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Kentucky broodmare Vertigineux was honorably named 2008 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year at the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders (KTOB) annual luncheon at Keeneland April 22.

The fourteen-year-old mare is sired by Kris S. and is out of the winning Forli mare For the Flag. Bred and owned by Eric Kronfeld’s Maverick Productions, Vertigineux currently boards at Don Robinson’s Winter Quarter Farm near Lexington. Vertigineux’s dam, For the Flag, was a part of the farm for many years until she died in February at age 31.

Eric Kronfeld bought back Vertigineux for $120,000 after she failed to meet her reserv at the 1996 Keeneland September yearling sale. Trained by Michael Dickinson, Vertigineux's modest racing career consisted of two wins for Eric Kronfeld on the Belmont turf out of a total of seven career starts. She has repeatedly rewarded owner Eric Kronfeld's decision to retain her by foaling top-class thoroughbreds since her retirement from racing.

Vertigineux's first foal was a filly named Where’s Bailey. Sired by the Storm Cat stallion Aljabr, Where’s Bailey went on to win five races, including the 2005 Remington Park Oaks.

Her second foal was a grade I-winning filly. Balance, by Thunder Gulch, won a combined three grade I races in 2006-2007 for owners John and Jerry Amerman, who purchased her as a yearling for $260,000. Among her six career wins were the Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I), Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I), and Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (gr. I). The filly's career winnings totaled to more than $1 million.

Vertigineux's greatest known foal came in 2004 when she produced a massive Street Cry (Ire) filly named Zenyatta. Named for The Police’s chart-topping album Zenyatta Mondatta, she was purchased for $60,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale by Jerry and Ann Moss. Zenyatta as a four-year-old is now an Eclipse Award winner, undefeated in nine starts, and is still in training with John Shirreffs. Her nine career starts included seven graded stakes wins in which her championship season concluded with a triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1)

Vertigineux is also the dam of an unplaced 2006 Pulpit filly named Treasure Trail who brought $550,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale, and a 2007 Giant's Causeway colt named Souper Spectacular who was bought by Live Oak Plantation for $1,150,000 at the same sale.

Her most recent foal was a 2009 filly by Bernardini born January 27 at the Lexington farm.