Thoroughbred
Breeding triumphed in the spectacular career of this bay filly, a product of E.P. Taylor’s Windfields Farm nursery in Oshawa. Square Angel was a daughter of Quadrangle, the upset winner of the Belmont Stakes the year that Northern Dancer lost out in his Triple Crown bid. Her dam Nangela was by Northern Dancer’s sire, Nearctic. Do you think Taylor paid attention to the colt that defeated Canada’s hero when it came time to breed Nangela?
Was there a better bred filly at the CTHS yearling sales in 1971? Not for $20,000, the price Gen. Preston W. Gilbride paid for her. Square Angel showed promise as a juvenile, winning the Shady Well Stakes and finishing second in the Natalma and Yearling Sales Stakes for trainer F.H. Merrill, Jr. She really flourished in 1973, earning the title as Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly with victories in the prestigious Canadian Oaks, upsetting the 1-20 odds on favorite champion La Prevoyante, and the Nettie Stakes, later renamed the E.P. Taylor Stakes. Square Angel also won the Fury and was second in the Wonder Where, a race she won but was disqualified, Bison City, Tattling, Star Shoot and Selene Stakes.
Prominent on the racetrack, Square Angel was even more prolific in the broodmare barn as the dam of champions and granddam of multiple champion stakes winners. Her daughter Kamar would also win the Canadian Oaks, and then went on to produce Gorgeous, a Grade 1 winner of the Ashland, Hollywood Oaks and Vanity. Kamar also produced Queen’s Plate winner Key to the Moon and Seaside Attraction, winner of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.
It soon became apparent that Square Angel’s daughters were producers of stakes class horses. Her daughter Stellarette won the Grade 3 Barbara Ritchie and is the dam of Cuddles, winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet. Another outstanding daughter was Love Smitten, who won the Grade 1 Apple Blossom and the graded Santa Maria Hdcp. and the Silver Belles Hdcp.
Love Smitten went on to produce one of the world’s great turf stars, England’s Swain, a four-time Group 1 stakes winner with back to back victories in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes along with the Coronation Cup and Irish Champion Stakes. A breeding with Nijinsky II continued the legacy of Square Angel’s prowess as a producer of quality fillies in 1983 when her final offspring, Dancing on a Cloud, was stakes placed at three and four and won the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington.
Square Angel was on the Pedigree Chart for two of the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Championships winners. Square Angel is the granddam of Sprint winner, Amazombie and great granddam of Marathon winner, Afleet Again.