Primonetta
Encyclopedia
Primonetta was an American Champion Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 filly
Filly
A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....

 racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. Bred by John W. Galbreath and raced by his Darby Dan Farm
Darby Dan Farm
Darby Dan Farm is a produce, livestock, and thoroughbred horse breeding and training farm founded in 1935 near the Darby Creek in Galloway, Ohio by businessman John W. Galbreath. Named for the creek and for Galbreath's son, Daniel M. Galbreath , it was expanded from an original farm into a 4,000...

, she was a full sister to the 1963 Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 and Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 winner, Chateaugay
Chateaugay (horse)
Chateaugay was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who won two of the three U.S. Triple Crown races. Bred at Darby Dan Farm near Lexington, Kentucky by his prominent owner, John W. Galbreath, Chateaugay was a son of Swaps, the 1956 U.S. Horse of the Year and a Racing Hall of Fame...

.

Conditioned for racing by future Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 James P. Conway
James P. Conway
James P. Conway was an American Hall of Fame trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing who trained forty-three stakes winners including five Champions and a winner of two American Classic Races....

, as a three-year-old in 1961 Primonetta was one of the top fillies in American racing. Undeafted at two, her win in the April 12th Prioress Stakes
Prioress Stakes
The Prioress Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of July at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York....

 was her sixth straight career win without a defeat. Among her other victories that year, she won the Delaware Oaks
Delaware Oaks
The Delaware Oaks Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid July at Delaware Park Racetrack in Stanton near Wilmington, Delaware....

 on July 16th for her ninth win without a loss then suffered her first loss on Jul 23, 1961 in the Monmouth Oaks. She rebounded to beat the great Bowl of Flowers
Bowl of Flowers
Bowl of Flowers was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred Champion racehorse.Bowl of Flowers was the product of two horses owned by Isabel Dodge Sloane...

 by more than five lengths in her winning effort in the Alabama Stakes
Alabama Stakes
The Alabama Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race open to three-year-old fillies. Inaugurated in 1872, the Grade I race is run over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the dirt track at Saratoga Race Course. Held in mid August, it currently offers a purse of $500,000...

. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10E15F9395D1B728DDDAF0894D0405B818AF1D3

Primonetta continued her winning ways at age four, setting a new stakes record in capturing the Spinster Stakes and equaled the Monmouth Park track record in winning the Regret Handicap
Monmouth Regret Stakes
The Regret Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey. Raced in early August, it is open to fillies and mares, age three and older...

. Primonetta closed out her racing career with a victory in the November 4, 1962 running of the Falls City Handicap
Falls City Handicap
The Falls City Handicap is a Thoroughbred horse race run annually near the end of November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. A Grade II event, the race is open to fillies and mares, age three and up, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt.-Records:* 1:48.85 - Silent Eskimo...

. At the end of the year she was voted the 1962 American Champion Older Female Horse.

Retired from racing, Primonetta served broodmare duty at Darby Dan Farm. Of her five foals, the best runner was Darby Dan Farm's Cum Laude Laurie
Cum Laude Laurie
Cum Laude Laurie was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by the Galbreath family of Darby Dan Farm, she was a daughter of the Champion sire Hail To Reason and the mare Primonetta, the 1962 American Champion Older Female Horse. Her damsire, Swaps was the 1956 American Horse of the...

, a daughter by Hail To Reason
Hail To Reason
Hail To Reason was an American thoroughbred racehorse and an influential sire. He was bred in Kentucky by the Bieber-Jacobs Stable, a partnership of prominent horsemen, Isadore Bieber and Hirsch Jacobs. He was sired by the English stakes winner Turn-To, a grandson of the very influential sire Nearco...

. In 1978, Primonetta earned Kentucky Broodmare of the Year
Kentucky Broodmare of the Year
The list that follows is of the all the mares that have won the honor of being named Kentucky Broodmare of the Year. Mares are selected each year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Mares are graded by the success of offspring just like stallions in regards to the Leading...

 honors.http://www.tbheritage.com/HistoricDams/AmBroodmareofYear.html

Primonetta died of a heart attack at the very old age of thirty-five on January 16, 1993 at Darby Dan Farm.
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