Raise Your Glass was foaled on March 10th, 1968. He was bred by Brown Hotel Farms in Kentucky. His sire, Raise a Native, was the 1963 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. Raise a Native was by two-time Horse of the Year Native Dancer and out of Raise You, by Case Ace. He was undefeated in four starts, including the Juvenile Stakes and Great American Stakes at Aqueduct. Due to a bowed tendon, Raise a Native did not return to the races at age three. He retired to Spendthrift Farm in Lexington where he became one of the greatest sires of all time. He sired Alydar, Crowned Prince, Exclusive Native, Mr. Prospector, Majestic Prince and many others.
Champagne Woman, the dam of Raise Your Glass, was by the 1956 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt Barbizon and out of L’Amour Toujours, by Never Say Die. She won ten races including the Susan Stakes, Princess Stakes, Clipsetta Stakes, Imp Stakes and Coquette Handicap. Champagne Woman produced fourteen foals including race winners Majestic Native, Peaceful Manner, Pontococ and Special Lineage. Her daughter Excitable Miss set a track record for five furlongs at Gulfstream Park. Excitable Lady, the highest money earner out of Champagne Woman, won the Debutante Stakes, Blue Delight stakes, Four Winds Handicap, Locust Grove Stakes and Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. She earned $399,542 on the track. Raise Your Glass, the first foal out of Champagne Woman, would go on to have a racing and stud career worth celebrating.
In 1970, Raise Your Glass made nine starts. Like his sire and dam sire, he was an exceptional two-year-old. He raced against some of the best horses in the country. Raise Your Glass won the Tremont Stakes at Aqueduct in New York. He also placed second in the Sanford Stakes and Saratoga Special and third in the Sapling Stakes and Great American Stakes. As a three-year-old, Raise Your Glass made ten starts and won two races. In total, he made nineteen starts, won four races, and earned $81,222, the equivalent of about $615,000 today.
Raise Your Glass stood almost exclusively to Quarter Horse mares at the McDermott Ranch in Madisonville, Texas. His first foals arrived in 1973. 21 And Change, a colt out of Oh My Oh, by Spotted Bull, was among his first foal crop. The sorrel colt placed third in the 1977 Fire Island Handicap at Parr Meadows in New York. That same year, Crystal Glass, a sorrel filly by Raise Your Glass and out of Fair Lady Tonto, by Tonto Bars Hank, won the 1977 Kentucky Futurity at Commonwealth Race Course. Heres to You and Raise the Devil, colts by Raise Your Glass, also won stakes races in 1977. The success of his early foals got even more Quarter Horse mares on his books.
In 1978, Medley Glass, a sorrel filly by Raise Your Glass and out of Sprint Medley, by Decathlon, won the All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. Medley Glass also won the Buttons and Bows Stakes and Three Bars Handicap. In total, she won twelve races and earned $394,523 on the track. Medley Glass established Raise Your Glass as a leading sire of quarter running horses. She also boosted his reputation as a broodmare sire. Medley Glass produced graded stakes winner Meddlin Dash and stakes winners Meddlin Mistress and Tony Toro. She passed away in 2001 at the age of 26.
Just two years after Medley Glass won the All American Derby, Raise Your Glass became the only stallion, Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred, to sire more than one winner of the prestigious race. Native Gambler, a sorrel gelding by Raise Your Glass and out of Fast Gal, by Fast Time Leo, won the 1980 All American Derby. Native Gambler was the 1980 High Money Earning Horse and AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Gelding. In 1981, he also won the Rainbow Silver Cup and Three Bars Handicap and earned an AQHA Supreme Race Horse award. In total, Native Gambler won twelve races and earned $658,786 on the track. He was the second highest earner by Raise Your Glass.
The highest money earner by Raise Your Glass was the legendary Special Effort. Special Effort was a sorrel stallion out of Go Effortlessly. He won the three biggest futurities at Ruidoso Downs – the Kansas Futurity, Rainbow Futurity and All American Futurity. These three races are often referred to as “the Triple Crown of Quarter Horse racing.” To this day, Special Effort is the only horse to accomplish this feat. He was named the 1981 AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old and World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse. He was also the 1982 Champion Three-Year-Old. In total, he won thirteen races and earned $1,219,949 on the track. Special Effort went on to sire earners of over $18 million. Although he passed away in 2006, Special Effort is still available for breeding through ICSI. Hope Hes Special, a gray colt by Special Effort, has added nearly $30,000 to Special Effort’s progeny earnings this year.
