The Tower Of Power
by MARY KIRKMAN
Years ago, on a sunny day at Michalów State Stud in Poland, a visitor watched a parade of ethereal grey mares trot one by one down the presentation lane and stop to stand elegantly, casually beautiful without ever having to pose. They were Michalów’s signature—the feminine “pearls beyond price,” a collection of some of the finest broodmares in the world, many the winners of European, World and national titles. For a break, the visitor glanced far down the path to the line of mares waiting to take their turn, and caught her breath: amid the greys was a statuesque bay mare of such presence that she might have been alone. Director Ignacy Jaworowski observed his guest, his eyes twinkling. “That,” he said softly, “is an American national champion.” Her name was *Wizja. Before *Wizja, Michalów had provided three U.S. National Champion Mares, *Arwistawa, *Dornaba and *Elkana. And after her would come Kawalkada, Kwestura, Zagrobla, El Dorada PASB and Emandoria. But there was only ever one *Wizja. Perhaps, some say, until now. Nearly four decades later, a youngster arrived in Poland who is a modern version of that kind of excellence, a throwback to one of Poland’s queens. Her name is Wieza Mocy, and for the next two years, she will be an American.
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The Heritage Wieza Mocy’s journey to the United States began before she was born—and as with so many stories in the Arabian breed, it begins not with horses, but with people. It all started, says Oak Ridge Arabians’ Janey Morse, who has leased the filly, when she and her late husband, Don, were invited by David Boggs to join the Midwest contingent at the 2009 Salon du Cheval. They didn’t take horses; they were there just to observe, to get to know the European breeders. “That was where we met Gerald Kurtz and his wife, Gosia, and immediately became friends,” Morse recalls. “Gerald and Don, in particular, kept in touch, and we made a deal that when our stallion Vitorio TO was ready to breed, Gerald would represent him in Europe (with David’s full approval; the stallion was at Midwest). It was Gerald who said, ‘Let’s get some Vitorio semen to the stud farms in Poland.’ And that’s when this journey began.” Wieza Mocy’s significance goes even further back, generations into in her pedigree, to 1973, when the Comet daughter Warmia foaled a bay filly by *El Paso. That filly grew up to be *Wizja, whose uncommon beauty convinced the LaCroixes of Lasma, who had leased her sire and showed him to the title of 1976 U.S. National Champion Stallion, that she needed to come to the United States too. Director Jaworowski agreed to a lease, and she was on her way. That winter of 1977, American owner Jeff Wallace, now known particularly for his involvement with 2003 U.S. National Champion Mare Zagrobla, was just 17. He remembers being at Scottsdale, visiting the Lasma barn and noticing Gene and Raymond LaCroix, “smoking and pacing” in front of a curtainedoff stall that looked important. “An hour later, in mare halter, I knew what it was all about,” Wallace says. “That mare came in and she completely redefined what we thought a halter mare could look like.” He pauses, and adds, “Some of those moments I will never forget.” In the fall, at Albuquerque, *Wizja went on to be named U.S. National Champion Mare. “She walked in the ring and she just owned it,” recalls Gene LaCroix, who was on her lead. “We never really taught her anything more than to stand still and plant her feet. She was just all there; the occasion presented itself and she was there.” But when the lease was up, *Wizja went back to Poland, and as the years passed, her production was limited. It would be her last foal, Wiazma, who would yield the Ekstern daughter Wieza Marzen, and Wieza Marzen who, less than a month after the Morses attended their first Salon du Cheval, produced a filly that turned on the headlights simply by rising out of the straw in her foaling stall. By QR Marc, she was a bay dazzler, reminiscent of the glory days of her great-granddam. Director Jerzy Bialobok and his wife, Urszula, the stud’s former Breeding Manager, named her Wieza Mocy: Tower Of Power. Looking back now, it is easy to hear, “Oh, yes, but well, you know, *Wizja’s beauty was then. It wouldn’t be enough for now.” True, acknowledge many who saw her then and know the climate now. But that would be reckoning without the mare’s staggering brilliance, a commodity that is difficult to quantify. And, they point out, *Wizja is only the basis of Wieza Mocy; add in QR Marc, and you take quality to another dimension. “This is a modernized version of *Wizja,” observes Gene LaCroix. “This filly by QR Marc is what you would expect—more extreme in the face and probably a little more arch to the neck.”
