Atlantic broodmare sets a Mohawk milestone.

by Melissa Keith

Two or more winners by a given sire on a single card at Woodbine Mohawk Park is not unusual. Standardbred Canada data for 2023 shows that there were 1,231 active stallions (144 Canadian, 1,088 American-owned) and 19,935 active broodmares (3,262 Canadian, 16,072 American-owned). Statistically, every popular sire has a much greater chance of multiple winners on any particular date.

Mares typically have one chance per breeding season, and sometimes not even that. So, when Atlanta Girl’s sons Saulsbrook Victor and Saulsbrook Ian recorded back-to-back Saturday night victories May 4 at Mohawk, it was a special achievement for the 19-year-old mare and her proud co-owner.

William Allan McNeil of Currys Corner, NS, laughed as he told HRU that he almost missed the wins, which came late in the card (races 10 and 11).

“I was up because we were foaling,” McNeil said. “I had one [mare] that was close to foaling Saturday night, so that’s the only reason I got to see. That was very good.”

His father, Bill, was better prepared to follow the offspring of Saulsbrook Farms’ star broodmare, however late they were racing that night.

“My dad has really enjoyed it,” William said. “He’s 84 years old now and he really likes watching them. He had a nap at 9 o’clock [Atlantic time] so he could watch those horses.”

The timing of the wins by Saulsbrook Ian and Saulsbrook Victor happened at a moment that might be auspicious for their dam.

“We had just bred Atlanta Girl back to Betterthancheddar that very day,” William said. “It was all just coming together. Hopefully this one will be somewhat like Ian.”

Saulsbrook Ian (p, 3, 1:52.1s; $65,075) is the mare’s 2020 foal by Betterthancheddar. The 4-year-old gelding has now won half of his 30 lifetime starts for his Charlottetown, PEI-based ownership group, Red Oak Stables. Saulsbrook Ian has been trained by Robert Kyle Fellows since November 2023.

“He’s been good for those people,” William said. “They could have sent him to Ontario last year, but they just kept him around last year in PEI to enjoy him. There’s a whole bunch of them who own him. They got a lot of enjoyment out of him. I think you’ll see him come home for Old Home Week.”

Half-brother Saulsbrook Victor (p, 4, 1:49.2s; $378,669) equaled his own lifetime mark and Canada’s fastest overall mile of the season with his May 4 WMP preferred 2 victory for driver Brett MacDonald and trainer Ronald MacDonald. The Source Of Pride gelding, Atlanta Girl’s 2018 foal, is the fastest and richest of her 10 offspring.

“Victor” had a slow start to his career, but picked up 23 wins from 92 starts to date, and continues to enjoy high-level success at Canada’s top track. He is owned by Brett MacDonald and Brent MacLennan of Charlottetown, PEI. Saulsbrook Victor was previously profiled in HRU.

“He got kicked just below the knee [as a colt],” William said. “He was really rambunctious. It’s good to see another Maritime connection do well with him. [Driver] Austin Sorrie really helped him, and Brett MacDonald… He’s been good to both those two young guys, who are Maritimers.”

Brett and father Ronald MacDonald also raced Atlanta Girl’s fastest daughter, the Big Jim mare Saulsbrook Jessie (p, 6, 1:52.3f; $252,009).

“She was a top ‘B’ track mare in Ontario for quite a while,” said her breeder, who has added the recently-retired winner of 35 races (from 165 starts) to the Saulsbrook Farms broodmare band.

William said one reason he bought Atlanta Girl was because her dam Only The Best (p, 3, 1:50.4s; $309,955) is by a certain sire.

“Her mother’s a Cambest mare, and I had [2006 Dan Patch and O’Brien Older Pacing Horse of the Year] Lis Mara [p, 4, 1:47.3m; $2,141,661], and he was a Cambest,” the Nova Scotian horseman said. “They’re tough, and that was what attracted me to her. She stood ‘off’ a little. Me and my partner Louis Willinger [of Louisville, KY] bought her. I had just sold Lis Mara.”

The $10,000 Harrisburg yearling won her first two qualifiers at Truro Raceway in 2007, before tasting defeat in her third qualifier that July 8. Atlanta Girl finished second, 10 lengths behind the winning colt.

