Thoroughbred racing is known as the Sport of Kings. It was a sport that I grew up in. I don't know what it was about the power of the Thoroughbreds, but I worked as an exercise rider at one time and volunteered at a rescue that took in a lot of ex-racehorses. Growing up around these magnificent animals, I became enthralled with them, and thus racehorses adorned my collection. At one time, I had every racehorse Breyer had ever made. Now, I mostly just keep the horses I followed in real life. With the release of Cody's Wish this year, I wanted to talk about some of the Thoroughbred molds. Just for times sake, I'm not going to discuss the Warmblood molds, like Strapless used for Full Moon Rising, only the ones that were meant to be Thoroughbreds. Thoroughbred MareI think this mold really came to the spotlight with Cupid and Arrow, the adorable rescued mare and her uniquely marked foal, however it'd actually been around since 1973 when Chris Hess made them to look like a nursing broodmare and foal on a Thoroughbred farm anywhere in the bluegrass. Despite being in production for so long, Breyer hasn't really used this mold much. She was made in a vintage style medicine hat pinto set in 1994, followed by a JCP set with a grey mare and bay foal in 2000 before the popular Cupid and Arrow set in 2002. The most colorful models on this mold were web exclusives Eve and Claus which were red roan in color; then sooty buckskin pinto Lillian and Molly for the Vintage Club. CigarWe'll start with one of the earliest Thoroughbred molds... Cigar. Made in 1998, this mold is now considered "vintage" and is probably one of my favorites. Breyer finally released a new model on this mold, Lefty, this year for Tractor Supply. I'd honestly thought they'd forgotten about this mold. He has been made in just about every common Thoroughbred color: bay, grey, chestnut and even black for Sunday Silence. Lefty was probably the flashiest color they've made on this mold. Other flashies include Sato, who ironically was still based off a real horse; Aintree from Breyerfest 2012 was a dappled dun; Special Delivery was made for JAH subscribers way back in 1999 was an airbrushed pinto; Nosferatu was a Halloween decorator made on this mold; and Wanderlust was made for Mid States distributing as an appaloosa with Indian war paint markings. Wanderlust has been a grail of mine for years that I still have yet to obtain. Cigar is probably at this point too old to be a surprise model so we likely won't see many more on him, especially after the more recent releases of Carrick and Emerson. Man o'WarThe first of the Thoroughbred molds, and a Hess mold to boot telling you how old this guy is, Man o'War is my least favorite mold of all the Thoroughbred molds. I will give Hess credit that the guy could sculpt a variety of different breeds, a talent few artists have, and I'm sure at the time of his release Man o'War was a break through. However, I just can't get on board with the halter, that unfortunately like with the Pacer mold doesn't come off. He is also a simple standing mold which I also am not fond of. Nevertheless, several portrait models were made on him including his son, War Admiral; Spectacular Bid; the War Horse, Joey; and General Lee's horse, Traveller. Not too many colors showed up on this mold. I think the most colorful was Storm from the Vintage Club. Lonesome GloryAlthough Lonesome Glory was originally made a steeplechaser, he quickly became one of the most popular Thoroughbred molds for flat racing horses as well, and it's no wonder why. The high head and pep in his step portray the high class Thoroughbred like no other molds did up to that time. Greats such as Seattle Slew, Afleet Alex, Phar Lap, Red Rum, mare-ified Zenyatta and most recently Tiz the Law were all portrait models on Lonesome Glory. Flashy models included the metallic buckskin Akhal Teke before metallic was a big thing; Sassy the Collector Club special run; Woodland Splendor a beautiful champagne holiday horse; Mosaic and Thrillseeker from the Connoisseur series; Goin for Gold was a glossy dun Petsmart/SLT exclusive; Wapasha the Mid States release; and the JAH subscriber special run Mirror Image/Reflector. He also appeared at Breyerfest as two special runs: Tinseltown, Mardi Gras and By A Nose. He also was the surprise back in 2014. You can see how much people really loved this mold! I love him as one of the most space efficient of the Thoroughbreds. John HenryAnother of my least favorites, John Henry was incredibly bumpy all over, which is sad considering that the pose of the horse was realistic and it took Breyer years before they smoothed it out. He was used for several portrait models other than John Henry himself: Forego, Seabiscuit, Northern Dancer and Joe Patchen, the sire of Dan Patch the Standardbred, which was most unusual. He was made in a few non-Thoroughbred colors such as The Cree Indian Horse; the ELCR benefit models (both