WINNING OWNERS NA ISSUE 34_Jerkins feature.qxd 23/10/2014 01:35 Page 2
WINNING OWNERS – JULY-SEPTEMBER 2014
SOMALI LEMONADE
Won the Diana at Saratoga, July 19 Owned by Caroline Forgason Trained by Michael Matz Sire Lemon Drop Kid Dam Chic Corine by Nureyev
STANDING in the winner’s circle at Saratoga July 19, trying to get her mind around what she had just witnessed, Somali Lemonade’s owner Caroline Forgason said, “I never dreamed of this.” Forgason had just won her first Grade I stakes, the Diana Handicap, at a track she’s been coming to since she was 18 years old with her only horse – one whom was almost retired at the end of last year. “We thought she lost the ‘want to,’” Forgason said. “And when you lose the ‘want to,’ that’s kind of it.” It’s a fairy tale come true for Forgason, whose family has deep roots in racing going back to her grandfather’s grandfather, Richard King, the founder of legendary King Ranch in Texas. Known for raising cattle and Quarter Horses, the ranch began breeding Thoroughbreds in 1934 and in 1946 won the Triple Crown with its home-bred Assault. Four years later, their home-bred
Middleground won the 1950 Kentucky Derby, finished second to Hill Prince in the Preakness, and then won the Belmont Stakes. Forgason’s grandfather, Robert Justus Kleberg, took over management of the ranch in 1885. Under Kleberg, the ranch grew from 600,000 acres to 1.3 million. “My grandfather was really the one who got us into it,” Forgason said. “It’s a family affair.” In 1974 Forgason’s sister, Helen Alexander, began managing the ranch’s Thoroughbred operation. In 1989, King Ranch sold its
bloodstock to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum and its Kentucky property to Robert Clay’s Three Chimneys Farm. Forgason has been in and out of racing for more than a quarter century. “I had kind of gotten out of things, then Michael (brother-inlaw Matz) trained Barbaro and it was so exciting – so amazing when he won the Derby,” she said. “I had a ton of horses and most of them got sick or hurt,” Forgason said. “That makes the Diana very special.”
world. It’s just the right thing to do.” In 1980, Dubb began Beechwood Organization, a small home-building company of which he is now chairman, and now one of the top 100 companies in the country. In the past two decades, Beechwood has developed
more than 55 communities, including Meadowbrook Pointe on the former site of Roosevelt Raceway, once the most successful harness track in North America before its demise. Dubb was NYRA’s leading owner in 2010 with 50 victories and 67 in 2013. He finished second in 2013. In 2014, he won his first Saratoga title with 14 wins in various partnerships, including Michael Caruso. Caruso, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Caruso Benefits Group, races in the name of Bethlehem Stables. The 68-year-old native of Newark, N.J., was one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time in high school and college. He went 81-0 at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark and was a three-time state champion. At Lehigh University he was a three-time NCAA champion at the 123-pound
weight class. In 2005, he was included as one of the NCAA’s greatest wrestlers of the past 75 years. He is a member of the U.S. Amateur Wrestling Hall of Fame, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and a charter member of the Lehigh University Hall of Fame. He used to accompany his dad on trips to Monmouth Park, and bought his first horse in 1980. His first winner was Mrs. Joe Who. Caruso was partners with Dubb and Stuart Grant of The Elkstone Group on the outstanding filly Grace Hall, who delivered Caruso’s first Grade I stakes victory as a twoyear-old in the 2011 Spinaway at Saratoga. Gary Aisquith owns Gary Aisquith Bus Lines Inc., in Riva, Md. He frequently partners with Dubb and Caruso on horses they claim.
Somali Lemonade battles to victory in the Diane
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