At a glance
- Filly, Ontario-bred, foaled February 11, 2024
- By Connect out of Via Ann
- Trainer: Kevin Attard
- Acquired at 2025 Keeneland September Yearling Sale
Behind the name
Derived from an Indigenous word meaning “snow eater,” a Chinook is a powerful wind that races down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and sweeps warm air across the western prairies. For generations, its arrival has heralded dramatic change with remarkable speed, freeing landscapes locked in the icy clutch of winter.
In Alberta, Chinooks cause some of the fastest snowmelt on Earth, turning deep snowpack into water within hours.
In 1962, a Chinook caused one of Canada’s most dramatic temperature surges, a 41°C swing that heated Pincher Creek from -19°C (-2.2°F) to 22°C (71.6°F) in an hour. Capable of gusting at hurricane-force speeds, Chinooks can vaporize snow before it even has a chance to melt.
A prevailing force. Sudden. Transformative.
Beyond the wind, Chinook carries deeper historical weight in Canada.
The rise of Hudson’s Bay Company activity in the Pacific Northwest in the 1820s created a need for a common tongue to trade and navigate across a region of extraordinary linguistic diversity.
Rooted in Chinookan vocabulary and drawing from European and other Indigenous languages, the pidgin trade language known as Chinook Jargon became an essential trade vehicle and critical cultural bridge that connected communities and settlers over expansive distances. It wasn’t owned by one group. It was built between them.
Making movement and relationships possible across a vast and evolving landscape, the language became deeply embedded into the social fabric of the era.
At one point, no newcomer was said to arrive in British Columbia without a Chinook dictionary in hand. A working person’s language that propelled economic, social and political integration, it was the quiet force behind the opening of the Pacific Northwest – a catalyst that shaped the foundation of Western Canada.
Movement. Change. Connection.
About the sire
Connect was a top-level performer on the dirt, reaching Grade 1 success with a victory in the Cigar Mile Handicap where he delivered a decisive performance against elite competition. He also captured the G2 Pennsylvania Derby, establishing himself as a colt capable of carrying speed over a distance of ground.
In 11 starts, Connect compiled six wins, a second, two thirds, and more than $1.37 million in purse earnings. His career was defined by consistency at the graded stakes level and an ability to deliver when it mattered most.
Sired by Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year and one of the most influential sires of the modern era, Connect comes from a lineage synonymous with class, stamina and durability. Producing champions across surfaces and distances, the Curlin line continues to shape the North American breeding landscape.
Connect has sired six crops of racing age, 475 foals, 371 starters, 19 black-type winners, two champions, 7 graded stakes winners, and 222 winners with combined earnings over $29 million.
Showing versatility, competitiveness and the balance of speed and staying power that defined his own racing career, Connect‘s runners include G1 winner Rattle N Roll ($3,949,047), G2 winner Implicated ($436,115), and G3 winners Forever After All (2025 Bewitch Stakes winner, $827,454), Pocahontas Stakes record setter Hidden Connection ($851,808), 2023 Sovereign Award Champion 2 Year Old Filly Witwatersrand, and Ontario Collen Stakes winner Candy Quest ($673,256).
About the dam
From a North American family built on durability and consistency, Via Ann is a daughter of multiple G1 winner Street Boss who won $831,800 going 7-3-1 in 13 starts. He was sired by Irish-bred Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry ($5,150,837), an internationally influential sire known for producing elite runners across multiple continents.
The Street Cry line produced Hall of Famer Zenyatta (a 3x Eclipse Award Champion and Horse of the Year who went 19-1-0 in 20 starts to earn more than $7 million) and Australia’s highest-earning racehorse Winx, a champion mare who earned more than $18 million. Ranked as the world’s best turf horse in 2016, 2017, and 2018, Winx won a remarkable 37 times in 43 starts, including a record 33 consecutive victories.
From a Canadian racing context, Via Ann’s dam, Hoi An, was Canadian black-type-placed as third place finisher in the Wonder Where Stakes. She produced Ice Road who placed in the Prince of Wales Stakes. Under the third dam, Forty Gran, the page also lists Square Eddie, winner of the G1 Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Carrying a lineage tied to class and adaptability, Via Ann is the dam of two registered foals of racing age, including Chinook.
