Harness: She's A Great Lady passes at 31

Diamond Creek is sad to announce that She's A Great Lady (1:50 4/5, $973,382) has passed away at the venerable age of 31.

When mares like this pass away, it is a hard time for the farm. They are more than just horses to us, they are the building blocks of what Diamond Creek is today. The present cannot exist without the past and these mares represent the history of Diamond Creek and how the farm has become what it is today.

When we tried to find words to memorialize this great mare, we found that Adam Bowden had already done so, when he wrote her story for our Golden Girls feature a few years ago. In his words from then, "A mare with her credentials barely needs an introduction. She's A Great Lady is so great they actually named a race after her. She also held a world record that spanned more than a decade."

Born in 1992 she became a star on the track, setting a world record at Delaware not once but twice, at 3 and again at 4, records that remained longer than most. Great horses are blessed to have races named after them and 'Great Lady' was definitely that great. Earning just shy of $1 million and taking a mark of 1:50 4/5, she toured the ovals of North America from two through five earning respect from everyone she raced against.

After a budding broodmare career that began under the expert eye of Carter Duer at Peninsula Farm and owned by L&L Devisser, she was sold to Diamond Creek in the fall of 2006.

She's A Great Lady's broodmare career spanned 12 years but she only produced 6 foals and none garnered the fame and fortune of their revered mother. After her final foaling in 2012, Great Lady has remained a fixture in our group of 'Golden Girls'. The mare with a chewed off tail remained an unbreakable spirit, malevolent, dismissive, and otherwise healthy and happy, believing that her horse groupies and not humans care for her best.

'Lady' spent the last years of her life living in retired mare bliss at our farm manager Gina Dailey's farm, where she was very happy to be left to herself, but would also tolerate the loving attentions of Gina's young daughter.

She is survived by her best friend Armbro Nest, 31, with whom she has spent the last 16-plus years with at Diamond Creek.

edited release (Diamond Creek)