Classy 'n Smart's influence felt in Woodbine Mile

Classy ’n Smart was a Canadian champion for Sam-Son Farm and went on to become one of the foundation mares for the dominant Ontario-based operation. The majority of her family’s continued fame and success has come via her Grade 1-winning progeny Dance Smartly and Smart Strike. Dance Smartly, a Canadian Triple Crown winner and a champion in both Canada and the United States, went on to produce five stakes horses, including a pair of Queen’s Plate winners, and her daughters and granddaughters have ably continued on production. Meanwhile, Smart Strike became a leading sire and sire of sires, with his champion sons Curlin and Lookin At Lucky both now classic sires in their own right.

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Classy ’n Smart also has more quietly exerted an influence through other branches of her family. And it was one of those branches, via the champion’s unraced daughter Seattle Classic, that was responsible for Sam-Son homebred El Tormenta, upset winner of the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

Seattle Classic, a Seattle Slew mare foaled in 1991, produced four winners from six starters, led by Canadian champion Hello Seattle and stakes winner Sail From Seattle. The mare’s stakes-placed daughter Fleet of Foot produced multiple graded stakes winner His Race to Win, as well as Fresia, dam of this year’s California Cup Derby winner Galilean.

Fleet of Foot’s winning daughter Torreadora is the dam of three winners from as many starters – led, of course, by El Tormenta, by Stormy Atlantic.