Part 1 of a retrospective on Ontario Bred superstar Moira. Click here for Part 2.
The Great Canadian filly Moira has fashioned her way into the history books, becoming one of the most dominant thoroughbreds Ontario has ever produced.
The five-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper out of Devine Aida was foaled into this world on April 11 in 2019. Bred by Adena Springs, the racing champ was bought at the 2020 Keeneland September sale by X-Men Racing, a partnership conceived by Donato Lanni. Over the last four years, Moira has raced under the joint partnership of Madaket Stables LLC, SF Racing LLC, and X-Men racing.
Purchased during the pandemic, Lanni explained a little about what went into the original purchase of Moira.
“She was a filly that I was drawn to, just everything about her. She was classy, she had a great personality, demeanour, presence. She had everything that I would want in seeing a young racehorse,” said Lanni, who is a bloodstock agent. “We took a shot, we bought her, and she cost $150,000. Probably was expecting a bit more but because of COVID that’s what she brought.”
It’s important to note, that a price tag doesn’t necessarily equate to the true value of a racehorse. Yes, the horse may be bred ‘to the nines’ with the back class of champs, but there’s never an outright guarantee that a purchase price can reflect the potential winning ways of racehorse in the making.
With that said, Lanni believed in Moira from the get-go, and after the she received some initial education in Lexington, she was sent to Woodbine to be trained by Kevin Attard.
Attard is no stranger to training race champs and has trained a plethora of champion fillies, in particular, including Starship Jubilee, Fashionably Fab, Last Call, Full Count Felicia and Munnyfor Ro. The Woodbine-based trainer also won this year’s King’s Plate with the lone filly in the field, Caitlinhergrtness.
Conditioning racehorses for over two decades Attard is well-aware that each horse brings a set of quirks and personality traits with them as they develop into equine athletes.
“When we started educating her at the [starting] gate she had a complete meltdown. Luckily, she escaped serious injury that day, but she threw a good wreck in there,” Attard said. “Anybody who follows racing knows that those spaces are confined and it’s not hard for a horse to get injured in there. With time she got over that.
“When we saddle her in the paddock she always had to go on the walk as well because she can’t stand and tolerate things. She lost a shoe in the Woodbine Oaks because of her having a bit of a meltdown, and we had to pull the second shoe off in order for her to run.”
Success (as it pertains to pretty much anything and everything) doesn’t happen overnight. And, in racing, it takes teamwork to make it all happen.
For those that have followed Moira’s journey they will note the steady presence of her exercise rider, Korina McLean through the Canadian champ’s career. You can see McLean in photos across social media, riding Moira at Woodbine or in the U.S. in Moria’s morning workout, and assisting in the paddock. Additionally, Moira’s groom, Peter Lopez, is visible in many photos with Moira, too.
Moira’s racing story
With the support of her team, Attard was able to develop Moira into a mature and fierce racehorse with an eager mindset.
“She got older and better to handle. But definitely still a little challenging – even with something as simple as putting a bridle on a race day,” Attard said. “She just kind of knew and wanted to put up a bit of a fight to do it. It was always about coaxing her into doing things that her made feel in charge.”
For the last four years, Moira has been remained ‘in charge’ while providing her owners, trainer, and racing fans with thrilling wins and impressive performances both in Canada and south of the border.
Back on October 23, 2021, Moira made her racing scene debut as a two-year-old at Woodbine Racetrack. In her debut, she broke her maiden winning the Princess Elizabeth Stakes. A month later, she finished second to Mrs. Barbara in the Gr. 3 Mazarine Stakes.
As a three-year-old, Moira won the Stella Artois Fury Stakes and followed up that performance by capturing the Woodbine Oaks.
Building on her résumé, on August 21, 2022, Moira romped home victoriously in the Queen’s Plate with jockey Rafael Hernandez aboard.
That day holds a special place in Lanni’s heart.
“For me, being a Canadian-born, raised in Montreal, growing up the Queen’s Plate is the race that I’ve always wanted to win. I won the Kentucky Derby with Authentic and that was great. The Queen’s Plate was a bucket list for sure and to have it there with my friends, family, mom and dad. That was special to win the Queen’s Plate that year with a filly and to do it in the way she did it,” Lanni said.
