It’s been a very long time coming and now that the second is right here, proprietor Lawrence Goichman couldn’t be extra thrilled about taking part in his first Breeders’ Cup as proprietor, with a homebred no much less. His Scythian will go to battle within the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar Nov. 1.
“Quite a lot of years getting right here, I’ll inform you that,” Goichman mentioned. “It’s a kind of stuff you attempt to not anticipate and when it occurs, it’s like, ‘Wow.’ It’s one factor to observe it on tv, it’s one other to be there. I’ve 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 a bit of 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 degree by buying mares and breeding them. Over time, the businessman, who rapidly will inform you he’s 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 for Michael J. Caruso and Michael Dubb.
Amongst his homebreds is the not too long ago pensioned broodmare, J’ray, who earned almost $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 nearly all of his working in Europe, was produced by the Darshaan mare Effervescent Heights. J’ray’s mettle was examined frequently in open firm with constructive outcomes as evidenced by her 4 graded victories. She gained 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 approach together with her eyes that have 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’re speaking Muhammad Ali. She knew it was all enterprise: ‘Don’t annoy me now; don’t distract me.’ ”
To date 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 winner who stands at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, has gained two of three begins, together with the Oct. 6 Miss Grillo Stakes which, as a Breeders’ Cup Problem Collection race, earned her an automated 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 probabilities 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 residence a 2 1/2-length winner.
Scythian is the primary stakes winner out of Goichman’s homebred stakes winner Dean Henry, a half-sister to a number of graded stakes winner Learn the Footnotes, who was bought 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 also be educated by Mott. Dancing Dean has gained two of seven begins for Goichman, together with her most up-to-date one, an Oct. 17 allowance optional-claimer on the turf at Aqueduct.
One among Goichman’s greatest 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 accumulate certainly one of his daughters on the 2019 Tattersalls October yearling sale. With Mike Ryan performing as agent, Goichman landed Star Devine for $258,109. She gained 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. Somewhat than retaining 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 Fasig-Tipton’s 2023 November Sale the place she was consigned by Indian Creek and acquired 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 perspective [about matings], however I’ve been doing my very own matings for various 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 deciding on a enterprise main. He mentioned he at all times had a want to turn out to be concerned with horses.
“I mentioned to my spouse, ‘We should always [buy] a horse,’” he recalled. “She mentioned, ‘Let’s purchase a home first.’ That dream went away. However we have been at a marriage, I imagine it was, and my spouse met some man who was syndicating horses and wished to know if she wished to be in a partnership and she or he 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 finding out. First e-book was [Federico] Tesio and I nonetheless preserve it useful in case I wish to be taught one thing. Anybody who has a critical curiosity ought to attempt to decide up certainly one of Tesio’s books.”
As the only real breeder of 15 stakes winners, three of them graded winners, and 105 winners general, Goichman’s research started paying off lengthy earlier than Scythian arrived on the scene, however he can’t assist however really feel he’s gone to the following degree along with his first Breeders’ Cup starter as proprietor.
“I acquired to inform you, that is a lot enjoyable,” he mentioned.
Think about how he’ll really feel if Scythian wins?
