The Thoroughbred Homeowners and Breeders Affiliation will honor prime homeowners and breeders of 2023 at its awards dinner Sept. 7 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington. Following are profiles of the successful breeders by state in addition to a pair of Canadian honors.
Arizona
Marvin Fleming
Fleming Thoroughbred Farm repeats as Arizona’s main breeder in 2023 because the full-service farm and stallion station continued to play a significant position within the state’s breeding, racing, and gross sales industries.
Brothers Marvin and Gerald Fleming personal and function the 320-acre facility in Willcox, Ariz., on land that has been of their household since 1947.
“My dad Gene Fleming bought his first broodmare in 1947, and our farm has been within the household since then. It was the beginning of every little thing,” mentioned Marvin Fleming, who along with being a hands-on operator additionally serves as president of the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Affiliation.
Positioned about 80 miles east of Tucson, Ariz., Fleming Thoroughbred Farm includes a five-eighths-mile coaching monitor, coaching barn, foaling barn, and a giant lined barn for mares. The farm additionally stands 5 stallions, together with Arizona’s main sire Lotsa Mischief —a stakes-winning son of five-time main nationwide sire Into Mischief.
Arkansas
McDowell Farm
“It by no means will get previous” is a sentiment that Invoice McDowell of McDowell Farm endorses.
McDowell Farm’s excellence in 2023 was acknowledged with yet one more Arkansas breeder of the 12 months award, nothing new for McDowell and his household, however nonetheless very satisfying. With 17 state breeding awards in his pocket, McDowell, who breeds to promote, does not take the dignity as a right.
“It is extremely gratifying to boost a pleasant horse to win in open firm, particularly for those who’re beating larger and costlier (breeding operations), with Kentucky-breds or what have you ever,” mentioned McDowell, who began elevating horses at McDowell Farm in 1981 upon graduating highschool. “It is a robust enterprise to make a dwelling doing all of it.”
McDowell and his spouse, Mary, and youngsters, Kirk and Leslie, proceed the legacy of his father, Donald Dewitt McDowell, who died in 2020 after launching the household’s Thoroughbred breeding and cattle operation within the early Nineteen Seventies in Sparkman, Ark. Mary handles all of the workplace work. Leslie is in command of foaling, and Kirk manages day-to-day operations of the 950 acres. Along with overseeing McDowell Farm, Invoice is the president of the Arkansas Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Horsemen’s Affiliation.
California
Richard Barton Enterprises
Household and teamwork have propelled Richard Barton Enterprises to the highest of the breeder ranks in California. These ideas imbue all aspects of Barton, which was named the 2023 Thoroughbred Homeowners and Breeders Affiliation’s California breeder of the 12 months for 2023.
Kate and Blair Penner of Barton Thoroughbreds
Kate Barton Penner, as government vice chairman, could head the group. However every time she speaks of Barton’s accomplishments, she credit her dad and mom, Richard and Beth, in addition to the crew at Barton Thoroughbreds, the farm in Santa Ynez, Calif., with Kevin Dickson because the farm supervisor.
“Everybody on the farm are such staff gamers—we could not be right here with out them,” Penner mentioned at this 12 months’s California Thoroughbred Breeders Affiliation awards banquet.
Barton for the primary time was the main California breeder of the 12 months, with complete earnings of $4,166,591. It additionally was honored because the breeder of One in Vermillion , champion California-bred 3-year-old male and the main Barton earner with $564,220.
Canada, massive breeder
Adena Springs
Frank and Frieda Stronach’s Adena Springs North, close to Aurora, Ontario, led all Canadian breeders once more in 2023.
On the Jockey Membership of Canada’s Sovereign Awards, Adena Springs was voted excellent breeder for an unprecedented 14th time. It was a bittersweet second for Stronach as he accepted the Sovereign only a few weeks after his spouse, Frieda, matriarch of the farm, died at age 80.
