Pure Prize filly named grand champion at Maryland-bred yearling show

David and JoAnn Hayden’s Dark Hollow Farm was represented by two blue ribbon winners, including the grand champion, on Sunday at the Maryland Horse Breeders Association’s Maryland-bred yearling show.

Trainer Tony Dutrow was the show’s judge, selecting the grand champion over 75 other entrants.

The grand champion was a bay Pure Prize filly out of the Grade 3 winner and Maryland-bred champion Not For Love mare He Loves Me. The dam has produced one winner from two foals to race, and the filly hails from the family of Grade 3 winner Palliser Bay and Grade 2-placed stakes winner For Kisses.

The award added to the success the Haydens have enjoyed at the Maryland-bred show since the mid-1980s, having won 10 classes with horses they owned solely or in partnership, including the 2009 grand champion and reserve champion. The most notable yearling they have brought to the show is eventual Hall of Famer Safely Kept.

The reserve champion was Just Jack, a Great Notion colt out of the Haymaker mare Mark Me Special, who is owned and bred by Dr. and Mrs. Michael J. Harrison.

All yearlings who entered the show are now eligible for a $40,000 premium award, which will be split and distributed twice, with $20,000 going to the ehibitors of the four show contestants who earn the most money as 2-year-olds in 2015, and another $20,000 divided among the exhibitors of the four highest-earning 3-year-olds the following year. Dark Hollow has taken home $122,000 in premium awards since 1986.

Following are the winners of the MHBA yearling show by division:

Class I – Colts and geldings foaled and sired in Maryland (26 entries): Just Jack, Dk. b. or br. c., by Great Notion—Mark Me Special, by Haymaker. Owned/bred by Dr. and Mrs. Michael J. Harrison.

Class II – Colts and geldings foaled in Maryland, sired outside of Maryland (18 entries): Dk. b. or br. c, by Fairbanks—Silver Ashlee, by Red Bullet. Owned/Bred by Dark Hollow Farm.

Class III – Fillies foaled and sired in Maryland (14 entries): B. f., by Friesan Fire—Easy Mover, by Outflanker. Owned by Country Life Farm and Fire Away LLC, bred by Country Life Far, and Thomas Winebarger Sr.

Class IV – Fillies foaled in Maryland, sired outside of Maryland (18 entries): B. f., Pure Prize—He Loves Me, by Not For Love. Owned/Bred by Dark Hollow Farm.