North American Trainer - Triple Crown 2025 - issue 76

THE TRIPLE CROWN

OF STORM CAT

HE GOES...”

Legendary racecaller, Trevor Denman profiled

The late, great sire’s huge impact on the Triple Crown

Tips from leading trainers on how to keep a horse fresh

GILES ANDERSON PUBLISHER’S OPINION

Coal Battle, a $70,000 yearling purchase from a regional sale has been a revelation on dirt. He’s gone from winning an Evangeline Downs maiden to the Gr.2 Rebel at Oaklawn and along the way has captured the attention of racing fans around the world.

For our cover profile trainer, Lonnie Briley, it’s not the first big horse that he has been involved with. After leaving high school, Briley worked as a tool pusher on the oil fields of Louisiana and on the side, breaking in horses.

One of the biggest players in the petroleum industry and the racing industry at the time was John Franks. Briley worked for Franks when his days in the oil industry came to an end.

It was thanks to Briley that Franks ended up with the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and Champion Two-Year-Old colt in Answer Lively. As Briley recounted to writer Jennier Kelly:

“They actually had that colt scheduled to go to the Arkansas sale. I looked at this little colt in the past, and I foaled him out and everything. He was really a nice colt. He was a little high tail set horse and big blaze face, but he was really athletic and

everything. I called Mr. Franks’ office, and I said, ‘This horse, we’re going to scratch him, and he don’t need to go to that sale.’” And scratch they did.

Today, Briley trains thirty horses – all for Norman Stables the ownership entity of grocery store entrepreneurs, Mark and Robbie Norman. The main base (for the Briley barn) is at Copper Crowne in Opelousas LA.

It’s a tight knit barn with ten employees. Former jockey, Bethany Taylor, is one of his assistant trainers and primary exercise rider. This spring, she’s been doing most of the day-to-day work in the morning with Coal Battle and in the afternoon, has taken on a new role co-ordinating media requests for her stable star.

Whatever fate throws in the way of his connections this Triple Crown season, Coal Battle proves that Triple Crown quality horses can come from anywhere. Preparation and athletic ability being the key attributes to racetrack success.

CLARIFICATION: In the last issue of the magazine, we wrote that “the Keystone State might be the best place for breeding awards east of Kentucky.” We went on to say that “Warriors Reward topped stallion standings with $199,694. Add breeder totals to that and you have $927,518.”

We should have clarified that the top three stallions in the Empire State last year had greater stallion awards than Warriors Reward – topped by by Central Banker, who amassed $458,984. With purse parity for NY bred v’s open races coming (for 2yo’s) in NY from 2026, I can only see the numbers increasing for NY based stallions – more about that in our next issue, published for late July.

So until then, wherever your racing takes you this Triple Crown season - good luck!

CONTRIBUTORS

Editorial Director/Publisher & Advertising Sales

Giles Anderson (859) 242-5025

Sub-Editors

Lauren Godfray & Nico Jeeves

Advert Production, Circulation/Website

Lauren Godfray (1 888-218-4430)

Cover Photograph Bee Buck Photography

Trainer Magazine is published by Anderson & Co Publishing Ltd.

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Trainer Magazine is the official magazine of the California Thoroughbred Trainers. It is distributed to all ‘Trainer’ members of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and all members of the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, the Alberta Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association and the Virginia Thoroughbred Association.

Alan F. Balch was hired as the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers in April 2010. His professional career in racing began at Santa Anita in 1971, where he advanced to the position of senior vice president of marketing and assistant general manager, and was in charge of the Olympic Games Equestrian Events in Los Angeles in 1984. He retired in the early 90s to become volunteer president of the National Equestrian Federation of the USA, as well as of the National Horse Show of Madison Square Garden. He remains president of USA Equestrian Trust, Inc.

Jackie Bellamy-Zions has been Equine Guelph’s communications manager for the past ten years. Jackie has over 30 years of experience in the horse industry in the capacity of coach, trainer, stable manager, competitor, judge and journalist.

Ed Golden’s body of work over more than half a century includes articles in North American Trainer magazine, The Blood-Horse, USA Today, authoring Stable Notes for Santa Anita’s Publicity Department for some three decades during which they were acclaimed “the best in racing” by his peers, and Eclipse Award honorable mention while with the Phialdelphia Daily News. As Director of Publicity for The Spectrum in Philadelphia, where he was born, he conceived the Flyers’ Carnival, which to date has raised more than $30 million for cancer research and children’s charities.

Bill Heller is an Eclipse Award-winning author who published his 27th book, Fred Hooper – The Extraordinary Life of a Thoroughbred Legend. His other biographies include Hall of Fame jockeys Ron Turcotte, Randy Romero and José Santos. Bill and his wife Marianne live near Gulfstream Park.

Alicia Hughes is an award-winning writer and reporter with more than 20 years of experience. She currently serves as Director of Communications for Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company and previously served as Racing Editor for The Blood-Horse and lead turf writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper from 2008-2016.

Jennifer S. Kelly is an author and freelance turf writer. Her first two books, Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown and The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown, chronicle the lives and careers of the first three American Triple Crown winners. She also contributes to The Racing Biz, America’s Best Racing, and TwinSpires Edge. Jennifer’s work focuses on both the history of horse racing as well as current events, drawing on her deep knowledge and experience.

Sarah Nelson is a senior nutritionist at Spillers and is responsible for the technical management of all Spillers’ products, including feed formulation. She has been a part of the Spillers’ team since 2009, and she has advised horse owners, trainers and vets on all aspects of practical nutrition. Her current role involves translating key scientific messages into practical advice for owners, as well as providing nutritional consultations for clinical cases.

Ken Snyder is a current turf writer for Gallop Magazine, and a turf/travel-culture writer for Kentucky Monthly magazine. His work has appeared, as well, in other publications, including The Blood-Horse. He and his wife, Cassie, reside in Kuttawa, Kentucky.

Trainer Magazine (ISSN 17580293) is published 4 times a year: February, April, July and October by Anderson & Co Publishing and distributed in the USA by Modern Litho | Brown Printing, 6009 Stertzer Road, Jefferson City, MO 65101. Periodicals postage paid at Jefferson City, MO, and additional mailing offices.

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CONTENTS

F E ATURES

08 From the backstretch to the big stage

Jennifer Kelly profiles Louisiana native Lonnie Briley, trainer of Triple Crown hopeful Coal Battle.

22 Tips for feeding horses prone to gastric ulcers

Spillers’ senior nutritionist, Sarah Nelson, delves into the art and science of feeding horses prone to gastric ulcers.

28 Conditioning for the Triple Crown

Bill Heller reviews trainer perceptions of preparing for a shot at the Triple Crown series.

36 The ‘new’ Maryland Jockey Club

Alicia Hughes reports on how the ‘new’ Maryland Jockey Club is working to deliver a better racing and breeding product in the Old Line State.

44 An enduring legacy

Alicia Hughes looks at the impact William T. Young’s legendary stallion, Storm Cat has had on the Triple Crown series.

52 Classic Contenders – winning owners

Bill Heller profiles owners of horses on the Triple Crown trail, featuring owners of; Drexel Hill, Five G, Quietside, American Promise and British-based Heart Of Honor.

64 Be proactive rather than reactive with biosecurity

Jackie Zions interviews Dr. Scott Weese who explains why it is crucial to maintain a proactive approach to infection control starting right in the barn through to the track.

70 Transitions – from synthetic to dirt

Ken Snyder talks to industry experts about the benefits of training on synthetic surfaces for racing on dirt.

76

Thoroughbred

Charities of America

Ken Snyder looks at the work being done by the Thoroughbred Charities of America to support owners, trainers and employees.

82 “And away he goes...”

Ed Golden reflects on Trevor Denman’s racecalling career and his influence on his protégé Frank Mirahmadi.

REGULARS

06

View from the CTT Alan Balch – Artists of the air.

86 #Soundbites

Bill Heller asks “Do 3yo fillies deserve better treatment, either by making Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks points interchangeable and/or by making a more meaningful and permanent filly Triple Crown?

download our current digital editions and access back issues of both European and North American Trainer.

ALAN F. BALCH

ARTISTS OF THE AIR

There are ever fewer of us around who can clearly remember the world before the advent of television. And the Internet.

But as I thought about the retirement of Trevor Denman, and all his illustrious contributions to American racing, nostalgia overtook me. As it does quite often these troubling days.

Those of us who have been around for eight decades or more remember when sports were largely heard, not seen. If you couldn’t get yourself to a ballpark, or college football stadium, or race track (there really weren’t that many of them, considering the size of the United States, or any country) in the 1940s, or earlier, you followed sports on the radio.

Baseball games were often, even mostly, recreated, with appropriate sound effects. Believe it or not. I was just a kid when I realized that the pop of the ball into the glove was phony, because it was the same for each pitch. Same thing for the sound of a batted ball! The crowd effects were ridiculously similar from inning to inning and park to park. The telegraph wires provided the “facts,” and the announcers re-created the action. Someone named Ronald Reagan began his career doing that kind of sports announcing.

Then there were the movie theater newsreels, which almost always had the leading sports. You could “thrill” to Clem McCarthy calling a race, whether it was the first Santa Anita Handicap in giant clouds of dust, or Seabiscuit beating War Admiral at Pimlico, and actually see them. After having heard them on the radio when the races were run.

So, the radio was how racing first came into my life. And into millions of other lives. Joe Hernandez was the original Voice of Santa Anita. He called its first 15,587 consecutive races, never missing one at the winter meeting, from Christmas Day 1934 until he fainted at the microphone in January 1972, and died several days later from the effects of being kicked on the backstretch at Hollywood Park during morning training. That iron-man streak was one of the most remarkable

achievements in sport, in its own way, ranking up there with Lou Gehrig’s.

Countless of us, particularly throughout California, only knew racing through Joe’s lilting, accented radio calls, all beginning with his booming, “There they go!” — whether from Santa Anita or Del Mar or tracks in the north. “From the foot of the majestic San Gabriel mountains, this is your announcer Joe Hernandez at spectacular Santa Anita,” he would intone, and your imagination took over. Just like it did in other sports on radio, when the artist was ... well, an artist!

Hearing him from childhood, live and also re-creating the day’s races, hawking “Turf Craft winners” for a sponsor, I couldn’t believe my good fortune meeting him when I was first employed at Santa Anita. We immediately started using his artistry in commercials, and he gifted me with all his old recordings, which he had meticulously kept since 1934. I pestered him constantly, and he was an unsurpassed raconteur. He unhesitatingly told me the greatest race he called was the Noor (117 pounds, Longden) and Citation (130, Brooks) battle in the 1950 San Juan Capistrano. They hooked each other for almost the entire mile and three-quarters on the main track. Noor won by a nose. Let your own imagination take over: “the two raced head and head for fivesixteenths, the lead see-sawing back and forth, in the most protracted drive,” said Evan Shipman in the American Racing Manual. “They were to continue locked

LEFT: The Joe Hernandez bust, located in the Paddock Gardens at Santa Anita.

right down to the wire, where, with the luck of the nod, the camera caught Noor’s nose in front.” Broken down by quarters, the race reads: 24, 23.4, 24.3, 25.3, 24.3, 24.3, 25.3! Citation led at the mile and a half mark, two-fifths faster than the American record at the time; the two set a new track record by almost six full seconds, and a new American record.

His 1940 call of Seabiscuit becoming “a new world’s champion” in the Santa Anita Handicap still rings in my ears, from the souvenir we produced, “70,000 fans going absolutely crazy, including your announcer, and he broke the track record, it’s up there.”

Is it any wonder that a bust of Hernandez graces the Paddock Gardens at Santa Anita? Perhaps the only such recognition for a race caller in the world?

As Joe’s most luminous and artistic successor, Trevor has long-since joined the pantheon of the world’s great artists of the air waves, but in an entirely different era. With the advent of racing being televised lived, he couldn’t have gotten away with any of Joe’s famous antics: he once sat down after calling the horses through the stretch to the wire off the hillside grass course, when they still had another mile to run. Waking up to what had happened as the horses turned into the backstretch, with his customary aplomb he simply blew into the mike and tapped it twice, then proclaimed, “TESTING, TESTING,” and continued as though there had been a power outage.

Having once yearned to be a jockey, Trevor’s viewpoint has always been unique. He asked permission to walk the courses at Santa Anita his first day. Asked why, he said to me, “I have to see everything from the riders’ perspectives.” He was the first American caller seamlessly to integrate the riders’ names and styles in his pictures, as he painted the race. He also seemed to know instinctively just how much horse each jock had at all times. If you listened carefully to his tenor, many were the times when you knew who the winner would be at the half-mile post.

Still, all the tributes to him can be summed up very simply: he has been, in short, “UN-BE-LIEVE-ABLE.”

This Milestone Matters.

$5 Million North America’s most expensive yearling CURLIN–CAVORTING

$428 Million+ Gross Sales Including post-sale transactions

The 2024 Keeneland September Sale showcased the trust, commitment and global reach that define this marketplace.

With more than $428 million in gross sales, this milestone underscored the strength of Keeneland September and signals the opportunity ahead in 2025.

36 Yearlings Sold for $1 Million+ Purchased by 24 different buyers KEENELAND SEPTEMBER SALE

Begins Monday, Sept. 8

Entry Deadline May 1

FROM THE BACKSTRETCH TO THE BIG STAGE :

LONNIE BRILEY FINALLY GETS A SHOT ON THE TRIPLE CROWN TRAIL WITH COAL BATTLE

Each year, the Triple Crown season features at least one underdog story, a horse that seems to come out of nowhere to make a splash in the run-up to these three classic races. This little guy may be new to the broader public, but for those who live and breathe racing, theirs is a familiar name, someone known for their passion for the horses and for the sport. Their star horse may bring new attention to this familiar face, but really, the success of that Triple Crown horse is the by-product of decades of the trainer’s devotion to their craft.

For Lonnie Briley, the success of Coal Battle, his Triple Crown hopeful owned by Alabama businessman Robbie Norman of Norman Stables, is the culmination of his years as the commiserate horseman. From roping horses to farm trainer to his new role as the man behind one of this year’s leading three-year-olds, Coal Battle is the result of a lifetime working with equine athletes and the end result of his training

program, his emphasis on finding standout athletes at certain price points and then cultivating the individual to maximize their talents.

For this Louisiana native, being on the Triple Crown trail is definitely a new sensation. Derby dreaming has not really been on his radar during his nearly forty-year career. “I never thought I’d have one,” Briley shared. “I mean, that was out of the picture, to have that quality of a horse.”

This storybook season has focused more attention than ever on this easygoing conditioner who has mostly flown under the radar throughout his time on the racetrack. Though he has made horses and racing his life, Briley’s background did not make pursuing the sport an inevitability.

Born in Opelousas, Louisiana, home of Evangeline Downs racetrack, his father Lionel worked in the oil fields and his mother Robbie was a nurse. Even though his uncle Ronald Bradley was a quarter-horse trainer, Briley got his exposure to horses in a different forum.

“I was into rodeoing when I was younger, and I liked to rope. So that’s, I guess, where the horses started,” he recalled. “My interest was always the horses. I liked to know what made them tick and how they thought and stuff like that. It’s been a self-taught experience throughout my life.”

Decades later, roping is still a part of Briley’s life. His son Lance and grandson Noah were competitive ropers, and Noah went to the National High School finals. His family has even participated in the World Series of Team Roping. “Yeah, it’s just something we like to do,” Briley laughed.

Like his father, he went to work in Louisiana’s oil fields after high school, working as a tool pusher while also breaking and training Thoroughbreds on the side. Briley’s reputation as a horseman caught the attention of John Franks, owner of Franks Petroleum in Shreveport, Louisiana. When the oil field he was working at shut down, the Louisiana native got a surprising offer. “Mr. Franks called me one night and asked me if I’d go [to work for him]. He asked me about the oil field,

what I did. I said I was a tool pusher. He said, ‘Do you want to come work for me?’ I said, ‘Yes.’” Briley recalled. “Mr. Franks, he was a geologist by trade. And so, he was very familiar with the oil field. But he had, heck, 700 something mares at that time. Stallions and racehorses. He was the biggest owner in the country. So, I went. It was a good experience. It was fun.”

The oilman had entered racing in the late 1970s, buying Alta’s Lady, an unraced Louisiana-bred broodmare who went on to produce several stakes-winning foals. Franks then went all in on breeding and racing Thoroughbreds; when he passed away in 2003, he had more than 500 horses, including 120 horses with various trainers around the country.

Four times he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Owner and led North America in wins six times and in earnings five times. In addition, Franks was a nine-time leading breeder by wins in the 1980s and 1990s. He owned farms in Ocala, Florida, and in Shreveport, where Briley went to work as farm trainer in 1991.

There, he did a little bit of everything, handling stallions, breeding and foaling out mares, breaking young horses, and more. Working day in and day out with Thoroughbreds prompted Briley to add a unique feature to his office: “I had actually put a skeleton together and glued it and wired it together from a horse. Mr. Frank said, ‘What’s you doing with that?’ I said, ‘Well, if the horse got a problem, I can show you where it’s at.’ He said, ‘Well, you got it in the office.’ I said, ‘Well, it don’t eat anything.’” Briley laughed. That skeleton is indicative of the trainer’s philosophy on horses, his goal to learn everything about horses to catch issues before they become problems and to assess each horse as an individual, watching how they move and think so he can place them in the best spot possible.