“It is nice to see so many individuals right here, all of us who love horses,” mentioned Stronach in accepting that award. “I do know Frieda would love this and I do know she is watching this from heaven.”
Frank, who purchased his first horse within the mid Sixties and constructed his first farm, Beechwood, into a number one racing and breeding operation, opened Adena Springs North within the Nineteen Nineties. It was adopted by divisions in Kentucky and Florida. A member of the Canadian Horse Racing Corridor of Fame, Frank was offered the Eclipse Award of Benefit in 2018.
In 2023 wins by Adena Springs horses have been frequent and the star of the season was Moira , Canada’s 2022 Horse of the 12 months and champion 3-year-old filly who got here again as a 4-year-old higher than ever. The robust filly received the Canadian Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine, defeating eventual 2023 Canadian Horse of the 12 months Fev Rover .
Canada, small breeder
Sean Fitzhenry
Sean Fitzhenry and spouse Dorothy have been breeding, promoting, and racing Thoroughbreds in Ontario for about 20 years and have put collectively a really profitable boutique broodmare band.
Sean Fitzhenry (proper).
The Toronto couple obtained into proudly owning shares in a few racehorses by way of pals earlier than setting off on their very own to strive breeding. They foal out mares at some prime Ontario breeding institutions as they do not have their very own farm however they do a lot of the analysis in buying mares and planning matings.
Of their first few years they bought a filly by Medaglia d’Oro , later named Advertising Combine , for $150,000 on the 2009 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She went on to earn greater than $2 million behind a number of grade 1 wins in the USA.
The Fitzhenrys breed to promote, however sometimes will maintain a homebred that does not notice a most popular public sale. A kind of was Dixie Moon, a Curlin filly who received the 2018 Woodbine Oaks over subsequent Queen’s Plate Stakes winner Surprise Gadot.
The 12 months 2023 was one other large one for horses bred by the Fitzhenrys as Millie Woman , a daughter of Onerous Spun —Mendocino Beano, by Good Strike, was voted Canada’s champion older filth mare on the Jockey Membership of Canada’s Sovereign Awards. Bought for $67,000 from the 2021 Keeneland November
Breeding Inventory Sale by coach Catherine Day Phillips as agent, Millie Woman received the Maple Leaf (G3) and Ontario Matron (G3) stakes at Woodbine for homeowners Kingfield Racing, Braconcrest, and Apricot Valley Thoroughbreds in a breakout season for the stretch-running mare.
Florida
Marilyn Campbell
A 3-time Florida breeder of the 12 months, Marilyn Campbell—below Stonehedge—topped all Florida breeders by earnings in 2023 with $3,338,867.
In 1988, Marilyn, alongside her late husband Gilbert, bought Stonehedge Farm South close to Williston, Fla. Previously Waldemar Farms, the birthplace of 1975 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Silly Pleasure, the Campbells had historical past on their aspect.
The Campbells raised dozens of stakes winners. Their most notable homebreds embody 2011 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Watch Me Go, a number of graded stakes-winning millionaire Blazing Sword, and graded stakes winner Ivanavinalot —greatest often called the dam of two-time Eclipse Award champion Songbird .
In 2023 Dean Delivers , a gelding by Stonehedge’s Cajun Breeze , received the Smile Dash Stakes (G3) and the Large Drama Stakes, each at Gulfstream Park. Me and Mr. C , a gelding by Khozan , was Stonehedge’s different stakes winner of 2023. He put collectively a trio of stakes wins—the Soldier’s Dancer Stakes, the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial Stakes, and the KY Downs Preview Turf Cup Stakes at Ellis Park.
“It is not a simple enterprise. I’ve obtained good folks working for me, we use our personal stallions, and we’ve got been very profitable doing that,” mentioned Campbell.
Indiana
Greg Justice
Greg Justice has been the proprietor and operator of Justice Farm for 40 years. Whereas working at a Kentucky water firm, he determined to go to a Keeneland sale and buy a mare in foal to Woodman. Just a few years later when that foal received some cash on the monitor, the Justice Farm breeding program was launched.
