crop to race, which also includes major stakes winners Gabby's Golden Gal (Acorn Stakes) and Payton d'Oro (Black-Eyed Susan Stakes). In 2009, Medaglia d'Oro was the leading second-crop sire in North America, with over $7.7 million in 2009 progeny earnings. Dam Morrison bred and raced Rachel Alexandra's dam, Lotta Kim (foaled 2001, Kentucky), a moderately successful racehorse whose biggest win came in the Tiffany Lass Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course. Soon after that race, she was injured in a training accident and retired. Rachel Alexandra was Lotta Kim's first and only surviving foal until 2011; Lotta Kim's 2007 colt by Empire Maker succumbed to a neurological disorder known as Wobbler disease, while her 2008 foal was born prematurely and died. Morrison did not breed Lotta Kim in 2009, but returned her to Medaglia d'Oro in 2010, having declined numerous offers to sell the mare in the wake of Rachel Alexandra's success. Lotta Kim produced a bay filly by Medaglia d'Oro on February 27, 2011 at Heaven Trees Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. The foal, named Samantha Nicole, sported a star and broken stripe very similar to that of her full sister, Rachel Alexandra. As a yearling, Samantha Nicole was purchased at the 2012 Keeneland November breeding stock sale for $700,000 by Stonestreet Stable, which had also purchased Rachel Alexandra after her win in the 2009 Kentucky Oaks. Lotta Kim produced a chestnut colt named Dolphus in 2013, sired by 2010 Preakness Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky. Rachel Alexandra had a different personality than her dam. "Lotta Kim had a terrible disposition," Wiggins recalled. "She wasn't really mean, but plumb ornery. She made it a project every time you wanted to do something with her. Completely the opposite from Rachel Alexandra. I don't know what you could do to get Rachel Alexandra excited, except go into the starting gate." Through Lotta Kim, Rachel Alexandra is a fourth-generation descendant of Mr. Prospector. Northern Dancer is in both sides of her pedigree. Breeding and early training Morrison stated that he bred Lotta Kim to Medaglia d'Oro because he was impressed with the stallion's physical presence and compatibility with the mare: Rachel Alexandra was foaled on January 29, 2006, at Dr. Dede McGehee's Heaven Trees Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. Lotta Kim rejected her after she was foaled, so she was raised by a nurse mare. According to Morrison, Rachel Alexandra looked "a little raw-boned