It was Briley’s eye for talent that led Franks to one of his most successful horses, Answer Lively. A colt by graded stakes winner Lively One, his dam Twosies Answer was also a stakes winner, but had not been a good producer to that point.

“They actually had that colt scheduled to go to the Arkansas sale. I don’t want to say a cold sale, but not really a strong sale. But I looked at this little colt in the past, and I foaled him out and everything,” Briley recalled. “He was really a nice colt. He was a little high tail set horse and big blaze face, but he was really athletic and everything. I called Mr. Franks’ office, and I said, ‘This horse, we’re going to scratch him, and he don’t need to go to that sale.’ He said, ‘Well, Lonnie, his mama hadn’t produced anything.’ I said, ‘Well, she did this year,’ I said, ‘This is a nice colt.’”

Briley’s instincts were right. Answer Lively won the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and then the Eclipse for Champion TwoYear-Old Colt. At three, he was second in the Gr.2 Louisiana Derby and then became Franks’s third and final Kentucky Derby starter, finishing 10th behind Charismatic in 1999.

With his long-time boss gone, Briley focused on training full-time, staying in Louisiana since he primarily had Louisiana breds and running in the state was more lucrative than going elsewhere. He had taken out his trainer’s license in his 20s, but did not focus on training full time until Franks’s death in 2003. In the two decades since, this former tool pusher has built a reputation on his eye for horses as well as his honesty, both of which have led him to newfound heights in the sport. Add in his loyal team of employees and a steadfast owner in his corner, and it becomes this newfound attention on this stalwart horseman is long overdue.

Since going out on his own, Briley has focused on racing in Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas with occasional incursions to Keeneland and Kentucky Downs. When he struck out on his own, “I had five, six, seven horses, and I get there early in the morning and walk my walkers, clean my stalls, fix my feed buckets, and sign up my horses, and wait on the exercise rider. And I was by myself. And then I think when I got up to 11, I said, ‘Man, I got to get some help.’ But I remember them days. That was tough.”

Currently, Briley has about 30 horses divided between his barns in Louisiana and at Oaklawn Park, where Coal Battle has spent the winter preparing for the Triple Crown season. In his home state, his horses stay at Copper Crowne in Opelousas, an equestrian center that offers lay-up and rehab facilities as well as a 6 ½-furlong training track and on-site veterinary clinic. There, his team breaks young horses and prepares them for the racetrack while also caring for any horses that need a break or are recovering from an injury.

The Briley barn has ten employees, including his assistant trainer and primary exercise rider, former jockey Bethany Taylor, daughter of the late Remi Gunn, who also rode competitively; his assistant at Evangeline Downs, Raymundo Marin; and his assistant at Copper Crowne, Daisy Cox.

Coal Battle

Each of his grooms works with about six horses, including Reyes Perez, the man in charge of stable star Coal Battle. At the heart of Briley’s program is the idea that horses are individuals; rather than using the same approach to feeding or training for each athlete, the trainer prefers to tailor routines to the specific horse.

As Taylor observes about her boss, “he’s pretty good about treating each horse as an individual. There’s some trainers that have success with putting all their horses on the same routine,

like a cookie-cutter operation. And that works for people. But also, he takes into consideration each horse’s needs and personalities and stuff like that.”

Each will get “a little breakfast in the morning, maybe half a scoop of feed, just put something in their stomach in case a horse has a little ulcerated stomach or something,” Briley shared. “Then after that, before 10:00, I like for them to eat. Because the morning of the race, you’re trying to feed them early, and then you’re changing their routine. So as soon as I can feed their groceries, I’m going to feed them. And they like that because they’re going to eat their belly full, and they might have one or two bites left, and they’re going to go in the corner, and we leave them alone.”

When it comes to their exercise routine, Briley assesses each horse’s temperament and then goes from there. “He watches them. And so, if a horse is lazy and not really getting on the muscle or anything, he might back off of them a little bit, jog them, and let them freshen up,” Taylor observed. “He does try to keep everybody pretty much on a work schedule in that sense. But as far as everyday training and stuff or prepping them for a race, it’ll 100% depend on that horse at that time and where they’re at.” His preferred time between starts also takes the individual into account. “I think four weeks, five weeks is plenty of time, almost on the crunch of being too much, really,” Briley shared. “So around four weeks, I think, because when they’re fresh and they try hard and the horses that want to win, they’ll give you everything they got. If you start crushing on them too much, running them too close too many times, well, sooner or later, they’re going to take a race for themselves and say, ‘Hey, this is too much.’ Because I think horses got minds and feelings, and they think, too.”

Bethany Taylor with Coal Battle at Churchill Downs.

LEFT: Briley’s assistant trainer Bethany Taylor and groom Reyes Perez with Coal Battle and Juan Vargas before the 2025 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn.

Coal Battle, for example, has had four to five weeks between starts since his debut at Evangeline in late July. To prepare the colt for each start, he will go for “those little short works, [which] you can do them closer and more often. You’re opening the lungs, and that’s what you want. A lot of circulation in the lungs, a lot of blood flow, a lot of air. You want room. And I usually will work mine a half mile, five-eighths. Very seldom, I’ll work a horse three-quarters. Before their races, four or five days, I’ll blow them three-eighths.”

Briley’s focus for Coal Battle, as for all of his horses, is to “keep them happy, keep them fit. And he works regular, believe me. I mean, he works on a regular schedule, and all my horses do. And I tell the riders, ‘Don’t be scared to use them.’ They’re fit. But that’s the thing, watching your horses, because they’ll more or less tell you everything if you are paying attention.”

His program has room for all horses, whether they run short or long, though he does tend to lean more toward routers. “To each his own, but I like route horses, but they have to have speed,” Briley observed. “A route horse, just a plodder, they’ll just gallop all day long and don’t go nowhere. I think fast horses can go far. I love to give a horse a chance to run on a turf. I love to give a horse a chance to run far. Now, if he’s bred to run four and a half, five furlongs, and after that, he spits a bit, well, he ain’t going nowhere. But if a horse, he works :35, going three-eighths, and gallops out in :47, a lot of them will just keep going.”

He also does not discriminate when it comes to the surface. The veteran trainer likes to put his horses “wherever they fit. I love to run turf horses, but I love the dirt, too. And I mean, I got horses like Coal Battle and Go Captain and a few others. They’ll

run on the gravel road. But it doesn’t matter to me. It’s where they’re comfortable and where they like to run.”

Then, when problems arise, Briley will “address the problem pretty aggressively, whatever it is, if it’s bowed tendons or ankles or knees. And then time. Horses need time to recuperate and stuff. There’s different methods we use for each individual problem.” Since he is on the road quite a bit, the horses will then go to Daisy Cox at Copper Crowne to recuperate.

Mark Norman, one of the two brothers that make up Norman Stables, Briley’s sole owner shared that the veteran trainer is “very cautious on injuries and always wants to do right by the horse by giving them the time off they need or backing off on their training. He’s never going to rush one through an injury or anything. He wants to be extra cautious and make sure they heal and everything’s right on the horse.”

Assistant trainer Bethany Taylor echoes that, adding “it’s always disappointing when you have something go wrong in the barn. But he really does try to handle everything with patience, and he knows so much. He just knows so much. And if we ever have one that’s just maybe not necessarily injured, but just done racing, they just have lost their desire to be racehorses anymore, he’s got a couple of people that he’ll give them to so that they can be rode and rehomed as jumpers or barrel racers or just anything to give them another home.”

Not only is he patient with his horses, but also with his employees, preferring to teach when the opportunity arises. “He is particular about how he wants things done. But, if you mess up and you don’t quite understand what he’s wanting from you, he’ll explain it to you. He’s not a very aggressive type of person. He’ll sit you down and explain it to you. So, you can learn a lot from him,” Taylor shared.

His patience also extends to preparing young horses for their jobs as racehorses, especially the yearlings they pick up at sales. “He’ll bring them home and give them 30, 45 days if they need it. And then they’ll start back easy jogging and stuff, and we won’t even get them at the track. We won’t get them in from the training center until they’re ready to really start back training again. They’ll get legged up at the training center before we even get them.”

Then, as Briley shared, “in September, we’ll break them and start jogging them and stuff. And I’ll usually jog them the first 30 days. We’ll go through the gates with them as soon as we can, just walk them in and then out, so it’s just another thing for them. Then we’ll start galloping and usually, depending on the horse, after close to 90 days and so we’ll start giving them little clips, and I’ll clip them probably twice a week, like a sixteenth, and then I’ll build it up to an eighth and then a quarter. And then after that, I’ll go once a week and then just build them up to three eighths and a half.”

Generally, the veteran trainer will start his two-year-olds around September. He will try them on the turf as he did with Coal Battle. After breaking his maiden on dirt, Briley sent the colt to Kentucky Downs, where he made a strong showing in the Kentucky Juvenile Mile Stakes. “He was way out of it. He’d come flying. And he run forth. When he crossed the line, two jumps, he was in front, and galloped out five, six lengths in front of the winners,” Briley remembered. “Right there, I knew there was more to the horse than what I expected from day one.”

Coal Battle is a long way from the horses that the veteran started his career with, a sign that the integrity and devotion he has been known for in his native Louisiana have brought him to a new level in the sport he loves.

EIGHT GRADE I RACES

Resorts World Casino Manhattan

Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap (BC)

New York pres. by Rivers Casino

DK Horse Acorn

Ogden Phipps pres. by Ford (BC)

Jaipur (BC)

Just A Game

Woody Stephens pres. by Mohegan Sun

True North (G3)

Bed o’ Roses (G2)

Poker (G3)

Wonder Again (G2)

Pennine Ridge (G3)

Belmont Gold Cup (G2)

Intercontinental (G2)

Soaring Softly (G3)

$1,000,000 4&UP 1 3/16 (Turf)

$1,000,000 3&UP 1 Mile (Dirt)

$750,000 F&M 4&UP 1 3/16 (Turf)

$500,000 F3YO 1 1/8 (Dirt)

$500,000 F&M 4&UP 1 1/8 (Dirt)

$500,000 3&UP 5 ½ Furlongs (Turf)

$500,000 F&M 4&UP 1 Mile (Turf)

$500,000 3YO 7 Furlongs (Dirt)

ADDITIONAL FEATURED RACES

$400,000 4&UP 6 ½ Furlongs (Dirt)

$300,000 F&M 4&UP 7 Furlongs (Dirt)

$300,000 4&UP 1 Mile (Turf)

$300,000 F3YO 1 1/16 (Turf)

$300,000 3YO 1 1/16 (Turf)

$250,000 4&UP 2 Miles (Turf)

$200,000 F&M 4&UP 5 ½ Furlongs (Turf)

$175,000 F3YO 5 ½ Furlongs (Turf)

After his tenure with John Franks ended, Briley got his start with “cheaper claiming horses, $5,000 claimers, and things like that, $10,000 claimers. Then some of the breeders, they’d raise babies, and then they’d hope they’d be for charity babies to run in a little five furlong [race] for charities and things like that.”

Not quite a decade later, the veteran horseman met brothers Mark and Robbie Norman of Norman Stables. The pair were new to racing and looking for a trainer. They chose Copper Crowne for its proximity to their homes in southern Alabama and went through the center’s seven barns talking to different trainers, their goal to find the right person to start their fledgling stable with. Briley, in his characteristic joking manner, said, “They made a mistake and came back to my barn.”

“They asked me if I would buy them a few horses, and I said, ‘Yeah.’ And we started from there. Started with two or three horses and ended up with 30.”

Their entry into racing came during a tough time for Robbie. “I [had] recently went through a divorce. I will say me and my ex-wife, we get along wonderfully now. She’s the biggest fan of Coal Battle, so all that works out good in the end also. But you’re searching for something because you really didn’t want the divorce, and you’re asking yourself, ‘How did I end up in this spot?’” Norman remembered. “I was actually at an apartment in downtown Thomasville trying to figure out where I was going to move next and looking for a new home. I was just flipping through the channels one night, and I think the race is wrong, so I watched a race or two. Then that documentary [on 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags] come up, and so I watched the full documentary, and it hit me right there that I’m going to buy me a racehorse. I’m going to go and do something fun and,

like I say, do a little traveling and do something that you can win a victory in.”

The brothers own a series of grocery stores in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia, fulfilling a dream that their father, a Southern Baptist minister, had as a young man. Major brain surgery in his 20s left the patriarch disabled, but Robbie followed in his footsteps after graduating with an accounting degree from Troy University. His first job in a grocery warehouse gave Norman the experience and connections that allowed the pair to start their company. Their success has enabled Robbie to pursue owning a stable with Mark, who has had an interest in horses since childhood and currently works with barrel racers. Both of his daughters are competitive barrel riders themselves while Robbie’s two sons, Drew and Nathan, root for their dad’s horses. Drew also accompanies his dad and Briley when they travel to sales around the region.

Sales are Norman Stables’ preferred method of acquiring horses, though Robbie has bred a couple of his former mares to sires like Dr. Schivel and star Coal Battle’s sire Coal Front.

“I prefer to buy. The breeding is a long-term process, and then they can have conformation issues. I truly will never be a major breeder. I really like to go and buy an athlete.”

Briley and Norman both go for sales over breeding. The experience the veteran horseman gained working for John Franks allowed him to develop an eye for the right physique. Finding that horse, though, is where the work comes in. “I love going to a sale, but I’m glad to leave. Because if you work a sale, it’s a lot of work. You might look at 200 horses and then try to cut it down at three or four. It’s a lot,” Briley shared.

“I look in a book, and I love new sires, and I love first foals,” he continued. “A mare, if she ran fine, and if she didn’t run, she has to have pedigree. But I love the first or second foal. First foal is my favorite. But the first five foals in a mare, if she hadn’t produced a runner, her chances are slim and none. She can throw a minor stakes horse in the first five foals, and she can be 20 years old and throw a millionaire. It’s just statistics. I look for genetic crosses, and then a stallion that went the route of ground but had a ton of speed. I love Gr.1 horses and stuff, but they don’t have to be.”

Whether he is at the sales with his trainer or watching from home, Robbie Norman goes for the physique over pedigree. “I’m more physical at times, and I like to see how they move, their smoothness and their moving,” he shared. “Now, Lonnie, he adds he knows more about the pedigree, and he sees things in the pedigree, and he’s just got a ton of knowledge. I allow him to really take the lead. Deal with the pedigree part. I’m more of just looking for the athlete and everything.”

Additionally, Norman focuses on acquiring regional-bred horses over Kentucky breds. The reason is simple: money. “Any time we go to a sale, I’m looking for the Arkansas bred, the Oklahoma bred, that’s the first thing in the book that I’m looking at, because I really want to identify and try to get the best regional bread horse that I can. Financially, that is where you can make the most money on a budget like we have,” he observed.

“If you’re in Louisiana, you can race just against Louisiana breds. In Texas, you can race just against Texas breds. And that way, it really gives you a better shot at winning a stakes race,” the owner shared. When Briley went to the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale in 2023, he and Norman’s other trainer Jayde Gelner went looking for regional breds. Gelner came away with Secret Faith, a stakes-winning Louisiana-bred filly by Aurelius Maximus; Briley went against type and came away with a Kentucky-bred by Coal Front.

The trainer liked the colt right away and kept coming back to him throughout the lead-up to the sale. “I liked his confirmation. He had a good walk, good shoulder, good hip, long neck on him, and really a good head on him. He was the first foal out of a mare, a Midshipman mare, which I like a lot,” Briley remembered. “I like the bloodline. And then, genetically, if you look close, in the fifth, sixth generation, he goes back to Seattle Slew six times.” Though he had three horses on his short list, the trainer shared his interest in the Coal Front colt, hip 263.

Unable to travel with Briley, Norman bid online, knowing that “there’s no other horse that Lonnie likes. I’m just clicking away thinking, $35,000, I’m going to get him. And then at 40, around $40,000, it came down, you could tell, to the Internet, which was me, and somebody else. They were pointing just at one person. And so, I just kept bidding. I said, ‘Eventually, I’m going to get Lonnie this horse.” He likes him.’”

“Next thing you know, I done bid up to $70,000, which was way over our budget, and he was not a Louisiana-bred. But at the end of the day, I guess sometimes, it’s not what you plan to happen at that sale, but it’s all turned out wonderful.”

Wonderful is an understatement. Coal Battle has taken the Normans and Briley’s team to places they never expected.

Now on the precipice of a Triple Crown campaign for the first time, Briley and Norman find themselves in an unexpected place. After decades of racing under the radar, they are preparing Coal Battle for a stage that neither has experienced before. With the first Saturday in May right around the corner, the pair have been thinking about their approach to the five-week gauntlet that is the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.

After breaking his maiden in his debut at Evangeline Downs in late July, Coal Battle has since racked up four more victories in seven starts, including a win in the Springboard Mile at Remington Park, the Jean Laffite at Delta Downs, and the Smarty Jones and the Gr.2 Rebel at Oaklawn Park. His Rebel victory also gave Briley his first graded stakes victory – which felt “good, like going to a good rope” according to the 72-year-old trainer – and put the colt square in the conversation for the Kentucky Derby. Not only has Norman fielded offers for the colt, which he has turned down, preferring to keep things simple and leaving their current team intact, but also Briley, assistant Bethany Taylor, and the Norman brothers have had racing media knocking on their doors, a new sensation for team Coal Battle.

“I have people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, Lonnie, congratulations on all this.’ And I just shake hands and say, ‘Thank you.’ But I couldn’t name them,” Briley laughed. “It’s so many people more or less rooting for the little man, and you hate to let them down. It feels good.”

