Catching Up With Plum Pretty

Plum Pretty in her pasture at Timber Town Stables. (Photos courtesy of Melissa Bauer-Herzog unless otherwise noted)
During two days in November 2012, Mandy Pope turned heads when she spent a combined $14.2-million on a pair of race mares, including 2011 Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty.
While Pope’s $10-million purchase of 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace drew the most attention, Plum Pretty’s $4.2-million tag was nothing to sneeze at when one saw that she was bought as a 2-year-old for only $130,000.
By Medaglia d’Oro, Plum Pretty was raced in California by Bob Baffert for her first three starts. Running in two Kentucky Oaks trail races in California, Plum Pretty wasn’t able to be any better than third but when Baffert sent her to New Mexico, she got her chance to shine.
Running in the Sunland Park Oaks, Plum Pretty made easy work of the field, taking over after the first call and making it easy on Martin Garcia by pulling away to win by 25 lengths.
The victory set her up perfectly for a tilt in the Kentucky Oaks.
Plum Pretty broke from the 12-hole in the Kentucky Oaks with just one horse outside of her. She immediately settled into second as Summer Soiree set the pace, pulling as far as 3 ½ lengths in front of Plum Pretty. But as the field entered the far turn, Plum Pretty came up to the leader and easily passed her mid-turn.
By the top of the stretch, everyone in the field had to catch Plum Pretty with the filly three lengths in front. Most of the horses didn’t take on the challenge, but deep closer St. John’s River wasn’t going to let Plum Pretty get away easily, gaining with every stride down the stretch. While the finish wasn’t as close as Blind Luck’s victory the year before, Plum Pretty had to keep running to the wire to win by a neck.
2011 KENTUCKY OAKS

“The last half-hour has been both emotional and most gratifying,” Plum Pretty’s owner John Fort told Blood-Horse after the Oaks. “To set your sights on something with the limited tools and skills 25 years ago … I took what little knowledge I had with polo and put into racehorses. That was the foundation of what I have now.”
After nearly two months away from the track Plum Pretty appeared again in California where she contested the Hollywood Oaks. But like her previous two starts at the stakes level in the state, Plum Pretty wasn’t able to get the victory and finished second to Zazu, who had finished third in the Kentucky Oaks.
Plum Pretty was shipped back to the east coast for the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama but ran into a few tough fillies. She lost by ¾ length to It’s Tricky in the Coaching Club American Oaks and then showed that 1 ¼ miles was too long for her in the Alabama when she finished 4th behind eventual 3-year-old female champion Royal Delta.
Plum Pretty got her revenge over It’s Tricky in the Cotillion that October when she didn’t let any other filly have the lead, wiring the field to pull away by five with an eighth of a mile to go and easily crossing the line 7 ½ lengths in front of It’s Tricky for jockey Rafael Bejarano.
Returning to Churchill Downs for the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (now the Breeders’ Cup Distaff), Plum Pretty set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile race. She kept the lead with just about a furlong to go, but wasn’t able to keep it and ended up fifth with Royal Delta and It’s Tricky finishing first and second.
The Breeders’ Cup finished Plum Pretty’s season but not her career.
She returned in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park the following year and while she didn’t have the lead for the first two calls, took over in the turn. From there, it was again easy sailing as she was ridden out down the stretch to finish first by 2 ¼ lengths.
Plum Pretty last ran in the La Troienne Stakes, again at Churchill but wasn’t able to hold on to the lead and dropped back to third by the time the horses hit the wire. She finished her career with five wins, two seconds, and three thirds on 12 starts for $1,688,746 in earnings. The combined margin of victory for her five wins was 35 ½ lengths and she finished first by over a length three times.
PLUM PRETTY WINS THE KENTUCKY OAKS

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire
Plum Pretty was sold to Mandy Pope that November for $4.2 million. Pope had been on the sales scene for years but her purchase of Havre de Grace and Plum Pretty put her in the center of the bloodstock spotlight.
“We are trying to obviously upgrade our broodmare band, and make some big adjustments in the quality that we have,” Pope said. “[Plum Pretty] is a fantastic race mare and a very kind mare. She is very well balanced and has a lot of size to her. I also liked her dam, who I thought was pretty and had good size. Hopefully that will transform into the next generation of babies.”
Plum Pretty has been boarded at Timber Town Stables in Lexington, Ky. since Pope bought her and T. Wayne Sweezey says she is a farm favorite.
“She’s very easy to handle and be around and kind so she would be a mare that the guys love, they like to grab her first to turn her out or she comes to the gate first to come in,” Sweezey said. “Her temperament is awesome. Just like her name, she is plum pretty. She’s one of the nicest mares on the farm, she’s got a great temperament and a great way of going. She raises a beautiful foal and she’s just a great mare to be around.”
Plum Pretty had her first foal in 2014, a colt by Distorted Humor. If Pope follows her plan, that colt will sell later this year at the yearling sales. On March 10, she had a filly by War Front and is back in foal to that stallion for 2016.
PLUM PRETTY AND HER 2015 FOAL

While Plum Pretty’s foals are still young, Sweezey does see similarities in the two she already has.
“They are very correct and are kind individuals like the mare. She passes that on. They’re correct and they’re beautiful bodied things and by all rights from looking at them from the outside, at this stage in the game they look like they have the potential to be really good athletes,” he said.
From a very good 3-year-old crop, Plum Pretty kept good company on the track and that hasn’t changed now that she is at Timber Town. The mare shares a paddock with three other mares, including Havre de Grace and Aloof, who Pope paid $3.9 million for at last year’s Keeneland November Sale.
When Sweezey was asked how Plum Pretty has affected the farm, he was quick to give credit not only to her but to the other mares on the farm.
PLUM PRETTY

“You’ve got Havre de Grace in the stall next to her then you’ve got Betterbetterbetter, who’s a stakes winner by Galileo, in another stall close to her and you’ve got Aloof, who Ms. Pope paid $3.9 million for and then across the hallway, you’ve got Irish Mission who is a champion in Canada and on and on … so [Plum Pretty is] one of many nice mares that reside here, fortunately for us, so she’s just part of the team and part of the family.”
While it is too early to tell if Plum Pretty will contribute a stakes winner to a female family that has stakes winners under each of her first four dams, hopes are high that the mare will achieve just as much as a broodmare as she did as a racehorse.