The Blood-Horse Regionals

4/27/2013 Southwest Regional: Sew Good

aspradling — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:22:40 GMT

Betty Matthews’ silks are worn throughout North America

by Gary McMillen

It’s a windy morning in early spring and Betty Matthews is sitting on her porch swing, sipping a cup of coffee. A deep cushion of leaves from the hickory trees that surround the property have not been disturbed by a rake for months. Squirrels scatter and scamper in all directions when she gets up to fill the bird feeders. The daily routine of country seclusion in Haughton, La., looks casual but there are few loose ends in the life of Betty Matthews.

A self-taught seamstress, Matthews makes racing silks for a living. A trainer in New Orleans with a colt entered in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II) and an owner from New Jersey have faxed in orders. It’s time to go to work.

Precise about everything she does, Matthews clears up the profile of her customer base.

“Of course everybody calls them jockey silks but my clients are owners and trainers,” she said. “The jockeys can change from race to race but the colors of the owner stay the same.”

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4/13/2013 Northeast/Mid Atlantic Regional: A Farm For All Seasons

aspradling — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:01:26 GMT

Gabriel and Nicole Goodwin make Goodwin Farm a year-round operation

by Lenny Shulman

Racetracks and Major breeding farms aren’t the only beneficiaries of New York’s rebirth as a Thoroughbred racing power. Tucked away 20 minutes northwest of Saratoga in the leafy village of Porter Corners, Nicole and Gabriel Goodwin are fielding phone calls from horsemen looking to get into the game with a couple of homebreds. The couple is breaking and training more horses for New Yorkers who now wish to stay and race in the state year ’round. The Goodwins are riding the wave, too, by taking their own mares to major Kentucky stallions and bringing them home to produce higher quality New York-breds.

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4/6/2013 Midwest/Canada Regional: Flower Power

aspradling — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:49:35 GMT

Henry Mast goes from greenhouses to winner’s circle

by Esther Marr

One of Michigan-based Thoroughbred owner/breeder Henry Mast’s life mottos—“Business is easy”—is etched on a sign on his office door. The simple phrase reminds Mast of his long-standing secret to success.

“Business is real easy if you do what you say you’re going to do, you do it for a fair price, and you do it on time,” said Mast. “Those are pretty basic principles that are true in any business.”

With a multi-million-dollar flower company and a profitable Thoroughbred operation to his credit, Mast’s philosophy has proved effective.

Mast, 67, is now retired from his professional career, but the breeding and racing program he maintains with fellow Michigan horseman Bob Gorham still produces quality racehorses at an impressive rate.

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3/30/2013 Southwest Regional: Loose and Free

aspradling — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:41:39 GMT

Terry Gabriel instills teamwork at Pelican State Thoroughbreds

by Gary McMillen

Terry Gabriel has mastered the art of deception. In his role of owner and manager of Pelican State Thoroughbreds, Gabriel is next to invisible. Hands thrust in his jacket pocket on a February morning, Gabriel steps between clusters of pine cones on the walking path from his two barns at the Folsom Training Center near Folsom, La., to the training track. At first glance Gabriel appears to be doing nothing. The reality is that nothing is being left undone.

Gabriel is a man who wears many hats, and they all seem to fit. With a surface effortlessness, he functions as a sales consignor, pinhooker, farm manager, trainer, and bloodstock agent. Gabriel does everything but change the oil in the tractors.

“This is a competitive business, and getting up early and working long hours is part of the drill,” the 55-year-old said while inspecting a delivery of fresh alfalfa. “On a horse farm where you are breaking babies and going off to sales almost every week, you don’t have time to be everywhere. At some point you have to hand it over to staff you can trust.”

There are eight hands on the Pelican State Thoroughbreds’ payroll. Two exercise riders, five grooms, and Gabriel’s assistant Jeremy Duit.

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3/16/2013 Southeast Regional: On the Road

aspradling — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:08:11 GMT

Jonathan Sheppard keeps on moving and winning

by Esther Marr

On a blustery day in late February, Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard made a sidetrip to Kentucky, taking a rare break from his demanding schedule to celebrate an old friend’s 30th birthday. The visit wasn’t with a human acquaintance but with a dear Thoroughbred, one that helped shape the trainer’s storied career.

