Winner's Circle

Mare Comes Full Circle - by Tom LaMarra

2012-08-28T13:31:00Z

It seems as though Ken and Resia Ayres and the mare Pyramyst are meant to be together.

The Kentucky homebred by Pyramid Peak out of the General Assembly mare Almost Mystical failed to bring her $3,200 reserve price at the 2003 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale, broke loose, and ran around the sale grounds. It was hardly an auspicious beginning.

The Ayres put Pyramyst in training with Mike Morrison, and she broke her maiden in her third career start Dec. 27, 2004, at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort. She started 23 more times for the couple, winning five races despite two surgeries to remove bone fragments in a knee.

In May 2007 Pyramyst was claimed for $15,000 from the Ayres at Mountaineer for new owner Maggi Moss, and two races later was claimed again for $10,000 by Skip Cheesman. Racing for trainer and co-owner Peter Walder, Pyramyst proceeded to win 16 races, including a restricted stakes at Delaware Park, in 37 starts through March 18 of this year.

She was claimed that day off a lackluster effort for $10,000 at Gulfstream Park and resurfaced in late May at Monmouth Park, where she was beaten 27 3⁄4 lengths in her comeback race.

The Ayres, who live in Lexington and don't own a farm, kept regular tabs on Pyramyst after the claim in 2007, as did Morrison, who contacted them in May to say he would gladly give her a home for the rest of her life at his farm if they could reacquire her. Cheesman and Walder negotiated the deal, and Eric Reed, who currently trains horses for the Ayres, arranged for Pyramyst to van to Lexington.

The mare, now 10, was picked up by Morrison and his wife, Megan, and shipped to their farm, where she had recuperated after her earlier surgeries. Her long and productive racing career--23 wins, 13 seconds, and 12 thirds in 66 starts over nine years at almost 20 different tracks for earnings of $532,802--is over, but Pyramyst somehow found her way back home.

"Everybody was there for her right along the line," Ken Ayres said. "They all wanted us to get her back here. So many trainers are criticized for not caring for their horses, yet these three trainers volunteered to come together to make sure she would have a great retirement home."

Almost Mystical was purchased by the Ayres in the mid-1990s from a trainer at Ellis Park who wanted $15,000 for her. Ken Ayres' offer of $10,000 was rejected--but then accepted before he left the track that day.

Almost Mystical raced three days later for her new owners and won her first race. Before her death in 2009, the mare produced nine foals, eight of them winners, for the Ayres.

The first two foals, Storm Tale and Crown Myst, were full brothers by Crown Ambassador that were bred in Indiana. They earned $111,577 and $79,532, respectively, on the racetrack.

Then came Pyramyst, and it didn't take long for her to become a family favorite.

"My wife has always been very emotional about her even though I told her no horse with four white socks will amount to much of a racehorse," Ayres said. "Breeding-wise, she came from a bad neighborhood on the wrong side of the street, but she proved she has guts and ability.

"We nursed her through knee surgeries and didn't think she would race again, but she proved she had what it takes to run."

The Ayres currently have one broodmare, Right Time Matty, who has produced five foals. The first two have raced and won, including stakes-placed Banjammer. Her 2-year-old, Magtime, was scheduled to make his career debut Aug. 25 at Mountaineer, and there are a yearling and a weanling.

Ken Ayres, who owned a graphics design business and now is semi-retired, and Resia Ayres, operations administrator for the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, lived in Indiana for many years before moving to Lexington. Ken Ayres said they are "small breeders" that own one or two mares at any given time. And next year they hope to add Pyramyst to the list.

"If everything works out and she stays healthy, that's the plan," Ayres said.

City Vet - by Esther Marr

2012-08-21T15:32:00Z

One of the hardest things Dr. Michael Cavey Jr., 63, has ever done in his 35 years in the Thoroughbred industry was sell Playa Maya, dam of 2010 champion 2-year-old male Uncle Mo. The decision to part with the crown jewel of his broodmare band meant letting go of a family with which the veterinarian/breeder had been involved since he started in the business. Hot Slippers, Uncle Mo's fourth dam, was the first horse Cavey ever bought.

"It was difficult, but it was a business decision," said Cavey of the mare who brought $1.65 million (in foal to Broken Vow) from M.V. Magnier at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale. The sale was just days after Uncle Mo had captured the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I).

"I think I was the underbidder on her at that sale," Cavey said of the mare who was consigned by his Respite Farm through Denali Stud, agent. "My wife was screaming at me at the time to keep my hands in my pockets. It was difficult (to sell her), but it was the right decision to make for our breeding operation."

In contrast, one thing that comes easy for Cavey is cheering for the horses he has bred. The latest result of Cavey's meticulous breeding philosophies and patient approach is City to City, winner of the Aug. 12 John C. Mabee Stakes (gr. IIT) at Del Mar.

Cavey, who owns and operates a 200-acre farm near Paris, Ky., with his wife, Nancy Temple, primarily breeds to sell, but he often retains some fillies for his racing stable. The year City to City was born, Cavey had a particularly large foal crop and decided to send several through the ring at the 2007 Keeneland November sale. Luckily for the now 5-year-old daughter of City Zip, she ended up in more than capable hands.

Campaigned by Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in partnership with Mark Dedomenico and William DeBurgh, City to City has won or placed in 18 of 29 starts, with additional graded victories in this year's Buena Vista Handicap (gr. IIT), the 2011 Palomar Handicap (gr. IIT), and the 2010 Providencia Stakes (gr. IIT).

"She had an ankle injury a couple of years ago, and Jerry Hollendorfer did the right thing for her...he had the surgery done, gave her the time, and he's done a masterful job bringing her back," said Cavey. "There's a lot of satisfaction seeing somebody that is that good get their hands on them. Jerry deserves a lot of the credit."

Cavey is a native of Maryland, where he ran a mixed-practice veterinary clinic from the late 1970s through the early '80s.

"I treated everything from aardvarks to zebras--anything that had hair, four feet, and bled," said Cavey, who delved into Thoroughbred racing after meeting successful Maryland owner Adelaide Riggs.

Helping Riggs with her breeding operation eventually segued into a partnership, and in 1987, Cavey decided to sell his veterinary practice to work full-time alongside Riggs as her breeding and racing manager.

Among the best horses Cavey picked out for Riggs was Wild Zone, a multiple stakes winner who set two track records at Woodbine while earning $509,973.

At the same time he was working for Riggs, Cavey also began running his own farm in Maryland under the Respite banner. Cavey, whose earliest stakes winners as a breeder include Shes Got the Facts and Wa Bert, decided to make the move to Kentucky in 2000.

Cavey and Temple, who is also a veterinarian, receive much joy from treating and caring for the horses on their own operation, selling the majority to pay the bills, and keeping the rest to race, including Proud Heiress, winner of back-to-back runnings of Turfway Park's Wishing Well Stakes in 2009-10.

While Cavey has considerably scaled back his broodmare band from 30 to 14 in light of the recession in the commercial market, he certainly hasn't skimped on quality.

Cavey's methods are calculated, as he closely examines the winning percentages of stallions to which he is considering sending his mares.

"We also do nicking patterns and all the things other breeders do, but we try and always look at the stallions, judge their conformations, and try to do as much research as possible to see if there are certain sire lines with mares that cross well," said Cavey. "We try to match conformation as well as pedigree."

When asked how he managed to record his biggest success stories in the midst of a turbulent economy, Cavey chalked it up to persistence and a lot of luck.

"Adelaide Riggs used to call me her pit bull...she'd say it's a great game if you don't weaken," he noted. "You have to develop a philosophy and stick to it. We've had a lot of misses and a few hits...there is a lot of luck involved in getting the right trainer and owner to buy them. You have to stay in it long enough, do the best you can, and sometimes it comes back to you."

Rebuilding Her Empire - by Esther Marr

2012-08-14T13:04:00Z

(Originally published in the August 18, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Breeder Diane "Dede" Snowden attended the Aug. 6-7 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale with one specific purpose: to watch her flashy Empire Maker colt bring big money.

Snowden, who had scaled back her involvement in the Thoroughbred business considerably in recent years due to the poor economy, had high hopes for the colt as her possible ticket to a full force re-entry back into the game.

Plenty of buzz had surrounded the Empire Maker yearling, a full brother to grade I winner Mushka, so Snowden went in with great expectations. She wasn't disappointed.

The Empire Maker colt became the second seven-figure yearling of the opening session, bringing a final bid of $1.1 million from Stone-street Stables' Barbara Banke and George Bolton. The colt was consigned by Craig and Holly Bandoroff's Denali Stud, where Snowden keeps her mares.

"I thought the price was very good considering the sale," said Snowden. "The big buyers were there and the horse was a close-to-perfect physical with a great attitude. Craig Bandoroff does a wonderful job...he's got a great team to get them looking shined up and perfect."

Snowden said the son of Empire Maker was tall with above average weight as a foal.

"He had a very good temperament," she said. "He was always well-behaved, good-minded, and smart. He had good horse sense. A lot of them don't. He was just a pretty sensible guy that Craig brought on even further."

The colt is out of the stakes-winning Seeking the Gold mare Sluice, who is one of just two members left in Snowden's broodmare band. Since Mushka, who sold for $1.6 million as a yearling and later for $2.4 million as a broodmare prospect, Sluice has yet to produce another offspring that would accomplish anything significant on the racetrack.

"You can't go into this business without understanding the ups and the downs," said Snowden. "There are extreme highs and extreme lows. Fortunately we've had more on the high end, but I think that a lot of people think it's easy to jump into the business and be successful. It's quite the opposite, really."

Mushka retired from racing a millionaire. She won the 2009 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (gr. I) and Glens Falls Handicap (gr. IIIT) at 4, plus the 2007 Demoiselle Stakes (gr. II) as a juvenile. She was the first grade I winner for Snowden as a breeder, who alone or in partnership has also campaigned grade III winner El Amante, plus stakes winners Solar Bound and Stormy West, and Peekskill, who ran third in the 2002 Florida Derby (gr. I).

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott trained Mushka and is the main conditioner at the racetrack for Dede and her husband, Guy.

"It's indescribable (watching a horse like Mushka win)," said Snowden of the mare, who was raced initially by Zayat Stables and later by Brushwood Stable. "You're just so proud and feel such a part of it. Mushka was a beautiful girl, and we've gotten a lot of pleasure out of all of them--whether we race them or someone else does."

While Guy is supportive of her Thoroughbred endeavors, he lets her run the business as he focuses on some private investments. Guy used to race a few horses on his own in the early 1990s, including stakes winners Departing Cloud, Fashion Maven, and Premier Mombo.

In addition to breeding Thoroughbreds, the Snowdens own Falls Creek Farm, a Quarter Horse breeding, training, and showing center near Oneco, Conn. The farm is managed by Dede's brother, Mark Pailthorpe. The Snowdens' daughter, Stephanie, is a nationally known show horse rider.

Dede Snowden, who is now looking to rebuild her broodmare band, also wants to purchase a few more horses in training. One of her two current runners, a juvenile Street Sense filly named Sensationalize, out of Stormy West, ran fourth in her debut at Saratoga the same day Snowden's Empire Maker colt sold.

"My husband has always made me treat (the Thoroughbred industry) like a business," she added. "It's hard because I'm a very emotional person and I, of course, want to keep them all. But you just can't do it.

"You need to have a fabulous team to get it all coordinated, and the right people to put you on the right track. We've got all that with Craig and Bill, we have (trainer) Eddie Woods, and Frank Smith in South Carolina. It's a great, great team. I have to give them a lot of credit."

When asked what had kept her in the business so long, Snowden's reply was simple: "The love of the animal itself. Horses have always been my obsession, and I don't think I could live without them. I always wanted to be a part of it.

"I talked my husband into coming to Keeneland with me in September (for the yearling sale), so, hopefully, we'll find that perfect filly there and do the same thing all over again."

Special K - by Tom LaMarra

2012-08-07T12:54:00Z

(Originally published in the August 11, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

If there was a horse-for-the-course in the $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup Handicap July 28 at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, it was Kyma, a 4-year-old Belong to Me gelding appropriately bred in Pennsylvania that was two-for-two on the local turf course.

It didn’t hurt that Kyma’s trainer, Brandon Kulp, showed 10 wins, 12 seconds, and five thirds in 49 starts this season at Penn National, his home base.

Add the fact Kulp is from nearby Palmyra, and the gelding’s owner and co-breeder, Tom McClay, is another native who lives not far away in Hummelstown, and you had the makings of a really nice tale—one that became reality when Kyma, ridden by Dana Whitney, won the Governor’s Cup at 34-1 and had the locals howling on the track apron.

It was the first stakes win for Kulp, a 27-year-old who got his trainer’s license locally in 2006 and through Aug. 1 had won 161 races, good for a win clip of 22%. And it was a big one for a young trainer with only four previous starts in stakes.

