A long goodbye, which has called to mind vivid memories from a half-century of racing history, is drawing to a close for Sam-Son Farm. The iconic Canadian operation, which raced its first Thoroughbred in 1972 for late founder Ernie Samuel and which has continued a major influence through its bloodlines, announced in fall 2020 that it would be dispersing its stock and making a phased, strategic exit from the industry. That process, played out in various sale rings, is now coming to the finish line. The farm's final racing fillies were sold at last month's Keeneland November breeding stock sale, meaning no more mares or foals will be coming in to the program. The final four runners solely owned by Sam-Son are intended to race at Tampa Bay Downs in the coming weeks in order to best posi-tion themselves for the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s winter mixed sale. “After January, I think that’ll be our last one sold,” Sam-Son racing manager Tom Zwiesler said. “Then we’ll just be having our retirees.” :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Sam-Son still has a half-interest, in partnership with Mark Martinez’s Agave Racing, in seven horses based in California, most notably the Grade 1 winners Say the Word and Count Again, both with trainer Phil D’Amato. Say the Word made his lone start of 2022 in January; he is on the work tab this month at Santa Anita. Count Again won three of four starts early this year, including a pair of Grade 1 events. He is expected to campaign in 2023. Sam-Son’s colorbearers have been cheered on by several generations of the Samuel and Balaz families. After Ernie Samuel died, at age 69 in 2000, his daughter Tammy Samuel-Balaz took over the reins at Sam-Son until her own death, in 2008 at age 47. Both father and daughter were inducted into the Canadian racing Hall of Fame in the “Builder” category, in 1998 and 2011, respectively. Sam-Son’s current leadership consists of president Rick Balaz, Tammy’s husband, and Ernie Samuel’s children Mark Samuel, the CEO, and Kim Samuel. Lisa and Michael Balaz, Rick and Tammy’s children, have also taken a role in the ownership. Along with Tom Zwiesler as the racing manager, based at Sam-Son’s Ocala, Fla., farm and training center, Dave Whitford has a central role in the operation as the manager of the Milton, Ontario, flagship farm, where so many Sam-Son champions were born and raised. “At this point, I don’t think they have any plans for either of the farms immediately,” Zwiesler said of the prop-erty holdings. Ernie Samuel made his name in the business world as the president of Samuel, Son and Co. Ltd., an Ontario-based steel company founded by his great-grandfather. He had a lifelong interest in the equestrian world, as he first owned a show horse stable managed by Olympian Jim Day, who would later become his racetrack trainer. Samuel-owned Canadian Club was on Canada’s gold medal winning team at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, and was also a gold medalist at the 1967 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg. In 1972, Samuel ventured into racing when Art Warner claimed Takaring for him at Fort Erie. The filly went on to win the Bison City Stakes and Wonder Where Stakes, the final two legs of the Canadian Triple Tiara, and Samuel was hooked. In 1975, as part of further developing his operation, he bought his first two yearlings, foundation mares No Class and Loudrangle, at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's yearling sale at Woodbine. Stakes-placed No Class, a $25,000 purchase, went on to produce multiple Grade 1 winner Sky Classic, an Eclipse Award champion and three-time Sovereign Award champion; Sovereign champions Classy 'n Smart, Grey Classic, and Regal Classic; Grade 1 winner Always a Classic; and stakes winner Classic Reign. Although some sons went on to be successful sires, it was through Classy 'n Smart that her line flourished. That daughter produced 1991 Canadian Triple Crown winner Dance Smartly, who gave Sam-Son its second Queen's Plate winner, following Regal Intention in 1988. Dance Smartly went on to win the Breeders' Cup Distaff, earn-ing herself an Eclipse Award along with a haul of Sovereign honors through her career for Sam-Son, which has gathered 88 Sovereign trophies to date. As a broodmare, Dance Smartly produced two more Queen's Plate win-ners for Sam-Son: Scatter the Gold, who also took the 2000 Prince of Wales, but whose Triple Crown bid came up short when third in the Breeders' Stakes, and 2001 victress Dancethruthedawn, who was also a Grade 1 win-ner to earn a championship. Classy 'n Smart produced two other Grade 1 winners, including Smart Strike, a leading sire for Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky.  “I was so high on this horse early on, and when he got hurt [and retired], I went up to Canada and met with Er-nie Samuel,” Lane’s End owner Will Farish recalled in 2015, upon the stallion’s death. “They had him there on the farm recuperating. He said to me, ‘You know, Will, there’s a lot of people interested in this horse,’ and I said, ‘I know, but I’m the only one here, and I’m not going home until we make a deal.’ He laughed, but an hour later, we shook hands. It’s something I’ll never forget.” Smart Strike continues to be represented through his two-time Horse of the Year and perennial classic sire Curlin, who in this 50th anniversary year for Sam-Son leads the continent by Grade 1 winners sired. Curlin’s in-fluence looks poised to flourish, as his son Keen Ice sired 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike – out of a Smart Strike mare – in his first crop, and his son Good Magic is among this year’s leading freshmen. Following Dance Smartly, Sam-Son bred and raced another Breeders’ Cup winner and Eclipse Award champion in Chief Bearhart, who annexed the 1997 Turf. He also earned back-to-back Sovereign Awards as Horse of the Year.  