At a glance
- Status: In training
- Filly, Ontario-bred, foaled February 4, 2023
- By Mendelssohn out of Macallan Gal
- Trainer: Kevin Attard
- Acquired at the 2024 CTHS Premier Yearling Sale
Behind the name
On February 23, 1909, the Silver Dart cemented its place in Canadian history when it lifted off the ice in Nova Scotia, flew just under a mile, and heralded the age of aviation in Canada. Designated a national historic event, it was the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air machine in Canada and the British Empire.
Unlike the Wright Brother’s plane which launched from a catapult on a rail, the Silver Dart took to the air under its own power. The day after its inaugural flight, the aircraft flew four miles. Months later, the Silver Dart registered Canada’s first military flight followed by the country’s first ever passenger flight. The iconic plane flew more than 200 times.
The Silver Dart was built by the Aerial Experiment Association, a group formed in Halifax in 1907 under the leadership of Alexander Graham Bell.
The designer and pilot of the Silver Dart was a courageous Cape Bretoner named John A. D. McCurdy who trailblazed his way to become one of the principal architects of Canadian aviation.
McCurdy’s other historic firsts include being the first to fly out of sight of land, longest flight, first to fly over the ocean (Florida to Cuba), first to carve a figure eight in the sky, first pilot to ever transmit and receive wireless signals in flight, first inter-city flight in Canada, first flight in Mexico, piloting the world’s first flying boat, setting a world biplane speed record, and holding the first pilot’s license ever issued in Canada and the British Empire. The ingenious Canuck was also the first engineer to incorporate a water-cooled engine, ailerons, and a tricycle undercarriage in an aircraft. While the Wright Brothers only started installing wheels and landing gear on their airplanes in 1910, the ailerons and landing gear that McCurdy first incorporated into the Silver Dart are still universally used 110 years later.
When WWI broke out in 1914, McCurdy, who was also the first person to demonstrate the possibility of bombing from the air, advocated for the formation of a Canadian air fleet. The country’s Minister of Defence told him that there was no future in flying and that the airplane was an “invention of the devil” that would never play any part in the defence of a nation. A year later, McCurdy had established Canada’s first aeroplane factory and was supplying the British with reconnaissance aircraft that were the only real means that the Allies had of gathering information beyond enemy trenches. As Toronto’s largest factory churned out training and observation planes for the British Royal Flying Corps (including the JN-4, affectionately known as “The Canuck”), the remarkable Canadian also established and ran a flight-training school for the British Air Force: the first aviation school in Canada. The success of his training program influenced the establishment of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, arguably Canada’s most important contribution to the Second World War.
Considered the father of Canadian military aviation, John McCurdy was instrumental in founding the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1924. He later served as president of Curtiss-Reid Aircraft for a decade, Assistant Director General of Aircraft Production for the Canadian government during WWII, and Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia from 1947 to 1952. When he died in 1961 at the age of 74, McCurdy was the oldest licensed pilot in the world.
A recipient of the Order of the British Empire, the designer and pilot of the legendary Silver Dart was a true pioneer who was designated a national historic person in 1974, the same year he was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.
About the sire
One of the best sons of the sensational sire Scat Daddy, Mendelssohn was purchased for $3 million as a yearling when he topped the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. A half-brother to outstanding Champion sire Into Mischief and half-brother to 11-time G1 winner Beholder,Mendelssohn retired after 13 starts with a record of 4-2-2 and more than $2.5 million in purse earnings. In six of his races, he registered three digit eSpeeds, hitting 109 three times.
Successful over distances of 8 to 10 furlongs on both turf and dirt, Mendelssohn finished second in Europe’s top juvenile race (G1 Dewhurst Stakes) in his fourth career start as a 2-year-old and became a grade 1 winner on his fifth outing when he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. The next year he won the $2 million G2 UAE Derby at Meydan by 18½ lengths in course record time, came second in the G1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, then finished third in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
At the time we acquired Silverdart, Mendelssohn had sired three crops of racing age, 627 foals, 391 starters, 12 black-type winners, and 211 winners of 331 races that earned their owners $14,855,346 in purses. In 2024, ten of his progeny became stakes winners, including Kin’s Concerto when she won the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks.
Mendelssohn’s sire Scat Daddy was a $250,000 purchase who retired after winning more than $1.3 million in 9 races (5-1-1) including the G1 Florida Derby and G1 Champagne Stakes along with G2s Sanford Stakes and the Fountain of Youth Stakes.
