Contenders

Patrick Biancone

Patrick Biancone is a third generation French trainer and was the champion amateur rider in France in 1973. Served as an assistant to his father Pierre Biancone, then to LeRoy Jolley in the United States. His first major stakes winner was Bikala, winner of the 1981 Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) and later named "Horse of the Year" in France. He was hired in 1981 as head trainer for Daniel Wildenstein and has trained for Allen Paulson, Frank Stronach and Michael Tabor. The best horses he has conditioned include All Along, Strawberry Road, Palace Music, Sagace and Triptych.

TBA

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Zayat Stables LLC

Zayat Stables LLC is owned by Ahmed Zayat. Zayat is the CEO and Chairman of Al Ahram Beverages, a major manufacturer and distributor in Egypt. He has been involved in buying horses at auction for just a few years but has always had an interest in horses. Zayat Stable has over 100 horses dispersed amongst trainers Bob Baffert, Bill Mott, Mark Casse, Dale Romans, Patrick Biancone, Todd Pletcher, Tony Dutrow, and Rick Dutrow, Jr. Notable horses sporting the Zayat silks in addition to Baroness Thatcher include Point Ashley, Got the Last Laugh, and E Z Warrior. Zayat owns over a dozen broodmares and has shown an interest in someday standing stallions.

Sally J. Anderson

Sally J. Anderson had riding horses growing up and also showed hunters and played recreational polo. She bought her first thoroughbred in 1988 and has been in the commercial breeding business ever since, primarily to sell in the select yearling market. She resides in Ocala, Florida, where she also operated her breeding operation. Anderson has bred such stakes winners as Omega Code, Bog Wild, Shot of Gold, Tempest Fugit, and Millennium Storm.

Baroness Thatcher is a daughter of Johannesburg and the most accomplished filly from his first crop of runners. Johannesburg was a very precocious young colt who began his career by winning all seven starts as a 2-year-old. Those wins included three Grade or Group 1 races and he closed out the year with a stirring victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Johannesburg raced only three times as a 3-year-old including a heartbreaking nose defeat at the hands of champion mare Rebelline in his seasonal debut and an 8^th place finish in the 2002 Kentucky Derby. His first crop of runners also includes Kentucky Derby hopefuls Scat Daddy and Teuflesberg, winners of the Fountain of Youth and Southwest, respectively. Johannesburg was the second most successful freshman sire, in terms of earnings garnered by his runners, to Street Cry.

Baroness Thatcher is out of the stakes-placed Gulch mare Natkeeta. All four of Natkeeta’s foals to race are winners, including stakes winner Interminable Gold and stakes-placed Nittygritydirtbear. Natkeeta is a half-sister to stakes-placed runners Majestic Sunlight and Swoop City. Natkeeta’s dam, Orchesis, is a full sister to two stakes winners and a half-sister to two other stakes winning runners including Rhythmical, the dam of Grade 1 winner Capote Belle.