“The Queen’s Plate is probably the best day I can remember with her. It was a pretty magical day at Woodbine and to listen to the roar of the crowd as she turned for home and she displayed a fierce turn of foot and the crowd just screaming was pretty epic.”
After that Plate victory, Moira saw some mixed results. In horse racing nothing is guaranteed and sometimes you get unlucky. Despite that, her owners still decided to test her grit in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf race, where she finished fifth.
In 2023, she made a handful of starts in graded stakes races, posting runner-up finishes in the Belle Mahone, Nassau Stakes, and the Dance Smartly, and winning the Gr. 2 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine.
That win gave her team confidence to ship her to Santa Anita in California to run in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf race where she once again fell short but improved on her finish the year before, posting a third-place finish behind Gr. 1 winners Inspiral and Warm Heart.
It was at that point, even without securing a Gr. 1 victory, it looked as if Moira had proved to her team that she could run competitively against international stars.
Yet, after the Breeders’ Cup, Moira was placed into the Kentucky Fasig-Tipton fall mixed sale.
But not to worry, her story wouldn’t end there.
For those who’ve looked into Moira’s auction history, you’ll note that she was sold to DM Racing Ventures for $3 million. A curious venture that would set the stage for Moira’s greatest accomplishment yet.
“DM to me was Del Mar, which was the name I put in there and that was it. Doesn’t matter how the summary comes out, we stayed together and decided Del Mar was our goal and that where’s the DM came from,” said Lanni.
“X-Men, Madaket and SF, we all stayed together. We all felt we were going to stay together and believed in her and I felt that we hadn’t finished our business.”
The unfinished business of securing a Gr. 1 at Del Mar was at the forefront of Lanni and his co-owners’ minds as Moira headed into her fourth year of racing.
This year, the Canadian champ raced three times before being shipped to Del Mar in California for the Breeders’ Cup.
Firstly, Moira ventured south to Saratoga where she finished second to Whitebeam in the Gr. 1 Diana Stakes. A month later, Moira won the Gr. 2 Beverly D. Stakes at Colonial Downs in Virginia. And in what would be her final Canadian racing appearance, Moira ran second to stablemate Full Count Felicia in the Gr. 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine.
In late October, Moira found herself at Del Mar preparing for her third Breeders’ Cup cup race. This time, Moira would make an appearance against a very competitive field of 12 other runners, including the likes of War Like Goddess, Cinderella’s Dream Full Count Felicia.
However, under a timely and measured ride by Flavien Prat, Moira found herself in the winner’s circle, with a Gr. 1 to finally add to her list of accomplishments.
David Anderson, who was part of Moira’s ownership group, remembers that moment quite vividly.
“For any filly, it’s really the Super Bowl. I’ve been lucky enough to have many starters in the past that I’ve either owned or bred. I’ve been second, third, I’ve been fifth but to actually be in that winner’s circle and running against horses that have been owned and bred by Godolphin, Coolmore, some of the greatest breeders in the world, was just something really surreal and something I will cherish for the rest of my life,” said Anderson.
Moira’s victory was also Kevin Attard’s first Breeders’ Cup win, one he’d been searching for prior to Moira entering his barn. As some may remember, Starship Jubilee attempted to add the Breeders’ Cup Fillies and Mare race to her résumé before retiring from racing but when the gates opened in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Cup race, she stumbled at the start, unseated her rider, and ran loose on the track.
Unlike Moira, Starship Jubilee didn’t have other opportunities to make up for that initial gaffe. When asked whether Starship Jubilee was on his mind when Moira finally got her Breeder’s Cup win at Del Mar, Attard spoke candidly.
“Definitely not this year. Obviously, when I saw Starship do that my jaw dropped to the ground, and it almost felt like it wasn’t really happening in a sense. To come that far and we had to supplement to run in there as well,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s part of racing. I guess those things just toughen you up and make you realize how tough these moments are to get to, even when you’re at them. You can do everything perfectly and something as simple as you are leaving the gate and dropping your rider can happen.
“I guess that’s why it makes it that much more special when you win, and you realize how tough they are to win. I was looking at the list of trainer’s that have won and how many starts they’ve had and there are some trainers that haven’t won or took long to win their first one. I feel really fortunate to have won a Breeders’ Cup race. I look at the three Canadian-based trainers that are strictly based at Woodbine and that was Jim Day, Mark Frostad, Roger Attfield and myself. Obviously, that is pretty good company to keep.”
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