Liable named broodmare of the year

LEXINGTON, Ky. – After celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2010, Claiborne Farm and its longtime client and partner Adele Dilschneider picked up one of breeding’s most prestigious awards Friday when their Liable was named 2010’s Broodmare of the Year. The Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders presented the award on Friday.

Liable is the dam of Blame, the homebred son of Arch that Claiborne and Dilschneider raced to victory in three Grade 1 races last year, headed by a victory over previously undefeated Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Blame was voted champion older horse in 2010 and also was named Kentucky-bred champion older male on Friday.

A stakes-placed winner by Seeking the Gold out of Bound, by Nijinsky II, Liable hails from the great Claiborne family that harks back to Special and Thong, both dams of champions. Special produced major sire Nureyev and is the second dam of dominant stallion Sadler’s Wells, who died recently.

Liable also is the dam of 2011 stakes winner Tend.

Other Kentucky-bred champions named by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders on Friday were North America’s reigning Horse of the Year, Zenyatta, as Horse of the Year and older female; Uncle Mo, juvenile, More Than Real, champion juvenile filly; Lookin At Lucky, 3-year-old colt; Blind Luck, 3-year-old filly; Gio Ponti, turf male; Shared Account, turf female; Majesticperfection, sprinter; Slip Away, steeplechaser; Dream Ahead, Kentucky-bred racing abroad.

The owners’ and breeders’ association also presented Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum’s Darley with the P.A. B Widener Award for Breeder of the Year.

Kentucky Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund award winners were Distorted Humor, leading sire; Max Silverhammer, leading earner; Courtlandt Farms, owner of the year; Mike Maker, leading trainer; and Dixiana Stables, breeder of the year.

Other award winners were Thoroughbred Daily News, which received the Charles Englehard Award for turf writing, Marylou Whitney got the William T. Young Humanitarian Award, and Barbara Hunter, given the Hardboot Breeder Award, which is given to breeders who are well established and successful but not usually acknowledged through other awards.