Glorious Song, who was produced from the Herbager mare Ballade and whose full brother Devil's Bag also was a champion, foaled 13 offspring, eight of whom were winners, including additional stakes winners Rakeen. She also is the granddam of French group I winner Mezzo Soprano. Another full sibling to the mare was Saint Ballado, the sire of 47 stakes winners to date.
Glorious Song, who achieved notable success as a racemare and broodmare, was euthanized over the summer in England. The 27-year-old Halo mare was the property of Sheikh Mohammed, owner of Dalham Hall Stud near Newmarket.Bred by Canadian horseman E.P. Taylor, Glorious Song was a four-time champion for Frank Stronach and Nelson Bunker Hunt and dam of such noted runners as champion Singspiel and major sire Rahy. In the name of Beechwood Farm, Stronach bought Glorious Song for $36,000 at the 1977 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society yearling sale at Woodbine and raced her until selling a half-interest in her to Hunt. The sale took place two days before Glorious Song won the Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (gr. I) in February of 1980.Glorious Song won two other grade I stakes that year, the La Canada Stakes and Top Flight Handicap. She also provided adept against males, with scores over them in that year's Michigan Mile and One-Eighth Handicap (gr. II), Dominion Day Handicap (gr. III), and Canadian Maturity. She was voted a 1980 Eclipse Award as top older mare, and picked up Canadian awards as Horse of the Year and best older mare.Glorious Song repeated as Canada's top older mare when she won the 1981 Spinster Stakes (gr. I), along with the Santa Maria Handicap (gr. II) and another Dominion Day, this time in track-record time. She was retired at the end of the year with 17 wins, including 13 added-money wins, from 34 starts and earnings of $1,004,534 while trained first by Fred Loschke, then Gerald Belanger Jr,, and finally John Cairns. Following her retirement, Hunt bought Stronach's interest in her.Glorious Song went through two more ownership changes during her lifetime. John Sikura of Canada bought her privately in 1984. and Sheikh Mohammed purchased her from Sikura in 1987.Singspiel proved a top international runner, winning such grade I or group I fixtures as the Canadian International Stakes, Japan Cup, Juddmonte International Stakes, and Vodafone Coronation Cup. He also won the second running of the Dubai World Cup and ran second in the Breeders' Cup Turf (gr. IT). He earned an Eclipse Award and was a champion in Dubai.Rahy, a $2 million Keeneland July sale yearling and a grade II winner, developed into a prominent stallion at Robert N. Clay's Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky. His offspring include champion Serena's Song.
