Soaring Softly, 20, Dies in Paddock Accident
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Soaring Softly after winning the 1999 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Soaring Softly, Darby Dan Farm's grand turf mare and winner of the inaugural Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) in 1999, died Sept. 29 following a paddock accident at the farm. The champion daughter of Kris S.—Wings of Grace, by Key to the Mint, was 20.
"We're not sure how it happened, but she cracked her elbow," said John Phillips, owner of Darby Dan Farm. "We sent her to Hagyard (Equine Medical Institute), but her bone began to separate. We thought about putting a plate in, but there wasn't enough (bone) there.
"She was a great mare; a cornerstone of the long tradition of great turf females at Darby Dan," he said. "She was the one everyone always pointed out and was a fixture here at the farm."
Soaring Softly made 16 starts at 2, 3, and 4, winning nine times with one second and and three thirds. She earned $1,270,433.
She wasn't put on turf until her 4-year-old year in 1999, then she won seven of eight starts, and in succession won Garden State Park's Vineland Handicap, and Belmont Park's Sheepshead Bay Handicap (gr. IIT) and New York Handicap (gr. IIT). She was fifth at Saratoga Race Course in the Diana Handicap (gr. IIT) prior to winning the Flower Bowl Invitational Handicap (gr. IT) and then the Filly & Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.
Trained by Jimmy Toner, she was named champion turf female of 1999.
Out of grade III winner Wings of Grace—a half sister to Battle Creek Girl, dam of Canadian champion Wavering Girl and graded winners Tricky Creek, Parade Ground, Parade Leader, and Speed Dialer; Soaring Softly was a half sister to the grade I winner Plenty of Grace.
As a broodmare Soaring Softly produced the stakes-winning Much Rejoicing and stakes-placed Shine Softly. She had been bred to Ghostzapper for 2016. She has an unraced Awesome Again juvenile colt named Manitoulin and a Medaglia d'Oro yearling filly.
"She was the Alpha female in the herd," Phillips said. "She was not the most sentimental of horses. She was very independent and strong-willed. She was always in command of the broodmare band."