May Round-Up: Breyer's Racehorses

In case you missed it, as part of Breyer's 70th birthday celebrations, we're taking a stroll through Breyer history all year round on our social media channels! May's theme was Breyer's Racehorses. May looked quite different this year than it has in the past, with almost all major horse races being postponed or cancelled, but we still wanted to take some time to dive into Breyer's racehorse history.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, because this month we're taking a look at the wonderful world of the 1990s! And of course, we couldn't not focus on BreyerFest for the month of July. Stay tuned for more!

Meet Your Mini-Me!

One of our favorite things is seeing horses interact with their Breyer portrait models, and we've been lucky that many of our horse racing heroes have had the chance to meet their Breyer likenesses! With the rise of the Internet and social media, it's become easier than ever for trainers and owners to share these photos with us. The last decade has produced a slew of racehorse heroes with worldwide fanbases, and we've been honored to immortalize many of them as Breyer models. Here are just a few of our favorites!

Stone-Cold Classics

Breyer's Classics line (1:12 scale models now sold under the "Freedom Series" moniker) has long been tied to the world of racehorses. In fact, five of the original six Classics models were portraits of famous racehorses! These models were packaged in colorful picture boxes with hand-drawn illustrations of horse racing.

Classics racehorse portraits have actually been quite numerous through the years, from horses like Silky Sullivan and Kelso, who helped launch the line, to more modern racetrack heroes such as American Pharoah and Black Caviar.

Some Triple Crown winners have also been immortalized by Breyer solely in 1:12 scale! In the late 1980s, a retailed called Hobby Center Toys produced two special run "Triple Crown Winners Sets." The first set, released in 1987, featured models of Whirlaway, Count Fleet, and Citation, and the second set, released in 1988, featured models of Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed. Only 1,000 pieces were made of each set, and they are now highly sought-after by both racing fans and Breyer collectors alike.

Miss Penny

BreyerFest had the honor of hosting Penny Chenery, the breeder and owner of the legendary racehorse Secretariat, a handful of times. She is pictured here at BreyerFest in the late 1990s, signing one of his Breyer portrait models. We were amazed to be in the presence of such greatness!