Horse of the Month: Princess Ceta
In every story there is a beginning and this is the story of my first race horse Princess Ceta. She is out of the mare Dusty Class (Dulce) and by the stallion Cowboy Carson.
I was given the horse Dulce by our boss and friend Ralph Thomas with the agreement that he would buy the first foal from this mare. The mare was bred but early in her pregnancy she lost her foal so the following year we bred her again to the same stallion and in 2009 we had a filly. I called Ralph to tell him of the foal but over the year Ralph had gotten sick and didn't seem to remember our agreement. I thought...send him a picture of the filly and maybe that would jog his memory, but to no avail. So I named this filly Princess Ceta... Ralph mentioned in a conversation one day that I had pick a beautiful name for MY filly.
As time slipping by quickly I thought oh my what am I to do? So I sent Ralph another picture of Princess Ceta when she was weaned. Still it didn't jog his memory of our agreement. Well I still have another year before she has to get broke so I waited. Ralph called one day to ask where Princess Ceta was going to be broke...He remembered... but no he didn't...I kept thinking I only foal for other people...I have never owned my very own race horse, so I called my friend out in Kentucky and he said,"send her here."
When she came back from Kentucky she was sent to the track. The trainer encouraged me to come watch the filly's progress every week, so every Friday morning I went to see Princess Ceta's progress. It was a whole new exciting world for me and this filly I had raised. I could see her get stronger and my vocabulary became different with words like jog, gallop, switching leads, breezing, breaking from the gate, exercise riders, jockeys, grooms, hot walkers, clockers, and the such... What an interesting and challenging new world I had just walked into.... This was a filly that I had waited 11 months for, the one I had foaled and raised and now she was learning how to be a race horse... And I was learning how to be an owner....
The trainer called one day and said he was going to enter Princess Ceta in a race...I put a call into Ralph,"Princess Ceta is in a race." He went to a track with his family to watch her debut, she hit the board coming in a solid 3rd place..We were so happy... Ralph called me that night and said WE have a race horse !!! Did Ralph finally remember our agreement or was this his way to get me into racing?? After all he had taught me everything he knew about foaling, breeding and pedigrees over the 13 years I had worked for him...
Princess Ceta, ridden by Elias Peltroche, broke her maiden (won) in a Maiden Special Weight race that Spring!!! One of the greatest feelings in the world is watching your horse come across the finish line first and dancing to the winners circle !!!
Ralph watched every race that year but the following year... I lost my mentor, my partner and my world... It wasn't in me to continue without Ralph...I had become very lost and then made many mistakes managing Princess Ceta's career...
My decision to stop racing came from many places in me but Princess Ceta also had a say....One night in the barn the day before her race, we foaled a filly across from her stall...She became a different horse that night and in the race the next night her heart wasn't in running and neither was mine. So I decided to retire Princess Ceta and make her part of my broodmare band...She is now the proud MAMA to Mojo's Knight Thyme...
I did go back to racing the following year with another horse Mojo's Pristina who became the first winner for my stallion Mikimoto's Mojo...I raced Mojo's Golden Hawk who became my first turf winner for my stallion....And I also raced My Princess Sophia who placed 4th in my first stakes race... I know in the world of racing this is but a small droplet in a large pond but I am proud to say all four of these horses are mine and have retired soundly and now reside at Maple Valley Farm LLC....
I know that Ralph is always there in Spirit cheering us on and always guiding me from above !!!
