Grade 1 Producer Alternate Dies

Pin Oak Stud's homebred multiple stakes winner Alternate, the dam of grade 1 winners Alternation  and Higher Power  , died Oct. 15 at her lifetime home, Pin Oak Stud. She was 23 years old.

By Seattle Slew, Alternate won six races and placed another 11 times, seven in stakes company. She was trained by Graham Motion and earned $550,695.

Alternate, out of the Green Dancer mare Strike a Balance, left a legacy as a grade 1 producer in addition to her highly successful racing career. The dam of nine winners from 12 foals, she produced three major stakes winners, including two millionaires.

Alternation, her son by Distorted Humor , won or placed in seven stakes including a victory in the 2011 Peter Pan Stakes (G2) and a three-race win streak in the 2012 Razorback Handicap (G3), Oaklawn Handicap (G2), and Pimlico Special Stakes (G3). 

Also a success at stud, Alternation is the sire of some 25 stakes horses to date, including multiple grade 1 winner Serengeti Empress , earner of nearly $2.2 million.

Alternate also produced grade 1-winning millionaire Higher Power, a son of Medaglia d'Oro  . Winner of the 2019 $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1), Higher Power also placed in three additional grade 1 events including the 2019 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and earned nearly $1.6 million. His first foals arrived this year.

The third stakes winner produced by Alternate is the Broken Vow  mare Interrupted , a Pin Oak homebred who scored five wins, was graded stakes-placed, and earned over $250,000. 

From a deep Pin Oak family, Alternate was a half sister to Pin Oak's Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks and Valleys, who was also named champion 3-year-old in Canada in 1995; Alternate's dam Strike a Balance was a half sister to Wedding Picture and Tonka Wakhan.

Alternate will be buried at Pin Oak Stud.