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. 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

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.

Wibracja (*Elef x Wieza) , the dam of Wibwilcca, sold for $450,000 at age six in the 1985 Polish Ovation Sale in Scottsdale, Az. Wibwilcca was by far her most successful offspring. Photo by Sparagowski.

Dawid (whose son, Magna Terra Smoky, was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame). Another full sister to Ellora, Celina, was a race winner and dam of the stakes winner Chazar, who sired Polish Oaks winner Elodia.

Wibwilcca’s paternal granddam, the race winner Wadera, was by Doktryner, a stallion not particularly known for transmitting racing ability, although his unraced son Ferrum (out of the above-mentioned Forta) did sire the Polish Oaks winner Cerkaria. Another son of Doktryner, Arbor, won two stakes in Poland and was exported to France to stand at stud. Wadera was out of Werbena, who won the Polish Oaks. Werbena’s sire, Wojski, also counted among his get the stakes-winning mare Fanfara, dam of the stakes winners Flet and Fanfaron; the Oaks winner Fregata; and Falset, winner of the Criterium.

On the distaff side of her pedigree, Wibwilcca’s maternal grandsire, *Elef, ran for four seasons and won nine of 39 starts, including two stakes wins. One of his sons, Traf, won the Polish Derby, and then was imported to the U.S., where he won the Armand Hammer Classic Stakes. *Elef’s sire, the race-winning Almifar, was out of the influential broodmare Arfa (a full sister to *Bask++ and Bandola), whose seven foals to race (by six different sires) were all winners. Among them were two Polish Oaks winners, *Abhazja and Harfa, and the stakes winners *Arwistawa and Ariel. *Elef’s dam, *Elizaa, was by the important racing sire *Pietuszok, whose offspring include Orla, Polish Triple Crown winner; her full brother, *Orzel++, U.S. National Champion Racehorse and Hall of Fame inductee; and *Wosk, winner of the Polish Derby. Like *El Paso, *Elizaa was also out of Ellora, whose contributions have been discussed previously.

Both of Wibwilcca’s granddams were by Doktryner. Her maternal granddam, Wieza, was out of Wieszczka, a winner of two races. Geyran, Wieszczka’s sire, was a son of the famous Kaszmir, known as the “Man O’ War of Poland” for his stellar race record of 17 wins and one second in 18 starts. Wieszczka’s dam, Wilga, is among the most influential broodmares in Polish breeding. From her descended the legendary Polish sire Comet, several Tevis Cup winners, and numerous Darley award winners and Racing Hall of Fame inductees. As will be recounted below, the numerous victories that have already accrued to Wilga’s damline— that of Gazella II (born in 1914)—are steadily being added to by Wibwilcca and her progeny.

Wibwilcca’s journey to racing greatness began when well-known racing breeders Dan and Claudia Spears, owners of Diamond Crest Arabians in Willis, Texas, purchased this bay filly as a yearling from her breeder, Teisan Auto Company Ltd. Wibwilcca made her racing debut in 1998 at age four. She ran 14 races that season, winning three and placing third in the Texas Oaks. The following year, she improved a great deal. She won five of her 10 starts, including four stakes wins, and earned a total of $39,750. That clinched the Darley Champion Older Mare title for her in 1999. In 2000, she was in the money in five of her 10 starts, adding another stakes win to her credit. The next year, she hit the board in nine of her 11 starts. In 2002, her fifth year on the track, she ended her career on a high note, winning the Texas-Bred Fillies Stakes. She compiled an enviable race record of 46(12-125)6-6 and earnings of $105,775 and went on to her next career—broodmare. Her first six foals were bred by the Spears.

Wibwilcca’s first foal, Vibvilcca, a chestnut filly by Virgule Al Maury (Kesberoy x Valse Du Cassou), arrived in 2003. Stakes-placed Vibvilcca ran for three years, with four wins in 28 starts and earnings of $42,508. She had has had no foals to date.

Wibwilcca was bred back to Virgule Al Maury for her 2004 foal, a bay filly named DC Willful Spirit,

who became her dam’s first stakes winner when she ran off with the Texas Yellow Rose Stakes in 2008. DC Willful Spirit spent two years on the track, and earned $52,610, with a record of 15(5-4-0)2-2. As of this writing she has produced six foals, including a race winner, Highh Spirits, by Burning Sand. Other offspring of hers have been exported to Qatar.

