George Weaver has trained his share of talented fillies and mares, but few have shined quite like the two stable stars preparing to leave his shedrow. Grade I winners Dorth Vader (Girvin) and Sacred Wish (Not This Time) have been fixtures in the Weaver barn for several years, announcing their talent early and steadily building resumes worthy of millionaire status.
Sacred Wish made her final start with Weaver at Kentucky Downs this summer, while Dorth Vader will have one last dance for her connections at the Breeders' Cup before both mares head to the Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' Sale on November 3.
For Weaver, parting with the pair brings equal measures of pride and poignancy.
“When you decide to be a horse trainer, the goal is to get horses of their caliber,” he said. “They have been stable stars in our barn and when it's time for them to retire, it is a little bittersweet. We love them while we have them and we root for them when they go on to their next career.”
Sacred Wish has been a breakout performer for Black Type Thoroughbreds, who co-own the 5-year-old with Swinbank Stables, Steve Adkisson, Christopher Dunn, and Anthony Spinazzola.
Spinazzola originally owned the daughter of Not This Time outright and the rest of the ownership group joined in after her eye-catching maiden win. She was then sent to Weaver with the goal of sending Black Type and their partners to their third consecutive Kentucky Oaks. A runner-up finish in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks left her just shy of qualifying, but what followed surpassed all expectations.
Over the next two seasons, Sacred Wish placed in nine graded stakes and proved her versatility with standout performances on both turf and dirt.
Maddie Mattmiller of Black Type Thoroughbreds said one of her favorite memories was Sacred Wish's runner-up finish in the 2023 GI Coaching Club American Oaks. Mattmiller and her husband, Jake Ballis, were on their way home from a family vacation, seated on the runway as the field loaded into the gate. They watched from their phones as the plane started to take off, not realizing the race stream was slightly delayed.
Maddie Mattmiller and Jake Ballis with Sacred Wish | Katie Petrunyak
“We were hoping we could get it in and we're frantically watching the stretch run,” she recalled. “We're screaming and the flight attendants don't know what's going on. All of a sudden Jake gets a call from George. We had no idea what had happened so George had to tell us that we got beat by a head. But that was a very thrilling performance and we were excited with how she ran.”
Sacred Wish made headlines the following year after switching to the turf with a breakthrough score in the 2024 GI Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar, where she defeated Grade I winners Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) and Ag Bullet (Twirling Candy). The victory marked not only Sacred Wish's first Grade I win, but also the first at that level for Black Type Thoroughbreds.
“For her to win a Grade I, it meant everything to us and our partners,” said Jake Ballis. “She has been our best horse by money earned and credentials. She's been very sound and never missed a day of training.”
“Sacred Wish is as honest as the day is long,” Weaver echoed. “She always gives one hundred percent. She loves being a racehorse.”
At Fasig-Tipton, Sacred Wish will sell as a racing or broodmare prospect as Hip 140 with Vinery Sales.
Sacred Wish wins the 2024 Matriarch Stakes | Benoit Photo
With earnings just short of $1.2 million, the 5-year-old is Not This Time's all-time leading female. Her dam Indian Wish (Indian Charlie) is a half-sister to the dams of Grade I winners Firing Line (Line of David), Bowies Hero (Artie Schiller) and Sharp Azteca (Freud).
“It's one of the deepest pedigrees and it's a pedigree that I myself am chasing,” noted Mattmiller. “It's full of Classic-type horses and Grade I producers.”
Mattmiller said that when Sacred Wish hits the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds, buyers will be just as taken by her physical presence as they will be by her on-paper credentials.
“She's tall, dark and beautiful,” she said. “She's got the leg, she's got the stretch and her conformation is there. She's precocious yet she was able to carry her speed, from winning at six furlongs on the dirt to being able to carry her speed a mile and an eighth. She's just one of those ideal types of mares and so I think she's going to appeal to a lot of people.”
Just as Sacred Wish inspired pride for her ownership group, Breeders' Cup-bound Dorth Vader has proven equally special for her connections.
The millionaire is a homebred for Ocala-based breeder John Ropes and her story began with a series of fortunate twists. Ropes had originally planned to send his mare Hardcore Candy (Yonaguska) to a different stallion in 2019, but after visiting Girvin, he changed course and bred to the sire in his first year at Ocala Stud. While in foal with Dorth Vader, Hardcore Candy suffered a serious health issue that at one point left Ropes uncertain if she would survive.