Justice has had fairly just a few profitable years as a Thoroughbred racehorse breeder in Indiana—successful the Indiana breeder of the 12 months award in 2015, 2021, 2022, and 2023, and the Indiana stallion proprietor of the 12 months award for 2022 and 2023.
Justice says the important thing to his success is his numbers.
“It is a numbers recreation,” Justice mentioned. “The extra horses you will have in a race the higher probability you will have of successful a race.”
At the moment, Justice has 110 horses in his program. As for 2023, Justice Farm noticed nice success with a “Justice Sweep” within the ITOBA Stallion Season Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Macho Justice and Doubledogjustice went 1-2 within the $100,000 race. Macho Justice, a bay gelding by Lantana Mob , fought for the win within the mile-and-70-yard race. Doubledogjustice, one other Lantana Mob offspring, was a neck again in second.
A very powerful race received for Justice Farm in 2023 was the Unreachable Star Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Doubledogjustice, owned and educated by Raymond J. Paquette III, took the $250,000 race simply.
Iowa
H. Allen Poindexter
Irrespective of the place they run, horses bred by H. Allen Poindexter win with precision regularity, making him one of many prime breeders within the Midwest in addition to all through North America.
H. Allen Poindexter
Poindexter’s house monitor is Iowa’s Prairie Meadows, into whose Corridor of Fame he was inducted in 2022. To drive that time house, the Poindexter-bred Big Sport introduced house the trophy for the 2023 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) because the 4-year-old banked higher than $378,000 for that season.
Big Sport can also be indicative of Poindexter’s knack for turning bargain-basement broodmare purchases into stakes producers. He landed Sport for Extra, dam of Big Sport, for $8,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Heiligbrodt Dispersal sale in 2011. Sport for Extra has produced not solely Big Sport, however further stakes performers Isotherm and Gio Sport .
Poindexter maintains a big Thoroughbred operation on his farm close to Springfield, Mo. He additionally boards mares with Tim and Nancy Hamlin at their Wynnstay Farm close to Winchester, Ky. However he’s an everyday at Prairie Meadows, attending the races there three weekends each month throughout its season. He will also be discovered at Oaklawn Park in Scorching Springs, Ark., throughout its meet.
Kentucky
Godolphin
Sheikh Mohammed’s mighty worldwide Godolphin breeding and racing program continues to journey a wave of success that has delivered two consecutive titles as Nationwide Breeder of the 12 months from the Thoroughbred Homeowners and Breeders Affiliation.
In 2023 Godolphin turned the fourth breeder since 1998 to prime the standings maintained by The Jockey Membership for 3 consecutive years and earned the extra distinction of being the primary particular person breeder with greater than $20 million in purses from the USA and Canada throughout a calendar 12 months.
As with many breeders, partnerships have yielded good outcomes for Godolphin. A lot in order that Godolphin truly crossed the $20 million earnings threshold in 2021 when horses it co-bred with others are thought of. Horses bred by Godolphin and companions earned greater than $20.7 million in 2021, greater than $22.1 million in 2022, and greater than $24.3 million in 2023.
Godolphin’s superstars for the 12 months have been a number of grade 1 winners Cody’s Want , Fairly Mischievous , and Grasp of The Seas . Cody’s Want owned the limelight, because the namesake of the late Cody Dorman, a younger man bothered with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a genetic situation that left him unable to stroll or discuss. He made a reference to the colt throughout a visit to Gainsborough Farm organized by the Make-A-Want Basis and collectively they impressed the racing group. Cody’s Want received 4 of 5 begins in 2023, capping the 12 months with a second consecutive win within the Breeders’ Cup Grime Mile (G1)—his third grade 1 win for the 12 months—that locked down honors as Horse of the 12 months and champion older filth male.
Louisiana
Thomas Galvin
When he was an adolescent, Omaha, Neb., native Thomas Galvin would sneak into Ak-Sar-Ben Race Observe to look at the horses run. “Watching these horses race impressed me to get into horse racing. I cherished watching them run.”