“I’m speechless,” Kulp said after the race. “People said he didn’t have a chance (numbers-wise), but they don’t know this horse’s heart. He’s kind of lazy during training, but he’s very intelligent when you put him in a race.”

McClay, a member of the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association board of directors, was on vacation in New Jersey—“When you make them, you have to take them”—and ended up watching the Governor’s Cup on his computer. He said Kyma didn’t look strong in the speed-figure department, but was lightly raced and obviously improving.

“He has no issues at all, and a healthy horse is everything,” said McClay, who breeds 25-30 horses a year. “I think he’s an awfully good horse that has been able to run up to the competition he faces.”

McClay said when he first gave horses to Kulp, the trainer was willing to listen to his owner’s thoughts on training. McClay said Kulp is open to suggestions, something that is hard to find with many trainers.

“He’s a very good trainer,” McClay said. “He’s a young guy starting out, and I’m very happy for him. To get that kind of publicity (winning Penn National’s marquee race) is big for him.”

The Governor’s Cup at five furlongs on the grass attracted a solid field, including 16-time winner Ben’s Cat, winner of Parx Racing’s Turf Monster Handicap (gr. IIIT) last year. Ben’s Cat found himself on the lead through a contested pace in the Governor’s Cup and finished a close fourth.

Kyma was ninth of 10 through fractions of :22.03 and :45.23, raced wide on the far turn, and circled foes to get up by a neck over 22-1 Car Thief and 10-1 Super Chunky. The final time on a firm course was :56.58.

Kulp’s father, Dick Kulp, was in tears when his son accepted the trophy in the winner’s circle. Dick Kulp and his wife, Laurel, earlier had horses with trainer Flint Stites, and then with their son when he got his trainer’s license.

Dick Kulp said other local owners such as Jim Kinsey, Tom Zapf, and Matt Groff gradually provided his son with horses to train.

“He just took off from there,” the proud father said. “They all gave him a shot. This is huge for him. Brandon has been around horses since he was 14, and this is what he has wanted to do since that time.”

Kulp thus far has trained mostly claiming horses. In 2007 he had 62 starters and 27 victories for a 44% win rate. Twenty-four of the wins came in claiming races.

Records the last few years indicate a gradual shift in stock for Kulp, with more starts in maiden and allowance races. Kyma, however, has been the best one thus far for Kulp, who called the upset “unbelievable.”

It appears the Turf Monster Sept. 3 is next for Kyma, who has been trained by Kulp since his victorious career debut June 28, 2011, at Penn National. The trainer said Kyma has told him what he wants to do—run short on the turf.

“We ran him long a couple of times, but he’s definitely a sprinter,” Kulp said of Kyma, who bucked shins as a 2-year-old but has been fine since. “He’s a very smart horse, and you can see how he kicks in. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

An App for Winning - by Eric Mitchell

2012-07-31T18:32:00Z

(Originally published in the August 4, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Eric Mitchell

Racing fans who stuck around for the last race at Saratoga July 21 witnessed a miracle.

At a glance the race appeared to be an ordinary 51⁄2-furlong $25,000 maiden claiming race for 3-year-olds and up on the grass. In the field, however, was Cozy App, a 3-year-old filly who a year ago was at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center battling for her life. Because she had been getting the best veterinary care available, her chances of surviving a severe case of fibrinous pleuropneumonia were decent, but the chances of her recovering well enough to resume training—let alone become a winner—were slim to none.

And yet, here she was at Saratoga, rounding the turn in her eighth start since Feb. 26, chasing down the leaders, and hitting the wire in front by a length.

“She is a remarkable filly,” said Dr. Michelle Abraham, a native of Australia who treated Cozy App at New Bolton. “The ones who pull through and get back into racing condition are rare.”

Cozy App is co-owned by Sharon Biamonte and Peregrination Farm, which is owned by Phyllis Sallusto, wife of the filly’s trainer Justin Sallusto. Bred in New York by Dr. Frank Ariosta and Peggy Ariosta, the daughter of Aptitude had been purchased by Biamonte for $9,500 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall yearling sale. Biamonte then sold part of the horse to her long-time partners, the Sallustos.

The filly first became sick in late June 2011. Despite initial treatments with antibiotics, her health spiraled downward quickly. Some tough decisions had to be made.

“I’ve never seen one with this survive,” said Justin Sallusto, who has had a trainer’s license since 1981. “Usually they die within the first couple of weeks.”

No one would have faulted the owners had they cut their losses and had the filly euthanized. She was facing months of expensive treatment and rehabilitation, a high risk of developing laminitis, and the likelihood she would never become any sort of athlete, even if she survived.

“Many horses with this will just go down, but she refused and would not go down,” Sallusto said. “I thought, ‘If she’s willing to fight, then I’m going to fight.’ Even if she didn’t make it as a racehorse, I thought she deserved to live.”

Abraham is serving her residency in internal medicine at New Bolton. She got Cozy App’s case because she was on duty when the filly was brought in. Cozy App had a severe bacterial infection and a lot of fluid in her lungs.

“There is a lot of pain associated with this disease,” Abraham said. “She had complications with a lot of lung abscesses. She lost a lot of lung tissue.”

Sometimes the treatment for this disease is as scary as the illness, according to Abraham. She eventually had to cut a 20 centimeter hole between a couple of ribs and insert tubes to flush out abscesses that had filled up the front half of one lung and allow fluid to drain.

“There is a more radical procedure that involves removing a rib so you can clean the area out, but once you do that, they can never race,” Abraham said.

The New Bolton vet said the filly’s tough mental attitude and the tremendous support she got from New Bolton’s pain management specialists contributed to Cozy App’s recovery.

“She was determined and could deal with a certain amount of discomfort,” Abraham said. “Some of the racehorses can be a handful. They are fit and then they get stuck in a stall. Some of them start to feel so rotten they may choose not to eat. She was very expressive, and we learned quickly what she liked and what she didn’t. She also seemed to understand that what we were doing was being done to help her.”

After a couple of months at New Bolton, Cozy App started gaining weight and her attitude brightened. She was shipped to Stockland Farm near the Sallustos’ home in Colts Neck, N.J., to finish her recovery. Angel Rosa, who works for Sallusto, took over the job of treating Cozy App around the clock, continuing the antibiotics and flushing out her abscesses. Being on the farm where she could be outside and grazing, the filly thrived, and by November the young warrior was back in training.

“You have to give the owners a lot of credit,” said Dr. Keith Evringham, who is Sallusto’s vet. “They were willing to give her the best treatment at tremendous expense.”

In all, Sallusto estimated they spent $30,000 on Cozy App’s treatment, but said it was money well spent.

“She has never shown any effects from the illness,” Sallusto said. “She showed me as we trained that she could do more. I’m telling you, from where she was, how sick she was, to that race at Saratoga, we saw a miracle.”

Lady Luck - by Tracy Gantz

2012-07-24T12:54:00Z

(Originally published in the July 28, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Tracy Gantz

When brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis were kids living in Southern California’s San Joaquin Valley, they often visited their grandparents in Pasadena.

“Our family outing was to go to Santa Anita,” said Kosta. “My brother and I would be the ones standing down on the rail with our heads sticking through the fence dreaming about these horses.”

That dream turned into reality in 2010, when they claimed their first racehorse. With the help of trainer John Sadler, Hronis Racing has blossomed into a stable of 14 that includes American Oaks (gr. IT) winner Lady of Shamrock and Koast, who finished third in a division of the July 18 Oceanside Stakes.

Lady of Shamrock gave Sadler his biggest win on the Betfair Hollywood Park card July 14, as the conditioner swept the day’s three graded stakes. In addition to the American Oaks, Sadler won the A Gleam Handicap (gr. II) with Switch for Lee and Susan Searing and the Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes (gr. III) with Scherer Magic for Gary and Cecil Barber.

It’s that type of success that led the Hronis brothers to Sadler. Longtime boxholders at Santa Anita, they were watching the races a couple of years ago when Kosta had an epiphany.

“I think I’m going to buy a horse,” Kosta told Pete.

“What are you, crazy?” responded Pete. “We don’t know anything about this.”

“Well, I’m a pretty good handicapper,” was Kosta’s  reasoning.

Kosta decided to find a trainer by asking Tony, the usher in their box section.

“As a handicapper, I was always interested in John’s horses,” Kosta said. “Tony did some homework, and two weeks later he gave us three names. John Sadler was on the top.”

The first thing Kosta said he learned about racehorse ownership was that Pete was right—they didn’t know anything about it. Sadler and his assistant, Larry Benavidez, coached them through the process, and the early claimers have segued into allowance and stakes runners.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” said Kosta. “But we have John Sadler, Larry Benavidez, and great jockeys like Mike Smith (who rides Lady of Shamrock). We’re so blessed.”

Sadler bought Lady of Shamrock privately for Hronis Racing after she broke her maiden at Churchill Downs last November. Since then, the 3-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy—Blushing Issue, by Blushing John, has won four stakes. Hronis Racing has also purchased several 2-year-olds at auction, including Koast, who cost $200,000 at the 2011 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March 2-year-old sale.

The entire family has embraced the racing stable. Kosta’s three adult children, Demetri, Hailey, and Nia, love to attend the races with their father, especially now that he’s naming horses for them. One of the four 2-year-old fillies Kosta hopes will run at Del Mar is named Scooter Bird, his nicknames for Hailey and Nia, respectively. Kosta also named a 2-year-old colt Brother Pete.

“It’s why I called the stable Hronis Racing,” Kosta said. “I want it to be a family affair. I hope it becomes a legacy, from generation to generation.”

That’s the way the family business has evolved. A farming operation, Hronis Inc. has produced table grapes since 1945. Located in and around Bakersfield, it expanded in 1988 to include a citrus division of navel oranges.

Kosta, 53, is the most involved of the family in the racing stable.

“I haven’t missed a race that one of our horses has been in,” he said. “I go to the barn regularly and see how all the horses are doing. It’s kind of like going to your kid’s soccer game.”

Pete, the younger, quieter brother at age 50, usually shows up for the big races.

“This has been something I’ve wanted to do, and he’s supported me,” Kosta said. “He often takes up the slack at work.”

Like most other owners, Kosta would love to run a horse in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), but he said he would actually prefer to have one in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

“In the Breeders’ Cup, you can have a boy, a girl, turf, dirt, a sprinter, a router,” he said. “You can have any kind of horse, whereas the Derby is only 3-year-olds that run on the dirt. It’s such a narrow group of horses, and people think those are the best horses in the world. But in my opinion, the Breeders’ Cup is where the greatest horses in the world are running.”

This year the Breeders’ Cup will be held at Santa Anita, where Lady of Shamrock has already demonstrated her fondness for the turf surface. She would have to run against older distaffers in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT).
“Hopefully, she’ll continue to mature,” said Kosta. “Maybe Lady will get us there.”

If she does, rest assured the Hronis brothers won’t be watching the races by sticking their heads through the railing this time.

Musical's Man - by Claire Novak

2012-07-17T13:51:00Z

(Originally published in the July 21, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Claire Novak

It is not unusual for a jockey’s name to be linked with one horse. Mention Jeremy Rose and Afleet Alex comes to mind. Bring up Stewart Elliott and you think of Smarty Jones.

Juan Leyva’s runner of a lifetime is Musical Romance, who recently dashed to victory July 7 in the Princess Rooney Handicap (gr. I) during Calder Casino & Race Course’s Summit of Speed. Last year, en route to Eclipse Award honors, she upset the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I) at odds of 20-1 with Leyva in the saddle.

The 28-year-old Mexico City native has been aboard the daughter of Concorde’s Tune for 20 of 38 starts, including eight of 11 visits to the winner’s circle and all but one of her eight stakes scores. Those who know him and the horse recognize a special bond, according to agent Roger Velez.

“They blend together, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “He’s got so much confidence in her; he knows her down to a ‘T.’ He’s patient and knows when to press the button on her, exactly when to use that closing kick.”

Musical Romance is trained by Bill Kaplan, who co-owns the 5-year-old mare with Pinnacle Racing Stables. Kaplan gave Leyva a chance when the rider first moved to Florida from California in 2005. Kaplan needed an exercise rider and Leyva was coming back off an injury.

“He went to work for me through the Gulfstream Park meet as an exercise rider and breezed all my horses,” Kap-lan recalled. “I got to know him well and was impressed with his work ethic and ability. I started to let him ride a few during the afternoons, and he was able to do just what I wanted. He’s a very intelligent young man. We developed a relationship that has gone on to this day, and he rides first call for me now.”

Where Musical Romance is concerned, Kaplan said the trust horse and rider have developed is key to their success.