Taylor, who is not only Coal Battle’s primary exercise rider but also one of the people who knows the colt best, echoed her boss’s sentiments: “We appreciate everybody’s support. Everybody’s excited for them, and they’re rooting so much for us. And we love it, and we’re just like, ‘Man, we hope he lives up to everybody’s expectations.’”

RIGHT: Coal Battle with Juan Vargas aboard wins the 2025 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park to give Briley his first Graded Stakes victory.

As they count down to the Run for the Roses, Briley’s plan for the three classics is simple. “I’d like to go early enough where I could get a couple of works of Churchill on that track before the Derby,” the trainer shared. “If he runs good, even if he doesn’t win it, he runs, let’s say, in the top three or something like that, he will probably still go to the Preakness and see what happens there. It’s a little short, and it’s usually a smaller field, about half. And then we’ll see.”

Norman, for his part, trusts his trainer’s judgement for Coal Battle’s path through the Triple Crown. “I’m never going to push for it. If Lonnie says he went through a long campaign and he gets third in the Derby and Lonnie makes that decision that he needs rest, he will rest,” Norman said. “If Lonnie makes that decision that he thinks that he can move forward from, say, a good placing in the Derby, and do good in the Preakness, we will go. And that’s a relief on me, going back to Lonnie. All those decisions are one hundred percent his, and we’re going to back him all the way.”

That trust that Robbie Norman has in his trainer, one built out of a dozen years of working together as well as the friendship that Briley has built with the brothers as well as their families, comes not only from the expertise of a man who has spent his life with horses but also from the honesty that underpins every move that the trainer makes. It is his honesty and enthusiasm for the equine athletes that make Lonnie Briley easy to root for as he faces his biggest challenge yet.

Throughout this storybook season with Coal Battle, Lonnie Briley, Robbie Norman, and the teams behind them have been thrust into the spotlight, a new sensation for all involved. Any discussion about the veteran trainer comes back to his deep knowledge of the equine athlete and his honesty as well as his good-natured approach to life.

“Lonnie is very thorough, old-school. He doesn’t let much get past him, and he’ll always comment on how many bones are in the body of a horse. He knows a horse very, very well,” Mark Norman shared. “He shares a lot of information and goes over everything really good with you. Just very honest and upfront.”

After working with him for 15 years, Bethany Taylor knows her boss pretty well and will sing his praises when given the opportunity. “He’s probably forgotten more stuff than most people know as far as when it comes to just knowing a horse. And you can always count on him being completely honest with you,” she observed. “If the horse isn’t what you thought it was or something happens with the horse because they’re just so delicate, he’s not ever going to not tell you something because you might not like what’s happened.”

At the same time, while he does run a tight ship, “the energy is really light and happy, and we joke a lot,” the long-time assistant shared. “I gallop in jock boots, but I wear Western boots to the barn in the morning to work in in the shed row, and I’ll go to put my jock boots on to gallop in the morning, and there’ll be candy wrappers in them. He’s super playful, just the same that you guys get when you’re interviewing him.”

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For Robbie Norman, who had enough faith and trust in Lonnie Briley to exceed his usual budget to buy what has become a springtime sensation, the trainer is more than someone he works with: he is a friend. “Number one, Lonnie’s just a good person. Everybody in my family likes Lonnie. He’s so nice to us. I’m his only owner at the present time. I think he likes that. That forms a good relationship,” Norman shared. “We talk every day, whether it’s about $5,000 claimers or whether it’s about going to the Kentucky Derby, he does let me be involved. We discuss it. Usually, we come up with the best plan possible. Ultimately, he’s the decision maker.”

Briley’s devotion to his equine athletes shows in how he conducts himself day in and day out, his focus always on the individuals in his stalls. “He’s just 100% dedicated. And when Lonnie makes the comment that it’s an eight-day-a-week job, 60 hours or 40 hours a day, he’s not joking,” Norman shared. “At 72 years old, he’s there at 4:00 in the morning, he’s there at

8:00 at night. The dedication of what he’s put into his craft is something very few people ever achieve in their life.”

The white-haired, soft-spoken Briley remains the same ardent horseman he was as a young man breaking babies and as a farm trainer building a horse skeleton and memorizing the 216 bones that form the foundation of these athletes. The Louisiana native almost seems ageless, his good nature and ability to crack a result of the eternal hope at the heart of horse racing. “Sometimes I say, ‘One of these days, you’re going to have to retire,’” the trainer laughed. “Retire and do what? I’ve been on the road so long and so much, and I don’t know if I can. But I guess I could rustle up a rope horse. He’d probably turn and look at me and say, ‘You’re not serious.’”

In Lonnie Briley’s case, a horse like Coal Battle is all the fuel he needs to stick at it even in his eighth decade: “A good horse keeps you going. You know what I mean?”

“RenoVō® is my go-to product for tendon and ligament injuries, especially crucial in race horses.”

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF FEEDING HORSES PRONE TO GASTRIC ULCERS

Risk factors for squamous or ‘non-glandular’ ulcers are well documented and include low forage diets and long periods without eating, diets high in non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) or ‘starch and sugar’, intensive exercise and stress, as well as prolonged periods of stabling and travelling. While some risks may be unavoidable for racehorses in training, diet is one that can be influenced relatively easily.

This article outlines some of the science and provides some practical advice on the nutritional management of horses prone to non-glandular ulcers. While glandular ulcers may be less responsive to changes in diet, the same nutritional management is generally recommended for both glandular and non-glandular ulcers.

Evidence that diet makes a difference

Research published by Luthersson et al (2019) was the first to show that changes in diet can reduce the recurrence of non-glandular ulcers following veterinary treatment. In this 10-week trial, fifty-eight race/ competition horses were paired according to their workload, management and gastric ulcer score (non-glandular ulcers graded 0-4). One horse from each pair continued with their normal diet while the other had their normal ‘hard feed’ replaced with the trial diet which was divided into three equal meals. Horses with grade 3 and grade 4 ulcers were also treated with the recommended dose of omeprazole for four weeks. All horses were scoped at the start of the trial, immediately after omeprazole treatment had finished and 6 weeks after treatment had stopped.

The majority of horses improved as a result of omeprazole treatment regardless of diet. Diet had no effect on grade 2 ulcers. At the end of the study, gastric ulcer scores in the horses that were fed the trial diet were not significantly better or worse than in horses that were not fed the trial diet. Overall, gastric ulcer scores in horses that were fed the trial diet remained improved 6 weeks after treatment had stopped. Six weeks after treatment had stopped, gastric ulcers scores had worsened in the majority of horses that remained on their normal feed so that overall, there was no difference between pre and post treatment scores.

Importantly, this research shows that changes in diet can help to reduce the risk of gastric ulcers recurring after treatment, even if other changes in management are not possible. There was also no apparent long-term benefit of omeprazole treatment alone, highlighting the importance of other strategies in the long-term management of horses prone to gastric ulcers. As this study only evaluated changes in ‘hard feed’, it is possible that greater improvements could have been achieved if changes to forage were also made.

Recent research reveals unexpected results

Regular turnout often isn’t possible for horses in training and while the risk of gastric ulcers generally seems lower in horses at pasture, recent research carried out in Iceland by Luthersson et al (2022) has highlighted this may not always be the case.

In Iceland, horses typically live out at pasture, often in large herds and if stabled, they are generally fed a high forage, low starch and low sugar diet. While Icelandic horses do get gastric ulcers, it’s been suggested that the overall incidence is low.

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of gastric ulcers in Icelandic horses moving from pasture into light work. Prior to the study, all horses had lived out in large herds for their entire adult lives (age range 3-7 years), had never been in work and were fed supplementary forage in winter months only. All horses were scoped within two weeks of being removed from pasture (prior to starting ‘training’) and were scoped again approximately after 8 weeks of being stabled and doing light work. Most horses were fed forage only during the training period, but 11 were given very small amounts of soaked sugar beet and 3 were given a small amount of commercially produced feed. However, in all cases, starch and sugar intake from ‘hard feed’ was equivalent to less 250g per meal for a 500kg horse which is well within the current recommendations for horses prone to gastric ulcers.

Approximately 72% of horses had non-glandular ulcers (grade 2 or above) at scope 1. The prevalence and severity of gastric ulcers improved after eight weeks of stabling and light work - approximately 25% of horses had nonglandular ulcers (grade 2 or above) at scope 2. Horses given forage three times per day as opposed to twice per day were almost 18 times more likely to improve! Over-all, the incidence of glandular ulcers decreased from 47% to approximately 41%.

The high prevalence and severity of non-glandular ulcers at the start of the study, and the subsequent improvement following the training period was unexpected. Not only is this research an important reminder that horses at pasture are still at risk of gastric ulcers, it highlights the importance of regular forage provision.

Forage focus

Forage is critical for mental wellbeing and digestive health in all horses but sometimes receives less attention than ‘hard/ concentrate’ feed, particularly for performance horses. When it comes to reducing the risk of gastric ulcers, one of the main benefits is promoting chewing.

Saliva provides a natural buffer to stomach acid but unlike people, horses only produce saliva when they chew, which is why long periods without eating increase stomach acidity. In one study, the risk of non-glandular ulcers was found to be approximately 4 times higher in horses left for more than 6 hours without forage, although the risk may be greater during the day.

Research by Husted et al (2009) found gastric pH drops in the early hours of the morning, even in horses with free access to forage. Not only do horses generally stop eating / grazing for a period of time during the early hours of the morning, they are normally less active at night, reducing the risk of gastric splashing.

It should also be remembered that forage is a source of fuel –even average hay fed at the minimum recommended amount may provide close to 45% of the published energy requirement for a horse in heavy exercise. Forage analysis can be a useful tool, especially if you can source a consistent supply.

Routine analysis normally includes measuring / calculating the water, energy and protein content, as well as providing an indication of how digestible the fiber is - more digestible forages yield greater amounts of energy and can help to reduce the reliance on feed.

Minimum forage intake

Ideally all horses, including racehorses in training should be provided with as much forage as they will eat. However large amounts of bucket feed, intense training and stress can affect appetite so voluntary intake (how much is eaten) should be monitored wherever possible.

In practice, this means weighing the amount of forage that’s provided, as well as any that is left in a 24-hour period.

Ideally, total daily forage intake should not be restricted to less than 1.5% body weight per day on a dry matter basis, although an absolute minimum of 1.25% bodyweight (dry matter) is considered acceptable for performance horses, including racehorses in heavy training.

On an ‘as fed basis’ (the amount of forage you need to weigh out), this typically equates to (for a 1100lbs / 500kg horse without grazing):

• 20lbs / 9kg of hay if it is to be fed dry or steamed (or an absolute minimum of 17lbs / 7.5kg)

• 24-26lbs / 11-12kg of haylage - based on a dry matter of 65-70% (or an absolute minimum of 20-24lbs / 9-11kg*)

The difference in feeding rates can cause confusion but essentially, even unsoaked hay contains some water and the water doesn’t count towards the horse’s forage intake.

How much starch and sugar is ‘too much’?

The fermentation of starch by bacteria in the stomach results in the production of volatile fatty acids which in conjunction with a low pH (acidic environment), increases the risk of ulcers forming. Current advice, which is based on published research, is to restrict non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) or ‘starch and sugar’ intake from ‘bucket feed’ to less than 1g per kilogram of body weight per meal and ideally less than 2g per kilogram of bodyweight per day. For a 1100lbs / 500kg horse, this is equivalent to:

• Less than 500g per meal

• Ideally less than 2lbs / 1kg per day

Traditional racing feeds are based on whole cereal grains and as a result, are high in starch. By utilizing oil and sources of highly digestible fiber such as sugar beet and soya hulls, feed manufacturers can reduce the reliance on cereal starch without compromising energy delivery.

Meal size matters

There are several reasons why horses should be fed small meals but one that’s of particular importance to managing the risk of gastric ulcers is reducing the amount of starch and sugar consumed in each meal.

Large meals may also delay gastric emptying and in turn, lead to increased fermentation of starch in the stomach, especially if cereal based. Restrict total feed intake to a maximum of 4.4lbs / 2kg per meal which is equivalent to approximately 1 Stubbs scoop of cubes.

Alfalfa’s high protein and calcium content is thought to help buffer acid.

Feeding ‘chaff’ to prevent gastric splashing

The horse’s stomach produces acid continuously (although at variable rate). Exercise increases abdominal pressure, causing acid to ‘splash’ onto the stomach lining in the non-glandular region where it increases the risk of ulcers forming. Exercise may also increase acid production. Feeding short chopped fiber helps to prevent ‘gastric splashing’ by forming a protective ‘fiber mat’ on top of the contents of the stomach and may be of increased benefit to horses on restricted forage diets. Current advice is to feed 2 liters of short chopped fiber volume –equivalent to 1 Stubbs scoop – within the 30 minutes prior to exercise. Ideally choose a fiber containing alfalfa as the high protein and calcium content is thought to help buffer acid.

Current advice is to feed 2 liters of short chopped fiber by volume within the 30 minutes prior to exercise.

Supplements safety & efficacy

Supplements are often an attractive option, with owners and trainers from various disciplines reporting benefits. Unfortunately, scientific evidence is currently limited with some studies producing conflicting results which means specific recommendations regarding the optimum blend of ingredients and recommended daily intakes have not been established. However, ‘ingredients’ that may help to support gastric health include pectin and lecithin, omega 3 fatty acids, fenugreek, threonine, licorice and maerl, a marine derived source of bioavailable calcium. But don’t forget, there are some important safety considerations, both for horse health and mitigating the risk of prohibited substances.

• Supplements should never be used as an alternative to veterinary treatment or an appropriate diet.

• Beware of bold claims – if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

• It is illegal for manufacturers to claim products can cure, prevent or treat gastric ulcers. Words like ‘soothe’ and ‘improve’ are also prohibited. While bold or illegal claims do not automatically mean a supplement presents are unsafe, it does raise questions over the company’s ethics.

• Speak to a nutrition advisor before feeding supplements containing added vitamins and minerals as some can be harmful (or even toxic) if oversupplied.

• Avoid supplements (and feeds) containing added iron.

• Be cautious of supplements containing iodine, including naturally occurring sources such as seaweed.

• Ensure the total diet provides no more than 1mg selenium per 220lbs / 100kg body weight (5mg per day for a 1102lbs / 500kg horse).

• Natural does not always equal safe – avoid herbs of unknown origin.

• Only use supplements produced by an authorized feed manufacturer. Approval numbers must be included on the label but knowing what to look out for can be tricky.

• horses under stress of training competition and travel

• before and after vaccinations

• horses with loose stool

• replenish good bacteria; before, during and after antibiotics

• available in powder or paste

• veterinarian formulated and recommended

Supplements should never be used as an alternative to veterinary treatment or an appropriate diet.

The only constant in preparing a young horse for a shot in the Triple Crown is its difficulty. That hasn’t changed over the years.

WORDS: BILL HELLER

It’s just as difficult or more difficult now to have horses that come in healthy, and that’s your main goal: try to get them wellprepared and healthy,” trainer

Todd Pletcher, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner with Super Saver (2010) and Always Dreaming (2017), said. “That’s always been a challenge, but probably more so now than ever.”

While the road to the Triple Crown was revamped with the Kentucky Derby point system beginning in 2013, the reality of the Triple Crown is the same: a horse is only going to succeed if he has a proper foundation.

“It’s like any athlete,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “You have to get the bottom into them and bring them along slowly. It takes a while. You can’t go fast miles. They have to be slow miles. You’re building bones; you’re building tendons; you’re building ligaments all at the same time. You have to have a horse that can handle it, too. He’s got to be able to handle the effort of getting fit, just like a human athlete does. You have to have a hell of a horse to begin with. There’s a lot that goes into it.”

Tagg won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with New York-bred Funny Cide. Seventeen years later, his New York-bred Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes

and finished second in the Kentucky Derby. “You had to approach them differently,” Tagg said.

Both Funny Cide and Tiz the Law had three races as a two-year-old in much different company. Funny Cide won all three: a New Yorkbred maiden race and a pair of New York-bred stakes. Tiz the Law won a maiden race and the Gr.1 Champagne before finishing third in the Gr.2 Kentucky Jockey Clubs Stakes.

Tagg’s life partner/assistant trainer and exercise rider Robin Smullen, rode both horses: “Funny Cide was impossible to gallop, and by the time I started galloping him, he had holes on both sides of his mouth which bled every day, two holes from trying to run off. The ring bit put holes in the corners of his mouth.”

Tagg originally spotted Funny Cide in a yearling sale and wasn’t impressed: “I didn’t pay attention to him. I took one glance at him and didn’t like him.”

A year later, Tagg was watching Tony Everard train his young two-year-olds: “Then this horse comes barreling by me. It sounds very stupid, but it was the best thing I’d ever seen a horse do. Unbelievably fast. I just fell in love with him right away. I thought this horse ought to be a Derby horse. I know that sounds like a bunch of bull, but it’s the truth.”

Barclay Tagg’s Tiz the Law.

It was Funny Cide. “He was so tough to ride,” Tagg said. “Robin had a division for me down at Delaware. I said, ‘I need you to come ride this horse.’ I got Robin to do everything for him. The rest is history.”

Tiz the Law was much easier to ride. Smullen said, “Tiz the Law was not a Funny Cide. When we were getting him ready for his maiden, we never breezed the horse fast. He had standard breezes of :48 and :49. At Saratoga one day, Mike Welsh (of the Daily Racing Form) called me and asked, ‘Did you really gallop this horse two miles today?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Well, there’s not too many people who work a horse two miles.’ And I said, ‘He likes it. He was very able to do it.’”

