Blue hen broodmare Special Me has been pensioned at age 19 at the Brogden family’s Machmer Hall Farm in Paris, Ky.
“She is literally the toughest, strongest horse I have ever met,” Carrie Brogden wrote on social media. “To say she has been special to this farm and so many people would be an understatement.”
Special Me, by Unbridled’s Song, went winless in three starts and was just a $6,000 purchase by Machmer Hall at the 2009 Keeneland January sale. She went on to produce seven winners, including four graded stakes winners, from nine starters to date. She also has been a commercial success for Machmer Hall, producing a pair of seven-figure yearlings and an overall average price of $503,222.
Special Me’s millionaire daughter Gina Romantica won two editions of the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland as well as the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. The mare has another Grade 1 winner in 2019 Santa Anita Handicap victor Gift Box. Special Me also is the dam of multiple graded stakes winners Special Forces and Stonetastic.
Special Me’s final foals are a yearling filly by Flightline, who sold for $900,000 at the recent Keeneland September yearling sale; and an Into Mischief filly, a full sister to Gina Romantica, delivered in April. Brogden said the foal will “continue on her legacy” for Machmer Hall.
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