“Musical Romance is unique in the way she has to run,” he explained. “During her 3-year-old year we learned she needs a certain kind of patient ride. Juan is able to do that on her. After so many races together he knows she’s going to give everything she’s got when he asks her, and she knows whenever he asks her to go through a hole somewhere that she’s going to make it through there, whether it looks like she’ll fit or not.”
In many races Leyva saves ground with a rail trip before splitting horses, diving the mare through seams that barely appear to exist.

“She pretty much listens to what I want from her,” Leyva said. “Wherever I want to place her, that’s where she is.”

But don’t think for a second that Musical Romance and her rider have a lovey-dovey relationship.

“She’s all racehorse,” the jockey said. “You try to pet her in her stall, she’ll pin her ears at you. She’s a masculine filly, not one of those that likes a lot of love. She just wants to do her job.”

Leyva’s horse sense comes from his father, Ignacio, who taught him to match race Quarter Horses when he was 12. Raised in the Riverside area of Southern California (his family immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s), he began galloping Thoroughbreds at Fairplex Park when he was 16. A brief visit to Turf Paradise, a stint spent riding both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos, and a tough go of it in the competitive SoCal jock’s colony led to the Florida move seven years ago. His mounts have passed the $1 million mark in yearly earnings six times since.

“Bill has been really instrumental in the recent success I’ve had,” remarked the rider, who lives in Pembroke Pines, Fla., with his wife, Kristi. “And Musical Romance, well, I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s helped me a lot career-wise because, hey, I won a Breeders’ Cup race. I can ride on the big days and not choke. That’s where it’s at.”

Leyva is currently second in the standings at Calder, and is well known and liked around the track. He is fluently bilingual, and volunteers to translate Sunday “film school” meetings between apprentice jockeys and stewards to help the kids out.
Kaplan and Velez wouldn’t be surprised to see Leyva riding on a bigger circuit sometime soon.

“He’s going to be one of the top riders in the nation,” Kaplan said. “He never had the opportunities, but since he’s established himself with Musical Romance he may have to move up to New York or New Jersey soon. I wouldn’t begrudge him that at all.”

“He’s willing to work at his craft,” said Velez. “A good rider has to be a versatile rider, and he has that quality—he can adapt. He’s still young, and he’s going to keep getting better.”

Big Reward - by Evan Hammonds

2012-07-10T14:04:00Z

(Originally published in the July 14, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

For a trainer such as Dale Romans, Mike Bruder is the perfect owner.

“He’s smart, he knows the horses, and he knows the business,” Romans said succinctly of his client. “We’re always on the same page, and he’s been very successful because of that.”

They were both in the winner’s circle July 1 after Guys Reward won the Firecracker Handicap (gr. IIT) at Churchill Downs. The 5-year-old horse wrapped up a very rewarding meet under the Twin Spires, winning two other races over the Matt Winn Turf Course: an allowance/optional claiming event May 31 and the June 9 Opening Verse Stakes.

In three previous campaigns Guys Reward had placed in five graded stakes and the Budweiser Select Cradle Stakes at River Downs.
“He’s really hitting on all eight cylinders right now,” Bruder said of the Kentucky-bred son of Grand Reward. “He might carry us through this year and maybe into next year, who knows? He’s only 5; he’s got a couple of good years in him.”

Bruder, 68, an owner and breeder, also serves on the board of directors of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. The Evansville, Ind., native first got involved in racing in the late 1970s. His entry is an oft-told tale.

“Not far from my house were three farms that had Thoroughbreds on them and I stopped by there a lot,” he said. “I had some friends out there and pretty soon a buddy of mine asked if I’d buy a horse with him. After that, it just blossomed.”

They started with one inexpensive horse and as they rolled along, Bruder began buying his own horses and racing them locally at Turfway Park, River Downs, and his local track, Ellis Park, with trainer Earl Murphy. Ellis Park is in Henderson, Ky., just across the river from Evansville.

Fortunately, said Romans, “when we got together his stock kind of went to a different level.”

The two teamed up in 2000. Currently Romans has a handful of horses for Bruder.

“We’ve been around the same circles,” Romans said. “He knows everybody around the backside around the track.”

Mainly a guy who goes to sales at Keeneland and picks out his own stock, Bruder also tried his hand at breeding horses for a while.

“I tried that scenario but it didn’t work,” he said.

However, one of the horses he bred that did work out was Bright One, a 2003 colt by Dance Bright—Twinkle, by Lively One. Racing for Bruder’s wife, Carolyn, and friend Delmar Daubs, Bright One landed the $750,000 West Virginia Derby (gr. III) in 2006. The colt was invited to compete in Dubai the following year, but had to be euthanized after breaking a sesamoid bone in his left foreleg following a fourth-place finish in his seasonal debut at Gulfstream Park.

While the fate of Bright One was one of Bruder’s darker moments in racing, the subsequent fortunes of M B Sea helped temper the loss. The son of Alphabet Soup was purchased by Bruder at the 2000 Keeneland September yearling sale for $20,000 and went on to earn just shy of $800,000 while compiling a 9-8-10 slate from 69 starts and racing to age 10. Major victories came in Keeneland’s Fayette Stakes (gr. III) and runnings of the $125,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes in 2005 and 2007.

Bruder is retired now after 48 years in the coin machine vending business. With a territory of several counties surrounding Evansville, Bruder offered pool tables, jukeboxes, and video games to area taverns and restaurants on a commission basis.

“It was a real busy life, but I made time for the horses,” he said.

Another coin-operated type business is Instant Racing, a gaming system that is soon to be added to Ellis Park’s menu of wagering options. The pari-mutuel machines, which resemble slot machines, may help Ellis Park as it has struggled for years while facing off against Casino Aztar in Evansville. Bruder doesn’t have any interest in Instant Gaming other than he believes it will help the purse structure.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” he said. “It’ll be good for the horse industry and help purses a little. It might get some new owners in on it and it will at least keep some of the old owners in the game.”

But don’t worry about Bruder exiting racing anytime soon.

“I was barn-raised,” he said. “I love the horse business. It’s hard to get out of even if you want to. It gets into your blood.”

Strait Stuff - by David Schmitz

2012-07-03T19:04:00Z

(Originally published in the July 7, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Wally and Terry Leong’s homebred Strait of Dover did more than just win the 153rd running of the Queen’s Plate Stakes at Woodbine June 24. The 3-year-old son of champion turf male English Channel set a track record of 2:01.99 in the 11⁄4-mile race while becoming the first British Columbia-bred to win the race.

The victory, perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments in British Columbia sports history, could hardly have been imagined last summer. Strait of Dover, named for the strait in the English Channel between England and France, was beaten 233⁄4 lengths and then by seven lengths on dirt in his first two races at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver.

“Our trainer in Vancouver, Cindy Krasner, loved him as a 2-year-old, but Strait of Dover couldn’t get a hold of the track,” said Terry Leong, who was raised in Calgary, Alberta, and whose husband was raised in Victoria, British Columbia. “The Hastings meet ended in early October. At the time, Strait of Dover was fit and lightly raced, and it didn’t make sense to bring him home.”

Home is the Leongs’ Canyon Farms in Belle- view Creek Canyon near Kelowna, B.C. The Leongs, who have bred and raced several other stakes winners in the farm’s name, have owned their farm for 26 years.

As for Strait of Dover, the Leongs instead decided to send him to Woodbine. “Wally had asked a friend, Dr. Ross McKague, for the names of some trainers at Woodbine and he gave him some including Dan Vella’s,” Terry Leong said. “When Wally mentioned Dan’s name to another of our friends, R.J. Bennett (owner of Flying Horse Farm), R.J. said, ‘I’ve used him before and I really like him.’ ”

Vella had other credentials. “He trained for Frank Stronach and for the Sikura family’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms and was good with young horses,” Leong said. “When Dan got Strait of Dover, he phoned us and said, ‘Do you have any more like him you can send? He’s a nice horse, and I think he’s going to fit in well.’ ”

Still a maiden, Strait of Dover made his first start over Woodbine’s Polytrack in November. He finished first but was disqualified and placed third. He started the next month over Polytrack and won.

“Dan was still high on him and after his first win said, ‘He’s my Queen’s Plate horse,’ ” Leong said.

Vella sent Strait of Dover to Nelson Jones Training Center near Ocala, Fla., for the winter. Following his return to Woodbine this year, Strait of Dover won an allowance race and the Marine Stakes (by 61⁄2 lengths). He was scheduled to run in the Plate Trial Stakes June 3 but showed a high white cell count before the race. Despite not running in the prep, he proved a comfortable winner—by 11⁄4 lengths—of the Queen’s Plate.

“Wally has always loved horses and racing,” his wife said. “He started as an owner and later became a breeder. He has win pictures from the 1960s. When I met him, he had a different farm, but it wasn’t hands-on like the farm is now.”

The Leongs own 12 broodmares and 45 horses overall. They bought Strait of Dover’s dam, Bahrain Star, because she is by Danzig.

“We had a Danzig mare before, and she produced stakes winner Illusive Force,” Terry Leong said.

Illusive Force was by the Leongs’ unraced stallion Yoonevano (by Seattle Slew) out of Subtle Blend. Illusive Force proved to be a good one. He won six stakes starting in 2002 and earned $447,919. He contested the 2003 Queen’s Plate and finished last.

The Leongs bought Bahrain Star in foal to Smart Strike for $27,000 at the 2002 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She was consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, agent. The resultant foal from that mating, Starlite Strike, won the British Columbia Cup Distaff Handicap (at Hastings) and the Northlands Oaks and was graded stakes-placed at Hastings.

Bahrain Star produced four foals by Yoonevano. All four started, and all four are winless.

“We thought we could breed any Danzig mare to Yoonevano and that the foals would do well. But they didn’t. Only Subtle Well did well when bred to him,” Leong said.

The Leongs changed directions, feeling that since Bahrain Star had produced Starlite Strike from a mating to Smart Strike, the best thing to do was to send the mare back to that stallion. Unfortunately, Smart Strike’s fee at the time ($150,000) was too high. They decided on English Channel (a son of Smart Strike) despite the fact the stallion had made all 23 of his starts on grass and Hastings does not have a turf course.

“We thought maybe they had never tried English Channel on any other surface because why would you switch him if he had done so well (on grass),” Leong said. “We were just hoping that somewhere in English Channel’s pedigree there was some way we could get a non-turf horse.”

Needless to say, they found a way.

Miles Ahead - by Lenny Shulman

2012-06-26T15:57:00Z

(Originally published in the June 30, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

There is some kind of solid connection among A. Stevens Miles Jr., his horses, and his hometown of Louisville. The retired CEO of First Kentucky National Bank has served on numerous civic boards instrumental in developing Louisville’s downtown, waterfront, and Science Center. And his Thoroughbreds have done much of their good work there as well, most recently Neck ’n Neck, a homebred for Miles who took the June 16 Matt Winn Stakes (gr. III) by 71⁄4 lengths, pushing his Churchill Downs record to three wins from five starts. But he has some work to do before matching the record of Lead Story, an Editor’s Note filly who won the Churchill Downs Distaff and Falls City handicaps (both gr. II) in 2003 and returned to take the Louisville Breeders’ Cup Handicap (gr. II) for Miles the following season.

“I guess racing comes naturally when you’re from Louisville,” said Miles, who has eight horses in his stable. “I was at the track when I was 10; little did I know I’d be involved like I am today. But I’ve been going to the Derby pretty consistently since the mid-1950s.”

Miles, 82, entered the ownership side of horses when he went in on a claimer with his friend Bill Lussky, whose grandfather, Clifford, campaigned Federal Hill, who ran fifth in the 1957 Kentucky Derby. The claimer, Shore Leave, started several times with trainer Bill Mott, and whetted Miles’ appetite.

Another friend, Illinois businessman Jim Tafel, steered Miles to trainer Carl Nafzger, with whom Tafel won the 2007 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) with Street Sense. “I had a filly I’d bought named Disco Doll and I asked Jim over dinner if he’d mind if I asked Carl to train her,” said Miles. “So Carl took her for me, and at about that time Ian Wilkes began working for Carl and gradually I gravitated toward Ian. We’ve worked together now for the past 15 years going to the sales and buying yearlings that he subsequently trains. He’s such a fine guy to work with that it’s more like a partnership than an owner-trainer relationship.”

Nafzger was calling the shots on Miles’ initial stakes winner, Westerly Breeze. The Gone West mare won the Walmac International Alcibiades Stakes (gr. II) at Keeneland in 2002 and banked $350,435 for her career. Miles had plucked Lead Story out of the 2000 Keeneland September yearling sale for $45,000 and under Nafzger’s tutelage Lead Story won four stakes and made $842,031, racing from ages 2-5.