As an grownup in Dallas, he would discover a path into racing by way of a partnership when he was launched to Coast to Coast Racing.
“They have been searching for buyers, and I used to be searching for a manner into the business,” Galvin mentioned of that first step which might result in a life in racing.
At a 2005 sale in Texas, Galvin bought three Thoroughbreds to formally begin his breeding enterprise. At the moment Galvin has two mares, one foal, and one yearling, and 5 horses in coaching. He sometimes races his horses and John Caulfield is available in as a associate.
One of the crucial vital races in Galvin’s profession got here early. It was not with a horse he bred, however with a horse he bought and campaigned—Su Casa G Casa, a gelding by Throughout—Seda Fina, by Identified Truth. Paced by seven wins from 19 begins, Su Casa G Casa earned $473,473. In 2010 that large second arrived when Su Casa G Casa posted a front-end rating within the Kip Deville Stakes at Remington Park, giving Galvin his first black-type rating.
Success with one in all his homebreds would arrive by way of A G’s Charlotte , a 2019 daughter of Mo Tom —Adrianne G, by Indygo Shiner. In her 3-year-old season of 2022 A G’s Charlotte would win a pair of stakes together with the Louisiana Champions Day
Women Distaff Stakes at Truthful Grounds Race Course & Slots.
In 2023 A G’s Charlotte would energy Galvin to this award. Whereas she didn’t win a stakes race, A G’s Charlotte positioned in seven stakes races at three totally different Louisiana tracks.
Maryland
Dr. Thomas and Chris Bowman
Dr. Thomas and Chris Bowman have loads of accolades of their distinguished careers as Thoroughbred breeders in Maryland. The newest, the record-tying eleventh time being honored by the Thoroughbred Homeowners and Breeders Affiliation as their house state’s prime breeder.
Courting again to 1992, the Bowmans have received 11 occasions, Robert Meyerhoff 10 occasions (Meyerhoff additionally received in 1986), and the opposite remaining 11 honors being break up amongst 5 different winners. That he is tied with Meyerhoff is particular.
“I’ve by no means stopped to rely. … However he nonetheless is an in depth pal and one in all my idols. In order that caught with me due to that,” Thomas Bowman mentioned.
Among the many 2023 runners bred by the Bowmans is Double Crown , then a 6-year-old Bourbon Courage gelding. He was closely raced with 18 begins, going 3-2-4 and incomes $266,620. One other starter was Alwaysinahurry who completed within the prime 4 in every of his six begins.
New Jersey
Christine Connelly and Gregory Kilka
Guide’em Danno is a jewel within the crown of New Jersey Thoroughbred racing. And barely has this gem shone extra brightly than within the June 8 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Within the June 8 version, Guide’em Danno—bred by Christine Connelly of Vibrant View Farm in Chesterfield, N.J., and Gregory Kilka—did his Jersey roots proud, successful the top-tier stakes by a half-length.
Kilka was a part of Ironhorse Racing Secure, which campaigned a number of graded stakes winner Bucchero . Vibrant View has produced a number of state-bred champions, together with Exit Stage Left and Silent Enchantment . Aiming to purchase potential mates for Bucchero, Kilka spent $14,000 for Adorabella, in foal to Quick Anna , on the 2020 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. The resultant foal was Woman Bother—co-bred by Kilka and Connelly—a two-time stakes winner and New Jersey’s prime juvenile filly of 2022. Offered for $15,000 as a yearling, Woman Bother just lately commanded $235,000 on the Fasig-Tipton July Chosen Horses of Racing Age Sale. The day she bought was July 8—one month to the day after her half brother turned a grade 1 winner.