“I thought we had a nice filly, but then we got hooked that day,” William said. “We got beat by him, and I thought, maybe not!”

William gained a whole new respect for her effort later on, when the colt went on from Truro Raceway to one of the greatest campaigns in the sport’s history.

“She would have been the only filly to come close to Somebeachsomewhere,” he said.

Atlanta Girl’s racing days ended after just nine starts and three wins for Willinger and William, who also trained her.

“She went up in Ontario, but she had a bone chip or something,” he said.

She took her lifetime mark in her second consecutive win at Sarnia, ON’s five-eighth’s-mile Hiawatha Horse Park.

“I wanted her on a bigger track when she went to Ontario,” William said.

Keith Oliver drove Atlanta Girl to a pair of fourth-place finishes at Mohawk on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3, 2007. She paced individual miles of 1:54.2 and 1:55.2, respectively.

“Keith Oliver said ‘She was fourth to [future 2008 O’Brien 3-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year] Chancey Lady [p, 5, 1:48.4f; $2,072,092], so do not sell this filly; this is a high-end filly,’” William said.

Although she retired from racing in May 2008, her co-owner and trainer said he always had confidence in her ability to produce.

“She showed me enough high-end talent,” he said. “It comes through in her foals.”

After losing her 2022 Big Jim filly, deceased at birth, Atlanta Girl rebounded with an impressive colt from the first crop of 2022 Dan Patch and O’Brien Horse of the Year Bulldog Hanover. Saulsbrook Big Dog will be offered at the 2024 London Classic Yearling Sale.

“He’s a real big, good-looking horse, a lot like the other ones,” William said. “He should be pretty sought after, because everything she throws has been solid. This Bulldog one may be her best.”

Saulsbrook Big Dog, from the small first crop of Bulldog Hanover, is a doubly limited-edition colt. Not only is he among the first 54 registered foals from his sire, but dam Atlanta Girl will be retired to the sprawling pastures of Saulsbrook Farms after her 2025 foal.

“This year is the last time we’re going to breed her,” William said. “She’s such an easy keeper, and she loves having babies around. She’s kind of the boss of the whole farm, but this will be the last one. She’ll be the queen here. We have enough farms here… The horses all go out together, and it will be good for her.”

Fortunately, two daughters of Saulsbrook Farms’ “blue hen” mare are now part of the broodmare band. William said Saulsbrook Alana (p, 4, 1:53.4h; $169,151) was being bred to Betterthancheddar this season, while Saulsbrook Jessie was being bred to Somebeachsomewhere son Beach Glass.

“It makes sense, because their parents met on the racetrack,” William said with a laugh.

There are highs and lows to breeding standardbreds. William said his family has experienced both, ever since his father established Saulsbrook Farms in the 1980s. Saulsbrook (p, 5, 1:56.3h; $93,682) is the name of the Drop Off—Belle Marica gelding foaled at the farm on the outskirts of Windsor, NS, in 1998, who had 20 wins over a respectable eight years on the track.

“You always cheer for the ones that you bred, and if they do good, you feel good,” William said. “There’s so much bad that can happen that you really have to appreciate it when they’re racing good.”

Case in point: Friday night (May 3) at Mohawk, Saulsbrook Olympia (p, 4, 1:50.3s; $209,599) recorded her 25th lifetime victory, in line to driver Brett MacDonald. William said her dam Racino Star (p, 4, 1:52.3s; $72,712), in foal to Bulldog Hanover, had died “about two weeks before foaling.”

It’s hard to pick one of Atlanta Girl’s offspring as her best.

“Probably, I would say [Saulsbrook] Jessie,” William said. “She wasn’t as fast as Victor, but she’s just so tough. I wouldn’t really say she had one that was ‘better’ than another. They all did the best they could do. They are real triers, so I would say they all gave their best. It was always nice to see them show up.”

Appreciating success is important, because “it’s so fleeting,” he added.  “Whether it’s a driver or groom or whatever, it’s nice when things are going good.”

With her foals’ recent wins at Mohawk and Mother’s Day coming up on May 12, it’s a perfect moment to celebrate Atlanta Girl.

“She’s just helped some people out, she’s been good to her babies, and good to some people,” William said. “She’s a giving kind of mare.”