Wilkes was in the driver’s seat in 2007 when Miles bought a colt from the first crop of Medaglia d’Oro at the Keeneland September sale and named him Warrior’s Reward. Miles enjoyed his first grade I victory when Warrior’s Reward won the 2010 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. Warrior’s Reward placed in five additional graded events and earned $565,716 for his career. He stands at stud at B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm.

Miles has hesitantly entered the breeding end of the business because of the fillies he has raced. He currently owns six broodmares, including Bootery, a Storm Boot mare who is the dam of Neck ’n Neck.

“When you have a racemare, what do you do with it?” asked Miles. “We’ve ended up in breeding because they have good pedigrees, were decent runners, and are good-looking physically. Ian and I get together and study pedigrees and match them up. I enjoy that, but I’d rather concentrate on racing. Breeding isn’t really what I want to expand into. We’ll probably ease back from that side as time goes by. I can’t compete with the big breeders, but I can sometimes beat them on the racetrack.”

Between his homebreds and yearling purchases, Miles sends three or four horses each year to Mike O’Farrell’s Ocala Stud for training. That is the route taken by Neck ’n Neck, who broke his maiden in his fourth try last season at Churchill. He is a son of Flower Alley, who became famous as the sire of this year’s dual classic winner I’ll Have Another. Neck ’n Neck began this year with a good second to Discreet Dancer in a Gulfstream Park allowance/optional claiming contest, and Wilkes thought enough of him to step him up into graded stakes company. Neck ’n Neck finished fifth in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (gr. III), fourth in the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II), and fifth in the Florida Derby (gr. I).

“Ian always thought he was a nice colt that just needed to wake up,” said Miles. “Maybe it was a lack of experience or some immaturity, but he never did what we’d hoped he would.”

Entered in a Churchill allowance to regain confidence, Neck ’n Neck won by 6 1⁄2 lengths and then came back to dominate in the Winn. Miles said he was approached by Japanese officials inviting him to run there, but Wilkes put the kibosh on that idea, and Neck ’n Neck is more likely to resurface at Saratoga this summer.

Asked to compare banking with Thoroughbred ownership, Miles said, “Both businesses have inherent risks, but much more so with Thoroughbreds.”

Risks the Louisville native seems more than happy to take.

Quite an Upgrade - By Eric Mitchell

2012-06-19T17:00:00Z

(Originally published in the June 23, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

An early foray into Thoroughbred racing spoiled breeder and owner Mike Anderson.

The second horse purchased at auction by the 60-year-old Illinois car dealership owner developed into stakes winner Emily Ring. He bought the daughter of Fit to Fight at the 1999 Keeneland September sale for $20,000 with the help of bloodstock adviser Cecil Seaman and named the filly after his mother Bernice Emily Ring Anderson and his grandmother Emily Ring.

“I thought the sound of ‘Emily Ring’ coming down the stretch sounded better than ‘Bernice Anderson,’ ” Anderson joked. Emily Ring was a flat-out speed demon that won three stakes, two of them gate to wire, between Dec. 7, 2002, and Feb. 8, 2003. She placed in three other stakes during a racing career that spanned five seasons from 2 to 6.

“She was so fast, but we could never rate her,” Anderson said. “As soon as she got in that starting gate, she wouldn’t slow down for anything. I thought they were all going to be like that. I got spoiled on my second try.”

Emily Ring is now his sole broodmare and living at Jim FitzGerald’s Knockgriffin Farm near Paris, Ky. She has produced six foals of racing age, all bred by Anderson, including graded stakes winner Upgrade, who won the Jaipur Stakes (gr. IIIT) June 8 at Belmont Park. The Jaipur was the 5-year-old gelded son of Saint Liam’s second start in stakes company. His first, the Ft. Marcy Stakes (gr. IIIT) May 5 at Belmont, was run over soft turf, which wasn’t to his liking.

Anderson had sold Upgrade as a yearling for $170,000 to agent Ben Glass, who purchased the horse for Gary and Mary West. The gelding has changed hands a couple of times since the Wests bought him and is now owned by Dennis Narlinger and trained by Michelle Nihei. After Upgrade crossed the wire in the Jaipur, Anderson’s phone started ringing with congratulations and offers to buy Emily Ring. He’s not selling, however.

“Emily Ring was a real diamond in the rough,” said Anderson, who is racing a Bluegrass Cat half brother to Upgrade named Bluegrass Dan. The 3-year-old gelding, being trained by Wayne Catalano, broke his maiden by 43?4 lengths June 2 in wire-to-wire fashion at Arlington Park.

Anderson has two other fillies in training. One is an Empire Maker named Lady Micaela, who has not started, and the other is an Awesome Again named Awesome Gisel, who was the first 2-year-old he ever bought at auction. He acquired Awesome Gisel for $110,000 during the 2011 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale because a homebred colt out of Emily Ring got injured and was unable to race. That left an empty spot in his stable. Because Anderson was already in Florida on a golfing trip at the time, he went to Ocala to shop.

“She is awesome,” said Anderson. “She won her first start. If she stays healthy, I think she is the real deal.”

Anderson does not have a lifelong love affair with Thoroughbred racing. His introduction to the sport came in 2006 through his ex-wife, Kim, and her father and part-time trainer Dave Reid. After he got a taste of the action, Anderson was all in.

“Once you get into it, it becomes fascinating,” he said. “The part I really like best is the breeding part, watching the babies grow and then watching them as racehorses.”

Anderson was so committed early on that he bought a house with 50 acres, thinking he would keep broodmares on the property.

“I went to seminars and breeding clinics; then I discovered how much work it is (to take care of the mares), so now I let Jim take care of them.”

All of Anderson’s young horses now are broken and trained by Bill Recio in Ocala. When they are ready to race, they go to Catalano. At auction and with mating decisions, Anderson relies on FitzGerald and James Keogh.

“It has taken awhile for me to get the team together, but what I have now is as good a team as I have ever had in my life,” he said. “I have a good mare and three really good horses in training right now. I am really happy.”

Giant Extremes - by Lenny Shulman

2012-06-12T18:25:00Z

(Originally published in the June 16, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

by Lenny Shulman

Participants in the Thoroughbred industry often speak of the highest highs and the lowest lows that they experience during the course of their years in the businesses of racing and breeding horses.

But the Parbhoo family experienced both extremes in the space of two hours June 9 at Belmont Park when Trinniberg won the $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes (gr. II) two races after Giant Ryan broke down in the True North Handicap (gr. II) and was fighting for his life with multiple fractures.

“The emotions are very bittersweet,” said Shivananda Parbhoo, who owns the horses that are trained by his father, Bisnath. “Giant Ryan is the love of the family. You’re not supposed to let yourself get too close to the horses, but you fall in love with them. To see what happened today is extremely devastating for every single one of us.”

Several dozen members of the family flooded the winner’s circle after Trinniberg rebounded from an unplaced Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) effort to take the Stephens while flashing the kind of speed that makes him look unbeatable going seven furlongs. The son of Teuflesberg has now won three graded stakes at that distance, having earlier this season taken the Bay Shore Stakes and Swale Stakes (both gr. III) following an unplaced effort in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint last November. In the Run for the Roses, Trinniberg ran second for the first mile before fading.

“I told (jockey) Willie (Martinez) in the Derby that if he got to the quarter pole and didn’t have any horse left, just don’t go on with him,” said Parbhoo, 47. “Now we will keep him short because I don’t think any other 3-year-old can match him at this distance.”

Parbhoo said he was 6 years old when he started gambling at his local racetrack in the two island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, where his father trained. The family came to the United States 20 years ago, and its participation in a trucking business allowed them to enter the world of Thoroughbreds. Bisnath Parboo started in the U.S. as an owner, then took out his trainer’s license in 2007, but was not an overnight success. It took him nearly 100 races before he got to the winner’s circle. But by 2010 his horses had earned well over $1 million, and he has developed stakes winners Exclusively Maria, Giant Ryan, and Trinniberg, the latter of whom came to the family fold in a most unusual set of circumstances.

Shivananda was in Ocala to buy supplies but arrived before the store opened and he needed to kill time, so he wandered over to the 2011 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s April 2-year-old auction.

“My hand was on the door handle to leave the sale, and I looked back at the ring and said, ‘Wait, I like this horse,’ ” Parbhoo said. “I didn’t know anything about him; didn’t know who his mother or father were; had no idea how he breezed. Nothing. I just started bidding, and we got him for $21,000. I didn’t have a checkbook with me. I sent someone back the next day with the money. The horse is fantastic.”

Trinniberg has now won four of nine races and nearly $600,000. The next goal is the Foxwoods King’s Bishop Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga at an ideal seven furlongs.

Giant Ryan, however, sustained multiple sesamoid fractures June 9 and is fighting for his life. The New York-bred son of Freud was good enough to take the Vosburgh Invitational (gr. I) last October and the Smile Sprint Handicap (gr. II) last summer. He faded in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) and finished fifth in the Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News (UAE-I) after setting the pace. Said Shivananda Parbhoo after the Stephens, “Even though we won this race, I am thinking about ‘Ryan,’ and it is very sad. We don’t know how it will end up.”

Parbhoo said the horse would go to the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania for surgery.

The father and son have different spellings of their last name because of a typographical error in the paperwork when they immigrated to the U.S. The ‘h’ was mistakenly left out of Bisnath’s last name.

“This is a family operation, and it has always been,” Parbhoo said while many of the younger members of the family skirted around the winner’s circle following the Stephens trophy presentation. “My father knows a lot about horses from being with them in Trinidad. We came here and eventually could afford the horses a little bit, and here we are.”

Bisnath Parboo is based at Calder Casino & Race Course in Florida with about 20 head. He was the leading trainer by wins and his son the leading owner by wins at Calder’s 2010 Tropical meeting. Bisnath has trained 565 winners in his career that have earned $2.7 million in purses and has taken 11 of 56 races so far in 2012, good for just under $700,000 in earnings.

Two for the Show - by Lenny Shulman

2012-06-05T15:51:00Z

(Originally published in the June 9, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Equine veterinarians typically treat thousands of patients throughout their years in practice, making it highly unlikely that they will be remembered for their work with a certain horse.

Meet Dr. JD Howard, the exception to the rule. Now farm manager at Mike Moreno’s Southern Equine Farm near Midway, Ky., Dr. Howard’s career has been intertwined with two prominent patients—the great sire Nureyev and, more recently, 16-year-old top producer Better Than Honour.

Howard headed a medical team that brought Nureyev back from death’s door on several occasions and has helped restore Better Than Honour to motherhood after she failed to carry to term two years in a row.

It’s not exactly the way Howard planned his career. The son of a Quarter Horse trainer in Oklahoma, Howard started out cleaning stalls and graduated to grooming and then riding Quarter Horses for seven years. After graduating from vet school at Oklahoma State University, Howard ventured to California and had a racetrack practice before starting Peninsula Equine with Dr. Russ Peterson in Northern California in 1979.
“We were working day and night, and when we got to the end of the month, there was no money left,” said Howard, who added with a laugh, “It began flourishing right after I left to come to Kentucky.”

Howard worked a Keeneland meet with Dr. Mark Cheney but was struggling to find steady work when he got a tip to go see Johnny Jones at Walmac. Jones took a chance on the young vet and it paid off, as Howard remained at Walmac for nearly 30 years.

Right after Howard arrived at the farm, so did Nureyev. Highly touted as a potential stallion, Nureyev wasn’t stopping any mares and was believed to be subfertile, not a good situation for the farm that had invested millions in him.

“One of the worst days of my life was when Johnny called me into his office and asked me, ‘Are you good at reproduction?’ ” Howard remembered. “I wanted to be honest, but I was desperate to keep the job so I told him, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty good.’ I couldn’t tell an ovary from a fecal ball. I turned as pale as a piece of paper and got sick to my stomach. My wife had just joined me in Kentucky, and I went home and told her to stop unpacking and start packing everything back up because I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Howard learned quickly. He had mares arriving around the clock and was breeding them at all hours.

“I might breed Nureyev to six or seven mares in less than 24 hours. He would go through the motions, but not a lot of sperm would come out. He might get numbers one and five pregnant or numbers two and six.”

Howard really earned his wings when Nureyev fractured a leg in 1987 and against all odds was saved through the use of a sling and a special brace. He required around-the-clock care for months, with Howard heading the team that saved him.

Needing a change, Howard took the job at Southern Equine in 2008 when Moreno was bolstering his broodmare band, which included buying out partner Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Better Than Honour, who had produced consecutive Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winners Jazil and Rags to Riches and Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II) victor Casino Drive. Moreno went to $14 million at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale for the mare.

“She had aborted in January of 2008 and didn’t get back in foal for 2009,” Howard said. “So it was ‘Here we go again.’

“She had a couple of problems we were dealing with for a long time to get her right. Sometimes it’s just a case of persistence winning out. Being a resident vet, you have the time to concentrate on these mares and focus on working with them every day.

