Early Voting adds a classic victory to granddam Silken Cat's achievements

Canadian champions who have gone on to be successful broodmares continued to make an impact on this spring’s Triple Crown series, as Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting extended the legacy of his granddam, the late Silken Cat.

Early Voting is out of the unraced Tiznow mare Amour d’Ete, whose dam is Quebec-bred Silken Cat. A late Storm Cat mare, Silken Cat earned a Sovereign Award as a Canadian champion and went on to produce Eclipse Award champion Speightstown.

“Silken Cat is one of the best producers we have ever had on Taylor Made,” Mark Taylor wrote on Twitter Saturday night, high praise from the Taylor Made Farm operation, which regularly boards and cares for champions and star producers.

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Kentucky Derby upset winner Rich Strike was produced by Manitoba-bred Gold Strike, a champion in Canada after winning the Woodbine Oaks and finishing third in the Queen’s Plate.

Silken Cat, purchased as a yearling by Sam-Son Farm, won all three of her starts as a juvenile, including the Mazarine Stakes, by a combined 25 1/4 lengths. The campaign earned her Canada’s champion 2-year-old filly honors in 1995. Privately purchased by Aaron and Marie Jones, she raced once at 3, finishing third in an allowance, before retiring and being boarded at Taylor Made as a broodmare.

The mare was sent to Gone West for her first mating and produced Speightstown, the champion sprinter of 2004 with a campaign that included four graded stakes wins, including the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He is now at WinStar Farm in Kentucky. Speightstown is perennially among the top sires in North America, with Grade 1/Group 1 winners around the world and 138 stakes winners overall.

Silken Cat produced 11 foals, with three winners from seven starters. Those include the Tiznow horse Irap, a three-time graded stakes winner in 2017. He suffered an injury while finishing second in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, and complications ultimately proved fatal.

Silken Cat died at age 23 in March 2016 at Taylor Made, but her legacy has continued. Early Voting, by Gun Runner, is the third graded/group winner produced by one of her daughters. The others are Capezzano, a Group 1 winner in Dubai out of Cableknit, and Golden Hawk, winner of the Grade 3 Grey in Canada out of Gone Purrfect, who is a full sister to Speightstown.

Amour d’Ete, an unraced full sister to Irap, was purchased for $1.75 million by Three Chimneys at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale. She is the dam of three winners from as many starters with Early Voting, her first graded stakes winner, preceded by Shocking Fast, by Distorted Humor, and Caught Looking, by Super Saver.

Since Early Voting, Amour d’Ete has produced a full sister to him in 2020; a Constitution filly in 2021; and a filly from the first crop of Volatile this past spring.

Fiber Sonde, a perennial leading sire in West Virginia, is another out of Silken Cat. He was represented Saturday by Silky Serena, who won the Its Binn Too Long Stakes at Charles Town. She was his 29th stakes winner, a group that includes graded stakes winners Late Night Pow Wow and Runnin’toluvya.