Against the odds, Dorth Vader arrived the next year. Because of her challenging start in life, she was given a meaningful name honoring Ropes's partner of seven years, Dorothy Harden. Dorth Vader went on to become Ropes's first-ever graded stakes winner—and later, his first Grade I winner.
“When she was younger, she trained herself,” recalled Ropes. “All she wanted to do was bullet works without asking. As she matured, she started to train properly. What makes any racehorse good is their heart and their willingness to win. She doesn't like to be in second place. She likes to win and she runs that way.”
Team Dorth Vader: George Weaver, John Ropes and Dorothy Harden | Katie Petrunyak
Originally trained by Michael Yates, Dorth Vader broke her maiden in her second start before scoring a pair of stakes wins in the Juvenile Fillies Sprint Stakes and the Sandpiper Stakes.
The Florida-bred's Cinderella story continued the following year when she captured the GII Davona Dale at 46-1 odds and carried Ropes to his first Kentucky Oaks, where she finished fifth. From there, she was transferred to George Weaver to take her talent to New York and she immediately delivered with a runner-up effort in the GI Acorn Stakes.
“That's when we really knew we had a racehorse,” Ropes noted. “She came in second by a nose to Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), who had won the Kentucky Oaks. One step further and we would have won.”
Dorth Vader earned her Grade I breakthrough almost exactly two years later in the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes, dominating over a sloppy track by nearly five lengths. Later this summer, the 5-year-old delivered another top-level performance when she went head-to-head with Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in a dramatic edition of the GI Personal Ensign. In the stretch, Dorth Vader and John Velazquez launched a strong run, bearing down on Thorpedo Anna and Brian Hernandez Jr. The two Grade I winners battled stride for stride in the final yards, with Thorpedo Anna edging her by a nose just as they hit the wire.
“Hernandez even told Johnny congratulations afterward because we were just in front after they crossed the wire,” said Ropes. “The photo showed us two to three inches behind. It was that close, so we had to feel good about the race. We were racing against the number one filly in America.”
“She ran huge that day and we felt like winners,” added Weaver. “Dorth Vader is very athletic and always has been. She covers ground easily, is a very forward filly and has matured over time. She's really stepped up her game this year and has been able to showcase how much she can run.”
Dorth Vader and Thorpedo Anna go head to head in the GI Personal Engisn Stakes | Sarah Andrew
Dorth Vader will make her final start for her current connections in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff as she looks to add one more highlight to an already remarkable run. Weaver reported that while he was “not crazy about” drawing the twelfth post position, Dorth Vader has settled in at Del Mar and is looking better than ever.
Ropes, along with the mare's namesake Dorothy, has been in Del Mar since Sunday, arriving at the track early each morning to watch the star homebred train. Ropes joked that he wished the 5-year-old's morning-line odds were a bit longer than 5-1—after all, she tends to deliver some of her best performances when flying under the radar–but he admitted those odds fairly reflect her current form.
“Right now she's the best that she's ever been, so we hope she shows her best on Saturday,” he said “We're looking for a win and I have no doubt she'll be right there.”
After the Breeders' Cup, Sacred Wish will head to Kentucky for the 'Night of the Stars,' where she will also be consigned by Vinery Sales and will sell as Hip 209.
The sales company's co-owner Matt Bowling said that offering a pair of Grade I winners at one auction is a unique opportunity.
“Both are A-plus physicals,” he said. “You don't see mares like these come to the market a whole lot so we're excited to be able to bring them over and represent their connections.”
Vinery Sales announced earlier this week that a portion of the proceeds of the sales of Dorth Vader and Sacred Wish, as well as 19-time stakes winner Free Like a Girl (El Deal), will go to charity. Dorth Vader will represent Starlight Children's Foundation, which offers Star Wars-themed programs to sick children in the hospital. A portion of the proceeds of Free Like a Girl's sale will be donated to St. Jude's Children Hospital. Sacred Wish will represent the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (More details here)
“We're really excited this year to have the opportunity to sell two special horses coming out of George Weaver's barn,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “It's really cool when you think of how, as brilliant of a stallion as Not This Time is, Sacred Wish is his all-time leading money-winning female. She's demonstrated her ability on both dirt and turf, which is kind of indicative of what you see with Not This Time. To me, Dorth Vader is a really cool mare. She demonstrated great precocity and great speed as a 2-year-old. To see what she's accomplished this year as a 5-year-old has been really exciting and hopefully, she has one more big one in her coming up.”
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