In an era dominated by commercial breeders, building female families over decades is almost a lost art. With precious few private breeders left, female lines jump from one breeder to the next as success on the racetrack often results in sale for a profit in the broodmare market. Even among private breeders with the greatest families, whose success can span decades if not centuries, female lines are bound to move from one farm to the next, though generally not as quickly as with commercial breeders. Evidence of that progression through the hands of great American owner-breeders is written in the pedigree of last Saturday’s Grade 2 Delaware Handicap winner Elate, by Medaglia d’Oro. Elate’s eighth dam, La Troienne, by Teddy, was bred in France by the greatest of French breeders Marcel Boussac, and purchased for about $6,000 for Col. E.R. Bradley, one of the greatest of American breeders, at the 1930 Tattersalls December sale. Mated with Bradley’s foundation sire Black Toney, his sons, and grandsons, La Troienne produced champions Bimelech and Black Helen, both by Black Toney, plus stakes winners Biologist, Big Hurry, and Bee Ann Mac. La Troienne’s daughters, granddaughters, and further female line descendants produced so many high-class runners that her family expanded into numerous independent branches, and after Bradley’s death in 1946 formed the foundation of other great breeders’ studs, including King Ranch, the Phipps family, and Greentree Stud. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Big Hurry’s top-class, extraordinarily durable daughter Searching, by War Admiral, was sold by Ogden Phipps to Hall of Fame trainer and owner Hirsch Jacobs, for whom she produced Hall of Famer Affectionately, by Swaps, near-champion Priceless Gem, by Hail to Reason, who defeated the great Buckpasser in the Futurity, and high-class stakes winner Admiring, by Hail to Reason. In declining health, Jacobs sold Admiring for a then-record $310,000 to Paul Mellon and Charles W. Engelhard in 1966, and she became Mellon’s property on Engelhard’s death. Admiring’s multiple graded-stakes-winning and Broodmare of the Year daughter Glowing Tribute, by Graustark, produced a remarkable seven stakes winners for Mellon’s Rokeby Stud, including 1993 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero, by Polish Navy, as well as 1985 Grade 2 Diana Handicap winner Wild Applause, by Northern Dancer. Claiborne Farm’s Seth Hancock paid $1,025,000 for Wild Applause, in foal to Forty Niner, at the Rokeby dispersal in 1992 on behalf of Claiborne and Adele Dilschneider. And that is how Claiborne and Dilschneider became the breeders and owners of Elate three generations and 26 years later. Wild Applause’s second foal, Eastern Echo, by Damascus, had already renewed his family’s familiarity with the Grade 1 Futurity, and her third, Mellon-bred Blare of Trumpets, by Fit to Fight, later won the Grade 3 Toboggan. The Forty Niner foal she was carrying became Grade 2 winner Roar, and she subsequently produced Grade 2 winner Yell, by A.P. Indy. Yell’s winning half-sister Praise, by Mr. Prospector is dam of Grade 2 winner and sire Congrats, by A.P. Indy, and his full brother, the very good Claiborne sire Flatter. Yell’s best runner was American Beauty Stakes winner Cheery, by Distorted Humor, and Elate is Cheery’s first foal. She has since produced the 2-year-old colt Haunt, by Ghostzapper, and a yearling colt by Blame. Elate is one of 112 black-type winners and 21 Grade 1 or Group 1 winners sired by Medaglia d’Oro, who is both one of the best and perhaps the most versatile of contemporary American sires. Winner of eight of 17 starts and three Grade 1’s, including the Travers, Medaglia d’Oro helped make his sire El Prado leading sire in 2002. Eleven of Medaglia d’Oro’s Grade 1 winners were dirt horses and 10 turf runners at distances varying from six furlongs to 1 ½ miles. His very best runners have been fillies, namely 2009 Horse of the Year and Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra (out of Lotta Kim, by Roar) and dual champion Songbird (Ivanavinalot, by West Acre), but he has also sired Australian champion 2-year-old colt Vancouver (Skates, by Danehill), last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Talismanic (Magic Mission, by Machiavellian), and current 3-year-old colt Bolt d’Oro (Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy). The Delaware Handicap was Elate’s first start as a 4-year-old. Trained by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, she won both the Grade 1 Alabama and Beldame last year. Fate allowing, she seems sure to carry the flag for the private breeder in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Distaff after finishing fourth as the favorite last year.