Offspring of Raise Your Glass were also successful in Mexico. Toast the Host, a sorrel colt by Raise Your Glass and out of Easy Date, by Easy Jet, was the 1986 Mexico Champion Three-Year-Old Colt and Mexico Champion Racing Quarter Horse. He won the Mexico Invitational Handicap and Clasico Subasta. Toast the Host also set a new track record for 550 yards in 26.680 seconds in the Clasico Big Racket at Mexico City. He set another track record at 400 yards in 19.690 seconds and 330 yards in 16.600 seconds. Passem Glass, a sorrel colt by Raise Your Glass and out of Passem Easy, by Easily Smashed, was the 1992 Mexico Champion Aged Horse and Mexico Champion Racing Quarter Horse. He won the Clasico Big Racket, Leonel Classic and Cenicienta Classic Stakes.
Raise Your Glass also sired track record setters Crystal Cup, Rise Again, Footprince, Barbarys Crystal, Go Cup, Solid Glass, Tres Cavalier, Knocka Homer and Probition. Additional stakes winners by Raise Your Glass include Sompinlikaglass, Ryons Glass, Bubbly Bobbie, Reach Together, Brace Your Glass, Sweeten the Pot, Thousand an Hour, Big Nine Oh, Payable Kat and Raise Your Dukes. His best Thoroughbred starters were Raise a Governor, One Dollar Raise, Larrocca, Present a Toast and Mary Mc Cord. In total, Raise Your Glass sired 1,445 registered Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals. They included 737 race winners, 699 ROM earners, 46 stakes winners, 34 Superior Race Award earners, ten graded stakes winners, six Regional Champions and one World Champion with $12,090,034 in earnings on the track.
Raise Your Glass also sired race winning Appaloosas and Paints. Rare Glass, an Appaloosa gelding by Raise Your Glass and out of Southern Wind, by Deep South, was undefeated in four official starts. He set a new track record at Wyoming Downs for 400 yards in 19.70 seconds. Raise a Runner, a Paint colt by Raise Your Glass and out of Easy County Music, by Easy Jet, was the 1987 APHA Three-Year-Old Running Champion. In 1991, Razor Sharp, a Paint colt by Raise Your Glass, was the APHA Two-Year-Old Running Champion. Razor Sharp went on to sire A Sharper Image, a leading sire of APHA barrel horses. Raise a Winner, a Paint stallion by Raise Your Glass and out of Hempens Winner, by Hempen, sired several race winning Paints including Kick This, Mizzou and Winner Storm. Raise Your Rocket, another Paint son of Raise Your Glass, also sired money earners on the track and in the rodeo arena.
Raise Your Glass was an exceptional broodmare sire. As of 2022, he was still ranked 25th on the list of All-Time Leading Broodmare Sires by Money Earned. Noblesse Six, a sorrel gelding by Streakin Six, was the highest earner out of a Raise Your Glass mare. Noblesse Six won thirteen races including the Gr. 1 All American Futurity, Gr. 3 La Chiripada Stakes and Gr. 3 Remington Distance Handicap. In total, Noblesse Six earned $1,125,024 on the track. Other top money earners out of daughters of Raise Your Glass include Sir Alibi, Femmes Frolic, Pure D Dash, Deceptively, Toast To Dash, Gotta Get, Raise Chicks and Streakin La Jolla. His daughters also produced exceptional performance horses such as BCR Easy Punch, Dont Con Me, East Clintwood, Settlement Offer, Signalize, Mas Raisen Pie, Miss Sudden Silence, A Star By Image, Images Law And Order and TS Rubys Lancelot. Notable barrel horses out of Raise Your Glass mares include Pampered By Money, Glasses Diamond, Flamin Hot Socks, Runaway Vail, Glass Perkolator, Feature Buster, Crystals Ryon, Sweet Bugs Surprise, Betm Ease, Lauras Perks, Sports Challenge, HBS Mayan Gold, Fling N My Glass, FR Double D and Raising Fame. In total, daughters of Raise Your Glass produced 3,022 foals which included 914 race winners, 97 stakes winners, 69 Superior Race Award earners and 19 regional champions with over $20 million in earnings on the track. They also earned 834.5 points in the arena and 19 Performance ROMs.
Raise Your Glass died in 1992 at the age of 24. His descendants include A Revenant, A Streak Of Fling, Bully Bullion, Captain Courage, Dominyun, Eye Am King, Favorite Cartel, Ivory James, Mr Jess Perry, RC Me Leaving You and many other greats.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, Speedhorse Magazine
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