Canyon
17hh Gray Mare
Onwardsilvercharm - Rain Dancer, by Storm Cat
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Formerly owned by Ara Davies
It was high time for another great racing daughter of Rain Dancer, or so it seemed. She had only produced one, after all, in Cascade, along with solid sons The Rocket and Cyclone. The racing world - or at least, Ara Davies - was getting a little impatient. Perhaps the racing gods were, too.
Thus came Canyon.
Perhaps one couldn't really call Canyon "great". She only once beat the boys, was never named a champion, and in fact never won one of the major races of her division. However, she did plenty in her fifteen start career to earn multiple grade one victories and over $1.6 million in earnings.
The gray daughter of Onwardsilvercharm was an Amazon. Standing seventeen hands, she towered over the other eleven fillies at Futurity Park in the post parade of her debut, just as she was in her own world at the finish. That promising debut, however, turned a little frustrating after her next five starts. She was second in a pair of allowance races and fifth in the Really Excellent Stakes. Then, she was second in a short field in the Inglewood Starlet (G1) but finished nowhere in the Steward's Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
Maybe that big, leggy filly just needed some time to grow into herself. At three, Canyon came out firing, claiming victories in the Arcadia Oaks (G1) and Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) in succession. She was second in the Alabama Stakes, but finished nowhere again in the Steward's Cup Distaff (G1) four weeks later in her first try against older females.
Canyon's four-year-old year was her best season. She was second to Heir to the Throne in the Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) to begin the year, then a close second to Loki Angel in the Vanity Handicap (G1). There were three more races for her to face, and she never lost again. She won the Flamingo Steward's Cup Handicap (G3) by 2 1/2, and then beat the boys in the Priceless Forever Stakes (G2). Her career ended with a four length victory in the Falls City Handicap (G2).
Canyon perhaps can't be called great in the breeding shed, either, but for one daughter whose name will not be forgotten. Colors Bright came along about the middle of her dam's breeding career. Unlike her mother, Colors Bright was a small, dark bay filly with a little white star. The daughter of Zinfandel was a talent on both dirt and turf, earning a championship as American Turf Female and an induction into the Hall of Fame.
Like her dam, however, Colors Bright's career took some time to get on a roll. She won a seven furlong maiden at two and finished second three more times in her four juvenile starts, including in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) and Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies (G2). At three, she was second in her first two starts: the Turfway Breeders' Cup Oaks (G3) and Davona Dale Stakes (G3). Owner and trainer Susie Raisher added a tongue tie after that and the rest is basically history.
In four more starts at three, Colors Bright won the Mother Goose and Fading Star Stakes (both G1), finished second in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and was fourth in a Steward's Cup Distaff field that included Farewellinthedark, Wonder, Laughterintherain, Everything Right, Quiet Excellence, Beatofmyheart and Loki Empire.
She took some time off between her three- and four-year-old years, and took a start to get back into stride. After a fourth place finish in the Attracting Handicap, Colors Bright won four in a row, taking the Go for Wand Stakes (G1) and Maryland Racing Handicap (G3) before switching to turf to win the Flower Bowl Invitational (G2) and defeat Laughterintherain and Bara in the Steward's Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).
Returning to race at five, Colors Bright made two more starts on the dirt, both second place finishes to excellent fillies in grade one events: to Trap in the Vanity Handicap and Cherish the Moment in the Personal Ensign Handicap. Sandwiched between those races, she was an inexplicable and distant fourth in the Ramona Handicap (G1) on the Oceanside turf. She closed out her career with easy victories in the Flower Bowl Invitational (G1) and Australia's Moonee Valley Oaks (G1).
Colors Bright has been very, very good in the breeding shed, as well. Her very first foal was a little gray End of the Line colt named Magician. Magician was a tri-surface wonder: undefeated on turf, five-for-seven on dirt, and three-for-four on synthetic. He garnered awards as North American Horse of the Year, North American Champion Turf Male, European Horse of the Year, European Champion Older Male, and Middle East Champion Older Male and is now also a member of the Hall of Fame. He won 16 of 19 starts with two second place finishes (his only finish off the board was over a sloppy track in Then's Steward's Cup Classic) and earned $6,462,000. The colt won some of the world's biggest races and is the only modern-SIM era Steward's Cup Turf winner to also win the Arc de Triomphe and Dubai World Cup. He won eight other grade one races, ranging in distance from 1 1/8 to 1 3/4 miles, on all three surfaces.
Magician, like his progenitors, has transferred racetrack success to success in the breeding shed, siring such horses as Believe, Wise Heart, Rock Me Amadeus, Faith, Crimson Rain, Footsteps, Dumbledore, Sun Flare, and Effortless Best. His foals have collectively earned over $37 million and that number will keep rising. Unfortunately, Magician was pensioned earlier this year.
While Magician never had any half siblings that were quite what he was, his dam Colors Bright certainly did not produce poorly for the rest of her all too brief career. Her most notable "other" foal is Magician's full sister, Trickster, a grade one winner of seven of 13 and $703,500. Trickster, herself, is the dam of the turf freak Monster (by Everest), winner of this year's Brisbane Derby. Monster has a twin sister, Prankster, who is now four-for-five and a grade one winner in her own right.
Colors Bright also produced the multiple grade one winner Enchantress (by Start Of The End), grade one winner Runaround (by Colorado), multiple graded stakes winner Illuminating (by Life Worth Living) and multiple stakes winner Epiphany (by Midnightconfession).
Colors Bright's half sisters have been disappointing in comparison, but little can live up to the standard she set. Culminate, by End of the Line, was a graded stakes winner and has produced the stakes winning Commence (by Vernacular). Bright Colors, a daughter of Loki Dynasty that is a three-quarter sister to Colors Bright, has the multiple stakes winning Lofty Colors (by Lofty Goals) and stakes winner Leave a Whisper (by Cause to Burn).
Canyon's branch of the female family got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but just as the careers of its major members, it seems to be undergoing a revival with fast young representatives cropping up all over the place. And so continues the story of Rain Dancer.