a 2-year-old and she ran well," said McCormack. "She won a nice open maiden allowance. The following year she came back at 3 and there were hopes that she might be a stakes horse, but things didn't work out for her. But when she went to Florida at 4 she won a claiming race but then she just kept winning. She was getting claimed almost every start, and my wife (Karen) and I would just watch this on the TV. She was leaving money on the table and in the bank at every barn she was in. She's just a really honest horse. 

"If you have a horse that's a claimer, the Claiming Crown is kind of a national event. It's the 'Breeders' Cup' of claimers, which is really a good way to describe it. These horses come from every background. Some get good at 3, 4, and 5 and others are good at 2 and there is a group of racers for each category that showcase some really good horses. To have a spotlight on them is important for our game and to get to celebrate them is so important for the industry. 

"To see horses do well and to see the winning continue on … yes they're claimers, but don't give up on them because they're all honest horses. Success begets success and winning is a habit. Certainly any breeder that has been in this situation, who has had a 'bottle baby' go on and do well, knows that watching them succeed is the best feeling. Out of the hopelessness of an orphan situation come the stories like Descente." 

Since the days that Rose nursed Descente, the Smiths have slowed down in their competitive endeavors. Rose, now 10, is due to give birth to her fifth foal in January. 

"She's just a broodmare now. We're no longer hitching," said Smith. "We've slowed down the showing so all the mares that we had on the hitch are having babies and enjoying life at the moment. She's such an easy-going mare. She is a sweetheart, and she's always been a good mom, so it's not surprising that she was able to connect with the Thoroughbred foal." 

With the success of Descente, Rose earned a reputation in the area as a top-notch nurse mare ready to take on any job and any foal—no matter how big or how small. While Smith describes her as an amazing mother to her own foals, Rose has also served as a nurse mare to a Standardbred foal. She remains ready for duty should the call ever come. 

"We're so happy for Rose because she's gone on to be a nurse mare and help other foals and breeders," said McCormack. "They have to start somewhere, she just happened to start with us. She's a perfect mare for the job she's been given."