“She had a uterine infection, and a lot of those organisms are resistant to antibiotics unless you can make the medicine more potent in killing the bacteria. Then, the older a mare gets, she loses local immunity, so you’re not getting any help from her immune system.
“By May 2009 she was good enough to breed and luckily she conceived her first Street Cry filly, who is now 2.”

The foal was later put on a nurse mare, which lessened the stress on the mother. She was able to be bred back to Street Cry and caught again. That filly, now a yearling, is “one of those freaky types that don’t come around too often,” according to Howard. “She’s very special.” Better Than Honour is in foal to Bernardini for 2013.

Howard, 62, said that Southern Equine will be his last stop before retirement, but he is thankful for the opportunity to work with mares such as Better Than Honour, and grade I winners Mi Sueno, Champagne d’Oro, Santa Teresita, and Careless Jewel.

“This is the last chapter; all those hours with Nureyev are catching up with me now. For 20 breeding seasons I averaged eight hours of sleep a week.” Howard has hired Blair Cornman to help him at Southern Equine.

Looking back on the twists and turns of his career, Howard noted, “From not being a reproductive vet, I guess I’ve gotten kind of proficient in it by now.”

Hawkeye Highlight: Gary Lucas & Awesomemundo

2012-05-30T17:07:00Z

(Originally published in the June 2, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By David Schmitz

Iowa breeder/owner Gary Lucas had high hopes when he agreed to a foal-share arrangement with Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs for the 2007 breeding season. The Kentucky-based farm provided the services of major sire Awesome Again for Lucas’ young broodmare, One Fine Shweetie.

His great expectations were met when the resultant foal became his first graded stakes winner as a breeder. The 4-year-old filly named Awesomemundo, bred by Adena Springs and Lucas’ Big Pine Thoroughbreds, won the Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (gr. III) on this year’s Preakness Stakes (gr. I) undercard for owner Jill Baffert.

“Awesome Again had sired a lot of good runners, and I thought One Fine Shweetie deserved the opportunity to be bred to a sire of that quality,” Lucas said. “It was the type of breeding I favored. It looked like it would be a nice match because of Deputy Minister (Awesome Again’s sire).”

Lucas’ reputation as a successful breeder/owner was no secret to Stronach’s son, Andy. “I had talked to Andy after Awesomemundo was born,” Lucas said. “He was aware of the horses I had bred and raced in the past.”

One Fine Shweetie was one of the good ones raced by Lucas. A Roberto granddaughter bred by Lucas and raced by him and Linda Woods, One Fine Shweetie was Iowa’s champion 3-year-old filly of 2002 and champion older female of 2004. In four years of racing, the daughter of Shuailaan won the Bob Bryant Stakes and the Mamie Eisenhower Stakes, both restricted events at Prairie Meadows, and placed in seven other stakes including five at Prairie Meadows and one at Arlington Park. She was retired with a record of 5-7-11 from 30 starts and earnings of $260,587.

Instead of being kept at Big Pine Thoroughbreds near Indianola, Iowa, during the time she was carrying Awesomemundo, One Fine Shweetie was boarded at Hidden Brook (Sergio de Sousa, managing partner) near Paris, Ky.

“I decided to keep the mare at Hidden Brook so she could be a part of the Kentucky breeding program,” said Lucas, who lives near Indianola about 30 miles south of Des Moines and Prairie Meadows. “I had started in the program the year before. Iowa has a good program, but they don’t have any provisions that allow horses that race outside Iowa to participate in breeders’ awards, whereas Kentucky does.

“It hurt in one way because I’m a hands-on owner. One of my favorite things is raising and caring for the horses, so it was tough not having her at the farm.”

Hidden Brook, as agent, consigned Awesomemundo to the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale where she was purchased for $50,000 by Casa de Nuevo Farm.

One Fine Shweetie, whose dam, One Fine Lady, recently died at age 30, has not produced a foal since 2009. One Fine Shweetie is in foal to Iowa stallion Woke Up Dreamin.

A family friend got Lucas and his wife, Joan, started in racing.

“The man had known Joan since she was a little girl,” said Lucas, who met his future wife at Simpson College in Indianola. “He raced at Ak-Sar-Ben (in Nebraska) and in Chicago. Joan and I bought a half-interest in a yearling, got hooked, and started breeding horses in the early 1980s. As for me, I like studying the pedigrees best.”

He also has been active in growing and promoting Iowa’s racing and breeding programs, having served in high-level positions at Prairie Meadows, on the state breeders organization, and on the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.
“I haven’t held an office in several years, but I keep close tabs of what’s going on,” Lucas said.

Lucas and Woods, who lives in Des Moines with her husband Tim, also are the breeders of Awesomemundo’s older champion half sister Champagne Attitude. By Aptitude, Champagne Attitude was named Iowa champion 3-year-old filly of 2009 after winning the Iowa Breeders’ Oaks.

Retired after the 2010 racing season, Champagne Attitude is the dam of a Latent Heat colt foaled this year in Iowa. Returned to Hidden Brook, Champagne Attitude is in foal to first-year Kentucky stallion Paddy O’Prado.

“Sergio is extremely professional, and I have the utmost confidence that everything there is fine,” said Lucas, whose broodmare band generally numbers about three. “I try to visit three or four times a year.”

Additional Iowa champions Lucas bred include Chocolate Tuesday and Bay Cruiser.

“Racing Bay Cruiser was the most fun I’ve had with a horse,” Lucas said about the gelding who was a champion at 2, 3, and 4 in the 1990s. “He was a fan favorite and a ton of fun. When he won the Iowa Derby, there was a big crowd. He was a come-from-behind horse. By the time the horses hit the stretch, the crowd was going crazy.”

Vaccarezza's Victor - by Esther Marr

2012-05-22T14:38:00Z

(Originally published in the May 26, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

by Esther Marr

In the early 1970s, about 10 years after Carlo Vaccarezza had immigrated to the United States from his native Genoa, Italy, he found himself walking hots and serving as a groom at Aqueduct during the New York racetrack’s frigid winter meet.

“I always had love for the horse…I didn’t know a lot about racing back then, but I loved the animal,” said Vaccarezza, who never dreamed how far that love would someday carry him.

More than three decades later Vaccarezza’s horse racing fantasies became a reality when his 5-year-old homebred gelding Little Mike captured the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes (gr. IT) before a crowd of more than 165,000 on Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) day at Churchill Downs.

“I pinched myself (when he won),” said Vaccarezza of the gelding, who is the second stakes winner produced by Vaccarezza’s only mare, Hay Jude (by Wavering Monarch). “(The Woodford Reserve) was one of the best fields and one of the toughest races to handicap on the entire card. He just took the lead and you never saw him again.

“When you win a grade I in front of 165,000 people at Churchill and millions of other people watching the race on TV, it’s a huge accomplishment,” he added. “And then to do it in the race before the Derby, that’s huge.”

Vaccarezza, a veteran restaurateur who co-owns the Italian eatery Frank and Dino’s in Deerfield Beach, Fla., has raced a handful of successful horses over the years, including stakes winners Little Nick (Little Mike’s half brother) and the filly My Due Process.

But none have come close to the thrill of campaigning Little Mike, who is named after Vaccarezza’s son. The gelding’s ability to overcome humble beginnings and considerable adversity in his four years on the racetrack made his most recent feat even more remarkable.

One of Vaccarezza’s philosophies is to practice frugality when purchasing horses and choosing matings. It cost him just $5,000 to cross Hay Jude with little-known stallion Spanish Steps, which resulted in the Woodford Reserve winner.

“If there was a GQ Magazine for horses, Spanish Steps would be on the front page,” said Vaccarezza. “He’s one of the better-looking horses I ever saw in my life, and he’s a full brother to Unbridled’s Song, so he caught my attention.”

Trained by Dale Romans and campaigned in the name of Vaccarezza’s wife, Priscilla, Little Mike pulled off an impressive feat when he won the 2011 Ft. Lauderdale, Canadian Turf, and Emirates Airline Appleton stakes (all gr. IIIT) in the same meet at Gulfstream Park.

In the midst of training for that year’s Woodford Reserve, however, it was discovered Little Mike had sustained a condylar fracture to his shin.

But it didn’t take long for the gelding to return to his old form. To Vaccarezza’s amazement, Little Mike won his first start back after surgery and an eight-month layoff— an allowance/optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park against a deep field in his typical wire-to-wire fashion.

Leading up to the Woodford Reserve, Little Mike also captured the Jan. 28 Florida Sunshine Millions Turf Stakes and ran fourth, beaten just 11⁄2 lengths in the March 3 Canadian Turf.

“Little Mike has both speed and endurance,” said Romans. “If anybody runs with him, they can’t out-finish him, and if they let him go, they can’t catch him. So he’s a rare horse.”

While staying active in the racing scene, Vaccarezza also previously operated Break of Dawn Farm near Ocala, which in the mid 1990s was one of the only training centers in the area with a swimming pool. Vaccarezza, whose major customers included the late George Steinbrenner, has since sold the facility.

Vaccarezza’s other former restaurant establishments included Rusty’s (co-owned with baseball great Rusty Staub) in New York City and Mickey’s (co-owned with actor Mickey Rourke) in Miami.

In spite of Vaccarezza’s recent success with Little Mike’s dam Hay Jude, who was bred to Paddy O’Prado for 2013, the food enthusiast is not interested in delving deeper into the breeding industry.

Instead, Vaccarezza will continue developing his nine-horse racing stable, all of which are in Romans’ care, and occasionally sell runners that are no longer profitable.

Lucky for Little Mike, whose long-term goals this year include a trip to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, he doesn’t fall into that category.

“It’s a blue-collar story,” said Vaccarezza. “It shows that everybody can be in the game.”
Added Romans, who has been training for Vaccarezza for longer than he can remember: “I don’t know what (Vaccarezza’s) secret is, but it’s working.

“He’s a knowledgeable horseman, he knows what he’s talking about, and he comes up with good horses. We never argue about anything; we discuss issues, set a game plan, and put it to work.”

Hard Way Back - by John Gilmore

2012-05-15T14:27:00Z

(Originally published in the May 19, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Story and photo by John Gilmore

As the horses galloped up the finishing straight in the 2,400-meter (11⁄2-mile) Prix de la Lomagne Handicap at Saint-Cloud on a gloomy, rain-sodden evening May 5, Hard Way cruised to the front, eventually winning as he pleased. Racegoers enthusiastically cheered his every stride to the wire and beyond.

Hard Way is shown above with Gina Rarick (L)

The victory, with Christophe Lemaire aboard, provided a sharp contrast to some 20 months ago in August 2010, when the then 5-year-old gelding’s racing career looked in shreds. A scan by Deauville veterinarian Xavier d’Ablon had revealed a crushed Atlas vertebra, which is the vertebra connecting the skull to the spine. The fragments were not touching the spinal cord but could very well do so.

“Dr. d’Ablon thought the compression caused by the fracture led to the sub-par performances of Hard Way’s last two races at Saint-Cloud and Clairefontaine in June and August 2010, when he had nothing to give at the end of the races, which was not like him,” said American Gina Rarick, who trains Hard Way and obtained her professional French training license in September 2008.

To this day nobody is any the wiser how the injury occurred, appearing more consistent with a steeplechase horse having fallen on its head.
“The vets had not seen a horse survive such an injury, so the scans quickly made their way to vet schools around the world—including University of California-Davis,” Rarick said. “The advice given was to treat the injury like a fracture and wait and see how it healed. I sent him to Madame Francoise Guibert’s home for retired and breeding horses in Normandy, where the vet gave him a dose of Tildren—a bone-building drug—and he was turned out for three months.”

After the three months an MRI scan showed the fracture had remarkably healed into a boney mass and the fragments had stabilized. D’Ablon gave Hard Way the green light to come back into training, according to Rarick.

“Not wanting to take any risks, I sent Hard Way into pre-training to see how he would handle it, but after three weeks he got a stiff neck and I decided to throw in the towel and retire him with Madame Guibert,” the trainer said.

Rarick checked on Hard Way at Guibert’s retirement center last October and thought he looked miserable standing out in a field. She then decided to bring him back to Maisons-Laffitte, with the idea of being the stable pony.

“Within a month it was clear Hard Way had other ideas: He was walking better than ever, and I didn’t hurry him back to the track—spending all winter hacking in the forest at Maisons-Laffitte near my rented boutique yard,” Rarick said.

Hard Way eventually had two minor races in April 2012 at Lisieux, coming back sound, before a first serious race back on his favored soft ground and distance at Saint-Cloud.

“Everybody was just thrilled to pieces,” said Rarick, who has had a soft spot in her heart for Hard Way since his first day in her barn. Hard Way’s dam, Nicosia, was the first racehorse she owned, and after the mare injured a suspensory tendon a trainer friend, Jean-Paul Gallorini, put her in touch with Denis Grandin, who had a stallion—the aptly named Ultimately Lucky.

