St. Jean
Every good stallion depends on getting good mares to maintain the number and quality of his progeny. Likewise, breeders depend on their broodmares to give birth to their dreams and nourish them through the first critical months of life—to such an extent that famous breeders have credited the mare with up to 60 percent of the success of her foals, both through her contribution to the foals’ genetics and to her shaping of the foal’s prenatal and postnatal environments. Thus, it is right and fitting that Louisiana’s annual awards honor a Broodmare of the Year. For 2025, the honor falls on St. Jean, whose progeny earned $398,670 in 2025.
For those believing the adage that “the family is more important than the individual” when it comes to broodmares, St. Jean fits the bill. A daughter of 2000 champion juvenile male Macho Uno, she is from a family descended from the great Pretty Polly, one of the best race mares in English history and an important foundation mare of the early 20th century. The line comes down to St. Jean through her dam, French Park (by 1999 Super Derby, G1, winner Ecton Park out of grade 2-placed Alarming Prospect, by Darn That Alarm). As a race mare, French Park was a good juvenile who won the 2005 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) and Pocahontas Stakes (G3). She also has good connections as she is a half sister to Receivership (by End Sweep), whose son Palace (by City Zip) won the 2014 Forego Stakes (G1) and Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1).
As of July 2026, French Park has produced twelve named foals of racing age, including nine winners. The best on the track has been the Bernardini filly Genre, winner of the 2016 Molly Pitcher Stakes (G3) and dam of grade 2-placed stakes winner Cooke Creek (by Uncle Mo). French Park is also the dam of Parc Monceau, a stakes-placed daughter of Giant’s Causeway. St. Jean is French Park’s second foal and was bred by Adena Springs.
St. Jean did not earn black type, but her race record showed consistency at her level. A $50,000 yearling from the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale, she began her racing career with trainer Kenny McPeek, who conditioned the filly on behalf of his wife Susan and her Magdalena Racing. She took six starts to figure out the racing game, breaking her maiden in an off-the-turf $25,000 maiden claimer over seven furlongs at Belmont as a 3-year-old. In her next start, a $15,000 Belmont claimer over 6.5 furlongs, she won and was claimed by trainer David Jacobsen on behalf of Drawing Away Stable. She then won two $5,000 claiming races at Suffolk Downs for Drawing Away and her new trainer, Matthew Clarke, before peaking in a first-level allowance race at Suffolk, Starting as the 4-5 favorite in the six-furlong event, she powered away to win by six and one-quarter lengths. She started once more in 2012 in a six-furlong Finger Lakes claimer for a $4,500 tag, finished second by a nose, and was claimed by trainer Jared Schoeneman on behalf of Cannon Farms but did not race again.
St. Jean produced eight named foals, all bred by the partnership of Jay Adcock and Hume Wornall. Her first, the 2014 Paddy O’Prado filly Paddy Jean, won one of her fourteen starts for owner Stuart Tsujimoto and has the winner Mischievous Paddy (by Curlin to Mischief) to her credit as a broodmare. Next came Readyfortakeoff, a 2015 Redding Colliery gelding who was unplaced in his only start.
St. Jean’s broodmare career took off with her third foal, the 2016 Midnight Lute filly Midnight Fantasy. The winner of the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie Stakes and Louisiana Futurity as a juvenile, she ventured outside state-bred company at three to win the Austintown Filly Sprint Stakes at Mahoning Valley. At four, she took her game up another step, winning the listed Spring Fever Stakes at Oaklawn Park. She retired with five wins and four seconds from 15 starts, earning $340,971, and after selling for $500,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November sale, is the dam of three-time stakes winner Midnight Passion (by Quality Road).
After two years without issue, St. Jean returned with $120,000 Keeneland September yearling and three-time winner Paris Belle (by Speightster), followed by the unraced 2020 Mo Tom filly Sheza Mo. Then came Strong Promise, a 2021 son of Broken Vow. A $50,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling who was pinhooked for $125,000 through the 2023 Texas Thoroughbred Association’s April two-year-olds in training sale, the gelding has won eight of 28 races thus far for $450,430 in earnings. His victories include four stakes races, with his most recent such triumph coming in the Louisiana Bred Premier Night Sprint Stakes on February 7 of this year.
St, Jean reached new heights with her 2022 foal, Secret Faith. Sold for $75,000 through the 2023 Texas Thoroughbred Association yearling sale, the filly became the first stakes winner for her sire, Aurelius Maximus, when she won the 2024 Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity. She won four more Louisiana-bred stakes as a juvenile to earn a title as Louisiana’s champion 2-year-old filly. At three, she found grade 2 company to be too tough in two attempts but won five more stakes races in Louisiana-bred company to claim a second straight title as champion of her division in the Pelican State. Her most recent appearance was on February 7, 2026, when she was second in the Louisiana Bred Premier Night Distaff Stakes.
St. Jean’s last foal is the unraced 2024 Frosted filly Sorta Chilly, who failed to make her reserve on a $95,000 bid at the 2025 Texas Thoroughbred Association yearling sale. The mare was bred back to El Deal but, sadly, died in the fall of 2024 following surgery for melanoma.
“She was the ideal broodmare,” Jay Adcock recalls. “Kind, a good mama, never sick or anything. And she kept on turning out one good foal after another. I’m honored to have had her.”