And then there were none

[Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.

Maritime Traveler, a chestnut colt foaled May 15, 1990, carried the distinction of being from the great Secretariat’s last foal crop. Out of the Northern Dancer mare Oceana, Maritime Traveler was bred by the late E.P. Taylor’s Ontario-based Windfields Farm. His breeder consigned him to the 1991 Keeneland September yearling sale, where Arthur Appleton bought him for $55,000.

Maritime Traveler made five lifetime racing starts, all at Canada’s Woodbine Racetrack, with his best finish being a fourth. He earned all of $1,572 and soon after his last start, on June 12, 1993, Appleton retired him to Bridlewood Farm. That operation, one of Ocala’s legacy thoroughbred farms, was founded by Appleton and his wife Martha in 1976.

George Issacs has a long history with Bridlewood Farm and Maritime Traveler. He was Bridlewood Farm’s stallion manager from 1989 to 1992, leaving to become the general manager of Allen Paulson’s Ocala-based Brookside South Farm. In 1996, Isaacs returned to Bridlewood Farm as general manager, remaining in the position through the death of Appleton in 2008 and the ensuing Appleton Family Trust ownership. In 2013, John and Leslie Malone purchased Bridlewood Farm and Isaacs remains the operation’s general manager.

“When I returned to Bridlewood Farm in 1996, I found out that we had a son of Secretariat as a teaser, which was kind of a cool thing. Maritime Traveler was initially the broodmare division teaser and he did his job very well for years,” said Isaacs. “When the breeding shed teaser was retired, Maritime Traveler was moved into that position and he took to it just fine.”

A teaser stallion is used on thoroughbred farms to “tease” broodmares to elicit their readiness for breeding. Broodmares can be teased in paddocks, teasing barns and the breeding shed. Teasing is combined with veterinarian exams to determine the best time period to breed a broodmare to a resident breeding stallion.

“We retired Maritime Traveler as a teaser when he was 28,” said Isaacs. “Up until his death, he lived in a paddock that backs up to 100 acres of forest. He had a good life here at Bridlewood Farm. It was our honor to have him as a special connection to the great Secretariat.”