Trot Insider has learned that Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Great Memories has passed away at the age of 23.

The last broodmare owned by O'Brien Award-winning breeder Warrawee Farm of Rockwood, Ont., Great Memories was a daughter of Apaches Fame out of the Armbro Emerson mare Save The Memories, bred by Glengate Farms. Purchased as a yearling by Kenneth Fraser and Duane Marfisi, who also trained the filly, Great Memories’ race career was cut short due to an injury at age three. 

Among Great Memories’ offspring are two world champions: Warrawee Needy and Warrawee Ubeaut. A winner of 29 races and more than $1.25 million, Warrawee Needy was freakishly fast at two (1:49.4s), faster still at three (1:48.4s) and the fastest in the world at four (1:46.4) for trainer Carl Jamieson. Named the 2011 O'Brien Award winner for two-year-old pacing colts/geldings, Warrawee Needy was virtually unstoppable as a freshman, ending his nine-win rookie season by capturing the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final at Woodbine Racetrack. At age three, Warrawee Needy duplicated his stakes-winning and record-setting ways. After setting an OSS speed record of 1:49.4 at two, he also set the record for three-year-olds with a 1:48.4 performance as a sophomore. At four, he won an Aquarius Series leg, his U.S. Pacing Championship elimination and his William Haughton Memorial elimination at the Meadowlands Racetrack in world record time.

In her first season on the racetrack in 2018, Warrawee Ubeaut won seven of 12 races and earned a division-leading $646,995 en route to divisional honours in the U.S. Her wins included the $600,000 Breeders Crown and $207,000 Kentuckiana Stallion Management Stakes. In addition, her 1:48.3 victory in a $61,250 division of the International Stallion Stakes at Red Mile made her the fastest two-year-old pacer (regardless of sex) in harness racing history. At age three, Warrawee Ubeaut continued to impress, matching her lifetime mark, again at Lexington, and winning 12 of 19 starts for earnings of $1,066,415, including an eight-race win streak. Notable wins included the Breeders Crown, the Jugette elimination and final and in doing so equalled the world record for a three-year-old pacing filly over a half-mile track. Her 2019 efforts were rewarded with a Dan Patch Award for her age category. As a four-year-old, Warrawee Ubeaut added the Roses Are Red title to her resume and she was retired at the age of five as a double millionaire.

Since the Hall of Fame induction in 2021, Warrawee Vital etched his name in the Canadian record books to make Great Memories the only broodmare with a pair of sub-1:47 winners. A son of Captaintreacherous, Warrawee Vital sports $739,661 in earnings and multiple stakes wins among his 23 lifetime victories, none faster than his 1:46.4 record-setting performance on North America Cup Day at Woodbine Mohawk Park in June 2023. 

Great Memories’ 12 racing age progeny have earned more than $4.8 million at the time of induction with four horses -- Warrawee Needy, Warrawee Ubeaut, Warrawee Vital and Big Bay Point -- all breaking the 1:50 barrier and two surpassing the $1 million earnings mark.

In foal to Tall Dark Stranger for 2024, Great Memories passed away due to complications from foaling. Her 2024 foal — a filly — did survive, and a nurse mare was found quickly for that foal.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Great Memories.

(Standardbred Canada with files from the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame)