The Blood-Horse Regionals : southeast regional

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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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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3/10/2012 Southeast: OK in Ocala

aspradling — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:55:55 GMT

Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. key to Central Florida horsemen

by Deirdre B. Biles

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s mission is simple, according to Mike O’Farrell, who has served as the Central Florida auction firm’s chairman since October 2006 in addition to running Ocala Stud.

“It’s here to provide the best facilities possible for people in the Ocala area to promote and sell their horses,” he said.

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02/11/2012 Southeast: Junior Class

aspradling — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:58:02 GMT

Longtime trainer Junior Serna keeps sending out winners
by Bill Giauque

Now in his sixth decade as a horseman, Junior Serna of Ocala, Fla., and Lambholm South could best be described as a “stayer.” A stayer, as defined in Tom Ainslie’s book “Ainslie’s Complete Guide to horoughbred Racing,” is “a reliable router.”

Serna certainly can stay the distance—and has. And there is no question he is reliable, but both are understatements that leave out the class of the man and his horses.

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01/21/12 Southeast: Blockbuster

Blood-Horse Staff — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:46:26 GMT

By Bill Giauque

Ocala Stud roars back among top breeders.

Ocala Stud is the setting for the longest-running Thoroughbred epic in Florida, which features tragedy and triumph, struggle and success. The story began in 1956 with the founding of the farm by Joe O' Farrell, followed quickly by the hosting of the world’s first 2-year-old in training sale, and the emergence of Rough’n Tumble as a leading sire and the sire of champions My Dear Girl and Dr. Fager.

Next came the Ocala Stud-bred Horse of the Year Roman Brother. Eventually, though, Florida’s keystone farm fell on hard times and bankruptcy in the 1970s, followed by the long struggle to return to national
prominence.

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12/10/11 Southwest Regional: Dobson Dials Up Success

aspradling — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:17:02 GMT

Oklahoma telecom mogul hits with Caleb’s Posse, takes equity interest in Three Chimneys Stallions

Everett Dobson became a leader in the telecommunications industry by learning every aspect of the business, making the right acquisitions, and understanding capital markets.

He brings the same intellectual discipline to Thoroughbred racing and breeding that until 2007 was more of a pastime than a passion. That’s the year he sold Dobson Communications to AT&T for $2.8 billion and started to up his ante in the horse business.

“I had a little more time on my hands, and I was looking for something to do that was exciting, competitive,” the soft-spoken 52-year-old said. “I increased my involvement in the sport.”

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04/30/11 Southwest: The Gift of Harmony

aspradling — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:44:36 GMT

What started as a couple of extravagant gifts has prompted a lifelong passion for horses for Harmony Training Center owner Theresa Moore, who became involved in Thoroughbred racing and breeding through the most unlikely of connections—her dentist.

It’s not every day that the man who works on your smile buys you a horse. But such was the case with Moore’s daughter Stacey, whose wedding gift from Dr. Warren Center was a weanling filly from the first crop of his stallion, Kipling.

“We thought it was a joke,” remembered Moore, a former schoolteacher, who now operates Harmony near Inola, Okla., and races horses with her husband, Joe, a retired auditor for WalMart. “We knew (Center) had gotten into horses, but when he gave my daughter the (foal registration) papers, I said, ‘Warren, don’t you think that’s a tad over the top? I have a house with a backyard that won’t accommodate a horse.' He said we could sell her or just see what happens.”

At her daughter’s urging, however, Moore wound up racing the horse with her in partnership, and as the cliché goes, the rest is history.

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03/12/11 Southeast: Finery at Vinery

aspradling — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:58:40 GMT

Sometimes it pays to be contrarian. While other operations have contracted over the past few years, Tom Simon’s Vinery has gotten aggressive. It has supported its young stallions More Than Ready and Congrats and turned them into major success stories; it has enhanced its racing stable and come up with horses such as Kodiak Kowboy, a champion in both the United States and Canada who has now joined the Vinery stallion roster; and last year Vinery made its debut as a consignor of 2-yearolds in training at various juvenile auctions.

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02/05/2011 Southeast: Royal Flush

aspradling — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:34:45 GMT

Retirement is a dirty word to Harold Queen. The 75-year-old Florida resident said he works “seven days a week” and doesn’t plan to stop “until I’m dead.”

While many men his age in the Sunshine State are fishing or playing golf, Queen keeps busy managing his nearly 82-acre farm that is part of the Nelson Jones training complex near Ocala. He has 10 broodmares, boards horses for clients, rehabs injured runners, and breaks 20-25 racing prospects each year.

Queen also is the proud breeder and owner of Big Drama, 2010’s champion male sprinter. An earner of more than $2.6 million as of early February, the son of Montbrook is trained by David Fawkes and has won nine added-money events, including last year’s Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I). In his 2011 debut
the 5-year-old dark bay or brown horse captured the Jan. 15 Mr. Prospector Stakes (gr. III) by four lengths at Gulfstream Park.

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