(2019 bay mare by Weigelia out of Animalistic, by Animal Kingdom)
Could Be a Cougar is a mare that was bred by and originally raced for our friends at Wasabi Ventures Stables, and is the product of one of the earliest Housatonic Recommended Matings. After she was vanned off the track in what proved to be her career finale, we were excited to be able to give her a soft landing for her retirement, and she will be a new addition to our broodmare band for the 2027 breeding season.
A daughter of long-time leading Pennsylvania stallion Weigelia, Could Be a Cougar demonstrated all of the speed and durability for which that blue-collar sire has been known during both his own racing career and at stud. Could Be a Cougar raced 31 times from 3YO through 6YO, winning 10 races, placing in half-a-dozen more, and earning a total of $262,052. She often went wire-to-wire in her victories, which came at 5-1/2 and 6 furlongs, on dirt. She was a maiden special weight winner in state-bred company who cleared two Pennsylvania-bred allowance conditions, and she also won an open company “a other than” allowance race. Additionally, she finished 3rd in the non-black-type Penn Ladies Dash.
Could Be a Cougar is the first foal out of the winning Animal Kingdom mare Animalistic, who we sourced for Wasabi as an early member of their then-Mid-Atlantic-based broodmare band. (Interestingly, we actually went to Fair Hill to look at another broodmare prospect, and were shown Animalistic just because we were there. We ended up dealing for her instead of the filly we’d originally gone to see, and are still glad that we did!) Animalistic is a daughter of the multiple black-type winner and G2-placed Misty Sixes, who is also the dam of the black-type placed Miss Dolce and the black-type producer It’s About Midnight. This is the extended female family of G1 winners Devil’s Orchid and Victory to Victory, as well as G2 winner Points of Grace and champion Go Greeley.
A strong, stout mare who looks as quick as she was, we think that Could Be a Cougar has every right to pass on her own speed, class and toughness to her foals, and we can’t wait to get her to the breeding shed in 2027 for our first multi-generational Housatonic Recommended Mating.
You can see more photos of Could Be a Cougar here.