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Linking The Past To The Present Jeff Wallace is the next step in the story of Wieza Mocy. In 2011, watching YouTube videos of the Polish Nationals, he was riveted when he saw a bay yearling filly “burst into the ring.” “It was Wieza Mocy and she was stunning,” he says. “She has a beautiful face, gorgeous nostrils, and her entrance was so *Wizjalike—she winds up the more she’s in there. She owns every piece of ground she stands on. “She’s not the same naked shape,” he cautions. “She’s a far more contemporary mare. QR Marc has done a great job in Poland, updating classic families.” Wallace had kept up with the bloodline over the years. Although *Wizja had not been prolific, two of her daughters and several granddaughters were, and careful management had assembled an impressive collection of her descendants. “The Bialoboks have been really smart at growing female families,” he adds parenthetically. “They took that family, which was a party of two, to a substantial number now. They don’t all look like Wieza Mocy, but there are several really beautiful ones.” He watched the filly win the title of Polish National Champion Junior Mare, and then he picked up the telephone and called David Boggs. “You have a gorgeous QR Marc son from Janow,” he said. “Now it’s time for the gorgeous QR Marc daughter from Michalów.” The two watched the video together over the phone and Boggs thanked him and pursued the young champion, but at that point, Wieza Mocy was not leaving Poland (Gene LaCroix tried that year as well, but with the same results). As time passed, however, Boggs did not forget the filly. “I always admired her,” he says. “She became very famous; you heard comments about her even across the ocean. She’s always been a kind of little Shirley Temple at Michalów, loved and respected by everyone.”
4 • Oak Ridge aRabians
The following year, Wieza Mocy, showing with regular handler Mariusz Liskiewicz, was named Gold Champion Junior Filly and Best in Show at the Bialka Spring Show, and then in November, became European Gold Champion Junior Filly, recording scores that were characteristic of her career. In type, five judges noted 19.5, and for movement, 19.5s and 20. A month later, in Paris, she was back, against some of the best mares in the breed, and this time she claimed the trophy as World Gold Champion Junior Female. That set the stage for 2013.
The Magic Of The Future The story was coming together. Vitorio TO welcomed his first foal in 2011, and as Don Morse and Gerald Kurtz had agreed, Kurtz represented the stallion. The following year, Michalów imported his frozen semen. Vitorio’s dam, Sol Natique, offered a heavily-Polish pedigree which intrigued Urszula Bialobok, who thought he could be a valuable outcross for the stud’s Saklawi bloodlines. Then she noticed one line in the young sire’s pedigree which, for her, sealed the deal: there, a few generations back, were *Wizja’s sire, *El Paso, and *Dagmara, a daughter of the revered *Daszawa, one of Director Jaworowski’s favorite mares. The 2013 Vitorio foals at Michalów confirmed her judgment. When she learned that David Boggs was bringing a group, including Janey Morse, to the stud farm during a trip to the Polish National Show, Urszula urged her husband to speak to him about leasing Vitorio TO. In return, they would offer Boggs and Morse their choice of a filly to lease during the time Vitorio TO was abroad (2014-2015). For Boggs, the choice was easy. “When I saw Wieza Mocy in the flesh, as much as I am crazy about all those grey mares, she was the one I wanted,” he says. She was not only beautiful, she was an extremely kind individual as well. “She’s very sweet, very much a ‘people person,’” he notes, “and she has just tremendous presence, snorting and blowing.” Janey Morse was entranced—with Poland, with the mares she saw and the role her stallion would play there. “It was my first trip to Poland,” she smiles. “I saw things I’d never seen; I was like a child in a candy store.” And then there was the flirty bay filly. “She’s the total package,” Morse says. “I don’t care who’s watching her—whether they know anything about horses or not, if they just ride by her, they’re going to stop. She’s breathtaking. I get goose bumps; I can’t believe that I’ve been so blessed to be a part of her, a part of this.” Oak Ridge aRabians • 5
*
ieza Mocy
6 • Oak Ridge aRabians
Oak Ridge aRabians • 7
MC VITORIA Vitorio TO x Angelinaa JD 2014 Scottsdale Champion Arabian Classice Junior Filly AAOTH Scottsdale Reserve Champion SSS Yearling Filly ATH
MC VULCAN Vitorio TO x Lovins Khrush SSA 2014 Scottsdale Reserve Champion SSS Yearling Colt ATH
And Now The Future
“Wieza Mocy is a sweetheart and she loves
Wieza Mocy arrived in the United States in
attention,” she continues. “During my visits at
January, sporting a full winter coat, not conditioned
Michalów, I always end the day visiting my two
for Scottsdale. That’s fine, say Morse and Boggs.
