It has been a very long time coming and now that the second is right here, proprietor Lawrence Goichman could not be extra thrilled about collaborating in his first Breeders’ Cup as proprietor, with a homebred no much less. His Scythian will go to battle within the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) at Del Mar Nov. 1.
“A number of years getting right here, I’ll let you know that,” Goichman mentioned. “It’s a type of stuff you strive to not count on and when it occurs, it is like, ‘Wow.’ It is one factor to look at it on tv, it is one other to be there. I have been to Breeders’ Cups, however not with my very own horse.
“This can be a little little bit of validation after feeling a bit like that Greek character, Sisyphus, who retains pushing the ball to the highest of the hill, getting nearer, but it at all times rolls down slightly bit.”
Goichman, 80, grew to become concerned within the late Eighties as an proprietor when he participated in a syndicate. He immediately was hooked and determined to take it to the following stage by buying mares and breeding them. Over time, the businessman, who rapidly will let you know he is removed from being retired from his finance and actual property companies, has constructed a strong breeding operation specializing in New York-breds, a lot of whom he retains to race.
Goichman has been represented as breeder of a Breeders’ Cup starter as soon as beforehand. New York-bred Run Curtis Run completed twelfth within the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Dash (G2) for Michael J. Caruso and Michael Dubb.
Amongst his homebreds is the just lately pensioned broodmare, J’ray , who earned practically $1 million throughout her 4 years on the racetrack from 2005-08 and was a a number of graded stakes winner educated by Todd Pletcher.
J’ray, a New York-bred turf filly, was named for Goichman’s spouse, Jennifer, who earned the nickname when she was youthful. The daughter of Distant View, a Kentucky-bred who did the vast majority of his working in Europe, was produced by the Darshaan mare Effervescent Heights. J’ray’s mettle was examined often in open firm with constructive outcomes as evidenced by her 4 graded victories. She received at seven totally different racetracks and concluded her profession with a file of 9-8-1 from 26 begins and earnings of $969,843. Within the breeding shed, she was a stakes producer.
“J’ray was like a professional athlete. She had a means together with her eyes that had been very playful once you got here to the barn to feed her carrots,” Goichman shared. “However when she was within the paddock on race day, you are speaking Muhammad Ali. She knew it was all enterprise: ‘Do not annoy me now; do not distract me.'”
Thus far in her younger profession, the Invoice Mott-trained Scythian has additionally been all enterprise. The daughter of scorching first-crop sire Tiz the Legislation , the 2020 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner who stands at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, has received two of three begins, together with the Oct. 6 Miss Grillo Stakes (G2T) which, as a Breeders’ Cup Problem Sequence race, earned her an computerized fees-paid berth to the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The Miss Grillo was an eventful affair after Goichman’s different homebred, the Chad Brown-trained Marvelous Madison , had the lead when she bolted on the quarter pole and eradicated the possibilities of two rivals. Scythian, ridden by Junior Alvarado, was unscathed by the occasion and located herself with the lead fairly unexpectedly however knew exactly what to do with it as she barreled house a 2 1/2-length winner.
Goichman (proper) leads Scythian into the winner’s circle after the Miss Grillo Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack
Scythian is the primary stakes winner out of Goichman’s homebred, the stakes-winning Dean Henry , a half sister to a number of graded stakes winner Learn the Footnotes , who was offered by Goichman at public sale as a 2-year-old. Dean Henry, a 19-year-old daughter of Empire Maker, has a yearling colt by Tacitus and was bred to Jack Christopher this yr. Goichman plans on breeding her again to Tiz the Legislation in 2025.
Scythian’s 3-year-old half sister by Structure , Tiz the Legislation’s sire, can be educated by Mott. Dancing Dean has received two of seven begins for Goichman, together with her most up-to-date one, an Oct. 17 allowance elective claimer on the turf at Aqueduct.
One among Goichman’s largest scores within the trade got here within the gross sales ring with Star Devine . Goichman is an enormous fan of Fastnet Rock—a two-time champion Australian sire who retired from stud duties earlier this yr—and was eager to amass considered one of his daughters on the 2019 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. With Mike Ryan appearing as agent, Goichman landed Star Devine for $258,109. She received three of 14 begins and was a number of graded stakes-placed. Throughout her 5-year-old marketing campaign in the summertime of 2023, she was injured and retired. Relatively than holding the mare and having to attend till this yr to breed her, Goichman noticed a possibility to make some cash and entered Star Devine within the 2023 Fasig-Tipton’s The November Sale the place she was consigned by Indian Creek and purchased by Kia-Ora Stud Australia for $650,000.
Goichman at the moment has 11 broodmares. They foal at Stone Bridge Farm close to Gansevoort, N.Y., simply 12 miles from Saratoga Springs. When his mares are in Kentucky to be bred, and earlier than they head north to foal, they reside at Indian Creek close to Paris, Ky.
“Sometimes, I’ll get somebody’s standpoint (about matings), however I have been doing my very own matings for quite a few years now,” Goichman mentioned.
A 1966 graduate of Cornell College in Ithaca, N.Y., Goichman had thought of turning into a veterinarian and took pre-vet programs earlier than selecting a enterprise main. He mentioned he at all times had a want to develop into concerned with horses.
“I mentioned to my spouse, ‘We must always (purchase) a horse,'” he recalled. “She mentioned, ‘Let’s purchase a home first.’ That dream went away. However we had been at a marriage, I imagine it was, and my spouse met some man who was syndicating horses and needed to know if she needed to be in a partnership and he or she pointed to me, and he came to visit. We ended up getting concerned.
“I did the partnership factor for 2 years and mentioned to myself, ‘I feel I prefer it.’ So, I began learning. First ebook was (Federico) Tesio and I nonetheless maintain it useful in case I need to study one thing. Anybody who has a critical curiosity ought to attempt to choose up considered one of Tesio’s books.”
As the only real breeder of 15 stakes winners, three of them graded winners, and 105 winners total, Goichman’s research started paying off lengthy earlier than Scythian arrived on the scene, however he can not help however really feel he is gone to the following stage together with his first Breeders’ Cup starter as proprietor.
“I received to let you know, that is a lot enjoyable,” he mentioned.
Think about how he’ll really feel if Scythian wins?