Dance Smartly (Class of 1995), No Class (1997), Sky Classic (1998), Chief Bearhart (2002), Classy 'n Smart (2004), Smart Strike (2008), and Dancethruthedawn (2011) are among the Sam-Son colorbearers enshrined in Canada’s Hall of Fame, along with Wilderness Song (2008), Soaring Free (2013), and Quiet Resolve (2017). Dance Smartly was also inducted into the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 2003. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Samuel himself was an Eclipse winner as outstanding owner in 1991, the same year he was the recipient of a Sovereign Award as Man of the Year. The Sam-Son program has been honored with 11 Sovereign Awards as Canada’s outstanding breeder, and 12 for ownership.  The program received another accolade last year, as Sam-Son was presented with a Special Sovereign Award, which Mark Samuel called an “extraordinary, unexpected, bittersweet” honor. “Suffice to say, in the good old days of in-person gatherings, my father Ernie would likely have gone on for 20 minutes or more, even if he was the last speech before coffee,” Mark Samuel said in a virtual acceptance speech for the online event. “I know that his focus would have been on thanking others rather than dwelling on his own achievement. His style was always to share the limelight rather than basking in it.” Mark Samuel also expressed pride at how Sam-Son has represented the Canadian industry. “Our horses didn’t just run four our family or for Sam-Son,” he said. “We felt that they ran for Canada also. … At Sam-Son Farms, we will continue to cheer and celebrate all of your successes for decades to come.” The news that Sam-Son would be making what the family termed a “bittersweet decision” to step to the side-lines came as a bombshell on Oct. 28, 2020. But the dispersal announcement also heralded a rare chance to buy in to the operation’s prominent families. “It’s a great opportunity for all these other breeders to jump in and try to find their once in a lifetime horse,” Zwiesler said at Keeneland. The dispersal began at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November sale, with four horses bringing $3.45 million. But the biggest phase took place at the 2021 Keeneland January mixed sale, with 21 broodmares in foal offered without reserve. “We talked about waiting until November 2021, but of course we would have to foal all the mares and get them back in foal,” Whitford said at the time. “That would have delayed the process. We were confident we would stand out in January.” The Sam-Son dispersal gave the January sale a massive shot in the arm, grossing $6,733,000. That was led by Say the Word’s dam Danceforthecause, a granddaughter of Dance Smartly, purchased for $925,000 by Gainesway Farm. Sam-Son sold off its final crop of homebreds – the yearlings produced by the dispersal mares in 2020 – through that summer and fall. Leading the crop was a Street Sense colt out of Dance With Doves, a graded stakes-producing daughter of Dancethruthedawn. The colt was offered at the Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale, and brought a sale record-equaling $925,000 from St. Elias and Mike Repole.  :: DRF Bets players have exclusive access to FREE DRF Past Performances - Classic or Formulator! Join today.  The still-unnamed colt was breezing this summer in New York for trainer Todd Pletcher, and was most recently on the work tab in November at Palm Beach Downs. Meanwhile, life has gone on at the racetrack, and Sam-Son was represented both in this year’s Kentucky Derby, by Messier, which it bred and sold as a yearling, and in the Queen’s Plate, by homebred Dancin in Da'nile, out of Dance With Doves. But showing how unsentimental the racing gods can be, Messier finished 15th in the Der-by, and Dancin in Da'nile was fifth in the Queen’s Plate and seventh in the Breeders’ Stakes. Messier returned to the races in November and is nominated to the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. Meanwhile, exit machinations have inexorably continued for Sam-Son. At Keeneland November, the outfit sold its five final fillies and mares for a combined $1,375,000. Those were led by the winning 3-year-old Whimsical Dance, out of Danceforthecause, who brought $725,000 from Anderson Farms and Stonereath Stable. “I’ve admired the Sam-Son operation my entire life growing up in Canada,” David Anderson said. “I’ve strived to be even remotely close as good a breeder as they’ve been. This is a filly from their absolute best family. … It’s just something I just really wanted to have in my program.” After Sam-Son’s final racehorses are sold at OBS January from Jan. 24-25, the Milton property will still house approximately 14 retirees, including Hall of Famers Dancethruthedawn and Soaring Free. The Ocala farm hous-es a quartet of retirees. “The family’s very adamant about making sure we take care of everything as far as the older horses,” Zweisler said. “It’s a field of superstars, so it’s fun to go out there and still say hey to them. They’re very classy individu-als.” Many of the Samuel-Balaz family members have interests in other equestrian pursuits, and homebred Grade 1 winner and Sovereign champion El Tormenta has moved on to a second career in show jumping with Lisa Balaz. “So very cool to be able to compete with a Sam-Son Farm homebred who was a champion on the track, and will one day be a champion in the show ring,” Balaz wrote on social media. “The Thoroughbred work ethic, bravery, and athleticism is strong in this guy!” Mark Samuel has had a decorated and influential career in the show jumping ring himself, including being part of the Canadian team at the World Equestrian Games and Pan-Am Games, and serving in leadership roles with the international equestrian federation.  “We each have our own passions outside of racing/breeding now,” he said. “I’m sure we will not be strangers to the track, to the industry, and to our many friends and colleagues in the racing world.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? 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