In 2005, Wibwilcca was bred to Patriot Missle+/ (Wiking x Toppers Starlight), producing DC West Wing, a stakes-placed grey colt who won two of 19 starts and finished second in the Cassels Bruczest Stakes.

Two years later, Wibwilcca produced DC Well Done, a chestnut filly by Dinamite Dare (Calin de Louve x Noorr), who started twice, finishing fourth both times. She had a brief career as an endurance mount, with one 50-mile completion to her credit. DC Well Done has had more success as a broodmare. Her first foal, the chestnut filly Rich Sin (x TH Ritchie), won two of five starts in the U.S., including the Texas Oaks. In 2019, Rich Sin was exported to the UAE. Another foal out of DC Well Done, a chestnut colt named AA Rich Mother, won the Emirates Breeders VIP Stakes.

Wibwilcca’s next foal, the 2008 bay filly DC Willeys Song, was by Doran SBFAR. Racing for four seasons, DC Willeys Song compiled a record of eight wins, six seconds, and five thirds from 26 starts. The winner of four stakes races, including the Buzz Brauninger Arabian Distaff Handicap (G1) and the H.H. Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies’ IFAHR Cup, DC Willeys Song was, like her mother, named Darley Champion Older Mare. She retired with earnings of $124,255. She has produced the filly Uptown Lady Arabella (x Burning Sand), a stakes-placed winner of two races, and Arabella’s full brother, Uptown Ringoffire, born in 2018, who has yet to race.

In 2010, Dan Spears, co-owner of Diamond Crest Arabians, passed away at age 61. There was a gap of four years between the birth of DC Willeys Song and Wibwilcca’s next foal, the grey colt Uptown Dannys Boy, who was named for Spears. The colt, by Burning Sand (San Lou Romirz x Du Smaragda), became his dam’s third stakes winner with his victory in the Jerry Partin Memorial Cobra Sprint, and won a total of six of his 11 starts. In 2016, he was exported to the UAE.

In 2013, three years after the death of her husband, Claudia Spears sold a group of horses, including the 19-year-old Wibwilcca, to newcomers Jon and Krista Henningsgard of Waller, Tx. As Jon told Arabian Finish Line in 2018, having the opportunity to buy

Wibwilcca’s owners, Krista and Jon Henningsgard, accept her Racing Hall of Fame award from her previous owner Claudia Spears (center).

Wibwilcca and the other horses “allowed us to start at the top the food chain and inherit 25 years of professional breeding.”

Now in the ownership of the Henningsgards, Wibwilcca was again bred to Burning Sand, producing a 2014 grey filly named Uptown Sandy Girl. Currently in her fifth season of racing, Uptown Sandy Girl is by far Wibwilcca’s most successful offspring. She has won 15 of her 28 starts, 12 of them stakes. Her three Grade I stakes wins include the Buzz Brauninger Arabian Distaff Handicap (twice) and the H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Sprint Cup. Her earnings as of this writing are $287,890. For the Henningsgards, one of the highlights of Uptown Sandy Girl’s career came in 2017, when she won the Texas Lone Star Juvenile Stakes the same night that Wibwilcca was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame. Appropriately, Claudia Spears was there to be a part of the celebration. After winning Darley awards as a 3-year-old, 4-year-old and older mare (twice), Uptown Sandy Girl was presented with U.S. Arabian racing’s highest honor—she was named 2020 Darley Horse of the Year, and she isn’t finished yet. Al Maury). He ran for two seasons, winning three races and hitting the board in all of his starts, earning a total of $28,450.

Wibwilcca’s final foal, the 2017 bay filly Uptown Fancy Pants, by Madjani (Tidjani x Salama), is unraced as of this writing.

Wibwilcca, now 27, is living out her days with the Henningsgards. The Arabian Jockey Club rules state that, to be eligible for induction into the Racing Hall of Fame, a mare “will have had to race for three years with at least three stakes wins, and foaled at least three stakes winners.” Clearly, Wibwilcca is more than deserving of joining this elite group. Not only was she highly successful on the racetrack, but she also has demonstrated that she could produce high-quality foals, including a Darley Horse of the Year, from a variety of different sires and bloodlines.

Tobi Lopez Taylor is a former columnist for Arabian Finish Line, an award-winning writer and editor, and the author of two books on the horses and breeding program of Ed Tweed’s Brusally Ranch. She is currently completing a book about *Naborr and his legacy.