grey and dun); and most recently Pech Merle. I'm not sure how Breyer turned him into a stock horse but they did, and he actually didn't look too bad, looked like a horse moseying along on the trail. Smarty JonesWe'll turn our attention to another of my personal favorites, Smarty Jones. He is getting up there in years but Breyer is still cranking him out, as they made the gold Secretariat this year on this mold. I remember when I first saw him I thought "that is the most Thoroughbred looking Thoroughbred I'd ever seen" and no doubt I couldn't wait to add Smarty Jones to my collection. A couple other portrait models besides Smarty was made on this mold including Secretariat (both gold and regular) and European superstar Frankel. I'm really surprised there aren't more. At Breyerfest 2018 Smarty Jones was the surprise model and came in five beautiful non-Thoroughbred colors. Windtalker the grullo pinto limited edition, Riley the dapple grey web special, Santiago the star dapple grey polo pony limited edition, Hakan the buckskin appaloosa TSC exclusive, the 70th anniversary "chase" black pinto, Phantasma from the Halloween series and Rushmore the bay roan from Breyerfest were all other flashy colored obtainables. RuffianIt was inevitable that the legendary Ruffian would make an appearance in the Breyer line. I'm surprised it took until 2006 to do so, but at least she was on a brand new mold. While she has a striking pose, she has the tendency to lean after some years on her stand, which tends to rub that back hoof more than I'd like so I don't have too many on this mold anymore. Besides Ruffian, Breyer also portrayed Rags to Riches, Rachel Alexandra, American Pharoah with additional boy bits and Black Caviar on this mold. Colorful additions included the holiest of holy grails that I'll never achieve Scallywag from the Connoisseur series; Poltergeist from the Halloween series; Puuku the Mid States release Indian pony; Breyerfest models Heartland and Dead Heat. A few Collector Club lottery models were made on her as well including Luna the running with wolves decorator; Athena from the Goddess series; and Padma from the Big Cat series. CarrickMy least favorite of the modern molds is Carrick. I don't know what it is about him but he looks a bit out of proportion reminding me more of a deer than a Thoroughbred. This has nothing to do with the artist; I really love works she'd done in the past but I couldn't fall in love with Carrick. Nevertheless, he has been made on a few portrait models including Brass Hat from Breyerfest 2018, Justify and the upcoming Cody's Wish. Flashier colors on this mold included Bonne Fete from Breyerfest 2014; Travis the Tractor Supply exclusive; and of course the original on this mold, who was a palomino. EmersonMy favorite of the newest releases, and I don't really know why when I don't usually like standing molds, is Emerson. I'll admit I didn't like him at first. but he's one of those horses that I got in-hand and loved immediately. I think it was more the color I didn't like on his original PC release than the mold itself. He is also by the same artist that made Carrick so there's proof that I do like this artist's work. I think the reason most people don't love him is the fact that his super long legs have the tendency to bend so he either looks cow hocked or bow legged, depending upon which way the legs turn. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly for the reason above, Emerson has been used very little since his release. He's been used only once as a portrait model for Australian superstar, Winx. Other than that her releases included Eclipse the Tractor Supply exclusive; Rocket from Breyerfest 2019; Crane from the Collector Club Birds of a Feather series; and Collector Club special run Chadwick. That's it for the obtainables. I think we'll be seeing Emerson as a gambler's choice one of these years, as he's in desperate need of colors. If you like me discussing various breeds and/or molds, please tell me in the comments. I'm trying to make my blog not just about releases and reveals, but about the history of Breyers as well. If y'all like it, I'll continue to do it. If not, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm not a guru so sometimes I miss certain facts, but I'll try my best to research my subjects thoroughly before posting. Of course, if there are any corrections, feel free to let me know. This is mostly for entertainment :)
Pam N.
12/19/2023 10:35:55 am
I LIKE VE learning about Breyer history! Please, more!
Pam N.
12/19/2023 10:37:46 am
What I typed was “I LOVE learning about Breyer history!” Darn phone!
Diane K
12/19/2023 11:17:15 pm
More please! I love Breyer history and especially with pictures!
MustangAB
12/20/2023 07:51:05 am
I would love to see more of these features! I was also surprised at how much I loved Emerson in hand :) Comments are closed.
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