Smullen believes strongly in the way she and Tagg develop their young horses: “You have to warm them up well. You should never even think about galloping a horse until you’ve jogged a mile. If he can jog a mile every day, then you turn around and gallop. Even in their yearling year when you’re breaking them. You have to work them up so you don’t mess them up before you get to a race. It’s very important for bones and ligaments and tendons and the whole muscular structure.”

Once they’re fit, they begin an arduous journey. The road to the Kentucky Derby is full of potholes and detours. “The Derby is the only time when a good horse gets beat 35, 40 lengths,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “I’ve seen great horses and great trainers get beat, not win it. You have to break well, take the kickback and get into rhythm.”

You can’t win it when you’re not in it, and Baffert is returning to the Kentucky Derby after a three-year suspension at Churchill Downs following the disqualification of what would have been his historic seventh Derby winner, Medina Spirit, for a failed drug test in 2021.

Medina Spirit died in December that year when he collapsed after a workout. That didn’t make the Derby suspension any easier to deal with for Baffert: “I just blocked everything out. I figured I

Robin Smullen & Barclay Tagg.

Bob Baffert

Todd Pletcher’s 2017 Kentucky Derby winner, Always Dreaming.

Funny Cide

can’t go. I just said, ‘Hey, it’s not going to happen.’ It was just weird. I just focus on what’s ahead. I don’t look in the past.”

Baffert’s past in California traces back to legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham: “I watched Charlie Whittingham. He’d put a foundation into his horses before he’d run them. I put a pretty good foundation into them. It’s the way you breeze them.”

Baffert’s first Derby starter, Cavonnier, had six starts as a twoyear-old and four as a three-year-old before the Derby: “I didn’t have a program then. Cavonnier took me there.”

When Cavonnier got there, he was confronted in deep stretch by D. Wayne Lukas’ colt Grindstone, beginning a rivalry still going on 30 years later between two trainers who have combined to win 10 Kentucky Derbies.

It took several agonizing minutes before Grindstone, who had drifted to the middle of the track, was declared the winner of an incredibly tight photo. “I thought he won,” Baffert said. “How do you run a mile and a quarter and lose by a nose? That was probably my worst defeat ever. I didn’t think I’d ever get back.”

Wrong. He won the next two Kentucky Derbies and Preakness Stakes with Silver Charm and Real Quiet. If Cavonnier had won that photo, Baffert would have won three straight Kentucky Derbies.

Despite Cavonnier’s narrow loss, Baffert changed his outlook on the Triple Crown: “I said that was a lot of fun. I’m going to change my program to be like Wayne Lukas. Cavonnier got me started. And people started sending me horses. Once I got a taste of it, I made my whole program like Lukas and Pletcher.”

When told of Baffert’s comment, Lukas said, “That’s an ultimate compliment from a guy that’s probably won more often than anybody.”

Baffert won two Triple Crowns with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify, who did not race as a two-year-old, but is still the only undefeated Triple Crown winner, in 2018. “I usually put a good bottom in them before I run them,” Baffert said. “If you get a horse like Justify, he was a big, strong, heavy horse. I sort of ran him into shape. By the Derby he was at his best.”

Lukas has been at his best for decades, winning his first Triple Crown race – the 1980 Preakness Stakes, with Codex and his latest 44 years later with Seize the Gray. He’s won four Kentucky Derbies with Winning Colors (1988), Thunder Gulch (1995), Grindstone (1996) and Charismatic (1999).

There are many avenues available for trainers to prep for the Kentucky Derby: through California, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky and New York. Each route offers qualifying points mandatory to get into the Kentucky Derby. “You have to get somewhere to get your points,” Tagg said. “Now, you have to be ready for the races that get you there.”

Bob Baffert’s Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah.

Triple Crown winner, Jusitfy.

In the 1995 ‘Run for the Roses’, Lukas saddled three horses, with Timber Country and the filly Serena’s Song joining Thunder Gulch. Timber Country, who would win the Preakness Stakes, was one of the favorites and Thunder Gulch, sent off at 24-1. “I thought Timber Country was our best chance,” Lukas said. “We worked them that Monday and Donna Barton Brothers worked all three horses. She was an excellent work rider and was doing work on a lot of horses for me. Thunder Gulch was last, and when I picked her up on Thunder Gulch, I just casually said, ‘Well, you just had the best seat in the house. Which one’s our best chance?’ She said, ‘This one.’ I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ She said, ‘I like him the best.’”

When asked if he had changed anything about training horses for the Triple Crown, Lukas said, “I haven’t changed my philosophy at all on it, but I’ve noticed that some of my colleagues, the younger people, are a lot more conservative about the approach they’re taking.

“Back in the ‘50s and the ‘60s, Calumet, with all their success, always used the Derby Trial, which was one week away, as a prep. I paid attention to that a lot. Remember, the old Blue Grass was

two weeks in front of the Derby, and it was one of the major preps. Now they keep moving the stakes back, like the Arkansas Derby. It had always been three weeks, now it’s five weeks. They move it back, I think, to appease the mindset of a lot of the younger trainers now. I particularly have found that most of my horses run better, horses that I have had really good success with, not necessarily winning but were competitive, ran within a month of the Derby. I used the Lexington a couple of times, and they ran well, maybe 10 days before the race.

“One of the things that I find in watching it for 50 years is, if Bob Baffert worked a horse in 1:12, the press would come over and tell everybody. A lot of these younger trainers will think, ‘Geez, maybe I better work my horse in 1:12.”

Lukas doesn’t: “I just think if you put good, stout gallops into them and build them up to the race, you’re better off. The reality is, if the horse is dead fit, his pedigree will either get them there or not. Strong, solid works and strong morning gallops are more instrumental. I think you put a solid bottom in them and get them into a good work pattern. Reading the horse is the hardest thing for the Derby.”

D.Wayne Lukas with Seize the Grey.

Seize the Grey

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Deciding which route to get there is challenging. New York has a surprising trend. From 1930 to 2000, 11 winners of the mile-and-an-eighth Wood Memorial, now a Gr.2 stakes, won the Kentucky Derby, the last being Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000. Triple Crown winners Gallant Fox, Count Fleet, Assault, Secretariat (who finished third to his stable-mate Angle Light in 1973), all ventured to Aqueduct to compete in the Wood. From 2001 through 2024, the Wood winners haven’t added the Kentucky Derby to their resumes, though Empire Maker, Vino Rosso, Tacitus and Mo Donegal won other Gr.1 stakes.

However, another New York-bred Derby prep race, the Gr.2 Remsen Stakes for two-year-olds, annually run at Aqueduct in November after the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup, has become an important stepping stone to future success.

Catholic Boy, the 2017 Remsen winner in a rout, returned at three to win the 2018 Travers by daylight. Mo Donegal (2021) won the 2022 Belmont Stakes. In the 2023 Remsen, Dornoch nosed Sierra Leone. Dornoch subsequently won the 2024 Belmont Stakes and the Haskell. Sierra Leone won the Blue Grass, finished second by a nose in the 2024 Kentucky Derby and won the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Dornoch’s trainer, Danny Gargan, won the 2022 Remsen with Dubyuhnell, and chose the 2023 Remsen for Dornoch. He relished the Remsen distance of a mile-and-an-eighth: “That’s why we picked it. We always knew the further the distance the better for him. We wanted to get a two-turn race into him. You never knew going in that Sierra Leone was going to be in there. It became a key race. Both of them are multiple Gr.1 winners. One of them won the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the other won the Belmont. So it was a key race.”

Gargan appreciates the Aqueduct surface: “I’ve won the Remsen a couple of times. Aqueduct is a deep, demanding track, and it takes a fit, strong horse to be able to get that distance on that track. I think it’s beneficial if you want to get to the Derby to have a horse that can go that far. That’s the longest twoyear-old race of the year. I think it helps them. There’s been some nice horses win the race the last few years. Everybody wants to say it’s not a key race, but it sure has been the last three or four years. People can say what they want, but it brings out the true distance horse. It’s all timing when you train these horses. You have to be lucky enough to have a horse that can go that far at that time.”

Though he trains in California, Eoin Harty thought the Remsen made a lot of sense for his two-year-old Poster last year. He’d won his first two starts on grass, a maiden race at Ellis Park and an allowance race at Keeneland in his first two career starts: “It was a good opportunity to see and find out whether he was capable of running on dirt. He’s a big angular horse. He’s been like that since Day One. That’s why I stretched him to a mile on the turf first time out.”

He said putting a bottom in a horse is important, but doesn’t guarantee success in longer races: “You could get an average horse, and you can put all the bottom in the world into him and he’d barely get a foot over six furlongs. It’s important, but by the time most trainers, myself included, get their hands on these horses, that baseline has been put up there.

LEFT: 1943 Triple Crown winner, Count Fleet, was one of 11 winners, between 1930 to 2000, that competed in the Wood Memorial before going on to win the Kentucky Derby.

Danny Gargan’s Dornoch nosed Sierra Leone to win the 2023 Remsen. Dornoch subsequently won the 2024 Belmont Stakes and the Haskell. Sierra Leone won the Blue Grass and finished second by a nose in the 2024 Kentucky Derby to Mystik Dan and won the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

We all get these horses around the same time, usually May of the two-year-old year. And by then, it’s too late. It’s usually something I just don’t have to worry about.”

He didn’t worry about it in the 2024 Remsen. With Flavian Prat in the saddle for the first time, Poster won the Remsen by a nose. In his three-year-old debut in the mile and a sixteenth Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, Poster got away last in the field of 10 and rallied wide to finish third by 2 ¾ lengths to John Hancock.

Harty thinks Poster will make the Derby’s mile-and-a-quarter distance if he’s given that opportunity: “I predict that he can make it, but he’s going to have to prove to me that he can make it. I mean, if, by the grace of God, I get into the starting gate on Derby Day, his ability to make a mile and a quarter won’t be a question for me. It’s up to me to have him fit to go a mile and a quarter. At some points, genetics take over. The horse will get home on his own. I think he’s the kind of horse that will go a mile and a quarter for sure.”

Poster with Flavien Prat up wins the 2024 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct.

PHOTOGRAPHY: BEE BUCK PHOTOGRAPHY, COGLIANESE PHOTOS, ECLIPSE SPORTSWIRE, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY LIBRARIES

A NEW PIMLICO FOR THE OLD LINE STATE

Walk through the grounds of the antiquated racetrack situated on Park Heights Avenue in Baltimore and one will be inundated with reminders of the dual role the vaunted venue has held for the better part of the last decade.

Known to the public as the home of one of the most treasured jewels in Thoroughbred racing, Pimlico Race Course has also served as a microcosm for the perilous situation one of Maryland’s signature industries faced in recent times. Unmistakable in its history and contributions, it has also been achingly in need of support and restoration. And while it is a hallmark of the community it resides in, its relationship with its neighbors – much like its foundations – also needed a massive overhaul.

On May 17, the track known as Old Hilltop will host the 150th edition of its flagship race when the Preakness Stakes, the

middle leg of the American Triple Crown, is contested one last time in its current incarnation. Shortly thereafter, a complete reconstruction will get underway, one that will transform both the physical structure and, pundits hope, the overall well-being of the state’s Thoroughbred racing product.

After years of uncertainty surrounding the future of Maryland racing, a wave of optimism has washed over many who rely on the industry for their livelihood thanks to a sweeping plan approved by Governor Wes Moore and the Board of Works last spring. In May 2024, an agreement to transfer ownership of Pimlico Race Course from The Stronach Group (operating as 1/ST Racing) to the State of Maryland was signed off on as well as a $400 million full renovation of Pimlico, a $10 million investment in the surrounding Park Heights community, and the creation of The Maryland Jockey Club Inc., a non-profit to operate racing in Maryland.

Under the agreement, Pimlico will become the year-round home for all Thoroughbred racing in Maryland while the state’s other Thoroughbred track, Laurel Park, will ultimately close.

Laurel is still nominally owned by The Stronach Group but the Maryland Jockey Club has a 2–3-year lease to operate the track until the new Pimlico is open for live racing. By the time Laurel is eventually shuttered and redeveloped, plans call for a new yearround training center to be constructed at the current Shamrock Farm, located 20 miles from Pimlico in Carroll County.

Keeping the Preakness in Maryland had been a point of contention in recent years, and anyone who has encountered the structural issues at the track itself – from plumbing issues to broken elevators to condemned portions of the grandstand – saw it suffered from a glaring lack of commitment to investing in its future. Though The Stronach Group still controls the rights to the Preakness for 2025 and 2026, the state and the Maryland Jockey Club will gain the rights to the classic test and take over full management in 2027.

That same year is also targeted for the completion of the Pimlico renovation. While the track will still host the Preakness this May before demolition begins approximately 30 days after, the 1 3/16-miles race will move to Laurel Park in 2026 before making its planned return the following year to its longstanding home.

At a time when multiple racing jurisdictions – most notably Florida and California – are dealing with uneasiness about the long-term health and future of the sport, the change in ownership and emphatic support from government officials has shifted the general sentiment in Maryland for the positive. It’s a twist few would have been optimistic enough to forecast only a handful of years ago, but one that is already having a revitalizing effect.

“When I was covering Maryland five years ago, racing in the state was a solid, solid circuit but we were always wondering. We were always worried about contraction, worried about handle numbers, you always worry about what tracks could be in danger,” said Dan Illman, who was named Director of Communications of the Maryland Jockey Club after previously serving as the Midlantic-based reporter and handicapper for Daily Racing Form. “I never really felt that Laurel and Pimlico were in any sort of danger but…you walk into that press box Preakness week and you realize there is a wonderful history there but unfortunately the track is crumbling.

“To see that the Governor and the Mayor of Baltimore and everyone is so into trying to rejuvenate the sport in a way with the new Pimlico and bringing out sort of a sparkling new face to Maryland racing, it’s kind of exciting. I wasn’t sure if that would be the case five years ago but they’re going full steam ahead and

EVERYONE IS SO INTO TRYING TO REJUVENATE THE SPORT IN A WAY WITH THE NEW PIMLICO AND BRINGING OUT SORT OF A SPARKLING NEW FACE TO MARYLAND RACING, IT’S KIND OF EXCITING.”

they really want to promote the Preakness, sort of like having a Kentucky Derby week, a Preakness week with all the events and everything else.”

In addition to the investment in the racing product, state officials along with the Maryland Jockey Club, and Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority – which was created in 2023 to support the development of racing and training facilities in the state – have also prioritized pouring back into its neighborhoods and fellow businesses. In early March, a lineup of events for the inaugural Preakness Festival were announced including Maryland horse farm tours and a music festival in Park Heights honoring George “Spider” Anderson, the first African American jockey to win the Preakness Stakes.

Being a good community partner won’t just be limited to its highest profile week, however. School field trips to Laurel Park in which students get an up-close view on how the equine athletes are cared for are already becoming a regular occurrence. And on a near daily basis, Illman finds himself fielding requests for track representatives to speak at everything from libraries to schools to senior centers.

“I think it’s very important for us to get involved with members of the community…and I think it’s important for the community to know we’re not just here as a gambling establishment. We’re here as a partner in the city and the state,” Illman said.

The curiosity from the public about the industry is something many believe has always been present but lacked a proper conduit. With the new ownership and management structure in place, the state’s racing participants are now better positioned to provide answers and foster deeper connections.

DAN ILLMAN

PARK HEIGHTS AS A COMMUNITY CAN BENEFIT IF THE MARYLAND JOCKEY CLUB BECOMES PROFITABLE. THEY RECEIVE A PORTION OF THOSE PROFITS SO THERE CERTAINLY IS AN INCENTIVE AND CLOSE TIE-IN TO THE COMMUNITY.”

BILL KNAUF

“It was very clear that (community involvement) was a focal point when I came in just interviewing for the job,” said Bill Knauf, president of the Maryland Jockey Club. “The way that the law is written when the MTROA was created, Park Heights as a community can benefit if the Maryland Jockey Club becomes profitable. They receive a portion of those profits so there certainly is an incentive and close tie-in to the community. And I think being state-run facilitates that relationship to form a closer bond to the community.

“Part of it too is, what else can we use our facilities for?,” Knauf continued. “I’m sure we’ll utilize our infield for different things throughout the year whether it’s concerts or a festival or a farmer’s market – anything along those lines that constantly drives traffic

through that big, beautiful new building we’ll have and at the same time, gets people coming to Park Heights.”

Necessary as it may be, change often doesn’t occur without challenges at its hip – and the Thoroughbred industry is Exhibit A of such. While Maryland racing has certainly received an injection of support and vision, there are still hurdles that must be cleared for its goal of becoming a top-class destination for both horseplayers and casual fans is realized.

Maryland tracks will run a reduced schedule of 120 race dates in 2025 and the ongoing issue of a shrinking foal crop is impacting the health of the sport in practically every jurisdiction. The Maryland Jockey Club has yet to announce board members and concrete plans for the training facility remain in the works.

Though a reduction in race days and its inevitable impact on handle always sparks concern, the decision to work in partnership with Colonial Downs and not compete with the Virginia-based track in July and August is being seen as a net positive. And once Pimlico becomes the year-round racing facility, the possibility of hosting a turf meet at bucolic Fair Hill is among several options on the table.

