THE WONDROUS WIBWILCCA: 2017 RACING HALL OF FAME MARE
By Tobi Lopez Taylor To judge her only by the exploits of her sire and dam, it isn’t immediately apparent that Wibwilcca (pronounced vi-vil-ka) would be destined for greatness, both on the racetrack and as a broodmare, culminating in her being named a Racing Hall of Fame Mare. Her sire, Wilkolak (*El Paso x Wadera, by Doktryner), won three of his 24 starts in Poland and sired only three foals there before he was purchased by Lasma East at age 12 and imported to the U.S. in 1988, a time when the market for Arabian show horses was collapsing. Wilkolak sired 18 foals in this country. Few of his offspring had show or performance records, and Wibwilcca was the sole racehorse among his get. Wilkolak was exported to China for stud duty in 1993. Wibwilcca’s dam, Wibracja (Elef x Wieza, by Doktryner), born in 1979, was foaled in Poland at Kurozweki Stud. While there, she produced one colt, who was gelded and sold to Italy. The Lasma Syndicate imported her in 1984, and she was purchased for $450,000 at the 1985 Polish Ovation Sale in Scottsdale, Ariz. In the sale catalog, she was described, rather underwhelmingly, as “a nice mare, a typical show mare with nice movement, good formation, size and long neck.” After her importation, she became a halter champion and produced 10 foals. Aside from Wibwilcca, her only other notable offspring was Whazi+/, a gelding by El Ghazi, who racked up six National titles, including U.S. National Champion Western Pleasure Junior to Ride, 14–17. Wibracja also produced a full brother to Wibwilcca—Wibwilk—a gelding with no show or race record. Wilga (Ofir x Jaskolka II), Wibwilcca’s great-granddam in the tail-female line, is the matriarch of a successful female family that has produced Polish Derby winner *Wosk and Racing Hall of Fame inductee *Wiking. Wilga’s descendants include the Polish sire Comet, several Tevis Cup winners and numerous Darley winners and Racing Hall of Fame horses. 4
Wibwilcca’s paternal grandsire, *El Paso, was a passable racehorse, finishing on the board in 12 of 19 starts, and winning three races. (His son *Europejczyk, who had much more racing ability than *El Paso, won the Polish Derby and Criterium Stakes.) However, as breed historian John Schiewe has pointed out, *El Paso had more success as a broodmare sire of racehorses than he had as a sire. To cite just one instance, his daughter EW Rema produced six race winners, including the stakes-winning Hall of Fame Mare HT Sarah. We have to go back a bit farther in Wibwilcca’s pedigree to find horses that demonstrated exceptional racing ability. *El Paso’s sire, Czort, for example, was a son of the stakes-winning broodmare Forta, whose 18 runners were all winners, including two Polish Derby winners. Czort himself was a two-time winner of the Criterium whose offspring won the Criterium three times, the Polish Oaks three times, and the Polish Derby five times. *El Paso’s dam, Ellora, a daughter of Witraz, produced his full brother, Elfur, a Polish Derby winner with eight other stakes wins. Ellora was a full sister to *Elzunia, the granddam of *Etiw, whose get include the notable racing sire SW
