Taryn Rose, named after an Italian shoe designer by her owner, Peggy Cofrancesco and fondly known as “Mini Moo”, carried on four generations of winning tradition Monday when she was named the Masters Weanling Filly Congress Champion.
Mini Moo is out of the Cofrancesco’s Congress Open and Amateur Grand Champion mare and World Champion, MBJ Mini Obvious (“Mini”), and by Congress Open Grand Champion Stallion, Kid Coolsified.
Had it not been for trainer Jeffrey Pait’s wife, Bronwyn, almost ten years ago, Mini Moo might never have been.
“Big Peter (the late Peter Cofrancesco Jr.) wanted to go look for baby colts in August of 1999,” remembers Pait. “I had been judging in Alaska and I really didn’t want to go, I just wanted to go home. I was so tired after my judging trip to Alaska. But, my wife kept telling me I needed to go. She reminded me that I hadn’t been to Texas at all that year and if nothing else, I needed to go compare what all was down there with what we had at home. She bugged me about it the whole way. So, Big Peter met me at the airport and we went to the youth finals. After that, the plan was to go to the Pilot Point & Aubrey (Texas) area to look for a baby colt. We weren’t looking for a mare, but we wound up at Danny Salsmans and we saw Mini and bought her.”
MBJ Mini Obvious wound up being the Congress Amateur Grand Champion Mare in 1999 as well as Open World Champion 3-Year-Old mare that same year. A year later in 2000 she was Open and Amateur Grand Champion Mare at the Congress and was also Open and Amateur World Champion Aged Mare.
According to Pait, who has worked for the Cofrancesco’s for 23 years, “Mini Moo is the best one we’ve ever raised. She reminds me so much of her mother. Her mother is the most balanced horse I’ve ever shown in my life. She is a tremendously well made mare and this filly carries the same characteristics.”
What does Pait love about the weanling filly? “Everything!” he exclaimed. “I love everything about her. She is so strong over her top-line. She’s very balanced through her neck, shoulder, back and hip and she carries plenty of muscle. She’s so breedy and pretty in her face. When you look at her you know that she’s a filly. I just love the way everything fits together, she’s so balanced, so correct.”
Pait had seen Mini Moo’s sire, Kid Coolsified, show and had judged some of his babies and thought highly of them. “We thought Mini was a good cross to him and they’ve definitely complemented each other. He is very breedy and pretty and puts that on his babies. “
Monday’s win was especially sentimental. “I’ve had a lot of good horses,” according to Pait. “But Mini is the only great one I’ve ever had. She is the first Grand Champion we have ever had in the Open. The Cofrancesco’s have blessed me with many nice horses, but she’s the only one that falls into the category of great. So, all of them out of that mare are pretty special to us,” Pait explains fighting back tears. “Mini’s sick right now, she’s got cancer. I try not to think about it much.”
Mini is arguably the best daughter of Obvious Conclusion ever. But where would she rank among the best mares in history? “Mini would be one of the best, as far as I’m concerned,” says Pait. “In my opinion there are a lot of good horses, a very few great horses. Mini is a great horse.”
And so the tradition of a great mamma continues. According to Pait, “Mini Moo has been the nicest baby right now that the mare has had. It has taken 8 years to get here. We have been waiting and waiting for one like this. All of them are special because they are out of Mini but this one is really, really special.”