“They made a tremendous decision not to compete with Colonial. It’s too hard for these racetracks to continue to fill races year-round, there aren’t enough horses” said trainer Graham Motion, a Hall of Fame finalist who has been based in Maryland the entirety of his career. “And I think one thing that could fall into place is, it’s going to be tough having yearround racing on the Pimlico turf course so we need to see if we can evolve Fair Hill somehow where we now have a turf course that is on the verge of being reopened. That is something where we could have a Kentucky Downs type meet there.

“Maryland has always been my core. I started in Maryland, I’m based in Maryland, the Maryland tracks have always been where I want to run. So, I think the upward trajectory is encouraging,” Motion continued. “So much of it is still up in the air…but we have two more years. I think it being run by horsemen who really do have racing in their best interest, I think that is going to be a big positive.”

If there is a linchpin behind the progress already made and the advancements in the pipeline for Maryland racing it is the fact the industry has garnered crucial support from those in the legislature. Such a positive relationship has already played out in states like Kentucky and New York, both of which offer some of the strongest year-round circuits in the sport.

If all goes as expected the next few years, the refurbished Pimlico structure will once again hold added symbolism – this time of what strengthened bonds can achieve.

MARYLAND HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY CORE. I STARTED IN MARYLAND, I’M BASED IN MARYLAND, THE MARYLAND TRACKS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WHERE I WANT TO RUN. SO, I THINK THE UPWARD TRAJECTORY IS ENCOURAGING.”

GRAHAM MOTION

“I think anytime you have a state like Maryland that steps up and invests the type of money that they are going to in the new facility, in the training center, in creating an authority to oversee racing… that sends a message to the patrons to say, you know, we care about racing. We care about the industry and we’re going to be behind it,” Knauf said. “Everything has been incredibly positive since I’ve been here. The horsemen are energized, the breeders are energized, and hopefully with the new facility we can pave a new path.

“Things are constantly changing, and we’ll have to adapt to whatever that means. But it’s very exciting for me personally and very exciting for the industry. It will be fun to see how it all evolves.”

Maryland-based Graham Motion.

THE LEGACY OF STORM CAT ON THE TRIPLE CROWN

WORDS: ALICIA HUGHES

They hit the wire in unison beneath one of the most recognizable backdrops in all of sports, a trio of equine athletes calling upon the entirety of their pedigrees and fitness to try and claim the most career-defining of prizes. One, an industry blood blue who had sold for a seven-figure price befitting his breeding. Another, a budding international star carrying with him the aspirations of a country in addition to the 126 pounds on his back.

The one whose nose ultimately landed in front happened to be the most overlooked member of the indefatigable threesome, a colt from a seemingly modest background who produced a result most deemed an upset. The lens of hindsight can reveal many truths in the aftermath, however. And given the enduring influence of a certain stalwart in his sire line, Mystik Dan’s victory in the 2024 Kentucky Derby (Gr.1) over regally bred Sierra Leone and Japan-based Forever Young proved to be the continuation of a legacy that is still gaining strength decades after its initial impact.

In the 30 years that he graced the Thoroughbred industry with his presence, William T. Young’s homebred Gr.1 winner Storm Cat managed to put himself in the conversation as one of the all-time game-changing stallions, both in terms of his impact on the commercial marketplace and prolific output by his offspring on the track. Commanding a stud fee as high as $500,000 at his peak, the son of Storm Bird out of Terlingua twice led the general sire list, producing eight champions, 110 graded stakes winners, more than $129 million in progeny earnings, and 91 yearlings that sold for $1 million or more at public auction.

Included in Storm Cat’s litany of top runners was Tabasco Cat –his only son to win a Triple Crown race. He won two – with the 1994 runnings of the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Then came champion Storm Flag Flying, and European champion Giant’s Causeway, the latter of whom held the mantle as his best son at stud. While he built a resume that rewrote records in the stud book, one of the few milestones missing for the dark bay stallion was the fact he never sired a horse who captured the Kentucky Derby, the 1 ¼-mile classic that stands the most famous test in Thoroughbred racing.

Despite not having one of his own wear the roses, Storm Cat’s impact on the first Saturday in May has exponentially grown in the years since his passing in 2013. When Mystik Dan won a three-horse photo beneath the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs to annex the 150th edition of the race, he became the fourth Kentucky Derby winner in the last seven years to trace their sire line to the former Overbrook Farm flagship stallion.

The trend got kicked off when Justify, by Storm Cat’s great grandson, Scat Daddy, triumphed in the 2018 Kentucky Derby en route to sweeping the Triple Crown. Since that time, much of Storm Cat’s Derby influence has been due to the overwhelming

success of six-time leading sire Into Mischief, who is by Storm Cat’s grandson Harlan’s Holiday. Into Mischief himself sired back-to-back Kentucky Derby winners in Authentic (2020) and Mandaloun (2021), the sire of fellow Spendthrift Farm stallion Goldencents, who counts Mystik Dan as his first classic winner.

Having already hit many of the hallmarks that define truly great stallions, those who helped craft Storm Cat’s career are especially heartened by the fact that he is now definitively shaping the outcome of the race that most requires the rarified combination of stamina, speed, and mettle.

“(The Kentucky Derby influence) certainly has not been unnoticed by me, although I’m pleasantly surprised with how it has carried through,” said bloodstock consultant Ric Waldman, who managed Storm Cat’s stud career for Overbrook. “I mean, that’s the real mark of a successful sire: how long can his line continue to go. When you look at the level that these sons and grandsons and great grandsons of Storm Cat have reached, you

Authentic

Ric Waldman

Storm Cat with Chris McCarron up, wins the 1985 Young America Stakes at Meadowlands.

ABOVE: Tabasco Cat – Storm Cat’s only son to win a Triple Crown race. Winning both the Preakness & Belmont Stakes in 1994 for D. Wayne Lukas.

realize there is something in that Storm Cat blood. Now, how do you define it? I’ve never been able to. But it’s real. There is something in those genes that just comes through.”

When the list of Triple Crown nominees was announced for 2025, the odds of the Storm Cat line adding to its recent run of Kentucky Derby achievements could have easily been installed as the shortest price.

The two stallions represented by the highest number of offspring nominated to the classics were the aforementioned Into Mischief (21), and Taylor Made Farm stallion Not This Time (14), a son of Giant’s Causeway. As the Kentucky Derby prep season heated up, the pair indeed had their sons stamp themselves as leading contenders for the 10-furlong test with Into Mischief having juvenile champion Citizen Bull, Florida Derby (Gr.1) hero Tappan Street, and Fountain of Youth Stakes (Gr.2) victor Sovereignty while Not This Time boasted Jeff Ruby Steaks (Gr.3) winner Final Gambit and Risen Star (Gr.2) winner Magnitude, who unfortunately was knocked off the Derby trail due to injury.

Adding to the breadth and depth of the Storm Cat sire line this Triple Crown season is Justify producing Virginia

Derby winner American Promise and Drefong, another great grandson of Storm Cat, having UAE Derby (G2) winner Admire Daytona (JPN).

Though his name is now synonymous with success at the highest level of Thoroughbred racing and breeding, Storm Cat had a decidedly unglamorous start to his stud career. His precocity was undisputable, having prevailed in the 1985 Young American Stakes (Gr.1) before finishing second by a nose to Tasso in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (Gr.1). But after just two starts during his sophomore season, injury ended his on-track career, and he entered stud at Overbrook for a $30,000 fee.

The fact he was able to make himself into an industry legend without the benefit of an elite book of mares in the first part of his stallion career was indicative of the innate quality housed beneath his coal-colored frame. Fittingly, two of the stallions who are currently pushing the sire line forward into classic territory followed virtually the same script.

“It’s in the makeup of the blood that Storm Cat made it in spite of everything else not going his way as far as establishing himself as a successful stallion,” Waldman said. “That’s the true makings of a stallion.”

Justify

Mystik Dan

Citizen Bull

Not This Time

As the dark bay horse sauntered down the path from the stallion complex and paraded for breeders during Taylor Made Farm’s January stallion open house, those who were fortunate enough to see his grandsire in the flesh couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

From a physical standpoint, Not This Time morphs more into Storm Cat’s doppelganger with every passing year – a near carbon copy, save for having four white feet instead of two. The similarity extends well beyond the resemblance, however, as he also mirrors his grandfather in both his abbreviated career, blue-collar ascent, and versatility of runners.

Trained by Dale Romans for Albaugh Family Stables, Not This Time came into the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as the race favorite off a scintillating triumph in the Gr.3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs. Like his grandsire, he would come painfully close to victory. Where Storm Cat had a clear lead in the stretch of his Breeders’ Cup outing only to get nailed on the wire, Not This Time was the one doing the chasing over the Santa Anita Park stretch, putting in a determined rally that fell a neck short of eventual divisional champion Classic Empire.

A soft tissue injury discovered in his right front shortly after the Breeders’ Cup would end Not This Time’s career, and he

commanded just $15,000 in his first initial season at stud. Though circumstances didn’t allow him to show his full racing potential, the brilliance he inherited from his sire line wasted no time showing up once his runners started hitting the track.

In 2020, he was the third-leading freshman sire by progeny earnings and by 2022, he was in the top 10 on the general sire list. That same season, his son Epicenter, who captured the Gr.1 Travers Stakes and ran second as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, would become his first champion when he earned the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male.

“We were optimistic but, in this business, you never know where the next great stallion will come from,” Ben Taylor, president of Taylor Made Stallions, said of Not This Time, who currently stands for $175,000. “But he had all the credentials, and we were just lucky to get him.

“Looking back, I remember everyone was obviously devastated when he was injured and couldn’t go on with his career. But if he didn’t have his injury, we might not have ever been in a position to get him, so their bad luck was actually maybe fortunate for us. Strictly from a financial standpoint, it was probably a windfall because it allowed him to go to stud early and achieve what he’s done at a very young age.”

Not This Time

Final Gambit

Epicenter

Not This Time (left) is narrowly beaten by Classic Empire in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Into Mischief

Twenty years after Storm Cat began his stud career in 1987, the great grandson who would ultimately topple some of his records made his career debut when he broke his maiden at Santa Anita. He would never finish worse than second and captured the Gr.1 CashCall Futurity in his third start. Ultimately, though, injury too would cut Into Mischief’s career short after just six starts, leaving owner Spendthrift Farm with the challenge of how to get enough numbers in his book when he stood his initial season for $12,500 in 2009.

“I think we’d all be lying if we said we zeroed in and said, ‘It’s got to be this, it’s got to be that (with regards to the matings)’. Early on it was, we would take what we could get as far as mares,” said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm. “But it is not uncommon for a stallion to start off with a modest book of mares both in terms of numbers and quality. Those exceptional stallions seem to prove over and over that they can overcome that, and he’s certainly done it. Even with the small books, he was doing remarkable things.”

As the annals of meteoric rises, Into Mischief is due the heftiest of chapters. In 2012, the same year his fee had dipped to $7,500, he would end up third on the freshman sire list and notch his first graded stakes winner when Goldencents took the Gr.3 Delta Jackpot that November.

In 2013, the half-brother to Hall of Famer Beholder would have a pair of Kentucky Derby starters in Goldencents and Vyjack with the former also becoming his first of what is now eight Breeders’ Cup winners when he annexed that year’s Dirt Mile. Into Mischief would begin his now six-year reign atop the general sire list in 2019 and last year became the first stallion to surpass $30 million in progeny earnings in a single season.

“I remember after Into Mischief hit with his first crop, I look back and always ask myself, ‘What did I miss?’,” Waldman said. “Is he truly a fluke that I wouldn’t have caught, or did I overlook

this? And in Into Mischief’s case, I missed it. But I’m not even sure Spendthrift saw he could be as good as he was, so you have to give credit to that sire line.”

With the ascent of Into Mischief and Not That Time, as well as the exploits of the late Scat Daddy, the sire line has in fact evolved from being known as primarily a speed influence into one that can inject stamina – a necessary component for 3-year-olds going the 1 ¼-miles distance in the Kentucky Derby for the first time.

Goldencents

Into Mischief

Into Mischief’s ability to get top-class progeny across divisions has been well documented – from champion female sprinter Covfefe to 2024 Dubai World Cup (Gr.1) winner Laurel River. And when entries were taken for the 2024 Breeders’ Cup, Not This Time’s all-around aptitude was on full display as the 11-year-old stallion was represented by Gr.1 winning turf sprinter Cogburn and graded stakes winning marathoner, Next.

“He’s kind of done it at every level, he’s done it at any distance,” Toffey said of Into Mischief, who commands a fee of $250,000 in 2025. “He definitely leans toward being a speed sire, but he has multiple classic winners. He has demonstrated his consistency, his brilliance.”

“The versatility of a Not This Time - long, short, dirt, turfit’s like Storm Cat himself,” added Waldman. “The Not This Times probably want to go a little farther than most of the Storm Cats did, although Giant’s Causeway clearly was a classic distance horse. As a result, you can get a horse that can run at a classic distance.”

Just as his stud career steadily gained in momentum, Storm Cat’s influence on the biggest stages shows no signs of slowing. With both Into Mischief and Not This Time having their top books of mares to date coming down the pipeline, as well as the ongoing success of the likes of Justify and Practical Joke, the days of his sire line lording over the race widely regarded as the most consequential in North America don’t figure to conclude anytime soon.

“You never get tired of seeing it, and to see it continue for this many years later…because eventually the veins should die off,” Waldman said. “We’ll see how long this goes with Storm Cat, but it is heartwarming. He helped everybody who touched his life, and everybody’s life was better for having Storm Cat.”

Into Mischief

Laurel River

Cogburn

Covfefe

WINNING OWNERS

KRISTIAN VILLANTE, KYLE ZORN & TRAVIS DURR (LEGION RACING) – DREXEL HILL

The three musketeers of Legion Racing, Kristian Villante, Kyle Zorn and Travis Durr, are on quite a tear. Last year, their Honor Marie finished second in the Louisiana Derby, then competed in the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes, finishing eighth, fourth and eighth. This year, their filly Drexel Hill has them primed for the Kentucky Oaks off a victory in the $200,000 Busher Invitational at Aqueduct, March 1st.

Considering they started Legion Bloodstock, their full-service bloodstock agency, only four years ago, it’s rather amazing.

“I think, truthfully, why we’ve been very successful is that we all see eye to eye,” Villante said. “There are no egos. Just one team. The people we have assembled all kind of share the same vision. We all see eye-to-eye. We’re all doing this because we love it. It’s just a belief in ourselves. Everyone’s able to feed off each other and build off each

Drexel Hill ridden by Ben Curtis wins the 2025 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct for Legion Racing and trainer Whit Beckman.

other. Myself, Travis and Kyle had been very good friends before we started Legion, so it’s like three brothers.”

Or three musketeers.

“It’s very easy,” Villante continued. “It’s fun to do every day. We’re always on the same page. We can kind of make our own little footprint and prove ourselves.”

They chose another friend, a young trainer who just went out on his own, to lead them, and Whit Beckham has delivered, training both Honor Marie and Drexel Hill. Beckman worked for Todd Pletcher, Eoin Harty and Chad Brown before going on his own in 2022. “I think we had all this confidence knowing Whit,”

Villante said. “He’s done a great job building in the last two years; the passion he has for it; the horsemanship second to none. He just has a way with all these horses. She (Drexel Hill) is a prime example of that.”

Beckman is enjoying working with his friends at Legion: “I’ve known Kristian and Kyle for the last 15 years. Me and Kyle actually grew up together in Louisville and went to the same high school. I worked with Kristian for Todd Pletcher, so we became pretty good friends back in the day. Travis, he’s been selling horses for so long and has a training center in South Carolina. So he really has a good feel for buying a young horse. Kyle is as sharp as the other two. Kristian always said, `If you go on your own, we’ll make sure you get a barn full of good horses.’ So they made good on their promise. We’ve had a lot of luck together. They’re all super sharp horseman.”

Durr has certainly made a huge difference in Beckman’s stable, sending him Simply Joking, a three-year-old filly who won two stakes and finished second in the Gr. 2 Fantasy Stakes, and three-year-old colt Flying Mohawk, who was second in the Gr. 3 Jeff Ruby. Neither are owned by Legion.

Durr’s interest in horses traces back to his grandfather and father, who both raced Quarter Horses: “We always had horses. We used to go to Texas, Delta Downs. I started riding at the bush tracks.”

At the age of 12, he rode races on bush tracks in Georgia and South and North Carolina. As his family transitioned to Thoroughbreds, Durr began breaking young horses for his father and grandfather. When his father died in 1995, Durr took over the family business. He began breaking horses in St. George, South Carolina, for local clients in 2007. He then joined the Webb Carroll Training Center in Matthews, South Carolina. In October, 2016, Durr and his wife Ashley then purchased the training center from Carroll.

ABOVE: Legion Racing’s Travis Durr, Kristian Villante and Kyle Zorn.

Drexel Hill (right) with Ben Curtis up battles with Amarth and jockey Kendrick Carmouche to win the 2025 Busher Stakes.

“Time has flown by,” Durr said. “Me and Kristian have been buddies for a while, working with me with Webb. I started buying horses for the training center for myself. We’d look at horses together. We liked the same type of horses. We started the racing groups based on me and Kristian buying yearlings at Keeneland for $20,000 and it was tough.”

Now they spend more, but not a lot more. Honor Marie cost $40,000; Drexel Hill $50,000. “Me and Kristian talk four times a day,” Durr said. “We’re pretty good buddies. We all work

together. It still doesn’t feel like a job a lot of days. We still get to enjoy what we do.”

