Puca, the dam of a pair of classic winners, was honored as Kentucky's Broodmare of the Year as the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) presented their annual awards Friday night in Lexington, Ky. The Broodmare of the Year award, first presented in 1946, is the oldest of the KTOB awards, and considered one of the most prestigious accomplishments in Thoroughbred bloodstock. Puca, a 13-year-old Big Brown mare currently owned by John Stewart's Resolute Farm, is the dam of 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage and 2024 Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch. She is in the history books as just the ninth broodmare to produce a pair of American Triple Crown race winners, joining Maggie B.B. (1879 Preakness winner Harold, 1884 Belmont winner Panique), Cinderella (1896 Belmont winner Hastings, 1898 Derby winner Plaudit), Lady Margaret (1896 Preakness winner Margrave, 1902 Belmont winner Masterman), Ignite (1900 Preakness winner Hindus, 1906 Derby winner Sir Huon), Leisure (1908 Preakness winner Royal Tourist, 1914 Preakness winner Holiday), Prudery (1927 Derby winner Whiskery, 1928 Preakness winner Victorian), Weekend Surprise (1990 Preakness winner Summer Squall, 1992 Belmont winner A.P. Indy), and Better Than Honour (2006 Belmont winner Jazil, 2007 Belmont winner Rags to Riches). :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2025: Point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Puca was bred on a foal share by Jerry Crawford and Big Brown’s late co-owner Paul Pompa Jr., and was raced by Crawford’s Donegal Racing. The mare, whose name is Gaelic for “ghost,” finished second in the Grade 2 Gazelle Stakes before running 12th in the 2015 Kentucky Oaks. She later won the 2017 Steve Pini Memorial Stakes at Suffolk Downs, and retired with four wins from 17 starts. Grandview Equine, an investment portfolio group launched by Three Chimneys Farm founder Robert Clay, purchased Puca for $475,000, carrying her first foal, by Gun Runner, at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale. She was intended for the first book of classic-placed champion Good Magic, entering stud in 2019, as Grandview had multiple shares in the young horse. After delivering her Gun Runner filly in the spring of 2018, Puca was bred to Good Magic in back-to-back years, delivering a pair of colts at Runnymede Farm in Paris, Ky., where she was boarded for Grandview. Meanwhile, Gunning, that Gun Runner filly, began to elevate the family, as she was stakes-placed at Ellis Park in 2022, and Oaklawn Park in early 2023. Then Mage, the first of the Good Magic colts, broke through. Sold for $235,000 by Grandview as a yearling before he was selected for $290,000 by his racing connections, OGMA Investments, Commonwealth, Sterling Racing, and Ramiro Restrepo at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale, Mage finished second to champion Forte in the Florida Derby in just his third career start. He then won the Kentucky Derby, was third in the Preakness, and finished second in the Haskell Invitational. Dornoch was purchased for $325,000 as a Keeneland September yearling before Mage had ever started. Running for West Paces Racing, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing, Two Eight Racing, and Pine Racing, he won the Grade 2 Remsen in the fall of 2023 to add another graded stakes winner to Puca’s résumé. In addition to the 2024 Belmont, he won the Haskell and the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at 3. Illustrating the dramatic rise of Puca’s stock, in September 2023 – while Dornoch was stakes-placed, but still a maiden – her next foal in the pipeline, a colt from the first crop of McKinzie, sold for $1.2 million at the Keeneland September yearling sale – more than twice Mage and Dornoch’s yearling sale prices combined. That colt is now named Baeza, and is a Grade 1-placed Kentucky Derby hopeful - although still outside of the field on points – for CRK Stable and Grandview, which bought back in. Clay made the business decision to strike while the iron was hot with Puca, entering her in the 2023 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She drew a high bid of $2.8 million in the ring, which initially failed to meet her reserve. Stewart then brokered a private deal with the Clays, acquiring her for $2.9 million. Puca, who now resides at Resolute Farm in Midway, Ky., delivered a full brother to Mage and Dornoch on April 4, 2024. The Resolute staff has nicknamed him "Preaky," after the one Triple Crown race the mare has yet to produce a winner of. She is back in foal to Good Magic for a full sibling to this trio, and is believed to be carrying a filly. Stewart, who confirmed the award via X, has announced that later this year, Puca will travel to England to be bred to two-time European Horse of the Year Frankel on Southern Hemisphere time, for a foal he intends to campaign internationally. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.