As Sheppard fed the now-pensioned Storm Cat some treats at Overbrook Farm near Lexington, he couldn’t help but reflect on days gone by. It seemed only yesterday Sheppard had trained the son of Storm Bird to a victory in the 1985 Young America Stakes (gr. I) at Meadowlands and a close runner-up finish in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) at Aqueduct.

Sheppard also recalled how he and his wife of 20 years, Cathy, convinced owner William T. Young to deviate from his business plan and retain Storm Cat as a stallion. At the time, Overbrook typically sold all of its stallion prospects when their running careers were done. The Sheppards’ conviction and persuasiveness resulted in the farm standing one of the most influential sires of modern times.

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3/9/2013 Southeast Regional: Proud Transition

aspradling — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:23:59 GMT

Bridlewood Farm retains its class in a changing role.

by Michael Compton

The late Arthur I. Appleton will forever be remembered for building up Bridlewood Farm near Ocala, Fla., into one of the industry’s most respected and successful Thoroughbred operations. Established by Arthur and his wife, Martha, on 500 acres in 1976, Bridlewood Farm has been a perennial leading breeder in Florida and routinely ranks in the top 10 on a national basis. The farm, which grew over the years to encompass nearly 900 acres, is responsible for breeding, racing, or training more than 200 stakes winners in its illustrious history.

Among the best horses bred and/or raced by Appleton before his passing in 2008 are David Junior; Jolie’s Halo; Forbidden Apple, Florida’s Horse of the Year in 2001 out of that year’s Florida Broodmare of the Year North Of Eden; Wild Event; and Southern Image.

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3/2/2013 Midwest/Canada Regional: Saved For Now

aspradling — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:00:29 GMT

Two-year agreement buys time for Ontario racing

by Alex Campbell

It's been quite a year for those in the Ontario horse racing industry since the provincial government announced in February 2012 its intention to cancel the lucrative slots-at-racetracks program as a way to trim budget deficits.

“It was tough for us, and I think it was tough for other people, too,” said Michael Byrne, a breeder and owner of Park Stud, home to three stallions in 2013, including the Spendthrift duo of Court Vision and Victor’s Cry. “But I was always optimistic because I kept telling people somewhere common sense will prevail here.”

Over the past 12 months industry representatives have been negotiating with the government in an attempt to save the industry, and those negotiations resulted in a two-year transitional funding agreement with Woodbine Entertainment Group to continue live racing at both Woodbine and Mohawk racetracks through the end of the 2014 season. With the Woodbine agreement now in place, other tracks are expected to reach similar pacts with the province in the near future.

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2/23/2013 Northeast/Mid Atlantic Regional: First Edition

aspradling — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:39:43 GMT

Vivien Malloy enjoys New York’s revival

by Claire Novak

It Is foaling season at Edition Farm, and in the deeply straw-bedded stalls of a cozy barn, the miracle of new life occurs. As a mare stretches around to greet her newborn foal, 80-year-old Vivien Malloy is there, her soothing voice encouraging mother, welcoming child.

“Oh, you did such a good job,” she croons as she towels off the wobbling minutes-old creature. Motherhood is a commonality shared across species, and after bringing five children of her own into the world, Malloy has ushered in one well-bred equine youngster after another.

“Just toweling them off and standing away, seeing the mother nicker to her child for the first time, that never gets old,” Malloy said recently from her farm near Hyde Park, N.Y., about two hours south of Saratoga Springs.

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2/16/2013 Southwest Regional: Bart Time

aspradling — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:39:53 GMT

From polo champion to Wasted Tears, Bart Evans knows horses

by Lenny Shulman

For a man who got to the racetrack via an unorthodox route, breeder/owner/trainer Bart Evans is a big fan of tradition. He cherishes the time he spent in California with legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham and extols the virtues of New York-based legend Allen Jerkens, whom he has also visited.

“Those guys are all about the horse,” said Evans, 67, in admiration. It is a philosophy he has followed as well, never as successfully as when he raced and trained homebred Wasted Tears, who won graded stakes each season from 2009-11, finishing with 12 victories from 22 starts and earnings of $941,463. Wasted Tears delivered her first foal, a colt by Malibu Moon, Jan. 31.