In April 2021, Adorabella foaled a colt by Bucchero at Vibrant View, later named Guide’em Danno. For eventual proprietor Atlantic Six Racing, comprised of six buddies, Guide’em Danno turned nothing wanting a sensation. After romping in a maiden particular weight at Monmouth Park in August 2023, Guide’em Danno received the Sept. 9 Smoke Glacken Stakes, additionally at Monmouth, earlier than heading to Aqueduct Racetrack, the place he captured the historic Futurity Stakes Oct. 8. Guide’em Danno then completed second in Aqueduct’s Nov. 5 Nashua Stakes.
New Mexico
Fred Alexander
Fred and Linda Alexander’s A & A Ranch stands among the state’s prime sires on the Anthony, N.M., farm, together with 2023 New Mexico main stallion Marking in addition to the state’s 2023 main first-crop sire Sporting Probability .
“We have been right here 25 years and we’re proud to attain this,” Fred Alexander mentioned. “It has been a variety of laborious work however I owe most of it to my workers and my purchasers which were with us over time. We have been lucky sufficient to have 5 of the state’s main stallions over the past 20 years.”
In addition to standing their three stallions, the Alexanders’ operation focuses totally on breeding and promoting their yearlings by way of their very own consignment every year on the Ruidoso Choose New Mexico-Bred Yearling Sale.
A & A Ranch was the main consignor the previous two years on the New Mexico-Bred Yearling Sale and was liable for the 2022 and 2023 gross sales toppers. In each years, the sale topper bought for six figures, a big accomplishment within the Land of Enchantment.
Marking, a grade 1-placed son of Bernardini, received New Mexico’s main sires race by a landslide. The stallion boasted progeny earnings of $2,580,008 for 2023.
New York
Barry Schwartz
Barry Schwartz
Over the previous 46 years proprietor/breeder Barry Schwartz has developed a thriving racing and breeding operation in New York that has offered him a number of grade 1 winners and now acclaim because the state’s main breeder.
Schwartz has been named the highest New York breeder for 2023 after a 12 months through which horses bred at his Stonewall Farm earned almost $2 million. Led by homebred El Grande O , Stonewall-bred runners had 237 begins in 2023 that produced 40 wins, 36 seconds, and 49 thirds and earnings of $1,933,286.
A homebred son of Take Cost Indy , El Grande O was a a number of stakes winner for Schwartz as a 2-year-old in 2023. He received the Sleepy Hole and Bertram F. Bongard stakes, each at Aqueduct Racetrack. Educated by Linda Rice, in eight 2023 begins El Grande O had three wins, three seconds, and a 3rd and earnings of $319,000.
In 2024 El Grande O hit the Triple Crown path and posted a pair of seconds within the Withers (G3) and Jerome stakes and a 3rd within the Gotham Stakes (G3) to raise his profession earnings to $435,000.
Stonewall additionally produced Stonewall Star , a 3-year-old filly who was a a number of stakes winner in 2023. She received the open Wine Nation Stakes at Laurel Park and the Franklin Sq. Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct.
North Carolina
Artwork Bauer
The satisfaction and pleasure of Bauer Farm, situated close to Waxhaw, N.C., is present 4-year-old mare Hartful Hope by Central Banker —She’s Fashionable, by Posse . Earlier than she raced, she was bought privately to an in depth pal of Bauer’s, Gerard Eckhardt, for the value of $1.50—Bauer nonetheless has the quarters!
In incomes the 2023 North Carolina Breeder of the 12 months award, Bauer now credit this filly he bought for lower than the standard minimal win guess.
In 2023 the then 3-year-old had 4 wins for Eckhardt. She broke her maiden Might 22 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The subsequent two victories have been registered at Belterra Park in Cincinnati. On Sept. 7, the daughter of Central Banker received a five-furlong allowance race at Belterra to earn $10,680. Later that very same month at Belterra, she fought her strategy to the wire to win in a six-furlong allowance and earn $11,700.
Shifting to Mahoning Valley Race Course, Hartful Hope secured her greatest win but Dec. 18 and have become the shining star of Bauer’s breeding program. The filly received a $27,500 allowance race. Bauer marks this race the place Hartful Hope earned $16,500 because the spotlight of his profession.
