John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle farm in Ramona, Calif., Had been a staple of American horse racing from the time the couple established the acreage in 1972 until the facility closed some 42 years later. From the original Mabees base, a virtual who’s who of horses that have not only won major races in California, but also across the country has been broadcast. Over 170 stake winners have been raised on Mabee’s behalf, including sports notables like Best Pal. Year after year, renowned horses, many of them Californian bred, have flocked to their breeding program, enough for the Mabees to win the Eclipse Award for Top Breeder in 1991, 1997 and 1998.

Among the couple’s 14 Stake winners as owner / breeder in 1998 were Excellent Meeting, multiple grade 1 winner, and their state champion Fleet Lady. California 3 year old filly champion in 1997 when she won three appearances, Fleet Lady was a Mabee breed in every sense of the word. His sire Avenue of Flags (Seattle Slew) was bred and raced by the Mabees. Following an injury that put an end to a promising career, he retired to Golden Eagle stud.

Fleet Lady’s mother, Dear Mimi (Roberto), was also raised and raised by the Mabees. John Mabee had bought his mother, Carnival Princess, at the November 1985 mixed sale in Keeneland. Prince John’s daughter is the half-sister of Italian classic winner and two-time champion Carnauba and three other Stakes winners. Carnival Princess quickly became the mother of Group 1 winner Salse (Topider).

Fleet Lady was a constant presence on the West Coast Tour during her three-year career. In 23 starts, the black bay has finished worse than fourth on only three occasions.

Fleet Lady won the first Del mar first race at 2. At 3, she scored in her first high stakes event, the Fairfield Stakes at Solano, followed by a victory in the Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar. Her five wins and three rankings out of 11 starts in 1997 plus her $ 188,560 in earnings propelled her to a state-bred championship and bolstered the Mabees’ claim for a Top Breeder Eclipse Award.

Returning at age 4, Fleet Lady started the New Year on a high, winning the El Encino Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park. Two weeks later, she returned to the Santa Anita starting grid for the 24th La Canada Stakes (G2) for 4-year-old fillies over nine stages on the main track.

Fourth pick in the field of seven, Fleet Lady and jockey Garrett Gomez were the beneficiaries and survivors of a controversial duel between frontrunner I Ain’t Bluffing and Love That Jazz. Blocked in the section, Fleet Lady held on in the final meters to secure the 1 1/2 length victory over her closest colleague Minister’s Melody.
Santa Anita Park welcomes the 48th La Canada (G3) as one of the issues on its January 1 card.

Still in the race but rarely in the winner’s circle in its six remaining races of the year, Fleet Lady took one more victory: the B. Thoughtful Stakes at Hollywood Park. At the end of the year, she was awarded another state champion title as she was named the older state mare champion in 1998.

After Fleet Lady’s racing career, Robert and Janice McNair bought her privately for their Stonerside Farm, which reaped the benefits of the Mabees’ golden touch. His first foal, Fast Cookie (Deputy Minister), became a Stakes winner for the McNairs and eight years later his Stonerside breeding Aspirant (Unbridled’s Song) won the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Stakes (G1), for Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley, who had recently purchased the lock, stock and barrel assembly from McNair’s Operation Stonerside, which was obviously also came with the Midas touch of Mabees.

For Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin, Fast Cookie is the mother of a millionaire on several occasions Frosted (Tapit ), who stands alongside his father Uncle Midshipman in Darley near Lexington.