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2/9/2012 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional: Sweet Candy

aspradling — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:28:10 GMT

CandyLand Farm’s Herb and Ellen Moelis have raised millions for retired racehorses

by Steve Haskin

Along the magical road through CandyLand, you will find Queen Frostine, Princess Lolly, Lord Licorice, and Herb and Ellen Moelis. You won’t find the last two ames anywhere on the children’s popular board game, but you will find them in a real-life fairy tale setting, providing aftercare for retired horses, granting veterinary scholarships, and assisting in a number of other worthy causes.

Oh, yes, and they also breed Thoroughbreds at their 160-acre CandyLand Farm near Middletown, Del. Several years after purchasing the farm, the native New Yorkers, with help from racing icon Allaire du Pont, started Thoroughbred Charities of America to provide homes for retired racehorses. They accomplished that through annual stallion season auctions, which became a major event in the Delaware area before moving to Kentucky in 2008.

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2/9/2013 Southeast Regional: On the Square

aspradling — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:22:09 GMT

Plain-talking Eddie Plesa Jr. may be having his lucky day

By Mike Berardino

Like her husband, Laurie Plesa grew up around Thoroughbred horse racing. Her father, Joe Servis, was a Hall of Fame jockey. Her two younger brothers, John and ason Servis, are trainers, with John just missing out on training a Triple Crown winner with Smarty Jones in 2004.

She gets it.

So when asked what people should know about Eddie Plesa Jr., her husband of 33-plus years, Laurie Plesa doesn’t hesitate.

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2/9/2013 West Coast Regional: Out of This World

aspradling — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:18:18 GMT

Linda Madsen brings Thoroughbreds to Milky Way Farm

by Tracy Gantz

Linda Madsen can’t point to one incident in her life that put her on the path to Thoroughbreds. It could have been that first visit to Santa Anita Park with her mother on her seventh birthday, her marriage to Thoroughbred veterinarian Dr. Larry Seeman, or the time neighbor Dan Schiffer and his trainer, Mel Stute, needed a place to board horses.

“I’ve always absolutely loved Thoroughbreds,” said Madsen.

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2/2/2013 Midwest/Canada Regional: Facing the Challenge

aspradling — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:48:48 GMT

Tom Roche makes a go of it at his Carmalley Valley Farm in Missouri.

by Claire Novak

Success in thoroughbred racing is difficult to find and producing the “big horse” is even harder, yet hundreds of small-scale breeding operations persevere. What exactly inspires an owner to invest time and money into what is guaranteed to be an uphill battle? According to Tom Roche of Carmalley Valley Farm, it’s all about the challenge.

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1/19/2013 Southwest Regional: Trophy Presentation

aspradling — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:13:13 GMT

Richard Hessee brings Brahms and The Daddy to Arkansas’ Trophy Club

by Lenny Shulman

While stallion owners in Thoroughbred breeding hotbeds such as Kentucky and New York compete tooth-and-nail to attract mare owners to their stud horses, sometimes it’s nice to be a big fish in a small pond a couple of turns off the beaten path.

So says Richard Hessee, who is happily ensconced with his wife, Frances, at their Trophy Club Training Center near Royal, Ark., a couple of furlongs from the racing action of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. They purchased the 160-acre facility in 2009 from longtime trainer Bob Holthus, who for years broke and raised horses on the land that was then known as Kilkerry Farm. After a distinguished career conditioning graded stakes winners such as Lawyer Ron, Pure Clan, Greater Good, Ruby Surprise, and Announce, Holthus died in 2011, leaving a legacy from the land that the Hessees hope to continue.

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1/12/2013 Southeast Regional: Coming Up Aces

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:08:10 GMT

Fred and Jane Brei's Jacks or Better Farm plays a winning hand.

by Michael Compton

Fred Brei’s successFul approach to Jacks or Better Farm’s racing operation may seem like common sense, but for the runners carrying its purple and gold colors, the farm’s genius lies in uncompromising dedication to best practices. Precocious homebreds such as Eclipse Award champion Awesome Feather and multiple grade I stakes winner Jackson Bend, ascending to the top ranks of their respective divisions in recent years, clearly illustrate the commitment is yielding uncommon results.

The dedication begins early with homebreds at the 89-acre Jacks or Better Farm near Reddick, Fla., a property acquired by Fred and his wife, Jane, in 1997 and home today to their broodmare band of 24. The initial lessons for foals start virtually at birth, continuing later at the Breis’ 30-stall training barn housed within the expansive Nelson Jones Training Center.