A Lifelong Passion
Josephine Abercrombie & Pin Oak Over Sixty Years [Click Here to View as PDF]
Competition, especially the sort that involved horses, has been a lifelong passion for Josephine Abercrombie. A gifted horsewoman from an early age, Josephine competed on a championship level, riding gaited horses and driving fine harness horses and Hackney ponies. She was a record holder at Madison Square Garden for prizes won and one of the very few amateurs ever to show a World Grand Champion. With her sights set on proving herself at the next level, Josephine transitioned her interests and talents to Thoroughbreds. In the early 1950s, she and her father, Houston oilman J. S. "Mr. Jim" Abercrombie, purchased a group of yearlings in a partnership. Not long afterwards, they started the business of breeding and raising Thoroughbreds after purchasing nearly 1400 acres in Woodford County, Kentucky and named it Pin Oak after their highly successful show horse stables in Texas.
Quickly rewarded for her keen eye, Pin Oak's racing stable won the 1953 Astartita Stakes with Make a Play, followed by a victory in the 1955 Louisiana Derby with Roman Patrol. Those early years saw additional major stakes winners for Pin Oak including Classic winner Elocutionist, English and Irish St. Leger winner Touching Wood, Tree of Knowledge, Cool, and Grease.
But the purchase of a yearling filly, later named Take a Stand, by Amerigo out of Self Control, by Better Self at the 1967 Keeneland July Sale would prove to be key for Pin Oak's breeding operation. Take a Stand foaled three foals for Pin Oak before being sold, and of those three the Abercrombie operation retained only a gray filly by Iron Ruler named Strike a Pose.
As fate would have it, the decision to retain Strike a Pose proved Pivotal for Pin Oak's future success. Strike a Pose was bred to Blushing Groom and that mating resulted in the stakes-winning filly Wedding Picture. In addition to the four stakes winners Wedding Picture produced as a broodmare, she also had a daughter by Nijinsky II named Wedding Vow who later became the dam of Pin Oak stalwart Broken Vow.
Strike a Pose also foaled a filly by Green Dancer named Strike a Balance. Strike a Balance produced champion Peaks and Valleys, also a successful sire for Pin Oak, and the stakes winner Alternate, the dam of Pin Oak's graded stakes winner and successful sire Alternation. Additional graded success produced by Alternate include Grade 1 stakes winner Higher Power and stakes winner Interrupted (by Broken Vow).
The two fillies, Wedding Picture and Strike a Balance, grew into separate branches of a tremendously prolific family. Between the two, they have produced well over 20 stakes winners and represent nearly 50 years of stewardship for Pin Oak.
Josephine Abercrombie's dedication to her horses has been justly rewarded through the years. Pin Oak's Laugh and Be Merry earned the Eclipse Award as Champion Turf Mare and Hasten to Add was named Canada's Champion Turf Horse. A Grade 1 winner in the U.S. and Canada, Peaks and Valleys earned honors as Horse of the Year and Champion 3-year-old in Canada. His success on the track led Abercrombie to become the first American Canadian Breeder of the Year. Grade 1 success was gained by other Pin Oak homebreds including Confessional, Missed the Storm, Changeintheweather, and See How She Runs. Brownie Points, who won eight graded stakes earning over $950,000, is the dam of Synchrony, who won six graded stakes and nearly $1 Million, as well as graded stakes winner Chocolate Kisses and stakes winner Point System.
To date, over 100 stakes winners have been produced or campaigned by Pin Oak. Also, the farm has been known to stand a select group of quality stallions. Included among these are prominent sires Sky Classic; Maria's Mon, sire of two Kentucky Derby winners; homebreds Peaks and Valleys; Alternation, sire of Ballerina-G1 and Kentucky Oaks-G1 winner Serengeti Empress; and Broken Vow, among the top 15 Active Sires with 159 Blacktype Horses.
But, as a true horseman, Abercrombie's focus always remains on the animal itself. An entire section of her farm is devoted to caring for retired broodmares and other horses. Throughout her career, Josephine Abercrombie has embodied the highest standards of care and knowledge of horses.
