Liable, the 2010 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year best known for producing Eclipse Award champion and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner BLAME, died on July 19 due to the infirmities of old age.
The 29-year-old daughter of Seeking the Gold was a homebred for Claiborne Farm, in partnership with Nicole Perry Gorman, out of the Grade 1-placed Nijinsky II mare Bound, who herself was bred by and raced for Claiborne. Adele Dilschneider later assumed Gorman’s place in the partnership prior to Liable’s racing career.
Trained by Frank Brothers, Liable won six of fifteen starts during her racing career from 1998 to 1999. Though she never earned a stakes victory, Liable did pick up allowance wins at Churchill Downs, Keeneland, and the Fair Grounds, and she finished in the money in the A.P. Indy Stakes at Keeneland and the Wild Flower Stakes at Lone Star Park.
Liable retired to Claiborne Farm for her broodmare career, where she produced five winners from six total foals. All of Liable’s foals began their racing careers as homebreds for Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.
Her most successful runner was BLAME, a son of the late Claiborne stallion Arch, who earned the Eclipse Award for champion older male in 2010 during a campaign highlighted by a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. BLAME won nine of thirteen races and earned over $4.3 million, with other Grade 1 victories in the Whitney Handicap and Stephen Foster Stakes.
BLAME now resides as a stallion at Claiborne Farm, where he has sired six Grade 1 winners and is the broodmare sire of 2022 Champion 2 Year-Old Colt, Forte, as well as 2024 Graded/Group Stakes winners Switzerland (AUS) (by Speightstown), Honor D Lady (by Honor Code), and Tiny Temper (by Arrogate).
Liable earned Kentucky Broodmare of the Year honors in 2010 on the strength of BLAME’s season, but she continued her success the following year with Tend, a son of Dynaformer who won a pair of stakes races during that campaign.
Liable’s fillies have carried on her name in the stud book, led by Apt. The daughter of A.P. Indy produced three stakes winners: Grade 3-winning millionaire Carve, Grade 1-placed stakes winner Apropos – both by Claiborne Farm stallion FIRST SAMURAI – and Group 2-placed stakes winner Sloane Avenue, by Candy Ride (ARG).
Claiborne’s broodmare band currently includes Liable’s daughter Might, a full sister to BLAME, who produced a WAR OF WILL filly in 2024.
Liable will be buried in Claiborne Farm’s Marchmont Cemetery.