WINNING OWNERS NA ISSUE 32_Jerkins feature.qxd 18/04/2014 00:03 Page 2
WINNING OWNERS – JANUARY-MARCH 2014
LOCHTE Won the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap at Gulfstream Park, February 9th, 2014 Owned by Crossed Sabres Farm Trained by Marcus Vitali Sire Medaglia d’Oro Dam Lemon Kiss by Lemon Drop Kid
Carolyn Vogel, an experienced equestrian who races in the name of Crossed Sabres Farm, has teamed with a fellow New Englander, trainer Marcus Vitali, to become a power in South Florida racing. Crossed Sabres was the second leading owner of the 2013 Calder summer meet, with 14 victories from 50 starts. The stable is doing even better this year. Through the first week of
April, Crossed Sabres is tied for third leading owner of the 2014 Calder winter meet with nine wins from 31 starters. And Vitali is the leading trainer by number of wins, with 18. Winning the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap with 39-1 longshot Lochte was a major coup. “She encouraged me to start him,” Vitali said. “She said, `Go for it.’ She’s a wonderful lady and she’s good for the industry.
She’s put me in a great position.” Vogel also has horses with Dale Romans, who trains Pick of the Litter, a four-year-old colt who was a $150,000 yearling purchase at the 2011 Keeneland September sale. Following a 7½-length maiden victory in his second career start, Pick of the Litter, who runs in Vogel’s name, became the owner’s first starter in a Grade 1 when he finished sixth to Orb in the 2013 Florida Derby. Pick of the Litter then finished third to Winning Cause in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland and fifth in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational to Verrazano at Monmouth Park. On the February 9th Donn undercard, Pick of the Litter won an allowance race by 2¼ lengths, boosting his career earnings to more than $175,000. Earlier this year, Crossed Sabres Farm’s Jay Eye See, who is trained by Vitali, finished third in the $65,000 Thrillin Discovery Handicap at Calder on January 25.
WINNING PRIZE Won the Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, March 8th, 2014 Owned by David Heerensperger and Jose Maria Nelson Trained by Neil Drysdale Sire Pure Prize Dam Winning Ways by You and I
Trainer Neil Drysdale arranged David Heerensperger and Jose Maria Nelson’s 50-50 partnership on Winning Prize, who was imported from Nelson’s home country of Argentina, where Winning Prize will stand when his racing career is over. Heerensperger, a 67-year-old native of Longview, Washington, retired as CEO of Pay ‘n Pak Hardware Stores in 1989 and founded
Eagle Hardware and Garden. “He had always wanted a chain of stores that were bigger and better,” his wife Jill said. Eagle Hardware and
1972, the same year he took over Claiborne following his father’s death. Blenheim II, Bold Ruler, Conquistador Cielo, Damascus, Danzig, Easy Goer, Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox, Mr. Prospector, Nasrullah, Nijinsky II, Princequillo, Round Table, Sir Gallahad III, Sir Ivor, Tom Rolfe, and Unbridled are among the long list of Thoroughbred to be bred and/or stand at Claiborne. The only horse to win the Kentucky Derby in Claiborne’s silks, Swale, passed away after winning the Belmont and before he was able to retire to the historic farm. Hancock has long been an industry leader. He is a director of Keeneland, a member of The Jockey Club, vice chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and a member of the American Graded Stakes Committee. He was on the board of directors at Churchill Downs from
1973 to 2008. Hancock’s brother, Arthur, owns and operates Stone Farm adjacent to Claiborne. Dilschneider is a native of Alton, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis, Missouri. Her great-grandfather, William E. Levis, was the founder of Corning-Illinois Glass, a prominent maker of beer bottles in the middle of the 20th century. Her grandfather, John Olin, bred and owned Cannonade, who won the 100th Kentucky Derby in 1974 for Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens and Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr. She owns approximately two dozen racehorses and 30 broodmares in partnership with Claiborne, and frequently travels from Missouri to watch her horses run. “I wouldn’t be in this business if I can’t watch my horses race,” she said.
Garden grew to more than 30 stores in the western United States, and David retired again in 1997, nearly two decades after he and Jill had gotten involved with Thoroughbreds. After they purchased a trip to the Kentucky Derby at a charity auction, Jill, who had grown up showing Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses, suggested to her husband they buy a Thoroughbred. On a whim, they attended a horse sale in Washington in 1979 and wound up buying the sales topper, Flame Commander, who bowed a tendon and never raced. The Heerenspergers dove into Thoroughbred racing anyway, not just as owners and breeders, but also as significant investors in Emerald Downs, a track in Auburn, Washington, which opened on June 20, 1996. Jill served on the board of the Washington Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association for 13 years. Their top horses include Grade 1 winners Artiste Royal and Millennium Wind. Other top runners include millionaire Hawksley Hill, the winner of three Grade 2s; and Bourbon Bay, who won six Grade 2 stakes and made nearly $1 million. The couple usually has up to half a dozen horses in training with Neil Drysdale in Southern California and Tom Wenzel at Emerald Downs. “We both love our horses and we want to give them every chance we can,” Jill said. “We want to do right by them.” Dr. Jose Maria Nelson, a prominent owner and breeder in Argentina, is president of the Argentine Stud Book. He is also on the Argentine Jockey Club Committee and a member of the racing commission of the Hipodromo de San Isidro, a racetrack in Buenos Aires.
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