“Grandin offered to take Nicosia as a broodmare against the first foal, if I wanted to go that way, but it turned out badly,” Rarick said. “The dam was put down a few days after Hard Way’s birth, developing septicemia. I almost quit racing and everything to do with it when I learned of Nicosia’s death, but my husband, Tim, and Gallorini convinced me to stay in the game.”

As a foal, Hard Way went to Guibert’s farm, where Rarick keeps a broodmare and sends her horses for  freshening.

“He was in a field with two other weanling colts and one of them kept picking on him relentlessly. Instead of fighting back he always just ran away,” said Rarick. “This experience has left its mark. Hard Way gets too worked up and stressed with other racehorses and only goes on the gallops when we do fast work. The rest of the time I hack him alone. At the track we bring him into the presentation ring last, onto the track last, and into the gate last, though once the gates open, he just wants to beat them all.”

Rarick still owns Hard Way but leases him to the French-based American owner Mark Tronco and American Kay Minton. Tronco, however, said he considers the gelding “everybody’s horse.”

“We all love him,” he said. “We were over the moon when he won, and he could certainly go on to win more this year.”

Super Man: Raymond 'Butch' Lehr - by Lenny Shulman

2012-05-08T12:39:00Z

(Originally published in the May 12, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

It’s a pretty good indication that a job is special when only three people have held it over the past 100 years. Raymond “Butch” Lehr, the third track superintendent in the history of Churchill Downs, will retire at the end of the current meeting July 1, taking 45 years of experience and memories with him.

“It’s been an honor,” said Lehr, standing outside in front of his office near Gate 5 of the famed Louisville racetrack. Lehr brought some pedigree with him, his uncle Charlie Voneye having lived in a house near Barn 3 while serving as assistant track super. Lehr began on the maintenance crew at Churchill right out of high school and returned after two years in the military to work on the track crew before being tapped to assist Thurman Pangburn, his predecessor. Lehr succeeded Pangburn in 1982 and has held the top job ever since, something in which he justifiably takes a lot of pride.

“There’s not a vice president here that can say they started out here at $57.83 a week like I did,” said the personable Lehr with a smile.
Lehr has bridged a time period that increasingly has seen technology and shared information play greater roles in racetrack maintenance and safety, and he has been a willing participant in gathering as much knowledge as possible.

  “Since the beginning I’ve traveled to other racetracks to see what they do and have gone to seminars, and I’ve tried to bring in new things I’ve learned,” he stated. “There is still no book that you can open up and say, ‘This is the way a racetrack should be built.’ I’ve compiled as much information on injuries and patterns that develop; I’ve been a stickler on keeping that info. And then it finally happened here where we had the high-profile breakdown of Eight Belles. It’s a side of the business no one wants to see, but I’ve been working closely with the Safety and Integrity Alliance gathering scientific data. We’re all working toward a standard, but until we’re able to put a roof over these tracks, we’re not likely to see it because weather plays such a big part in maintaining the track and what we do. People don’t always understand that. Even all-weather tracks are all-weather only until it’s too hot or too cold.”

Working at Churchill Downs means you’re associated with the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) more than anything else, and Lehr, 63, is no exception. He noted his greatest Derby memory came when he was working on the maintenance crew in 1973 when Secretariat shattered the Derby record.

“He was a phenomenon,” Lehr stated. “That certainly was a memorable one. As a caretaker of the track, I’ve seen a lot of race records broken, but Secretariat’s is still standing here. Zenyatta running in the Breeders’ Cup was another great day; it kind of took the place of Personal Ensign beating Winning Colors in the Breeders’ Cup in 1988. I was pulling for the Derby winner and she just about got there, but hats off to Personal Ensign. That was before we had lights here, but we had night racing that day,” Lehr said, referring to the Classic (gr. I) being run in the throes of dusk.

For a pure test of his crew’s skills, though, Lehr points to Smarty Jones’ Kentucky Derby of 2004, when a monsoon hit on race day and four inches of rain fell.

“That was no doubt our biggest nightmare,” Lehr said. “The grandstand was under construction at the time, and they lost two truckloads of concrete, which is why water came flooding out of the grandstand like it was whitewater rafting coming across the track. It took out some of the surface and we had to go in manually and put it back. People thought we were going to have to cancel the Derby. That was one where you think about going to your car and heading off into the sunset, but we stuck with it.”

Nature’s storms are bad enough, but Lehr has also had to deal annually with human eruptions as well, particularly from trainers and owners who seek to blame the track for their horses’ less-than-optimal performances in the sport’s biggest race. It is an annual rite that complaints are heard that the racing surface is ‘souped up’ on Derby Day; harder; cuppier; different than the way it’s been for training sessions leading up to the big day. Lehr has heard it all.

“That’s why I’m on four different kinds of heart-pressure medication,” he said. “I’ve never rolled up a track and put another one down overnight. But I’ve been accused of everything. It’s just part of the job that you’re gonna be criticized. The best horses in the world are here that day; it’s all stakes races and they’re gonna run faster. Plus, the weather plays a big part. When it gets hot and humid, I’ve seen this track play a full second faster just because of the humidity.”

Lehr plans to make good winter use of a home he’s purchased in Florida and also spend more time with his three grandchildren while keeping his hand in as a consultant.

“Because of my schedule I wasn’t around so much with my kids, but I’ll be around to spoil the grandkids,” he said.

A's Game - By Esther Marr

2012-05-01T17:51:00Z

(Originally published in the May 5, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Alex G. Campbell Jr. rarely misses a day at the races. During Keeneland’s spring and fall meets the veteran owner/breeder can almost always be found relishing the ambiance of the Lexington track from his box on the fourth floor of the clubhouse.

From this vantage point Campbell has witnessed some of the most exciting moments of a racing career that spans more than five decades.

Karlovy Vary provided Campbell his most recent adrenaline rush April 7 when she scored a front-running victory in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (gr. I) and became a live contender for the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I).

“I got such a thrill out of winning the Ashland at home, at Keeneland,” said Campbell. “I’ve been to most racetracks in this country and several around the world, and I believe Keeneland is the best.”

Campbell, still full of energy and plans for the future at age 84, named Karlovy Vary after a small city in the Czech Republic where two of his close friends reside.

“They say it’s the most beautiful town in the Czech Republic,” said Campbell. “If I ever have the opportunity or the money, I think I’ll go over there and visit.”

Karlovy Vary, a daughter of Dynaformer who has won three of six starts and enters the Oaks with earnings of $362,294, isn’t the first horse Campbell named for sentimental reasons.

“I use names I think are appealing to people or fun,” said Campbell, who named another Dynaformer filly, 2010 Ashland runner-up It’s Tea Time, with the help of a waiter at a historic Virginia hotel.

“They would serve tea every day, but I really preferred something with alcohol,” said Campbell, who told the waiter to fill his tea cup with scotch on the rocks. “So every afternoon, the waiter would come to me with this cup of supposed tea and say, ‘Mr. Campbell, it’s tea time!’ ”

One of Campbell’s all-time favorite horses, Mr Purple, was named after his longtime friend David Reynolds, whose silks were purple and who often wore purple suit jackets to the track.

The purple moniker seemed to bring good luck, as Mr Purple would go on to win or place in 13 stakes, 11 of which were graded. The son of Deputy Minister provided Campbell with one of his proudest moments when he captured the 1996 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I).

Over the years Campbell has raced several other stakes winners alone or in partnership, including grade I victors Goodbye Halo, Rootentootenwooten, and homebred Queens Court Queen.

Campbell, who as a young boy admired the success of such industry greats as Col. E.R. Bradley and Warren Wright Sr., bought his first horse with a couple of partners in his early 20s.

“The horse business is rewarding, and there’s always an opportunity to make money,” said Campbell, who is retired from the tobacco industry. He takes pride in his role as a Central Kentucky civic leader through the non-profit Triangle Foundation, which he founded to fund projects benefiting the public in Lexington; and as a board member of the historic Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill and Transylvania College.

At one time Campbell owned more than 100 horses, including around 30 broodmares. He has culled his breeding and racing stock to around a fifth of what it used to be.

“It’s for the best because now I can really pay attention to each one,” said Campbell, who kept only his highest-quality horses. “I wish I’d done it years ago.”

Campbell is quick to credit the solid team that manages his racing and breeding interests. The team includes Neil Howard, manager of Gainesway, where Campbell boards his mares; trainer Rusty Arnold; and breeding advisers Anja Stieber and Mike Akers. His young horses are broken by Todd Quast at GoldMark Training Center near Ocala, Fla., and Campbell also credits blacksmiths Curtis Burns and Chad Boston for taking good care of his runners. Burns invented the Burns Polyflex Shoe, which all of Campbell’s horses wear.

“We work as a team,” said Campbell.

Arnold, who has trained horses for Campbell since the 1980s, said he enjoys working for the owner because of the trust they share.

“(Campbell) likes to be informed on how his horses are doing, and he has an input on where he would like to go, what his goals and ambitions are, and what he thinks about a horse,” said Arnold. “But as far as the day-to-day training, he leaves those decisions up to you. He has the confidence in whomever he chooses to send them to.”

Akers, who has also worked alongside Campbell for more than three decades, called the owner “old school,” but in a good way.

“To work with Mr. Campbell takes a lot of energy, because he brings it to the table every day,” Akers explained. “After you get used to it, it’s refreshing, because he certainly makes everyone around him bring their ‘A’ game. He’s a great businessman who learned a long time ago to surround himself with people that he trusted.”

Business Partners: Bill Spawr - By Tracy Gantz

2012-04-24T13:05:00Z

(Originally published in the April 28, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Bill Spawr got Amazombie as part of a two-horse package for $5,000...and turned him into last year’s Sprint champion

By Tracy Gantz

Human athletes have an advantage over equine athletes, so conventional wisdom goes, because we know when to expend all of our energy and when to conserve some for later. Tell that to Bill Spawr, who trains 2011 sprint champion Amazombie and co-owns the gelding with Tom Sanford.

“He’s so professional—in the morning you’d think he’s a pony,” said Spawr. “And then as soon as he gets on the racetrack in the afternoons, he knows it’s game day. He’s like a pro ballplayer. In practice he’s a lazy bum, hangs out and watches the guys train, and gallops along like a pony. But on game day, as soon as you put the tack on him, he’s all business.”

That attitude extends to the race itself, as Amazombie demonstrated in his most recent effort, the seven-furlong Potrero Grande Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita April 7. He stalked in second and won by three-quarters of a length under a hand ride by Mike Smith, who was winning the 5,000th race of his career.

“Sprinters run so hard that it’s hard to keep them sound,” said Spawr. “You have to space their races because they have to run from the gate to the wire almost full bore. But with Amazombie, he only runs the last quarter-mile. He saves himself, and it makes him a much sounder horse.”

Spawr, 72, has been around plenty of good horses. A six-time leading trainer at a major Southern California race meet, he has conditioned the likes of multiple grade I winner Exchange, 2006 Ancient Title Breeders’ Cup Stakes (gr. I) winner Bordonaro, and champion California-bred sprinter Sensational Star.

As professional as his current champ, Spawr knows not to get too attached to his animals, especially since he came up through the claiming game. But he can’t help himself with Amazombie.

“He’s part of the family,” said the trainer.

After Amazombie won last year’s Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) to clinch the male sprinter Eclipse Award, the story quickly made the rounds as to how Spawr lucked into him. Spawr visited Judd Morse’s Southern California training center to look at yearlings, and Morse needed to sell some horses of racing age owned by recently deceased Gregg Anderson, Amazombie’s breeder. The group included the Cal-bred son of Northern Afleet—Wilshe Amaze, by In Excess.

Spawr showed some interest in another colt by Northern Afleet and thought he agreed to buy that horse for $5,000. Morse believed he was selling both youngsters to the trainer for that amount. Amazombie became known as the “extra” horse who got thrown into the deal.
Spawr brought his friend Sanford in as co-owner of Amazombie. Gelding the colt after his sixth start proved the final piece in turning Amazombie into a champion.

“I think cutting him is when he really changed,” said Spawr. “That helped him a lot. We take a lot of time with him because he allows us to. Every afternoon he walks around and hangs out in the sun. You probably wouldn’t even need a shank with him.”

Because Spawr co-owns Amazombie and Sanford is happy to defer the decisions to him, they have been able to bring him along at his own speed. As good a year as Amazombie had last year at age 5, when he won five stakes, Spawr feels he is even better this year.

Away from the races for nearly four months after winning the Sprint at Churchill Downs, Amazombie this year tuned up with a third in Santa Anita’s San Carlos Stakes (gr. II) to The Factor before winning the Potrero Grande for the second consecutive time.

“He’s got more strength now, more muscle tone, and good color,” said Spawr.

