The American Saddlebred: 1/18/15 Vanity's of 1958

1/18/15 A few weeks ago, the blog featured the marvelous breeding stallion Vanity's Sensation of Crebilly. During part of his breeding career, he was owned by Mr. & Mrs. Elliot Bonnie of Glen Grove Farm in Urbana Ohio. The Bonnie's purchased him late in 1956, so the crop of colts in 1958 would have been their first. They had a small group of broodmares and also stood him to outside mares. This week looks at their colts born in 1958 as a snapshot of a typical small breeding farm. Not every colt makes the big time, and certainly not every colt is used for breeding purposes. It's anyone's guess what happened to some of the colt crop. Gelded, died young, no show record at the Kentucky State Fair, injured, ended up as a beloved backyard pleasure horse? Here are the five horses bred by the Bonnie's and foaled in 1958. All the names were double V's for some interesting alliteration.

Registration # 40008 Vanity's Vanguard, chestnut stallion, star, snip, right hind pastern, left hind stocking, white, foaled 4/9/58. Dam: Precious Miss by Bourbon Genius, 2nd dam Flash of Genius by King's Genius, 3rd dam Flashing Peavine by Rex Peavine, 4th dam Golden Firefly.

Registration # 40009 Vanity's Vigilante, chestnut stallion, right hind pastern, white, foaled 5/7/58. Dam: Glen Grove Gilda by Leatherwood Genius, 2nd dam Princess Lenore by Edna May's King, 3rd dam Summer Cloud by Don Castano, 4th dam Rain Cloud.

Registration # 59146 Vanity's Victoria, bay mare, very small star, right hind coronet, white, foaled 4/24/58. Dam: Kalarama Lorelei by Kalarama Rex, 2nd dam Evelyn Brent by Comet Dare, 3rd dam Magnetism by Squirrel McDonald,4th dam Belvadear.

Registration # 59147 Vanity's Virginia, bay mare, small star, white, foaled 6/8/58. Dam: Easter Promenade by Kalaram Colonel, 2nd dam Easter Sport by King's Sport, 3rd dam Easter Gift by Rex Peavine, 4th dam Nancy Thurman.

Registration # 59177 Vanity's Venus, Chestnut mare, large star, inside right hind pastern, left hind ankle, white, foaled 6/20/58. Dam: Bonnie Boo by Leatherwood King, 2nd dam Jessamine Artist by Artist Masterpiece, 3rd dam Bell Peavine by McDonald Peavine, 4th dam not registered by Dare Chestnut.

Two of the dams, Precious Miss and Kalarama Lorelei were eventually in the Broodmare Hall of Fame, so it would be expected that one or both of those colts were notable. Vanity's Victoria was the 10th and final foal of Kalarama Lorelei (BHF). She had two full siblings, including My Sheer Sensation which was a 3-time Reserve World's Champion. There was no show record that I could find for Vanity's Victoria, although she didn't produce her first foal until she was 10 years old. None of her colts reproduced, so that was the end of her saga.

Vanity's Vigilante was the 3rd of 10 colts produced by his dam, who appears to have been a home bred product of Glen Grove Farm. He was shown as a 2 year old in Fine Harness at the Ohio State Futurity by Frank Bradshaw. He was probably gelded, dead end on this one. *3/5/17 found his picture, see below*

Vanity's Venus was the 2nd of only two colts produced by her dam. Vanity's Venus, despite her beautiful name, had no show or production record, so another dead end. That leaves two of the five colts from 1958 to peruse.

Vanity's Virginia. Of course, she was dam of my beloved Buddy, but she did produce eight other colts in her lifetime. She was purchased in November of 1964 at the Kansas City Sale for a whopping $393.97. At that time she was in foal to a pony stud and produced her first colt in 1965. While at Ottawa Creek Farm, Dr. Elrod bred her to his two stallions, Bellaire's Anacacho King and Grand View's Matinee Idol. Most of her babies were colts, but her filly, Ottawa's Miss Vanity was a winner for Ottawa Creek Farm for many years. She was ridden by three generations of Elrod's. Vanity's Virginia was a regular producer until she was sold in 1972 for $2500. In 1973 she produced the mare Virginia's Cameo who became the dam of breeding stallion Santana's Cameo. Vanity's Virginia's final foal came in 1975 when she was 17 years old.

The last of the 1958 Five was Vanity's Vanguard. Of course the best known, he was sold by the Bonnie's as a yearling. After changing hands a few times, he became the property of Hartmeyer Stables in Muncie, Indiana who owned him for most of his breeding career. He stood at Whitney Stables in Kentucky. Vanity's Vanguard sired a number of champions and was one of the best known sons of Vanity's Sensation.

All of these horses have Vanity's Virginia on their registration papers.

Buddy Best Ever Saddlebred was Vanity's Virginia's son

Vanity's Idol AKA Ottawa's Diamond Jim was Buddy's full brother.

Ottawa's Miss Vanity showing as a 4yr old with Dr. Robert Elrod Sr.

Santana's Cameo, sired by Sultan's Santana, his 2nd dam was Vanity's Virginia.
He stood at Cameo Farms in Texas for many years.

CH Willie Angel was sired by Knit to Fit, a son of Santana's Cameo

Absolute Evolution's dam was sired by Santana's Cameo.
Yet another breeding stallion related to Vanity's Virginia.

CH Summit Up's dam was sired by Santana's Cameo.

Vanity's Vigilante did go on to become a fine harness horse and was owned & shown by Carol Smith Shannon in California.