Proud Spell winning the Kentucky Oaks in 2008. (Photo by HorsePhotos)
Owned and raised by former Kentucky governor Brereton Jones, Proud Spell was such a small filly as a yearling that Jones decided to bypass the yearling sales with her. That would be one of his smartest decisions as a horse breeder, as the filly went on to win the Kentucky Oaks.
“We decided that nobody would want to buy her, so instead of taking her to the sale we wanted to let her grow and let her be a horse," Jones told USA Today after Proud Spell’s Kentucky Oaks victory.
Growing into a powerful racehorse, Proud Spell came into the Kentucky Oaks with four wins in seven starts. But even when she lost, she didn’t disgrace herself with her three losses still on-the-board finishes, including a second in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Proud Spell didn’t come into the Kentucky Oaks with the best result in her final race, suffering a loss in the Ashland Stakes on the synthetic track at Keeneland when finishing third. The race was her first, and only, try on a non-dirt surface and first on a Kentucky track.
While the loss probably gave her backers slightly better odds, it didn’t affect them much with the filly still going off as the Kentucky Oaks favorite at odds of 3.40-to-1 in the 10-horse field.
Proud Spell was never more than a length behind the leader in the first three calls of the race over a sloppy track, pestering the leading Bsharpsonata all the way around. In the stretch, Proud Spell pulled even with Bsharpsonata and though she had a lot left, it took some urging by jockey Gabriel Saez to get Proud Spell to take a clear lead.
But once Proud Spell decided it was time to put her rival away, there was no stopping her. They pulled away to win by five lengths with Little Belle finishing second and Pure Clan finishing third. Bsharpsonata faded to fifth at the end of the race, six lengths behind Proud Spell.
2008 KENTUCKY OAKS
"She can handle any kind of surface and actually Churchill's track, when it's wet, is very good," trainer Larry Jones told USA Today. "Sometimes, I have problems with it when it's dry."
Proud Spell headed to New York for her next start, but that would be a disappointing race for the filly.
Proud Spell stumbled out of the Mother Goose gate and that was just the beginning of her troubles. She had to check at the quarter pole then in the stretch she veered into Never Retreat when fighting for second. While Proud Spell crossed the wire in second, veering into Never Retreat cost her that placing when the stewards moved her down to third, behind Never Retreat and in front of only one other horse.
Only a few weeks later, the filly came back in the Delaware Oaks where she went off as the 0.30-to-1 favorite.
Sitting 1 ½ lengths off of the leading Maren’s Meadow, everything lined up right for Proud Spell this time. She stalked the leader and while she didn’t have the lead at the stretch call she collared leader African Violet with a furlong left to go and was ¾ length ahead at the wire.
Following the Delaware Oaks, Proud Spell secured her spot as the top 3-year-old filly in Saratoga when running in the Alabama. Sitting behind familiar rival Little Belle, Proud Spell waited until a mile into the 1 ¼ mile race to take over the lead by a head but there was another threat looming.
Mother Goose winner Music Note was looking for her second win over Proud Spell and was only half a length behind the Oaks winner with a furlong left to go. In that final furlong, the two fillies ran their hearts out but Proud Spell wasn’t going to let Music Note pass, winning by a head with the rest of the field 4 ½ lengths behind the two.
2008 ALABAMA STAKES
"This filly of ours has never been passed down the stretch the entire time we've had her," Larry Jones told the New York Daily News. "I told [jockey Gabriel Saez], 'Do not let Music Note in front. I don't care if you have to go all the way to the barn area, down Nelson Avenue or what.' If you come up to (Proud Spell) and eyeball her, you don't beat her."
The Alabama would be the final win for Proud Spell, who finished second by 2 ½ lengths in the Cotillion Stakes to finish her 3-year-old season. The filly came back the following March in an optional claiming race as a prep for the Apple Blossom but again finished second. Proud Spell suffered a little leg infection after the prep race, and as it would cause her to miss the Apple Blossom, Proud Spell was retired.
The filly retired with over $2.1 million in earnings and seven victories in 13 starts. Named the champion 3-year-old filly in 2008, Proud Spell never finished worse than third, with four seconds and two thirds to her name in addition to her wins.
Proud Spell was bred to Indian Charlie, who stood at Brereton Jones’s Airdrie Stud, for her first foal. Born on March 29, 2010, Indian Spell was sold for $500,000 as a yearling to Besilu Stable. The filly took a while to break her maiden but ended her career on a high note when she won the 2013 Miss Woodford Stakes in her last start to give her dam a stakes winner from her first foal.
INDIAN SPELL AT THE SALE AS A YEARLING
Photo by Eclipse Sportswire
Indian Spell was sold at the Keeneland November sale in 2013 where she was bought back by Jones. On January 25 of this year, Indian Spell had her first foal, a colt by Ghostzapper.
Jones kept Proud Spell’s second foal, a Tiznow daughter named Tiz Possible born in 2011. Tiz Possible never made it to the track and joined her half-sister in the Airdrie broodmare band last year when she was bred to Haynesfield. Tiz Possible had her first foal only eight days after Indian Spell when she gave birth to a filly on February 2.
Proud Spell’s first colt, and final foal born in the United States, is a Bernardini colt named Etruscan. Etruscan has raced twice for the same owner-trainer duo who raced his dam but hasn’t yet found the winner’s circle.
After not having a foal in 2013, Proud Spell was bred to Creative Cause but before that colt was born, she was sold to Northern Farm in Japan. Born on January 30, 2014, the unnamed colt is preparing to be broke to ride in the fall, according to a representative of the farm.
Proud Spell visited top Japanese stallion Deep Impact in 2014 and had a bay colt by the stallion this year. She returned to Deep Impact in late March and if all continues to go well, is currently pregnant with her 2016 foal.