Immediately after the Potrero Grande, Spawr indicated that Amazombie would try for a second Tiznow Stakes on Gold Rush Day April 28 at Betfair Hollywood Park. But a Churchill Downs official suggested nominating Amazombie to the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes (gr. II) May 5 and pointed out that the purse had risen to $400,000.

Right after that, Smith called Spawr and said, “You are going to Kentucky, right?”

Spawr likes the idea of staying in California, but Smith and the lucrative purse may tilt him toward Kentucky.

“Over the surface at Churchill, he could run a mile,” Smith told Spawr. “He feels so much different over that track. He just gets over it better.”

Amazombie has also proved that he likes the dirt at Santa Anita, the site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Spawr is hoping for a chance at a second consecutive Sprint. Because of his soundness and love of his job, Amazombie could compete even longer, perhaps a couple of more years.

Even after Amazombie’s racing career ends, the trainer will likely keep this family member around the barn.

“I plan to make him my pony,” Spawr said.

Grade I Groupies: William and Fred Bradley - by Evan Hammonds

2012-04-17T13:25:00Z

(Originally published in the April 21, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Evan Hammonds

The Bradley clan is back in grade I company. That would be the father-son team of Fred and William “Buff” Bradley, breeders and owners of Groupie Doll, the runaway winner of Keeneland’s Vinery Madison Stakes (gr. I) April 12.

Buff, who has been training since taking out a license in 1993, runs the Bradley Racing Stable. His wife, Kim, runs the daily operations at the family farm near Frankfort, Ky. It’s about as mom-and-pop as it gets.

They had grade I success with their star gelding Brass Hat in 2006 and returned to grade I company this time at their hometown track in Lexington.

A 4-year-old filly by Bowman’s Band—Deputy Doll, by Silver Deputy, Groupie Doll won the Gardenia Stakes (gr. III) at Ellis Park last summer and ran second, beaten a head, in Keeneland’s Lexus Raven Run Stakes (gr. II). She wasn’t coddled while wintering with Buff at Gulfstream Park this winter.

In her 2012 debut she was pitched in against males in a one-mile allowance/optional claimer where she ran second, beaten less than a length by the very good Boys At Tosconova. She then ran third in both the Sabin Stakes (gr. III) and Inside Information Stakes (gr. II).

“Every race she ran in was tough, and she did really well down there,” Buff said of Groupie Doll’s winter campaign. “When facing the boys…we knew she belonged with those kind. She’s that kind of racehorse. In a few of her races I don’t think she was as forwardly placed early in the race as we’d like. We thought if we could get her a little closer, then she’d be right there when it was time to kick in. That’s just how it worked out the other day.”

The “other day” was a three-length romp over seven furlongs of Polytrack in 1:23.76.

Groupie Doll races for the family along with longtime associates Carl Hurst and Brent Burns.

“Carl’s been with us for 35 years,” Bradley said. “We had the opportunity to let him buy in so we could get a little capital and also enjoy it with him. Carl and Brent have let us do what we need to do to get to where we are. We’ve bred a lot of mares together, and besides being horse business partners, they’re very good friends.”

Another favorite friend and family member is Brass Hat, the Bradleys’ game homebred who earned quite a following while stringing together a 10-8-5 career mark from 40 starts and pocketing more than $2.1 million in a seven-year campaign. He won or placed in 14 graded stakes and won the Donn Handicap (gr. I) in 2006.

“Brass Hat really put us on the map, and he still has a big following. People came to see him at the farm this weekend,” Bradley said. “I think we, my father and I, both understood how special he was and that was good because we got to enjoy racing him and campaigning him for as long as he did. We knew he was special to a lot of people.

“You get geldings like that that are hard-knocking and are around for awhile and people begin to recognize the name at that point. That’s very good for our business to be able to follow a horse like that for years. He was tough; he was tough every time he ran.”

These days Brass Hat is not so tough. But like just any other family member, the 11-year-old son of Prized has a job to do on the farm.
“He’s part of the family, and he’ll always have a job,” Bradley said. “We always knew he’d take care of the babies; for years when I would send him home for a week or two, we always put him with his little miniature pony buddy.

“Now he’s turned out with the (male) yearlings,” Bradley continued. “He is so kind to them; he kind of watches over them. He’s great in the job he’s in right now. He’s got one colt that likes to play with him and chew on his halter and the colt grabs onto the halter and Brass swings him around on it. Brass just takes it. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

As for Groupie Doll, she’ll get another chance to shine near her Old Kentucky Home, most likely on Derby day in the Humana Distaff (gr. I). After that, she might get a little break back at the farm.

“She had a strong winter campaign down at Gulfstream,” Bradley said. “At this time we’re thinking we’re going to give her a little time off after the next race and freshen her up a little bit.”

There’s nothing like spending a little more time back home.

Stepping Up: Lynne Boutte - by Dede Biles

2012-04-10T12:36:00Z

(Originally published in the April 14, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Deirdre B. Biles

Lynne Boutte is known in the juvenile auction community as a seller of mostly blue-collar horses, and she likes her status. Even though the 2-year-olds with fancy pedigrees and brilliant works usually are in the barns of other consignors, she doesn’t mind.

“I’ll tell you what, that’s a lot of pressure,” said Boutte of dealing regularly with top-end auction horses. “God bless the people who do it all the time. I’m very comfortable at the level I sell at.”

But recently, thanks to former Calvin Klein CEO Barry Schwartz, Boutte got the opportunity to join the sale ring’s aristocracy.

“Boy, I own a lot of horses,” Schwartz told Boutte late in 2011. She and her husband, Chris, were breaking and training more than 20 of the fashion mogul’s young Thoroughbreds at their 35-acre Eagle’s View Farm, which is located in The Gallops equine complex near Reddick, Fla.

“We discussed different things,” Boutte remembered, “and then we settled on the idea that it might be a good year to go to the sales, so we picked a couple of strong, precocious colts to sell.”

Both their choices ended up in the Fasig-Tipton Florida select juvenile auction. The Johannesburg—Sans Souci Island colt brought $60,000 when he was sold privately after being bought back. However, the Distorted Humor—Secret Thyme colt named Price Is Truth made much more of an impact. He commanded $1.2 million, becoming the auction’s second-highest-priced horse.

“It was so exciting,” Boutte said a week after the March 26 sale. “A lot of times when you go to a sale, there are excuses when a horse doesn’t show himself well or whatever. But when everything comes together, it reminds you why you love what you do. It just makes you feel good.”

David Loder, representing Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock manager John Ferguson, signed the sale ticket for the handsome chestnut juvenile, which Schwartz had purchased for $180,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale.

“I’ve trained a lot of horses over the years and certain ones just seem to have an aura about them; he had that aura,” Boutte said.

During the Fasig-Tipton Florida auction’s under tack show, Price Is Truth worked an eighth of a mile in :101⁄5.

“His breeze was phenomenal,” Boutte said. “It was like he was saying, ‘Y’all look at me!’ He has a way of just dropping down, throwing those legs out, and covering so much ground. You could see that he was enjoying it.”

Price Is Truth is the most expensive horse ever sold by Boutte, a 51-year-old native of New York.

“My elementary school was in Floral Park near Belmont Park,” she said. “My friends and I would sneak onto the backside by crawling over or under a big, tall fence. We would try to get near the horses, but we got run out most of the time.”

When she was in high school, Boutte worked as a hotwalker for trainer Mary Cotter and she also showed horses. After trying college for a year, Boutte decided she would rather be at the racetrack and got a job as a groom.

“Back then the backside was a very difficult place for a young woman to be,” Boutte said. “I have a lot of respect for the women who carved out the way for us, but I wasn’t worldly or experienced enough horse-wise to be confident enough to stay at the racetrack at that time. I heard there were horses in Ocala, Fla., so I got in my car and headed South.”

Boutte found jobs at Irish Acres Farm and Tartan Farms. To get started in the auction business, she hocked her yellow Chevy Camaro. The money from the car funded the purchase of two weanling colts that she resold as 2-year-olds.

“It worked,” Boutte said, “and I went on from there.”

Buyers looking for Boutte often find her at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic and Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. spring juvenile auctions and the OBS June sale of 2-year-olds in training and older horses. Graduates of her consignments include 2002 Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II) winner Showmeitall, 2002 Safely Kept Stakes (gr. III) winner Miss Lodi, and other added-money winners such as Bernie Blue and Cinnamon Road.

Boutte and her husband prepared Schwartz’ homebred stakes winner The Lumber Guy for racing. The Grand Slam colt had won both of his career races before finishing fifth in the April 7 Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial (gr. I). The Bouttes also help New York horseman John DeStefano select yearlings to buy for the Black Swan Stable syndicate and then break them at Eagle’s View. Last year Black Swan’s Sean Avery triumphed in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (gr. I).

“It’s the second marriage for both of us, and Chris is an important part of all this,” Boutte said. “He’s a horseman through and through. We work hand in hand. What I don’t have time to do in a day, he finishes. And what he doesn’t have time to do in a day, I finish.”

Fueling the Fire: Anita Cauley - By Evan Hammonds

2012-04-03T13:04:00Z

(Originally published in the April 7, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Evan Hammonds

Anita Cauley and her trainer Gary “Red Dog” Hartlage are riding a hot streak they hope will run through the spring…and beyond. Cauley’s homebred On Fire Baby, winner of Oaklawn Park’s Honeybee Stakes (gr. II) at 2-5, March 10 will make a run at either the Fantasy Stakes (gr. II) or Arkansas Derby (gr. I) in her next start—a start they expect will propel the daughter of Smoke Glacken to the first weekend in May at Churchill Downs.

Cauley, a Louisville resident, has been involved in racing for more than 25 years. Her game plan was to race fillies and then sell them as broodmare prospects, but the template changed when Ornate came along. A daughter of Gilded Time—Nile Chant, by Val de l’Orne, Ornate was an $80,000 buy as a Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling in the summer of 1998 by Anita and her late husband Barry Ebert. A winner of the 2002 Pleasant Temper Stakes at Kentucky Downs, Ornate was put in the 2003 Keeneland November sale while in foal to E Dubai.

“A wonderful turn of events happened,” Cauley said. “I put a relatively high reserve on her. In my head I needed somebody to pay a decent amount of money for her to go to a good home, and she didn’t meet the reserve.”

Instead of buying horses, Cauley decided to “create horses.” A self-described control freak, she decided if she was particular to whom she bred Ornate to she could get a horse with a career that would last beyond its 2-year-old year.

The resulting foal, High Heels, would go on to win the 2007 Fantasy Stakes and run third in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I). She placed in four other graded stakes and earned $484,636.

Ornate’s second foal, French Kiss (by Hussonet), won a stakes and was grade III-placed at 4. Her fifth foal is On Fire Baby, who won the Pocahontas and Golden Rod stakes (both gr. II) last fall at Churchill Downs and kicked off her 2012 campaign Jan. 16 with a third-place finish against the boys in Oaklawn’s Smarty Jones Stakes.

In choosing stallions for Ornate, Cauley does her homework—both on paper and by viewing the sires up close with adviser Lee McMillin of Amende Place near Paris, Ky.

“I really look at a lot of spreadsheets and stallion numbers,” Cauley said. “I look at stallions that have good race records at 4 and 5; a horse that was out there and was sound and racing at that age.

“I had to make exceptions, and Smoke Glacken was one of those because he only raced at 3. He had some incredible numbers, and for a $10,000 stud fee, what were people not seeing? The only thing was his sale numbers; he’s not that commercial, but I didn’t care. If he throws runners, then that’s what I’m looking for.”

Cauley learned some of that homebred mentality while growing up outside Indianapolis. She always loved horses but didn’t learn how to ride until she was 22, finding herself in an equitation class with school-aged children.

“I was completely embarrassed by that but was told I needed to learn how to ride properly,” she recalled with a laugh. “I got through that and eventually showed Arabian show horses.”

Her late husband owned an investment-counseling firm. She married political consultant and former chief of staff for Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, James Cauley and has been fortunate to be able to focus more on her horses lately.

With McMillin tending to Ornate and her foals, and Barry and Shari Eisaman’s Eisaman Equine in central Florida breaking the youngsters, it’s up to Hartlage to train them on the track.

“I couldn’t tell you what she’s done for me,” Hartlage said of his relationship with Cauley. “I’m still training horses because of her. If you want to rate somebody on a scale of 1 to 10, she’s a 10. She’s got total faith in me, and I have total faith in her.”

Cauley and Ebert met Hartlage more than 25 years ago, and they’ve been together since. While interviewing trainers, they were taken by Hartlage’s demeanor and the family-oriented barn area. They noted that most of Hartlage’s family lived within a mile of each other in the Louisville neighborhood of Shively.

