Trot Insider has learned that double millionaire and Canadian record holder Grace Hill has been retired and will start her broodmare career immediately, with a first foal on the way in 2026.
A seven-year-old daughter of accomplished parents Always B Miki and Western Silk, Grace Hill raced against one of the deepest groups of older pacing mares in harness racing history and defeated them all. Grace Hill scored major victories in the James M. Lynch Memorial, Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship and Shady Daisy at three for trainer Richard 'Nifty' Norman, and then blossomed as an older competitor under the tutelage of Virgil Morgan Jr. The 2023 Dan Patch Award winner as the sport's top older pacing mare, Grace Hill counted stakes wins in the Breeders Crown and TVG Open Mares Pace (at four) as well as the Allerage Farms, Dayton Distaff, Milton Stakes and Roses Are Red Stakes (at five) while competing against a group that included three Horse of the Year winners — Test Of Faith, Sylvia Hanover and Twin B Joe Fresh.
According to owner Tom Hill, the win in the 2023 Roses Are Red Stakes final — where she took her 1:47.4 lifetime mark and established a new Canadian record as the nation's fastest ever female performer — is the race he recalls most fondly.
"When she was at her best, she was one heck of a mare," stated Hill succinctly.
Grace Hill retires with that sparkling 1:47.4 race record, more than $2.2 million in purse earnings and a record of 37-14-8 from 88 appearances.
Her first date as a broodmare has already transpired, as she's in foal to Captaintreacherous.
Hill noted that Grace Hill will join his award winners Niki Hill and Party Girl Hill in his broodmare band at Hunterton Farm in Kentucky.
(Standardbred Canada)
Congrats
Congrats on your retirement, Grace Hill.