Zorn also traces his love of racing back to his grandparents: “From the time I was ready to walk, two or three years old. I just loved it. Everybody had their favorite jockey: Patty Cooksey and Pat Day and Jerry Bailey. I still have signed goggles. The track was always a fun place to go.”

Zorn worked at a training center, then for trainer Pat Byrne, eventually becoming his assistant trainer. Then Zorn helped Maribeth Sandford, the owner of Take Charge Indy, when her husband passed away from cancer: “Maribeth was left with all the pieces. She needed help and I took a job helping her. That’s how I met Travis Durr. We became friends right away. And through Travis, I met Kristian. I was good friends with Whit. We’ve been very blessed.”

Villante grew up in Philadelphia: “I just kind of always loved horses in general, not necessarily horse racing. My dad [Joe] knew trainer Scott Lake. I was 12 or 13. I went to Parx. They’re amazing animals to be around. Scott took me under his wing. Did I have any idea of what I was going to do this? No.”

He did after working for Todd Pletcher and meeting Beckman: “We had very similar personalities. We became friends and it kind of grew.”

Still. One for all and all for one.

Team Honor Marie at the 15Oth Kentucky Derby.

LEFT: Whit Beckman with Honor Marie.

TRAVIS DURR TRAINING CENTER

DERBY & OAKS BOUND GRADS!

SIMPLY JOKING

G2 STAKES PLACED AND OAKS QUALIFIER

FLYING MOHAWK

G3 STAKES PLACED AND KY DERBY QUALIFIER

HILL

BUSHER STAKES WINNER AND OAKS QUALIFIER

DREXEL

MIKE GATSAS (GATSAS STABLES) – FIVE G

Family has always been paramount to Mike Gatsas, in his family business and his family’s passion in horse racing. “Family is super important to him,” his son, Matthew, said.

Now, their family’s home – New York-bred Five G, named to honor Gatsas’ five grandchildren, will be their first starter in the Gr.1 Kentucky Oaks. The fact that Five G is a daughter of their star runner Vekoma makes it even sweeter.

Matthew is the Vice-President of Trivantus, a payroll service/employee benefits/human resource administration company his father founded in New Hampshire in 2003. He’s partnered with his brother-in-law Danny Casey.

Matthew named Vekoma, a son of Candy Ride out of Mona de Momma by Speightstown, a horse Gatsas partnered with Randy Hill: “We were trying a bunch of names. So many got rejected. Our family was going to Disney World for the first time. There’s a big roller coaster there named Vekoma, made by Expedition Everest. I just thought it was a cool name. His dad was Candy Ride. Everybody loved it.”

The fact that Vekoma turned into a multiple Gr.1 stakes winner and now a superstar stallion didn’t hurt.

Vekoma finished 12th in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, one of his rare losses. He won six of his seven other starts, including the Gr.1 Carter Handicap and the Gr.1 Metropolitan, and earned $1,245,525.

Then Vekoma became the leading 2024 first-crop sire, standing this year for $35,000 at Spendthrift Farm.

Mike Gatsas bred his Quality Road mare Triumphant to Vekoma and was rewarded with Five G, who followed a dismal debut – seventh by 22 lengths – with a victory and second on

grass, a nine-length victory in the $150,000 Cash Run Stakes, a fine second to Quietside in the Gr.3 Honeybee Handicap and a 2¼ length score in the Gr.2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. “It’s great we get to share it as a family,” Matthew said.

That’s the way Gatsas intended it to be. Asked about his highlight participating in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, he replied, “Being there with my whole family, my wife, my kids, my grandchildren. That’s how we got started, having something the family could do.”

Well before he bought his first horse in 1998, Gatsas let his intention to buy a Thoroughbred known. “It was 100 years ago when I was a little kid,” Matthew said. “We had been at Lake George with another family. We were sitting at the dinner table. The story goes that somebody offered them a tip on a horse that was running. I was very young. We had to go to Saratoga. Dad said to one of his friends: ‘I want a horse that runs at Saratoga.’”

BELOW: Mike Gatsas leads in Five G, daughter of stable star runner Vekoma, and jockey Manny Franco, after winning the 2025 Gulfstream Park Oaks.

Five G with Manny Franco up wins the 2025 Gulfstream Park Oaks for trainer George Weaver at Gulfstream Park on March 29, 2025.

When he was a teenager, Matthew remembers trips to Rockingham Park, not far from their New Hampshire home: “We’d go every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It seemed like we went all the time.”

In 1998, his father purchased two horses: a sleek, gray New York-bred gelding named Gander and Shadow Caster. Gander went on to be 2000 New York-bred Horse of the Year. He won 15 of his 60 starts, including six stakes, the biggest being the 2001 Gr.2 Meadowlands Cup. He finished second in the 2000 Gr.1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and his earnings of more than $1.8 million are still 13th all-time among New York-breds. Shadow Caster was no slouch, making nearly a half a million thanks to eight victories in 47 starts. Gatsas’ brother Ted, a former state senator and mayor of Manchester, was his partner.

Asked about Gander, Gatsas said, “Being new to the game, my trainer, Charlie Assimakopuolos thought it was a great opportunity to get a New York-bred. I was sold on the program ever since. It’s a phenomenal program.”

Gander paved the way for future success. “Gander is the one who got us started,” Matthew said. “Probably, he’s the reason we’re still in the game. I don’t think a lot of people have that luck early on.”

Racing as Sovereign Stable, the Gatsas family had more luck with Negligee, a two-year-old filly who gave them their first Gr.1 victory when she took the 2009 Alcibiades.

Fortuitous seating at Saratoga led Gatsas to partner up with Randy Hill, who races as R. A. Hill Stables, on Vekoma. Hill’s box was right behind Gatsas’: “We met, and I said, ‘what do you think if we split some horses?’ He said, ‘sure.’ We really got to like each other. We’re really having fun with these horses.”

Gatsas guesses he now owns 40 Thoroughbreds, many in partnership with Randy Hill and others. Gatsas uses trainers George Weaver, John Terranova, Danny Gargan and Ricky Dutrow.

“We don’t have a big stable, but we’ve been very blessed,” Gatsas said. “George has done a great job with this filly. I’m pleased to be associated with George and his wife Cindy. We’re very blessed to have George as a trainer.”

Matthew said, “We’ve been in the business a long time. I’m very much involved in it. I love the sport. There’s no doubt I got that from my dad. My wife Celia, she’s from the Saratoga area and she enjoys the races. Now my kids, Calla and Matthew, are picking it up from me.

“We all made it to Keeneland when Vekoma won the Blue Grass. Then we went on to Louisville. It was pretty awesome. The kids were too young to enjoy it, but they did come. I think all five of them (grandchildren) are super excited for this (the Kentucky Oaks). It’s going to be pretty cool.”

JOHN ED ANTHONY (SHORTLEAF STABLES) – QUIETSIDE

John Ed Anthony’s lasting legacies in the timber industry and horse racing in Arkansas are forever linked by the names he chose for his stables, Loblolly and Shortleaf: “They’re both pine trees. The loblolly is a larger tree, and the shortleaf is a higher quality and more dense tree. I’ve been running sawmills all my life.”

His family’s business, Anthony Timberlands, was started by Anthony’s grandfather Garland, when he took ownership of the tiny Harlow Sawmill, in 1907. Seven generations later, Anthony Timberlands still prospers: “There were 19 mills in south Arkansas when I came home from college (University of Arkansas) when my dad died in 1961. Now ours is the only remaining privatelyowned timber company. My son, Stephen, is president. My second son is Anthony, and he is the pedigree expert.”

At the age of 86, he is the all-time leading owner at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, and when Quietside annexed the $750,000 Gr. 2 Fantasy Stakes on March 29th, he also became the all-time leading stakes winning owner with 40: “They gave me a sign to hold. I just passed John Franks’ record, which I didn’t know… They kept up on those things. I bought [my first horse] in the fall of 1971. My first win was in 1972. I’ve been in the business for 54 years. I guess after so long, you’ve kind of seen it all. Lots of things have changed.”

Quietside ridden by Jose Ortiz wins the 2025 Fantasy Stakes, crowning John Ed Anthony the all-time leading owner at Oaklawn Park.

Much earlier in his owner career, Anthony and his former wife, Mary Lynn Dudley, had great success with Cox’s Ridge. “One of the biggest problems was finding people who love to race in New York,” Anthony said. “No one wanted to go to Hot Springs, That’s changed in recent years.”

Cox’s Ridge won 16 of his 28 starts, capturing the 1978 Razorback Handicap, Excelsior Handicap, Oaklawn Handicap and the Metropolitan Handicap. The following year he won the Tom Fool Handicap.

Cox’s Ridge was a phenomenal sire, the father of seven millionaires: two-time Champion Life’s Magic, who won more than $2.5 million; Little Missouri, the sire of Prairie Bayou; Vanlandingham, Cardemania, De Roche, Lost Mountain and Sultry Song. Anthony raced Little Missouri, De Roche and Lost Mountain.

Loblolly Stable and its famed chocolate brown and yellow silks ranked fourth nationally in earnings in 1993 off 50 victories from just 204 starts, but soon afterwards, Loblolly was disbanded when Anthony and his wife divorced. “We had to have a dispersal in 1993,” Anthony said. “She finally wanted out. So we decided to start over.”

Shortleaf Stable was born and then reorganized in 2010 with the assistance of Anthony’s son, Ed, a pedigree and bloodstock analyst.

Trainers Joe Cantey and Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey were key to Loblolly’s success. “I’ve never liked to have horses with the big-name trainers,” Anthony said. “They have horses in so many places. They’re not the trainer. They’re managing. We focus on bright, shiny new trainers like Lindsay Schultz and Johnny Ortiz.

Ortiz has done an outstanding job with Quietside, and now Anthony and a lot of his family are headed to Churchill Downs, where they’ve never won a Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks: “I spent the morning speaking with people at Churchill Downs about how many seats we could have for the Kentucky Oaks. It’s a lot of fun, but there’s an awful lot of us. We have a big family. Churchill is super in supporting us to make it as easy as possible. We’ve been in seven Derbies. The best place to see the Kentucky Derby is on television, but they built new suites since I was last there. Churchill puts on a really good show nowadays. I enjoy going back. A lot has changed in racing in my life for sure.”

John Ed & Isabel Anthony.

BELOW: Quietside’s connections celebrate the 2025 Fantasy Stakes win.

BRIAN COELHO & JOHN BELLINGER

(BC STABLES)

– AMERICAN PROMISE A

small favor can go a long way. Hall of Fame trainer

D. Wayne Lukas got a call from a veterinarian he’s friends with, Dr. Charles Graham, asking if Lukas could get a couple of his friends, Brian Coelho and John Bellinger, to attend and watch the Kentucky Derby. “They wanted to go to the Derby, and I accommodated them,” Lukas said. “They had a great time. They said someday they’d like to get into racing in a few years. Then John called me one day and said, ‘we are ready to jump in.’ And they did really get serious about it.”

They went to the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and spent major money buying yearlings. One of them, Just Steel, a $500,000 purchase, ran second in the 2024 Gr.1 Arkansas Derby and finished 17th in the G.1 Kentucky Derby, Lukas’ first Derby starter since 2018. Just Steel then finished fifth in the Gr.1 Preakness Stakes despite injuring himself. He has since recovered and is back racing.

This year, BC Stables are going back to the Run for the Roses with American Promise, a $750,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase who was a dominant victor of the $500,000 Virginia Derby.

In 2021, Lukas’ horses earned just under $1.4 million. They jumped up to $4.1 million in 2022, $4.5 million in 2023 and just under $5.5 million last year.

When approached by Bellinger and Coelho, Lukas paused: “I thought, I’m going to be 87 (in 2022) that summer. I think maybe they ought to go with a younger guy. But I asked them how they felt about that and they were perfectly comfortable with that.”

With two Derby starters in two years, how comfortable do you think they are now? “Wayne’s devoted a lot of time to us,” Coelho said. “Just the time spent with Wayne the last few years talking, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about the industry and him as a person. He has a great mind for horses. Understands their physical characteristics and their minds. They’ve got a lot of good people on the team.”

Bellinger said, “We have about 30 horses, all with Wayne. We’re committed to Wayne. He’s committed to us. It’s worked well. Wayne is an incredible charmer. He’s a salesman, and he’s an optimist and just a good guy.”

Brian Coelho and John Bellinger had a business relationship well before they plunged into horse racing as partners. Coelho is the president and CEO of the family-owned Coelho Meat

Company in Hanford, California. “In 1981, my father started Coelho Meat Company with three employees, processing 15 head of cattle a day,” Coelho wrote on the company’s website. “From our humble beginning, we have not forgotten our core principle of `Excellence Beyond Expectation.’”

Coelho explained, “Success is attributed to slow growth, hard work and diligence. Being conservative over the years. Continue to invest back in the business. We’ve acquired two more businesses in the last six years. We process 4,500 cattle a day with 3,000 employees. John was in the laboratory business, a lot of food testing for meat companies. That’s how I got to know John and his wife.”

Bellinger is based in San Antonio, Texas, and is on the Board of Regents at Texas A & M. He received the Texas A & M Outstanding Alumnus of Animal Science and was inducted into the U.S. Meat Industry Hall of Fame in 2022. He has owned several companies: “Brian was a customer of our Food Safety Net Services for testing food products. We did his testing and his auditing. That’s how I met Brian 15 years ago. We started the company in 1994, my wife Gina and I. We sold it in July, 2021. I stayed on as CEO.”

Growing up on a farm, Bellinger has always had a fondness for horses. He wanted in on Thoroughbreds, and called Coelho, who agreed to become partners.

Not too many years later, they were doing the walkover in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. “It was emotionally inspiring,” Coelho said. “One of the most enjoyable experiences.”

Bellinger agreed: “It’s phenomenal. We were blessed to be in the Derby. A lot of people say, `once in a lifetime.’”

This first Saturday in May, it will be twice in two years. And Lukas has a strong feeling about American Promise: “He’s a May baby. All those three-year-olds come around in the spring when

you’re getting them ready for those Triple Crown type races. He’s 17 hands and a big-framed horse. I was telling my wife this morning, every day I fool with this horse, he’s moving in the right direction. He’s absolutely getting his act together. I told Brian and John over two months ago, `I think he’s absolutely going to take us where we want to go. And yet, you have to see it, and in Virginia, we did.”

The bond between Coelho and Bellinger remains strong. Coelho and his wife Stacy’s two daughters, Emma and Avery, both attend Texas A & M. “They were both looking for a good agricultural school,” Coelho said. “They got a nudge from John.”

Bellinger said this of their relationship: “It’s just great. Partners can go one way or another. Brian and I work well together. No disagreements. I don’t know that either one of us would have bought the quality of horses that we did if we bought separately.”

LEFT: American Promise ridden by Nik Juarez wins the 2025 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

ABOVE: Brian Coelho, John Bellinger and Wayne Lukas chatting to Taylor Made’s Duncan Taylor at the 2022 Keeneland September Sale where they bought Just Steel for $500,000.

John Bellinger leads in American Promise and Nik Juarez after the Virginia Derby win.

JIM & CLAIRE BRYCE (JIM AND CLAIRE LIMITED) – HEART OF HONOR

This time last year British-based trainer, Jamie Osborne, came up with the idea of putting together a group of dirt bred horses to campaign in Dubai this past winter.

Heart Of Honor, a British-bred son of Honor A.P. was one that made the trip. He has now run six times and never finished out of the first two including a placed effort in the Gp.3 UAE 2000 Guineas before finishing a heartwrenching nose behind Admire Daytona in the UAE Derby (Gp.2) on the first Saturday in April – thus earning himself a guaranteed spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate.

On his return from Dubai, Osborne indicated that Heart Of Honor would more than likely bypass the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs and instead aim his colt for the last two legs of the Triple Crown.

If he does make the trip over, Heart Of Honor will be a first runner in the US for owners Jim and Claire Bryce. The Bryce’s involvement in racing has grown exponentially over the last few years, since selling their software business. In addition to the horses they have in training with Jamie Osborne, they also own the famous Rhonehurst Stables in Lambourn, from where their jumps trainer, Warren Greatrex is based.

Jamie Osborne is no stranger to running horses in major international races having trained Toast Of New York to win the UAE Derby in 2014 before finishing his 3yo season with a near miss in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr.1) at Santa Anita when finishing a nose behind Bayern.

Heart Of Honor with Adrie de Vries up wins the 2025 Dubai Maritime City Stakes at Meydan.

RACING PLATES

VICTORY MODEL ALL SURFACES DIRT

SPORT QUEENS FRONT & HIND

EC QUEENS FRONT & HIND

SPORT QUEENS FRONT & HIND

EC QUEENS FRONT – SOLID HEEL

EC QUEENS FRONT & HIND

EC QUEENS WEDGE FRONT & HIND

EC QUEENS 3-DEGREE WEDGE HIND

EC QUEENS FRONT - SOLID HEEL

RX FRONT & HIND

SPORT XLT HIND

MODEL DIRT

EC QUEENS WEDGE FRONT & HIND

EC QUEENS 3-DEGREE WEDGE HIND

SPORT XLT WEDGE HIND

RX FRONT & HIND

EC XLT HIND

EC XLT 3-DEGREE WEDGE HIND

SPORT XLT HIND

SPORT QUEENS FRONT & HIND

RX XLT HIND

EC QUEENS FRONT & HIND

SPORT XLT WEDGE HIND

EC QUEENS FRONT - SOLID HEEL

EC XLT HIND ALL SURFACES

EC QUEENS WEDGE FRONT & HIND

EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THE HISA SHOEING RULES AND THE “NON-ENFORCEMENT” GUIDANCE – AUGUST 1, 2022 VISIT HISAUS.ORG FOR UPDATED INFORMATION HISA COMPLIANT VICTORY

EC XLT 3-DEGREE WEDGE HIND

EC QUEENS 3-DEGREE WEDGE HIND

RX XLT HIND

1, 2022

In the equine industry, true biosecurity is hard to achieve because horses move around a lot, and many diseases are always present,” says Ontario Veterinary College infectious disease specialist Dr. Scott Weese. “However, it’s still important to try to prevent diseases from entering and to have plans in place to manage any outbreaks.” With frequent horse movements, endemic pathogens and emerging diseases, there is a need for improved understanding and motivation to adopt better infection control practices.

