"He was old, arthritic, and had lost his eyesight last year," said farm manager Mark Winslow about the 27-year-old pensioned stallion. "He was a good old horse that everyone liked, and he acted more like a saddle horse."

Fran's Valentine, who came along when Saros was standing at Earl Scheib's Green Thumb Stable Farm in California, ended up earning $1,375,465 in her career. A Scheib homebred, Fran's Valentine returned the year after her Breeders' Cup disqualification to win the 1985 Kentucky (gr. I) and Hollywood (gr. I) Oaks, plus the Santa Susana Stakes (gr. I) and three other added-money races. She was a grade II winner the next two years and ran second in the 1986 Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I). As a broodmare, Fran's Valentine is represented by millionaire and 2001 grade I turf winner With Anticipation.

Scheib acquired Saros from the stallion's breeder, S. Wingfield Digby, while the son of Sassafras was in training in England. A stakes winner in England, Saros was stakes-placed in North America before entering stud at Green Thumb Stable. While there, he sired such other good ones as graded stakes winners Iz a Saros, Saros Brig, and He's a Saros for Scheib.