Agrouvateur: The End of an Era

Agrouvateur – pronounced like “aggravator” – is the end of an era.

Our entire childhood was shaped by racehorses and horse races. Buying, breeding, and racing horses was Daddy Doug’s greatest passion. And he was good at it.

“Daddy just had an innate knack for picking horses,” Cheryl said. “He could walk through a stable of a hundred horses and tell you which five would either be champions or breed champions. Just by looking at them.”

Doug passed away in 2010. Agrouvateur is the last living horse he ever bought.

“Pa Doug hadn’t bought a horse in 15 years before that,” said Taylor Franz, who’s following in his granddad’s footsteps at McMullen Legacy Farms. “Then in 2006, he went to a sale in Oklahoma City, and came home with six horses. Agrouvateur was on that trailer, along with his 2007 World Champion, Illegal Memories.”

Audrey fell in love with Agrouvateur as soon as they unloaded her. So Daddy gave her to her.

“Well, technically, she’s Mom’s,” Audrey laughed. “But Daddy ‘gave her to me’ because I said I liked her when he brought her home. Probably so we’d never sell her.” 

And we never will. Despite being unraced, she’s proved to be another of Daddy’s solid picks.

“She never raced, so she’s a straight broodmare,” Taylor explained. “We’ve bred her the last 10 years, and four of those have been winners. She’s due to foal again in the spring, praying for another winner!”

It was important to us that we include her in the shoot for our 30th anniversary collection catalogs. She’s symbolic of our upbringing, of our background in horse racing, and of our Daddy Doug.

Agrouvateur is now 15 years old. While she’s still got some life left in her, we know the day will come when we lose her, and we’ll have to say goodbye to the last remaining piece of Daddy’s passion. Truly, the end of an era.