favourite horses, Ganges and Wieza Mocy. Wieza
She has time. She is targeted to come out at the
Mocy loved our quiet moments just as much as I
AHBA World Cup in April, but in the meantime,
did, and she is very clever in making you stay for a
she already has checked off one goal. Bred to Pogrom, she was confirmed in foal and the embryo successfully transferred to a recipient mare. Now she is working on an embryo by Vitorio TO.
very long time.” But even in those quiet moments there is a touch of greatness, she notes, something noticeable, the sort of thing which makes her add that some horses
Following Las Vegas, she will be entered in a qualifying show for the U.S. Nationals, and if all goes as planned, she will be traveling to Tulsa in the fall.
are just larger than life, and that if you are lucky, you will meet a couple of them in our lifetime. “I can see *Wizja in her,” Mattson says. “She has that regal aura and that sweet disposition that her great-
But just who is she, this mare who represents so much? Photographer Anette Mattsson has known all the generations of her damline since the time of *Wizja, and watched Wieza Mocy take her place among them. “What I love with the mares from this
granddam had. ... The key to success when it comes to breeding is strong dam families, and the family of Warmia has been so consistent and successful. I am sure that we in 25 years will speak about Wieza Mocy like we do about Warmia and *Wizja.”
line is that they have so much integrity,” she says.
For the Morse family, Wieza Mocy may be even
“When treated right, they will do anything for you.
more than that. Looking ahead, Janey Morse
They are proud and they love to show themselves,
reflects on her own journey. This adventure began
as in their mind there is no one better.
with her husband Don; he may not have known
8 • Oak Ridge Arabians
5-Time naTiOnal ChampiOn
Wieza Mocy, but the filly is the fruition of a dream he and Gerald Kurtz began years ago. “Don filled a room,” she muses. “He was never pretentious. He did it with his laughter and his wit and his intelligence.” If she could wish for one thing, it would be that he could be there with her to enjoy the new filly—she is his style of horse. But just as Wieza Mocy is another generation in her family, another generation of the Morse family, Janey and Don’s son Don III, is now more a part of the Oak Ridge operation.
people you meet along the way.” That, and the pleasure she looks forward to over the next two years, watching Wieza Mocy carry the Oak Ridge banner in the show ring—for the Morses, for Michalów, for the memory of her great-granddam.
“The Arabian horse was something that, in a sense, brought a new bond to my dad and me,” Don III says. “Through it, as men, we became closer as friends—it was something we were learning together, unlike the family business, which he had already mastered. That is one of the best things about the Arabian horses to me.” And Wieza Mocy is very much a part of what he anticipates sharing with his mother.
“There is nothing apologetic about Wieza Mocy,” Jeff Wallace observes. “Nothing ‘let’s wait and see,’ nothing ‘let me make sure I feel safe.’ She’s an ‘I’m going to create my environment’ kind of mare, an ‘I’m going to enter, dazzle and own it’ kind of mare. She doesn’t wait for you to define things. She commands attention.”
The young mare also has come with a new world of friends. “I think that’s the best thing about this Arabian horse business,” Janey Morse says, “the
Success is never guaranteed, longtime Arabian enthusiasts will say. But fun, satisfaction and purpose are, if you love Arabian horses. Those connected with the filly know they have a good one; now the rest is up to her.
She is one of the special ones, David Boggs nods. “She’s a mare with an air, one of the rare ones that are yesterday, today and the promise of tomorrow.”
Oak Ridge aRabians • 9
2014 Scottsdale Champions Bred by Oak Ridge Arabians
Chantilly Lace
ORA
Vitorio TO x Raherra
Champion Scottsdale Signature 2-Year-Old Filly
The ORA Big Bopper Vitorio TO x She Be Adiva KBS Supreme Half-Arabian Halter Horse Grand Champion H/A Junior Gelding Champion H/A 2-Year-Old Gelding Champion H/A 2-Year-Old Gelding AAOTH Reserve Grand Champion H/A Gelding AAOTH Grand Champion H/A Gelding JTH Champion H/A Gelding 3 & Under JTH
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Making their debut at World Cup
Lady Vitorio
ORA
Vitorio TO x TM Mona Lisa • 2013 Filly
Don ORA Vitorio
Vitorio TO x Almanara DT 2012 Colt
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da ValenTinO x sOl naTique
owned by on lease to
oak Ridge aRabians
Michalow state stud • Poland
Managed by Midwest tRaining & bReeding stations david boggs: 612.328.8312 •
Midwest@sbwiReless.net
WWW.MIDWESTARABIAN.COM
www.ViTORiOTO.COm