Undefeated 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline , currently in his third year at stud, already has a graded stakes winner—at least in a manner of speaking. On April 25, when 6-year-old mare Forever After All hit the wire first in the Bewitch Stakes (G3T), she was already tested in foal to Flightline on a late March cover.
Although mares racing in foal is a relative rarity, anecdotes have suggested pregnant mares might actually improve their performance in the early stages of their pregnancy. That, however, contrasts with studies that indicate that in-foal mares have a slightly lower win rate than their nonpregnant counterparts (8.26% to 9.35%). That said, there have been some high-profile wins for in-foal mares. These include Indian Queen, successful in the Ascot Gold Cup (G1) in 1991, while carrying a Night Shift foal that would become stakes winner Prince of India; Chinese White, who took the Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) in 2010; Cassandra Go was carrying the winning and stakes-producing Neverletme Go when she captured the Temple Stakes (G2) and King's Stand Stakes (G2) in 2001; and Fit for a Queen, the great-granddam of grade 1 winner A. P. Indian, in the 1992 Breeders' Cup Stakes (G2) at Turfway Park.
Whether or not there is anything in the theory of pregnant mares improving, Forever After All is one to add to the anecdotal evidence, as in winning the Bewitch, she recorded the highest Beyer Speed Figure of her 24-race career, her nine-length victory seeing her record a Beyer of 97, a considerable jump over her previous top of 90, which she had run three times.
Performances at that level seemed a long way off during Forever After All's early career, as after waiting until 3 years old to make her debut, she took nine starts and 13 months before she recorded her first victory, which came in a 1 1/8-mile maiden special weight at Ellis Park. Following that belated win, she promptly finished off the board in two allowance events on her next two outings. Those first 11 starts had all been on dirt, and for her 5-year-old campaign, a change in barn, from Al Stall Jr. to Brendan Walsh, and a change in surface saw a much-improved mare.
Kicking off with an allowance optional claiming win on the all-weather at Turfway Park, Forever After All followed up by gaining her first black type with a third in the 2024 Latonia Stakes at the same venue. Forever After All would also make eight starts on the turf that year, and although she didn't win she performed extremely consistently with a second in the Dowager Stakes (G3T), beaten a nose; second in the Via Borghese Stakes, beaten a neck; second in the Anchorage Overnight Stakes, beaten a half-length; second in Red Carpet Stakes (G3T) beaten a length; and third in the Gamely Stakes (G1T).
This year, Forever After All ran twice before her tryst with Flightline, gaining her first black-type win when taking the La Prevoyante Stakes (G3T) by a nose, then running fifth, although beaten only 1 3/4 lengths in the 1 3/8-mile The Very One Stakes (G3T). Described as a "big filly" with a "huge stride," in the Bewitch Stakes, Forever After All clearly relished Keeneland's wide turns and the distance of 1 1/2 miles over ground described as yielding, taking over after 1 1/4 miles, and drawing off to win by nine lengths, geared down.
Forever After All is from the first crop of Curlin 's talented, but lightly raced, son Connect . A winner of six of eight starts, after breaking his maiden on his second outing, Connect suffered his sole subsequent defeat when sixth in the 2016 Travers Stakes (G1), but otherwise showed top-class form at a mile and 1 1/8 miles, taking the Curlin Stakes (over subsequent grade 1 winner Gift Box ); the Pennsylvania Derby (G2), from Gun Runner —destined for Horse of the Year honors the following season—with classic winners Nyquist and Exaggerator also behind; the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1); and 2017 Westchester Stakes (G3). He was prepping for the 2017 Metropolitan Handicap (G1) when he suffered a soft tissue injury and was retired, beginning his stud career at Lane's End for the 2018 breeding season. So far, Connect has sired 13 stakes winners, including Rattle N Roll, a grade 1 winner of more than $3.4 million, and other graded winners Implicated, Apple Picker, Hidden Connection, and Witwatersrand.
Forever After All is a half sister to a standout performer in the shape of Tom's d'Etat (by Connect's grandsire, Smart Strike), whose victories include the 2019 Clark Stakes (G1), 2020 Stephen Foster Stakes (G2), and 2019 Fayette Stakes (G2). The dam, Julia Tuttle, won the 2008 Twin Lights Stakes at Monmouth Park, and earned a graded stakes placing with a third in the 2008 Virginia Oaks (G3T). By Giant's Causeway out of Candy Cane, a sister to undefeated champion and leading sire Candy Ride , Julia Tuttle is bred on a reverse cross to Gun Runner, who is by Candy Ride out of a Giant's Causeway mare. In addition to being a sister to Candy Ride, Candy Cane is half sister to Candy Singer, a graded stakes winner and multiple stakes producer in South Africa, and to Candy Apple, a graded winner in Argentina and granddam of United States stakes winners Evil Lyn and Miss Stormy D.
Candy Cane's dam, Candy Girl, is a sister to City West, winner of three grade 1 events in Argentina, and to Rubia Blonde, the granddam of the Argentine multiple graded stakes scorer City Tune (by a son of Storm Cat, so bred on very similar lines to the dam of Forever After All). Forever After All's sixth dam Cithere, who was exported from France to Argentina as a 2-year-old in 1968, has an interesting pedigree. Her sire, Marino, is by the French stallion Worden (winner of the 1953 Washington D.C. International Stakes), and her granddam, Anguar, the dam of 1964 Prix du Jockey Club (G1) victor Le Fabuleux (now best known as the broodmare sire of Unbridled), is out of a half sister to Worden, giving their dam, Sans Tares, 3x4.
Connect seems to have forged a very strong connection with Storm Cat-line mares—the cross that produced Forever After All—who have provided seven of his 13 stakes winners. That septet is from 45 starters on the cross (a 15.5% stakes winners to starters rate) and additionally includes Rattle N Roll; The Alys Look, also third in the 2023 Kentucky Oaks (G1); and graded stakes winner Implicated.