Oregon
Connie Erickson
Many have segued from using present horses to proudly owning racehorses. However Connie Erickson took it a step additional. She initially bred and rode Lipizzans, the attractive white horses made well-known by the Spanish Using Faculty of Vienna.
“I bred Lipizzans for 20 years,” Erickson mentioned. “We used to have the director of the Spanish Using Faculty come and consider the breeding inventory in America. I bred the highest-scoring mare and stallion in North America.”
Erickson got here involved with racehorses solely as a result of a pal of Connie’s had one. In the course of the financial downturn of 2008, a consumer of her pal’s coach encountered monetary issues, which led to Erickson taking one in all that individual’s in-foal mares “as a result of I am a sucker for child horses.”
The Ericksons quickly turned enthralled with the pleasure of racing, they usually moved from Lipizzans to Thoroughbreds. They first stood the stallion Klinsman, a graded stakes-placed son of Danehill, and later acquired Rise Up by way of bloodstock agent George Adams. That millionaire son of Rockport Harbor had received a number of stakes, together with the 2013 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (G3).
Connie additionally serves as president of the Oregon Thoroughbred Homeowners and Breeders Affiliation.
Pennsylvania
Christian Black
Denmark native Christian Black has had an curiosity in horses since his childhood. After transferring to America, he constructed up his first breeding enterprise, Blackstone Farm, from scratch with only a few mares.
Christian Black
Now Black owns and operates the entity with 18 broodmares in his barn. Black has a number of breeder awards below his belt. Blackstone Farm has been the state’s main general breeder of Pennsylvania-breds for the previous 5 years. Each Blackstone Farm and Forgotten Land Funding recurrently rank among the many prime breeders in Pennsylvania. In 2023, Blackstone had $2,150,065 in earnings.
Black has produced a string of profitable rivals in current years. Most notable is Angel of Empire (Traditional Empire —Armony’s Angel, by To Honor and Serve) in partnership with Black Diamond Equine. “He type of got here out of nowhere; he ended up being a extremely particular horse,” mentioned Black.
In 2023, the colt had excellent performances in main graded races. He received the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) and the Risen Star Stakes (G2). Angel of Empire was the favourite going into the Kentucky Derby (G1). The colt positioned third and earned $300,000. He additionally completed second within the Smarty Jones Stakes and third within the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2).
Angel of Empire was honored because the 2023 Pennsylvania Horse of the 12 months and champion 3-year-old male by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Affiliation. As well as, he was awarded the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Prime Midlantic-bred of 2023.
South Carolina
Franklin G. Smith Sr.
The longtime proprietor of the Elloree Coaching Heart in Elloree, S.C., Franklin G. Smith Sr. obtained his first horse in 1972 and his work encompasses nearly all components of the Thoroughbred racing business, from foals, to horses in coaching, to breeding inventory. A a number of winner of awards for South Carolina homeowners and breeders, Smith was represented within the winner’s circle in 2023 by 13 horses he bred.
Franklin Smith
Topping the record by earnings is Swayin to and Fro , a South Carolina-bred daughter of Straight Speaking who stood at Smith’s Elloree Coaching Heart. Smith campaigned the mare for her first three begins earlier than Baxter Racing Secure claimed her in Might 2022. Swayin to and Fro positioned within the What A Summer season Stakes in January 2023 earlier than successful the Barbara Fritchie Stakes (G3) in her solely different begin of the 12 months, amassing earnings of $170,000 for the season and profession earnings of $476,537.
One other daughter of Straight Speaking bred by Smith, Performanceanxiety , notched 4 wins for earnings of $81,540 in 2023 whereas her half sister, Haint Blue , received twice and earned $77,320. Smith has bred 4 winners from 5 starters out of their dam Theatricality, all by Smith’s stallions Straight Speaking and Executed Speaking.
