Our Mims

Our Mims
Sire	Herbager
Grandsire	Vandale
Dam	Sweet Tooth
Damsire	On-and-On
Sex	Mare
Foaled	1974
Country	United States
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Calumet Farm
Owner	Calumet Farm (while racing)
Trainer	John M. Veitch
Record	18: 6-6-1
Earnings	$368,034
Major wins
Fantasy Stakes (1977) Coaching Club American Oaks (1977) Alabama Stakes (1977) Delaware Handicap (1977)
Awards
U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Filly (1977)
Honours
Our Mims Retirement Haven - Paris, Kentucky
Horse (Equus ferus caballus)
Last updated on October 15, 2006

Our Mims (1974-2003) was a champion Thoroughbred racing mare and broodmare, and yet she came very close to dying abandoned in a field of cattle.

A grand beginning

Our Mims was foaled on March 8, 1974, at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. She was by Herbager out of Sweet Tooth (by On-and-On). This made her a half sister to the brilliant colt Alydar, whose rivalry with the 1978 Triple Crown winner, Affirmed is the stuff of horse racing legend. Our Mims was named after Melinda Markey, the daughter of Rear Admiral Gene Markey, second husband of Calumet Farm owner, Lucille Markey.

Alydar and Our Mims were both owned by Calumet and trained by John M. Veitch.

Becoming a champion

Our Mims won not one of her seven starts as a two-year-old, but when she was three she came into her own. Never running in a maiden race (restricted to those who've never won a race), right from the start Veitch entered her in an allowance at Florida's Hialeah Park. She won it. Then it was on to the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park, the Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park (at which, Melinda Bena [nee Markey] was present to accept the winner's trophy on behalf of Calumet Farm), the prestigious Alabama Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course, and the Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park. All this earned her the Eclipse Award for the champion three-year-old filly, Calumet's first.

Our Mims was not the greatest racing mare the track had ever seen—in a few of her wins she barely made it—but she was one of the best. During her Three Year Old season in 1977, CBS sportscaster, Jimmy the Greek commented that "the only horse that could beat 1977 Kentucky Derby champion Seattle Slew was Calumet Farm's Our Mims."

At the end of her racing career of 18 starts, she'd had six wins, placed in six, and was third once. She earned $368,034.

A broodmare

The foals of Our Mims did not do much, but their foals were something else again. Her first foal, Heavenly Blue by Raise a Native, produced Play On and On who was the dam of several stakes winners, including Continuously, sent to England and then on to California to win a major race there. Her third foal was Mimbet, the dam of the 1997 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner, Elmhurst.

No use to anyone

Our Mims came up barren when she turned twenty-one. Attempts to breed her for the next five years brought fruitless results. The champion was left in a cattle field to fend for herself. She ate whatever she could find in the field, had no protection from the weather and no vet care.

A better end; A tribute for all

Our Mims was saved by a woman named Jeanne Mirabito who found her and brought her food. Two years later, after continued personal care of the mare, Mirabito convinced the owners to donate the ailing old mare to ReRun, a home that cares for, nurses back to health, and adopts out retired racehorses.

At twenty-five-years of age, Our Mims needed every kind of care she could get. Jeanne gave it to her. Our Mims still behaved like a queen, and she was treated like a queen. No amount of mistreatment had changed that.

Our Mims lived in comfort until her death on December 9, 2003, at the age of twenty-nine. She is buried at Calumet's equine cemetery, the first horse buried in the cemetery who was not owned by the farm.

In tribute to her friend, Jeanne Mirabito created Our Mims Retirement Haven, a rescue farm specializing in the care of retired Thoroughbred broodmares, on her farm in Paris, KY. With the creed, "Specializing in restoring health and spirit in aged mares," OMRH's very first mare was Mims' half-sister, Sugar and Spice. With the help of Cheryl Bellucci acting as the Haven's Director of Fund Raising and Promotion, the Haven achieved nonprofit status as of March 8, 2007.

References

• Wild Ride, Anne Hagedorn Auerbach, New York, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 1994
• Our Mims Tribute Web Site
• Our Mims' pedigree
• Our Mims final resting place
• Our Mims Retirement Haven
• The Exceller Fund
• Links from the Exceller Fund to more organizations
• ReRun, ex-racehorse adoption