What a Summer was a filly who held her own against the boys, and the efforts earned her the Eclipse Award as the nation’s champion sprinter in 1977. 

Heavenly Cause did not fit the profile of a champion 2-year-old. Not particularly attractive, the roan daughter of *Grey Dawn II was big and clumsy, plus had to overcome a late May foaling date. When she made her first start for her breeders, Jim and Eleanor Ryan’s Ryehill Farm, on July 23, 1980, at Belmont Park, no one particularly liked her. Perceptions changed when she won by 9 lengths.

About

In January 2013 the Maryland Horse Breeders Association (MHBA) and the Maryland Racing Media Association (MRMA) began collaborating on plans for a hall of fame to illuminate the accomplishments of Maryland-bred Thoroughbreds.