Infection control begins in the barn and works best when the focus is pro-active rather than reactive. This includes having an access management plan, proper quarantine protocols for new and returning horses, and training EVERYONE who comes on to the property or handles the horses.

Access management

Controlling how horses, humans, equipment and vehicles can move into and around your farm are all aspects of access management aimed to reduce the transmission of pathogens.

Access management begins at the entrance, where a training facility may use fencing and gated entries to restrict access to the stables and training areas, ensuring only authorized personnel can enter. Procedures at controlled access points such as hand sanitizing and boot cleaning help prevent the spread of infections. Both staff and service providers need to be made aware of any infection control measures in place. Clean outerwear that has not been worn to another barn are also recommended to prevent potential spread of disease.

A sign in procedure can be made mandatory for visitors. A log can be helpful to help trace the problem in the event of a disease outbreak. Providing guided tours can ensure they do not enter restricted areas. Additional signage can let visitors know where they can and cannot go.

Controlled access zones can designate specific areas for different activities, such as quarantine zones for new arrivals and separate zones for resident horses, with controlled access points to manage movement.

Isolation/quarantine

When horses return home or new horses arrive, such as from a sale, it is a good idea to implement quarantine and/or isolation protocols. Ideally this involves housing in a separate building away from your resident horses, but it may be the end of an aisle with several empty stalls in between.

New and returning horses are kept separate and monitored for at least 14 days. This involves twice daily temperature checks and health checks including watching water consumption, appetite, urination, manure and any signs of illness.

Turn out paddocks should also be away from other resident equines, especially if that includes higher risk horses like broodmares and foals.

Effective quarantine includes using separate equipment for isolated or quarantined horses to avoid cross-contamination. This includes water buckets, feed tubs, grooming equipment as well as wheelbarrows, brooms, pitchforks and other cleaning tools.

Ideally, new and returning horses are handled by separate staff. Otherwise, quarantined horses are worked with last and hands are washed before and after each interaction. Strategically placed

alcohol-based sanitizers can also be used. If wash stations are limited, this makes it easier for staff and visitors to follow infection control protocols. Disposable gloves, disposable shoe covers and protective clothing are also best practices. Barn cats and other pets should not be allowed to enter the quarantine area.

If you have a number new or returning horses in quarantine and one shows signs of illness, it should be further separated into isolation and seen by a veterinarian ASAP. Horses should remain in isolation until cleared by the vet, as the horse may have recovered from clinical signs but still be infectious. Signage once again should alert unauthorized persons at the entrance of any areas used for isolation or quarantine.

WORDS: JACKIE BELLAMY-ZIONS INTERVIEWING: DR. SCOTT WEESE

Not sharing is caring and hygiene practices

Of course, those new or returning horses should be housed in a stall that has been both cleaned and disinfected prior to their arrival. Cleaning involves removing all visible manure, bedding and soil before washing the area with soap and water and then allowing it to dry. Then apply a disinfectant recommended by your veterinarian. All disinfectants have strengths and weaknesses and are best used for specific purposes. Bleach has drawbacks as hard water can affect its effectiveness, it can be inactivated by organic material, and it can be irritating to the horse. Steer clear of pressure washers as they can aerosolize certain viruses.

An often-misused step, if you will pardon the pun, is the foot bath. One cannot just walk through without first going through the same routine as mentioned above, both cleaning and disinfecting. First remove debris from the footwear, including the soles using a brush or hose to get all the dirt out of the treads. Immerse the entire bottom of footwear in the disinfectant and scrub. Following the contact time on the product label is important and a dirty footbath does little in the way of boosting biosecurity. Then wash your hands. Other options include dedicated footwear and disposable shoe covers.

Hand hygiene cannot be overstated as one of the most important infection control measures. Best practices on application time for the soap or alcohol-based sanitizer is 20 –30 seconds.

Everyone knows not to share communal water, but it is also important not to become blasé about biosecurity when it comes to filling or refilling water buckets. Submersing a hose from one bucket to the next or letting it touch the buckets can be a free ride for a pathogen looking for its next host. So instead of multi-tasking while filling buckets, one could be enjoying a beverage with their free hand.

Not sharing should extend beyond grooming equipment to tack, pads, blankets, and of course medical supplies like syringes, needles and dewormers.

More disease prevention measures include minimizing the presence of rodents and insects by keeping feed secure, eliminating standing water and regular removal of manure from stalls and paddocks and as well as management of manure storage areas.

Vaccination

Vaccination is a crucial aspect of equine healthcare, but vaccines do not provide immediate protection; it can take days or weeks for a horse to develop optimal immunity after vaccination, so timing is very important. Planning ahead will allow vaccines to be given well in advance of the next stressor such as travelling or competition.

While no vaccine boasts 100% immunity, horse owners can rest assured that they are taking proactive steps to maintain their horse’s health, minimizing the risk of unexpected veterinary expenses. Vaccines significantly reduce the risk of disease which means if a vaccinated horses does get sick, they will generally experience milder symptoms and recover more quickly.

Working closely with a veterinarian to develop and maintain a vaccination program is an important step for optimal equine health. In addition to core vaccinations, your vet will know what diseases are endemic and emerging in your region or regions you will be travelling to. The frequency of your vaccinations or

boosters will depend on a number of factors including special circumstances, such as an extended vector season or even a significant wound if it is incurred over 6 months after a Tetanus shot. The length of your competition season may also necessitate a booster of certain shots to maintain optimal immunity.

Emerging diseases

Infection control specialist Dr. Weese says, “Understanding potential mechanisms of transmission is the basis of any infection control or biosecurity program.”

Most diseases in horses are caused by pathogens that mainly infect horses. They can spread continuously without needing long-term hosts (like the equine flu virus). They can remain in the horse without causing symptoms for a long time (like Strangles). Some cause infections that can come back at any time (like Equine Herpesvirus). Others may be part of the normal bacteria in horses but can cause disease if given the chance (like Staphylococci and Enterobacteriaceae).

Horses can spread these germs even if they seem healthy, before showing symptoms, after recovering, or as part of their normal bacteria. This makes it hard to identify which horses are infectious. Some symptoms, like fever and diarrhea, strongly suggest an infection, but any horse can potentially spread germs. Therefore, it’s important to have strong infection control practices to manage the risk.

In 2024, the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) reported 577 Alerts for 813 confirmed cases of disease in North America. The most frequently reported disease was Strangles with 186 cases. Because Strangles is not reportable in all states or provinces the disease is likely much more prevalent than reported to the EDCC. Other frequently reported illnesses include: 153 West Nile Virus (WNV), 125 Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), 109 Equine Infectious Anemia, 73 Equine Herpesvirus- Neurologic, 8 Equine Herpesvirus- Respiratory, 34 Equine Influenza.

• Strangles: A bacterial infection caused by Streptococcus equi, leading to swollen lymph nodes and respiratory issues. It is highly contagious and spread through contact. This could be nose-to-nose between horses or via contaminated surfaces or equipment such as: shared halters, lead shanks, cross ties, feed tubs, stall walls, fencing, clothing, hands, the hair coat from other barn pets, grooming tools, water buckets, communal troughs.

After an outbreak, cleaning should involve removal of all organic material from surfaces and subsequent disinfection of water containers, feeders, fences, stalls, tack and trailers.

• West Nile Virus (WNV): a mosquito-borne virus leading to neurological issues such as inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. WNV can be fatal and survivors can have residual neurological deficits for a period of months to permanent disability.

• Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE): another virus transmitted by mosquitos. Eighty to ninety percent of infected horses develop acute and fatal neurologic disease.

• Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA): is a blood-bourne virus which can be transmitted by insects, medical equipment or passed from mare to foal in utero. With no treatment or cure, horses confirmed positive by a Coggins test can be quarantined for the rest of their life but are usually euthanized.

• Equine Herpesvirus (EHV): This virus had multiple strains and can cause both abortion and neurologic symptoms. Spread via aerosol particles from nasal discharge or from contaminated surfaces. There are vaccines for respiratory and abortive strains but not the neurologic form of EHV-1 (EHM).

These diseases highlight the importance of biosecurity and vaccination in managing equine health. West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis are among the core vaccinations recommended by veterinarians.

In February 2025, Equine Guelph partnered with the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC), to help horse owners assess and manage infectious disease risks with the relaunch of Equine Guelph’s Biosecurity Risk Calculator (TheHorsePortal.com/BiosecurityTool). The interactive free tool is full of useful information from quarantine protocols, best practices for cleaning, and easy to understand practical access management tips. In just 10 minutes, you can assess and minimize biosecurity threats for your barn.

“Applying routine and basic biosecurity is the best way to prevent infectious diseases,” says Dr. Nathaniel White the Director of the EDCC. “This includes isolation of new horses introduced to facilities, monitoring horses’ temperature and preventing horse to horse contact while traveling and keeping vaccinations up to date. Being aware of disease prevalence using information from the EDCC (equinediseasecc.org) and the updated “Biosecurity Risk Calculator” can help owners use management practices to decrease disease risk.”

Equine infection control measures during transport

Pre-transport preparations entail more than just having your paperwork in order.

Taking the time to clean and disinfect the trailer or make sure the trailer you have hired always cleans between loads is of paramount importance. If the trailer smells like horses, it was not adequately cleaned. Perform a horse health check before you leave the property. It is not worth the gamble to stress a horse with travel when it is ‘notquite right’.

Being particular about your horses traveling companions is just as important as the cleanliness of the trailer. Avoid travelling with horses from other locations as being in close quarters increases the risk of picking up an infectious disease.

Tie the horse loosely if possible. Horses tied short are less ability to lower their head to clear mucus. Allowing freedom of head movement can reduce stress and the bacterial load in the airways. Similarly, hay nets that are hung high, encouraging a high head position, and introducing dust and debris, can challenge mucous clearance.

Ventilation is another important consideration as improving air exchange can reduce the dust and mold spores hanging in the air. Drafts on the other hand can blow particles around in the trailer.

Many prefer shipping in leather halters because they will break in an emergency but there is a biosecurity benefit too as they are easier to clean. Bacteria can linger in the webbing of polyester halters.

Biosecurity is just as important on the road and when visiting other venues. Disease is easily spread through equipment sharing. While visiting venues off the farm be sure to bring your own broom and shovel for cleaning your trailer. Be sure to pack a thermometer along with your tack and other equipment. Clean and disinfect your equipment when you get ready to leave your off-site location.

Upon returning to the home farm, the cycle begins again, monitoring horses for possible delayed onset of symptoms.

To ensure effective infection control, it is crucial to maintain a proactive approach starting right in the barn with a plan. Implementing access management, enforcing proper quarantine protocols for new and returning horses, and thoroughly training everyone who enters the property or handles the horses are essential steps. By taking these practical steps, we can significantly reduce the risk of infections and promote a healthier environment for all.

Determine your horse’s risk for infectious disease with Equine Guelph’s Biosecurity Risk Calculator. It will show you how your horse’s farm (or stable) rates and provide basic information on infectious disease as well as practical prevention tips.

TRANSITIONS

FROM SYNTHETIC TO DIRT

He not busy being born is busy dying,” to borrow from a Bob Dylan song. It has application to Thoroughbred horse racing.

Oh, there’s been dying—Arlington Park, Calder, Hialeah, Hollywood Park, Suffolk Downs and Golden Gate Fields to name but a few major tracks that have passed since the turn of the century.

But there’s rebirth, too. (The lyric above is from a song ironically entitled, “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).”

The “bleeding” in racing, if not minimized, is way less than in the past. In its relative infancy HISA, the self-regulatory agency, has significantly impacted the use of illegal medication; racetrack fatalities are at a record low thanks to better track maintenance (along with med regulation); and still to be rebirthed in 2026 is a new Belmont Park.

For traditionalists, that synthetic surface is still around. If there hasn’t been a rebirth with synthetic surfaces, it is at least on its proverbial feet in horse racing despite Del Mar, Keeneland, and Santa Anita laying then lifting it to return to dirt.

Belmont Park will include a synthetic surface with their existing dirt and turf courses which will be installed on the inside of the ‘inner’ turf course, but with something vitally important: an infield tunnel enabling horses to reach all three surfaces with no interruption for horses crossing one track to get to another.

Training on synthetic surfaces for dirt racing is standard practice for many trainers and inherently practical. One, it’s all-weather—impervious, precipitation-wise, to everything short of a monsoon. Two, with the exception of freezes, it is now “allclimate.” No longer is it “tight” during morning workouts in colder temperatures and loose and sticky in hot weather. Three, and maybe most critically, trainers have learned how to train on it for dirt races.

“Horses just skip across it,” said trainer Mark Casse, a proponent of synthetic surfaces. In fact, the ease with which they travel over it requires an adjustment from normal training on dirt. “When you train on dirt, the horses run in it. It’s a solid where there is no rebound effect from the dirt. On the synthetic it actually bounces back a little bit.”

Richard Budge, a former racetrack trainer on four continents who is now general manager at Margaux Farm, a training center in Midway Kentucky, elaborated on Casse’s observation.

“Without the ‘bounce’ on synthetics a horse on a dirt surface feels impact straight up to their knees and shoulders, which tires them and adds bone stress.”

“You have to train them a little harder, a little quicker, more often, in my opinion,” he added.

Casse expressed it thusly: “When things take less effort, then you have to do more than get them right, get them fitter.”

Even with a more stringent training regimen on synthetics as opposed to dirt, there are benefits beyond fitness. Trainer

Eoin Harty, a self-described fan of synthetic surfaces, points out the obvious: “If your horse is sounder longer, it runs more often, it has a lengthier career.

“I think in general, dirt tracks certainly seem to have gotten better over the last four or five years, but in general, they take a toll on them.”

The bottom line is the synthetic surfaces of ten years ago are not what horses are training and running on now. Specifically, manufacturers of synthetic surfaces tweaked the composition of elements, reducing the slide that occurs when front hooves strike the racetrack surface.

The reduction is much less than in the past and much less than what happens on a dirt track. This is why a term often heard is horses run “over it.” Front hooves essentially don’t penetrate deeply into a synthetic surface like they would on dirt.

Also the surface needs minimal maintenance, far less than the frequent and necessary harrowing of dirt. It’s a flat base that doesn’t wash down toward the rail. There’s also minimal kickback so that track basically stays in place as opposed to dirt literally dug up and thrown back during races, producing a surface that is “cuppy” with divots.

WITHOUT THE

‘BOUNCE’ ON SYNTHETICS A HORSE ON A DIRT SURFACE FEELS IMPACT STRAIGHT UP TO THEIR KNEES AND SHOULDERS, WHICH TIRES THEM AND ADDS BONE STRESS.”

RICHARD BUDGE

Dirt surfaces need frequent harrowing.

A synthetic surface needs minimal maintenance.

Richard Budge

The benefits with maintenance are immense and economical for trainers. “[On dirt] there’s a break at six-thirty. There’s a break at seven forty-five. And there’s another break at eight-thirty,” said Harty. That’s an hour and a half of your daily training schedule that’s lost.

“You’re forced to hire more help just in order to get your horses out. It makes things more expensive, whereas, if you’re at Turfway Park and you’ve got thirty horses, you can pretty much get them out to exercise in two hours with two exercise riders.”

Mark Casse, who is Florida-based, offers a more extreme example of low maintenance required with synthetics. “In one day, with two year old sales—working at seven o’clock in the morning and breezing two-hundred horses into the middle of the afternoon—you won’t see a whole lot of track change.

“That would never be the case in Florida on dirt. You’d have to be putting so much water on it, we’d be having breaks every forty-five minutes. “

Perhaps not surprisingly, most horses like synthetic surfaces, according to Mark Casse. It would stand to reason both for the feel of it as they run and also familiarity. They all grew up running on grass, Casse said. Synthetic surfaces are the closest approximation to it.

“I would say that probably seventy-five or eighty percent of horses will move well over turf. You hardly find a horse that doesn’t move better over the turf. I would say about the same number on synthetic, maybe eighty or ninety percent of horses will run on and like synthetics.” He estimated that probably only thirty to thirty-five percent of horses actually like running on dirt.

Richard Budge said the preference with most horses is immediately evident watching a horse travel over synthetic and how it differs from dirt. “You can tell the way that they move over the surface. Horses really spring over it.”

IF YOU’RE AT TURFWAY PARK AND YOU’VE GOT THIRTY HORSES, YOU CAN PRETTY MUCH GET THEM OUT TO EXERCISE IN TWO HOURS WITH TWO EXERCISE RIDERS.”