Texas
Carolyn Barnett
It began in 1977, when Carolyn Barnett picked out a chestnut filly with a blaze face. Her pal, an legal professional, had simply purchased a bunch of horses. He talked her into shopping for one and instructed her to choose the one she preferred from a pasture of 5 yearlings. She picked the “fairly” one, who turned out to be stakes-placed and stakes-producing My Sunlit.
Sunlit Music , 2023 Horse of the 12 months and champion older male in Texas, is the fifth era of a line that began with My Sunlit.
Barnett’s Sunlit Music had a banner 12 months in 2023. The then 8-year-old gelding, by My Golden Music , earned $227,192 to mark his greatest 12 months to this point. He received 5 of his six begins; three of these wins got here in black-type stakes races. His lifetime earnings report is 18-13-6 from 45 begins with earnings of $757,520 by way of July 12.
“I’ve had a variety of horses, 20-30 in some unspecified time in the future. I ran My Sunlit, I ran all of her fillies, 4 generations, and simply stored protecting the mares. Lots of them have been simply very nice. After which right here comes this boy (Sunlit Music). Six years we’ve got been on a cloud,” she mentioned.
Virginia
Ann Mudge Backer
When the Secretariat Stakes (G2T) moved to Colonial Downs in Virginia final summer time, it was acceptable {that a} Virginia-bred, Gigante, would show profitable. Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner and remembered as top-of-the-line racehorses of recent Thoroughbred racing, was himself a Virginia-bred.
So additionally it is becoming that 91-year-old Ann Mudge Backer, who bred Gigante at Smitten Farm in The Plains, Va., now receives an honor—named by the Thoroughbred Homeowners and Breeders Affiliation as its Virginia breeder of the 12 months. For 2023 Ann Mudge Backer and Smitten Farm took third place amongst Virginia breeder bonus earners with $122,027. Amongst their 15 awards have been six wins, with Gigante liable for 4 of these.
A $120,000 buy from the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Gigante is by Not This Time out of the Empire Maker mare Summertime Inexperienced. He hails from a Backer household that goes again three generations to 1992, when Backer’s late husband, William Backer, acquired Gigante’s third dam, Deep Sufficient.
Gigante has “been a extremely particular horse for us as a result of he is out of one in all our final remaining homebreds,” mentioned Hunter Lee Marek, equine supervisor at Smitten Farm.
Washington
Ken Miles and Sheridan Jones
Pushed by a ardour for seeing their horses run, Ken Miles and Sheridan Jones have carved a reputation for themselves on the West Coast as Thoroughbred breeders.
Partnering on the breeding of horses comparable to Outdated Pal , the companions put an emphasis on each horse being particular.
“I am a bit of man, I haven’t got a giant steady of broodmares and horses. To me, each one in all them is particular and it means loads watching them run,” Miles mentioned.
Miles’ first vital step was racing a filly named Time for Magic, who later turned the cornerstone of his breeding program. From Time for Magic, Miles bred Athina Lee, a daughter of English Channel. “I fell in love together with her the minute she was born, she was so stunning.”
In 2010 Athina Lee was the sale topper on the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Affiliation Yearling and Combined sale. With a successful bid of $80,000, the filly remained the poster horse for the sale for seven years. The Washington-bred noticed some success on the monitor, however her actual worth has been again as a broodmare for Miles and Jones’ operation.
Sheridan Jones was launched to Miles by way of the buy of a filly named Starrian. This partnership would show pivotal as the 2 labored collectively to repurchase Athina Lee and make her the operation’s important broodmare.
Athina Lee has produced two stakes performers for the partnership, stakes-placed Ferrariano (by Mshawish ) and 2023 stakes winner Outdated Pal. Named in honor of Miles’ dad and mom, Outdated Pal was a $160,000 yearling on the 2021 Fasig-Tipton California Yearling Sale. The Grazen colt received the 2023 Snow Chief Stakes at Santa Anita Park to cap a 2-1-1 report from 4 begins and earnings of $151,160 in 2023.
