Our Mims

About

The majestic mare by Herbager out of Sweet Tooth raced under the devil’s red and blue silks of Calumet Farm. Her wins in the Fantasy Stakes, the Coaching Club American Oaks, the Alabama and Delaware Stakes secured her place in history: She was named the 1977 Eclipse Champion 3-Year-Old Filly.

Bill Cooke, Director of the International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park, has written a comprehensive look at Calumet's history. His online exhibit was written with intensive insight by Margaret Glass, longtime farm secretary. Of particular interest in the online exhibit is the page titled "The Years of Transition." That page chronicles Calumet's successes in the 1960's and 1970's, and mentions Our Mims' Eclipse Award winning 3-year-old campaign.

Mims's trophies are now at the IMH in the Calumet exhibit and we can thank the foresight of Mrs. Glass these priceless and irreplaceable trophies are available for the public to see and did not become part of the bankruptcy proceedings against the farm.

Also at the IMH, you can see some of Mims' races as part of the Calumet multimedia exhibit.

In August of 1978, Our Mims fractured the cannon bone in her right foreleg during a morning workout at Saratoga and was retired to the Calumet broodmare band. She bore eleven foals, including Slewvescent (by Seattle Slew) and Mimbet (Elmhurst’s dam). Unfortunately, Calumet fell into dire financial straits, and Mims was sold in the dispersal sale at Keeneland in November of 1990. Jeanne found Mims years later in a cattle field, nearly forgotten. She found a way to bring the elder champion to her own farm… and a wonderful friendship was formed. The rest, as they say, is history.

Our Mims Retirement Haven exists because of Our Mims’ memory, a promise made… and kept. Today we honor the great mare. Our Mims, while we miss your physical body, your spirit guides us. We know you watch over us, take care of us, and help us stay true to our mission of helping the elder Ladies live the end of their lives with love and respect. We ask our friends, family, and donors to join us in remembering her with peppermints and perhaps a donation.


 

MOMENTS IN HISTORY

  

“Even now, the glory that was Calumet 20 and 30 years ago is reaching out to lend a hand in the resurgence of the stable. Sweet Tooth, the dam of both Our Mims and Alydar, traces back to a purchase made by Warren Wright in 1948. At that time the baking powder magnate from Chicago acquired Blue Delight from breeder Henry Knight, bred her to his remarkable sire, Bull Lea, and got a filly named Real Delight who won over $250,000. Real Delight who swept the Kentucky Oaks, the Pimlico Oaks and the Coaching Club American Oaks of 1952, was bred to Ponder and produced Plum Cake, a stakes-winning filly and a stakes-producer as a broodmare. Plum Cake, bred to On-And-On, a winner of $390,718, produced Sweet Tooth.”

“Our Mims, who carried the Calumet Farm’s devil’s red and blue colors to victory in the $109,800 Coaching Club American Oaks, is steered to Belmont Park workout by exercise rider Graham Bell. Between 1941 and 1968, Calumet Thoroughbreds won a record eight Kentucky Derbys and clinched more Preaknesses than any other stable. Calumet Farm’s Our Mims shows off the fancy footwork that helped her to win the recent mile and a half Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park. The three-year-old filly’s success has highlighted the resurgence of Calumet as one of racing’s leading stables. Exercise rider is Graham Bell.”