| Shenanigans | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Native Dancer |
| Grandsire | Polynesian |
| Dam | Bold Irish |
| Damsire | Fighting Fox |
| Sex | Mare |
| Foaled | 1963 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Grey |
| Breeder | Stuart & Barbara Janney |
| Owner | Stuart & Barbara Janney |
| Record | 22:3-1-6 |
| Earnings | $18,120 |
| Awards | |
| Kentucky Broodmare of the Year (1975) | |
| Horse (Equus ferus caballus) | |
| Last updated on December 5, 2009 | |
Shenanigans was an American thoroughbred mare born in Kentucky. She was sired by Native Dancer and out of the Locust Hill foundation mare Bold Irish. Owner Janney once recalled, "Shenanigans was meant to be a good mare, she had speed and she was second to Miss Spin in the Maryland Futurity, but she developed a little calcium in a knee. She raced a little bit at three, but we decided she wasn't going to be able to win a stakes, so we stopped with her." The Janneys considered sending her to Bold Ruler for her first season, but she was sent to Knightly Manner instead and failed to conceive. The next breeding was with Neartic. This resulted in the gray Icecapade, who was a successful stakes racer and sire. In 1970, Shenanigans foaled another gray (this time by Bold Ruler), a filly named Laughter who like her mother excelled in the breeding shed when she beget horses like Private Terms but was at best mediocre on the track. In 1971, Shenanigans was bred to a son of Bold Ruler, Bold Lad, which resulted in a colt, On To Glory, who was a winner but not a stakes performer. He did, however, produce a couple of graded stakes winners while at stud.
In 1972, Shenanigans foaled her most famous progeny: a brown filly by Reviewer named Ruffian. This tall, almost jet black filly destroyed track and stakes records for two seasons before she broke down in a match race against Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure. Many claim that Ruffian’s tragic end was a product of her breeding. Her sire broke down four times during the course of his life: three times while racing and the last time in a paddock accident where he re-broke a fracture he had sustained a few weeks earlier in another barn accident. Her dam sire, Native Dancer, along with her grandsire, Bold Ruler, were both known for their weak bones. After Ruffian, Shenanigans had two more foals: a stakes winner and sire in 1974 called Buckfinder, by Buckpasser, and one more winner in 1977 named Near East, by Damascus.
On May 21, 1977 Shenanigans befell a fate similar to her daughter’s when she awoke from anesthesia after intestinal surgery and (like Ruffian) began to thrash wildly; she broke two of her legs. Shenanigans could not endure another surgery and had to be put down. Despite whatever weak genes she might have carried, Shenanigans had a marvelous producing record. She attained a 100% winner rate and a 50% graded stakes winner rate during her years at stud.