Pictured is the Blackhome Duke daughter, Hazelwood Lady's Lynda, foaled March 3rd, 1987. Lynda was among the very first Duke daughters to hit to the show ring in the latter half of the 1980's, and one of his many All American progeny. Lynda was born at the farm of William L. & Carol of Freeport, Pennsylvania. There, she would establish herself as the one of the foundation broodmares for their Hazelwood Percherons.
Lynda was out of the Marvyn Forwood bred mare, M.E.F. Lady Enchantress. Enchantress was a daughter of La Donald, a stallion hailing from the famous breeding program of L.C. Hay and Sons. Behind Enchantress' dam you will find horses that were at the core of Marvyn Forwood's breeding program, Gov. Wallace and Greenwood Avon- making her closely related to the successful sire, M.E.F. Hot Shot II, (who made his mark at Glynlea Percherons in Canada).
In 1998, Lynda was bred to the stallion Blackhome Colonel Lyn (a Highview Dragano son), then standing at John Eberly's Bittersweet Percherons in Ohio. The following year she foaled a sharp colt that would be named Hazelwood Lynda's Bravo. Bravo was campaigned in conjunction with the Eberlys and enjoyed a successful show career, including earning All American recognition of his own. The 18hh+ stallion would stay at Bittersweet in partnership with the Kronens for several years, picking up Jr. Herd sire duties behind his sire, Colonel Lyn. Later, the Eberlys would sell Colonel Lyn back to his breeders at Blackhome Percherons and acquire full ownership of Bravo as they continued to use him on their small band of broodmares. Bravo produced several quality offspring for Bittersweet, many of which went on to be All American contenders during an extremely competitive era of halter showing, with others making their way to some of the top hitches of the time.
However, it is Bravo's 2008 All American daughter who established him as a sire of note. That mare, named Bittersweet Unexpected Surprise, would set an all-time record for a Percheron mare sold at public auction when she garnered the sum of $89,000 at the 2009 Mid America Draft Horse Sale in Gifford, Illinois. Surprise was headed west, to Jackson Fork Ranch, located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and there she spent time in their six horse hitch of mares.
Two years later, her sire, Bravo, would head to the same auction site- consigned as a 12 year old, proven stallion. On February 24th, 2011 he was the top selling stallion of the sale, bringing to sum of $42,000.
Hazelwood Lady's Lynda reminds us that great mares make great stallions, and a powerful dam line is imperative when choosing a horse to perpetuate one's breeding program.
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