“That was the atmosphere I wanted,” Cauley said. “This is such a tough business that it makes it that much more enjoyable when all these other people get it and they know how hard it is, so that when you do find the winner’s circle, it’s a big celebration.”

Cauley and Hartlage hope the celebration continues, whether On Fire Baby runs against the girls or the boys.

“We’ve had a great run, and On Fire Baby has made it even better,” Hartlage said, “and we’re not done yet.”

All in the Family: Bisnath and Shivananda Parboo - By Jim Freer

2012-03-27T15:46:00Z

(Originally published in the March 31, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

By Jim Freer

For several days in early March, 6-year-old Ryan Parbhoo kept asking family members, “Do you have my ticket to Dubai yet?”

He had a special reason for that question because Giant Ryan, his family’s graded stakes-winning sprinter, is named after him.

The answer on tickets to Dubai is “yes” for Giant Ryan, young Ryan, and approximately 20 other members of the family of his grandfather, trainer Bisnath Parboo.

Giant Ryan is entered in the six-furlong Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News (UAE-I) at Meydan Racecourse. The $2 million race is part of the March 31 World Cup program.

“We wouldn’t be going if we didn’t think we had a good chance to win,” said Shivananda Parbhoo, Bisnath’s son and listed owner of most of the family’s horses,

Giant Ryan won two graded stakes last year to cap a six-race winning streak. The Golden Shaheen will be the first start of the year for the 6-year-old New York-bred son of Freud—Kheyrah, by Dayjur.

Having a horse in a Dubai World Cup race is the latest achievement in the family’s rise to prominence in the sport over the last two years. It began in late 2010 when they were the surprising winners of the trainer and owner titles at the Tropical meet at Calder Casino & Race Course in South Florida. Last summer and fall they hit the national spotlight with the graded stakes success of Giant Ryan and Trinniberg.

Those who encountered the Parbhoos in their travels found out something that Mike Anifantis, Calder’s racing secretary, learned when they arrived at the southeast Florida track in 2010.

“They are the nicest people you will ever meet,” Anifantis said. “Right away, I could see that they ran a quality operation. They take care of business, they keep a very clean stable, and they run in races that are the best spots for their horses.”

The Parbhoos own and train 17 horses, all stabled at Calder.

One of the first things anyone asks about the Parbhoos is why Bisnath spells his last name differently from other family members. The answer is that due to a clerical error the “h” was left out of his name upon his arrival in the United States from Trinidad & Tobago.

“I’ll get it fixed sometime,” Bisnath said.

Meanwhile, he is busy with racing, which has been a big part of his life in his native country and later in the United States.

He was born in 1939 and often went to racetracks with his father, Vatoon, who was a businessman and a Thoroughbred owner in Trinidad & Tobago. Bisnath was a trainer for several years on that island nation near Venezuela.

“But I never had the best horses and never won any stakes,” he said.

The family moved to the U.S. in 1982, when Shivananda was 17, and settled in the New York City area. The Parbhoos started a trucking business, and Bisnath remained in racing as an owner. He took out a New York trainer’s license in 2007.

By then, many of the younger family members had moved to the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area, and Shivananda had relocated the trucking business to that market. Bisnath moved to South Florida in 2010 and relocated his stable from Belmont Park to Calder.

He attributes his early success at Calder to a level of day-to-day competition that is less intense than at Belmont and Aqueduct.

Giant Ryan also benefited from the move to Florida.

He had raced only six times through 2010 because of problems with fungus on his feet.

A new team of veterinarians and blacksmith Avelo Sigmundo helped Giant Ryan overcome those problems. Last year he won the Smile Sprint Handicap (gr. II) at Calder and the Vosburgh Invitational Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont.

Giant Ryan finished eighth in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) at Churchill Downs Nov. 5. The Parbhoos later discovered he had run with a respiratory infection.

Trinniberg finished second in two graded stakes last year. In his 2012 debut he won the seven-furlong Swale Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park.

The colt’s name is a combination of Trinidad and Teufelsberg, his sire.

The Parbhoos do their own buying, usually at sales conducted by the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. or in private purchases.

“When owners ask us about training their horses, we nicely tell them ‘no,’” Shivananda said on a recent morning at his family’s Calder barn. “They sometimes want you to go into a race that is not right for the horse and you can’t argue with them,” he added. “If Pops (Bisnath) and I disagree about something, we talk about it and work it out.”

They have been in firm agreement about the training and racing of Giant Ryan—and that horse has taken them on a road from Calder to Churchill Downs and now to Dubai.

Master of All Trades: Peter Bradley - By Lenny Shulman

2012-03-20T13:12:00Z

(Originally published in the March 24, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

For a bloodstock agent, Peter Bradley sure seems to own his share of stakes winners. The latest in the impressive parade is Dayatthespa, a City Zip filly who took the Herecomesthebride Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Gulfstream Park March 11. In addition to selling horses, selling seasons, planning matings, and pinhooking, Bradley also puts together racing partnerships, which has resulted in him having a piece of stakes winners Wake Up Maggie, A True Pussycat, Tears I Cry, Saffron Dancer, grade II winner Pyrus, and grade III winner Gino’s Spirits.

“That was a good one,” Bradley said of the last named. “About a half hour before she went through the ring, my buyer decided he was out, so I got on the phone and made the mistake no bloodstock agent should ever make—I told Tom VanMeter I’d take a piece of her myself.”

Bradley honed his eye for horses early on. He grew up on a cattle ranch near Sacramento. His mother bought three Welsh ponies for Bradley and two siblings, but before long the operation grew to include a 150-stall show barn and a riding academy. Bradley got his fill of the equine world.

“I decided at age 13 I hated horses,” he said.

While attending the University of California-Davis, though, Bradley relented. He traveled to Kentucky with California agent Rollin Baugh and bought a couple of fillies to pinhook. The fillies turned a profit so he figured this was an easy game, an opinion that lasted until he tried repeating his success a year later. After graduating, Bradley pursued in earnest his racing education by first becoming an assistant trainer to Gene Cleveland at Santa Anita Park. He had his hands on Princess Karenda, who won the 1981 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (gr. I). After more than two years Bradley decided to head back to Kentucky to acquire a broader overview of the business.

“I figured I’d stay five years,” he noted. “That was 30 years ago.”

The education proved far-ranging. Bradley became farm manager at Fred Seitz’ Brookdale Farm, then took a job at Cromwell Bloodstock for three years before moving on to Lane’s End Farm, where he was in charge of private sales for seven years. Finally, he started an agency with Neil Bowden. When his partner headed home to Australia, the business became Bradley Thoroughbred Brokerage.

“It seems everyone has a niche,” said Bradley. “But I’ve tried to broaden things out a bit. I’ll sell about 150 seasons a year and also do matings, which is a good bread-and-butter business. When the mare business was rolling, we probably sold 30-40 mares a year off large farms to sophisticated buyers.”

In partnership with Nick de Meric for some 15 years, Bradley pinhooked top horses such as Dream Rush, Belgravia, and Lone Star Sky. Now Bradley partners with Eddie Woods, and that arrangement has been thriving at recent sales. At the Barretts sale earlier this month, an Indygo Shiner colt sold for $330,000 out of Woods’ consignment on behalf of a venture led by Bradley, who bought the colt for $37,000 as a yearling.

Then there are the racing partnerships. Dayatthespa caught Bradley’s eye at the 2011 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale of 2-year-olds in training, but she was withdrawn from the auction. The following day he made a deal with Niall Brennan to buy her for himself, Steve Laymon, Jerry Frankel, and Ronald Frankel. She won first time out at Saratoga, and shortly after Bradley got a call from trainer Chad Brown.
“I think you made a mistake,” Brown said. “You bought a nice horse.”

Bradley, who works out of his Lexington office, also put together a group that bought a half-interest in Aldebaran, who “disappointed us by running second in four grade I races. Except the next year he became a champion.

“I like putting together racing partnerships. It takes a lot of money to race horses, so I keep a small percentage and try to find like-minded people and put together groups that can have some fun and understand there are more hard times than good times, but persevere and get as much enjoyment as we can out of the good ones.”

Bradley lists a number of people who have helped him along the way, starting with when he was coming up with hunters and jumpers.

“Everyone in that world is always looking for a balanced horse,” Bradley noted. “So I learned that at a young age. Then, Gene Cleveland was a great horseman and taught me a lot. (Trainer) Dick Lundy was a superb horseman. I sold horses to Elliott Walden, and he taught me more about the horses after I sold them than I knew before. I was lucky enough to sell horses to Bobby Frankel, so I got to listen to him pontificate. You can learn so much from everybody in this game. You have to listen in order to keep learning about your trade.”

'Capping It Off: Adam Wachtel - By Esther Marr

2012-03-13T12:58:00Z

(Originally published in the March 17, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

Adam Wachtel is no newbie to the Thoroughbred world. As a child, he was introduced to the industry by his father, prominent New York owner Ed Wachtel, and he grew up on the New York circuit racetracks. But Adam would want it no other way.

“I’ve been going to the races since I was 10 years old,” said Wachtel, 50, who resides in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., with his wife, Susan, and stepchildren Lauren and Matt-hew. “Even though I went to law school, I don’t practice. I loved racing from the first time I went to the track, and I always knew I’d get involved one day.”

Adam Wachtel, who bought his first horse when he was a college student, has bred and raced several stakes winners over the years with his father, in partnership with others, and on his own.

“Racing was just a hobby for most of the owners I grew up around,” said Wachtel, who currently has 25 horses in training. “I thought if I treated it as a business, then maybe I would have an edge over the other owners and end up in the winner’s circle one day with a grade I.”

Wachtel’s stable currently features two different standouts: grade II winner Al Khali and grade I victor Ron the Greek. He owns both horses in partnership with his longtime friend Nils Brous. The latter is also co-owned by Jack Hammer, the horse’s breeder.

Al Khali, a two-time graded winner on turf, has been a little off form lately, but Wachtel has high hopes for the 6-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro.

“His last two turf races were thirds (2011 Sword Dancer Invitational, gr. IT; and Northern Dancer Turf Stakes, Can-IT), so we feel he could still be one of the top players in the distance turf category,” said Wachtel.

Ron the Greek’s best form began to emerge late last year, with back-to-back stakes victories at Aqueduct and then a close second behind Mucho Macho Man in the Jan. 28 Florida Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes. Wachtel and trainer Bill Mott decided to step the 5-year-old son of Full Mandate up in class for the March 3 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) and he rewarded them with an easy 31⁄2-length victory.

Wachtel first took a liking to Ron the Greek following his victory as a 3-year-old in the 2010 Lecomte Stakes (gr. III), but he was unable to purchase the horse from Hammer then because he was on the Triple Crown trail.

Hammer finally offered Wachtel and Brous the opportunity to acquire a majority interest in Ron the Greek following an eight-race losing streak during his 3- and 4-year-old campaigns.

“(Hammer) thought he was mismanaging the horse or doing something wrong,” said Wachtel. “He felt like maybe if he could hand over the reins to me and Bill Mott, it could help get the horse back in the right direction. I looked at his recent races, and I felt he had every bit of the potential he had when he was young.”

Wachtel was quick to point out that he has great respect for Ron the Greek’s previous trainers Tom Amoss, Tom Albertrani, and Peter Walder. But once the horse was in Mott’s barn, it just seemed like the best fit.

“I think I do a pretty good job of working with Bill and managing our horses,” said Wachtel. “We came up with the right game plan.”

Their strategy involved giving Ron the Greek a few months off last summer to regroup and work with Mott’s team, which seemed to be exactly what the horse needed.

Ron the Greek is a typical example of Wachtel’s racing philosophy. Because Wachtel is also a breeder—he keeps eight mares and stands the stallion One Nice Cat at Keane Stud near Amenia, N.Y.—the veteran horseman tends to buy only horses in the open market.

Wachtel likes acquiring runners that have impressive Ragozin numbers, like Ron the Greek did when he finished third behind Hymn Book and I Want Revenge in the Three Coins Up Stakes at Belmont Park last May.

“On the Ragozin sheets, which is what I use for purchasing and managing horses, he ran a 13⁄4, which is monstrous,” Wachtel said.

Wachtel’s other main strategy is to buy horses that have shown potential but don’t fit into their current trainers’ programs. Because his trainers—Mott, Chris Englehart, Dale Romans, Billy Morey, and Allen Iwinski—are spread across the nation, Wachtel can be flexible about sending horses to the region where he feels they belong.

Wachtel’s past success speaks for itself, and considering the rapid progress Ron the Greek has made, the future looks bright for the horse to continue on the path to stardom.

“We’re just really excited about him; we think he’s a legitimate threat,” said Wachtel, whose long-term plans involve getting Ron the Greek to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) in November. “He’ll be a major factor in the older handicap division for sure. We’re hoping for a little luck, and if he stays healthy, then watch out for Ron the Greek this year.”