MARK CASSE

Mark Casse

Margaux Farm

Budge, Casse, and Harty would tell you that while there are expectations in training, they should be confined to horse health. A horse race is still a horse race where anything can happen. The one hedge or angle that might possibly be a first timer to a dirt race who has trained on synthetics or better, raced over it before running on dirt.

“On the synthetic side, there’s not a whole lot of kickback. There’s a little bit, but it seems to settle right back where it came from. On a dirt track, of course, you’re going over it at thirty-five or forty miles an hour. When a horse puts his hooves down and pushes off, there’s a clod of dirt that was under his hoof that is now twenty feet behind them,” said Harty.

“With all that sand kicked in their face it’s overwhelming for a lot of horses, and they just don’t like it,” he added. “With synthetic, any kick back kind of bounces off and it’s not really much of a bother. Horses can sit mid-pack or at the back before making a stretch run.

“Look at the spread from first to last in a synthetic race compared to a dirt race. In dirt racing it can be up to thirty lengths, but with a synthetic they’re more bunched.” Harty believes the difference in kickback between dirt and synthetic is the reason also for how horses finish.

Rarely will you see horses running five wide down the stretch like you will in races over a synthetic surface. The reason? They haven’t been deterred by heavy kickback.

One practice to familiarize a horse with kick back on dirt is to run them behind one or even two horses to feel and get cast-off to kickback.

The synthetic surface at the new Belmont should garner a lot of attention for its novelty as well as its effect on racing as a whole. “You’ll see a big influx of Canadian horses going there for the winter to run,” Casse believes.

He envisions a circuit of Belmont, Woodbine, and Turfway. So, too, does Richard Budge foresee it with something added: a synthetic Triple Crown.

Recently he looked at a Saturday card at Turfway and noticed nearly every race had overfilled. That is a handicapper’s delight.

With the current Triple Crown, trainers like Casse and Harty aren’t shy about training at Turfway (a mere 94 miles away from Churchill Downs) on that track’s Tapeta surface. Rich Strike, the Kentucky Derby winner in 2022 trained at Turfway. Currently Harty has a Triple Crown series contender, Poster, training there.

WITH ALL THAT SAND KICKED IN THEIR FACE IT’S OVERWHELMING FOR A LOT OF HORSES, AND THEY JUST DON’T LIKE IT. WITH SYNTHETIC, ANY KICK BACK KIND OF BOUNCES OFF AND IT’S NOT REALLY MUCH OF A BOTHER.”

EOIN HARTY

Turfway Park’s Tapeta surface.

Kickback can be overwhelming for a lot of horses.

It seems as if the bias against synthetics has weakened considerably over the last decade. One piece of evidence comes from Mark Casse.

“About twenty years ago NYRA had a special committee to look into synthetics. I think at the time, they probably would have done it, but they couldn’t afford it.”

Casse remembered a trainer telling him, “‘We can’t do it. We have to worry about tradition.” He responded, “You’re not going to have to worry about tradition because you’re going to be history.

“I want to say about two years ago he called me and said, ‘You were right.’” Tradition hasn’t blocked the synthetic surface going in at Belmont.

“If you stand still, you get run over,” said Casse.

Horses will keep running no matter if there are fewer racetracks or fewer races. And they’ll do so on the best surfaces in the history of the sport—synthetic or dirt.

“He not busy being born is busy dying.”

COMING SOON

THOROUGHBRED CHARITIES OF AMERICA

Mareworthy Charities

There are many gifts that keep on giving but few that give back like the Thoroughbred Charities of America’s annual auction of stallion seasons. The 2025 auction offered seasons to top Thoroughbred stallions such as Volatile, Charlatan, Blame, Liam’s Map, and Violence. Without question, the resulting foals from these seasons could give back rewards on the racetrack dwarfing a winning bid. Moreover, rewards aren’t limited just to successful bidders.

“The Thoroughbred industry is extremely charitable,” said TCA’s executive director, Erin Halliwell. That charity begins with season owners who willingly donate a stallion season. This year, 2016 Kentucky Derby-winner Nyquist, who stands for a fee of $175,000 in 2025 and who earned $5.1 million in purses, was the top seller, bringing a winning bid well above his fee. Owner of Nyquist, Godolphin, donated 100% of money from the bid to TCA.

Historical gross auction totals range between $700,000 to $1 million produced annually, according to Halliwell.

TCA’s stallion seasons are offered on a “no guarantee” basis. Meaning, “the buyer takes on more of the risk, but the reward is that you can potentially get a season for quite a bit lower than the live foal fee, sometimes around fifty percent,” said Halliwell. Successful bidders can and do take out insurance on breeding to mitigate risk.

To ensure quality and depth of the auction each year and generate maximum donations, TCA seeks stallions with full breeding books. “In the case of Vekoma [winner of two Gr.1 races and the Gr.2 Toyota Bluegrass Stakes] and Nyquist, there were no more seasons. The only place you can get a season was at the TCA auction. And we love that.”

It is a “win-win-win” for all parties. Season owners give back to worthwhile causes in the industry with a breeding season; bidders can score a potential racetrack star foal from a breeding to a top Thoroughbred; and TCA can continue raising money for non-profit organizations working to support Thoroughbreds and the people who care for them.

Since the organization’s founding in 1990, TCA has distributed over $27 million to more than 200 Thoroughbred industry organizations. Grants span the gamut of Thoroughbred aftercare organizations and support to workers in the Thoroughbred industry. Aftercare grantees can be divided between

organizations, those focused on retiring or retired horses (like Old Friends, for example) or rehabbing, retraining and re-homing organizations like New Vocations, Canter, or Second Stride—according to Halliwell. “Those types of more traditional organizations are taking possession of the horses, working with them to ultimately get them into a new home, and into a second career.

“Then also within aftercare, we support organizations that are working to incentivize equestrians to choose a Thoroughbred as their next horse,” she added. These grantees include the Retired Racehorse Project, which hosts an annual “Thoroughbred Makeover” event at the Kentucky Horse Park. This event takes retired Thoroughbreds from the racetrack and provides an opportunity for them to compete in disciplines ranging from Ranch Work, Barrel Racing, and Competitive Trail to Dressage, Eventing, and Show Jumpers. Trainers compete for prize money with retired Thoroughbreds transitioned to a new discipline or disciplines.

Lastly, TCA also supports several on-track placement programs.

“These organizations work directly with owners and with trainers on the backside by helping them to find an appropriate aftercare facility for their horses.

She added, “When it comes to aftercare, Thoroughbreds have more programs in place than any other breed. Success or position, however, doesn’t alter TCA’s goals. “But, we’re not there yet. There’s a lot more that needs to be done in aftercare.”

WORDS: KEN SNYDER

PHOTOGRAPHY: AGATA REILLY FOR HEALING ARENAS, BETHANY P. PHOTOGRAPHY, CARIBBEAN THOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE, DARLEY, ECLIPSE SPORTSWIRE, TCA

Nyquist

At the same time, TCA is unique in the Thoroughbred industry as it supports organizations that provide health and human services to backstretch and farm workers.. “To the best of my knowledge, there aren’t any other organizations that are granting to both types of organizations.”

Bridging human and horse needs evolved from a desire by TCA founders to be inclusive, which then led to flexible funding guidelines. This enables TCA to fund the Grayson Research Foundation, which, in turn, supports studies of advanced veterinary medicine in the breeding, raising, and healthcare of horses. In 2025, expenditures of $2.4 million from Grayson will fund 11 new projects and 13 continuing projects at 14 universities in the U.S. In total, since 1940 Grayson has provided more than $42.3 million to underwrite more than 437 projects at 48 universities.

Projects include a study to improve the diagnosis of spinal cord disease in horses, development of a vaccine to control and prevent equine rotavirus B infection in future foaling seasons, and a study to establish fetlock screening that uses computed tomography for diagnosis of horses with a high risk of serious injury.

In the past several years TCA has also expanded its support in emergency aid for horses and their caretakers resulting from neglect and natural disasters. Specifically, TCA saw, according to Halliwell, a need beyond aftercare in the wake of a number of cases and events.

“In 2016 there was a large-scale abandonment-of-horses case in Kentucky. At that time, TCA had a small emergency fund for something like this.” The TCA responded immediately with Halliwell contacting a hay supplier to get hay to the horses.

“I remember coming back from the horses and a former board member, Jamie Roth, with LNJ Foxwoods Stable, called me and said, ‘I want to do something more.’

She had talked with her family, and they wanted to start a fund for situations like this because we don’t have the time to raise money or have a fundraiser. She said, ‘I just want a fund there that we can tap into like the Red Cross.’”

Thus was born TCA’s Horses First Fund. The Fund has provided support in other equine-neglect cases and even gone offshore. Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico in September 2017 trapped 1,000 horses at the Camarero Racetrack behind debris that had fallen, preventing owners from getting to their horses along with other damage to the island.

“We worked with several other agencies, including Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, to get a load of feed and supplies into the track.”

Through industry connections and the help of numerous other organizations, TCA’s Horses First Fund was able to assist with the transport and delivery of plane loads of vital feed and supplies to the Thoroughbreds at Camarero in the wake of the hurricane.

Healing Arenas

After the Races NY

TCA provided grants to 86 organizations in 2024.

Synonymous with the best thoroughbred racing and breeding in the world and combined with generations of entrepreneurial wealth and philanthropy, the Marylou Whitney Farm is a special place with a unique history For 76 years the Farm has been an elegant gathering place for family, Hollywood stars, world leaders, and horse racing elite The 72 acre estate with Elkhorn Creek meandering through it is bordered by the historic Gainesway Farm

Originally acquired in 1782 by the Rodgers family, the main residence today consists of 8 400 SF of a warm and gracious living area complemented by brick sidewalks and a formal rose garden Adjacent to the main residence is a four-car detached garage, and former staff quarters now offices consisting of three rooms an eat-in kitchen and three baths In addition to the improvements already mentioned, the farm includes a 2-story brick guest house, 1,950 SF manager’s home with a two-car detached garage, a log cabin chapel pool house with Olympic size pool and art studio The farm is fully-fenced for horses and contains a 10-stall horse barn with a shop office and feed room plus a 6-stall horse barn two equipment sheds and a small run-in shed

“The Horses First Fund was so important to that situation.” Only four months later, the Horses First Fund assisted in the wake of fires that destroyed nine horse barns and killed 46 horses at the San Luis Rey Training Center in Southern California. Firemen and barn workers successfully evacuated 475 horses. In this instance, the Horses First Fund supplied both supplies to horses and backside workers.

A question often asked about the auction is who is the most outstanding foal that came from a stallion season. It is a horse named Heart to Heart foaled in Canada and sired by English Channel out of Ask the Question by Silver Deputy. This horse earned Canada’s Sovereign Award in 2014 as champion three-year-old.

“It’s so ironic,” said Halliwell. “His star on his forehead is in the shape of a heart and TCA’s logo is a heart.

“He was our cover boy for a while on some of our auction marketing, because, you know, he was one of the successful foals, right?”

And a horse who kept on giving, indeed. Heart to Heart won two Grade One Stakes, two Grade Two Stakes, and seven Grade Threes. The earnings and rewards to the successful bidder for a stallion season to English Channel? A mere $2,035,090.

“Successful” is understating it.

Retired Racehorse project jump the TCA fence at the Thoroughbred Makeover.

ABOVE: Heart to Heart with Julien Leparoux on board after winning the Gr.1 2018 Gulfstream Park Turf Stakes for trainer Brian Lynch.

ABOVE: The TCA worked with Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare at the Camarero Racetrack after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017.

THAT ’ S A WRAP FOR TREVOR DENMAN : “AND AWAY HE GOES...”

Like Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe and Jesse Owens, Trevor Denman was a game changer.

Until Denman arrived from his native South Africa to the United States in 1983, no one had ever called a live horse race like he did. Gone were old school traditionalists like Clem McCarthy and Fred Capossela.

For some four decades, Denman and his description of a race would become the gold standard in a historic sport dating back centuries. To crestfallen fans everywhere, at the age of 72, he decided to hang up his microphone, announcing his retirement on March 6, 2025.

“This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made,” Denman said in a Del Mar press release. “But my soul is telling me that now is the time.”

His colorful calls, famous for their descriptive adjectives, were worthy of Triple A ratings, for accuracy, anticipation and attention to detail.

Fans could bubble with enthusiasm when they heard Denman say their horse was “moving like a winner” or “looked like he just jumped in at the quarter pole.” Conversely, they could trash their mutuel tickets if Trevor said so and so “just threw in the towel,” or my favorite, so and so “was never happy today.”

It has been said that fame creates its own standards, and no one painted the portrait of a race like Denman. His reputation is well-founded and well-earned. He was a part-time jockey and exercise rider in South Africa. He started calling races there in 1971 at age 18. He called two races at Santa Anita in 1983 and was named the track’s permanent announcer when hired by the track’s multifaceted executive Alan Balch, presently a regular contributor to this magazine.

While fractional times varied during Denman’s countless race calls, he always maintained a steady pace for himself.

“Trevor arrived at Santa Anita and from the very start his skill at the microphone was immediately and almost universally acclaimed,” Balch said. “This was particularly noteworthy because his style and method was entirely new to American racing, and novelty is usually not welcome in our ancient sport. In the face of all the compliments and laudatory coverage, what struck me most about Trevor was his humility. He was private and self-effacing from the start and he remains that way, even with all the accolades still flowing.”

In December 2015, Denman announced he would be retiring as Santa Anita’s race caller after 33 years. Rather reclusive away from the track, he since limited his racecalling the past two meets to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, 20 miles north of San Diego, before calling it a career.

This affords him the opportunity to enjoy life full time with his wife, Robin, on a remote farm near Kellogg, Minnesota, where he guards his privacy like he’s living at Fort Knox, renting his pasture for 30 dairy cows.

Kellogg, population 469, is located in the beautiful Mississippi River Valley along Highway 61. A hunting and fishing hub surrounded by many beautiful state parks open to the use of ATV’s and horse-back riders, Kellogg is known for its annual watermelon festival. The nearest “big town” is Red Wing, 40 miles away, population 16,000.

Denman, worldly and well-read, favoring great authors and philosophers, made his most memorable call in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic when the mythical mare Zenyatta came from out of the clouds as was her wont to defeat males, Denman labeling her stunning rally “Un-be-liev-a-ble!,” accenting the five syllables with pregnant pauses for dramatic emphasis.

If a movie is ever made about Zenyatta’s career, phony races won’t be required for excitement. The real ones are breathtaking in their authenticity.

Frank Mirahmadi currently calls the races at Santa Anita and Saratoga, two of the world’s most historic and prestigious race tracks.

Mirahmadi, 56, born and raised in Los Angeles, seems even more meticulous and scrupulous than Denman in his passionate pursuit of perfection. His admiration of Denman knows no bounds, as the following glowing homage attests:

“When Trevor arrived in the U.S., I was in high school. Racing fans certainly felt lucky to have Dave Johnson as the Santa Anita announcer, but it didn’t take long for them to recognize that Trevor was in a league of his own. His ability to read a race was remarkable, and he did it day in and day out.

“It was also clear that Trevor loves horses and the sport. That came out not only in his calls, but also through his commentary on the nightly replay show, which aired on KDOC channel 56, well before the internet. I looked forward to the replay show to not only enjoy the racing action but also to hear Trevor’s insights into what happened, and which horse(s) we should watch going forward.

BELOW: The letter and enclosed headshots that Trevor Denman sent to Santa Anita’s then head of marketing, Alan Balch, back in 1983.

WORDS: ED GOLDEN PHOTOGRAPHY: BENOIT PHOTO, DEL MAR THOROUGHBRED CLUB, FRANK MIRAHMADI, NYRA,

“At Santa Anita, there was an on-track radio station (KWIN), which you could only listen to while on the property. The hosts would give insights, conduct interviews, and, most importantly to me, they would send it up to Trevor about a minute before each race, and he would give his opinion on the race, as well as the on-track appearance of the main contenders, etc. That would be strictly for the KWIN audience. After the race, he would give a post-race recap for KWIN’s listeners.

“For me, I believe KWIN took my level of interest and fascination with announcers to another level. I had been imitating track announcers for many years, and Trevor had certainly earned his place as my favorite, but the opportunity to get a chance to hear his thoughts before the race changed the need for me to come to Santa Anita with friends. As far as I was concerned, all I needed was a SONY Walkman so I could hear Trevor.

“In 1990, Golden Pheasant made his debut in an allowance race. Trevor hosted a segment on KWIN ‘Foreign Form,’ where he would explain how the international form of runners making their first start in the U.S. stacked up against the competition.

“Trevor said when he saw Golden Pheasant in the race, he ‘thought it was a misprint,’ because Golden Pheasant had the credentials to participate in a long-distance graded stakes race. But he qualified for the allowance condition. Golden Pheasant broke slowly against a talented field, but still unleashed a strong rally to win. I truly believe this horse played a big role in my becoming an announcer. I started following Golden Pheasant, and also called Trevor in the booth to let him know what a genius he was.

“Golden Pheasant went on to win the Arlington Million for trainer Charlie Whittingham with future Hall of Famer Gary

Stevens aboard. A couple of weeks after the Million win, I went to Del Mar and Trevor invited me up to the booth. We had a great conversation and went over a lot of things. It was like a baseball fan getting to visit the dugout with Babe Ruth.

“I wanted to let Trevor hear my impression of him, and in early 1992 a friend of mine was working on a series of shows on Sportschannel, with some Triple Crown prep races and the Santa Anita Handicap on the schedule. He hired me as an associate producer, so I got to visit the jockeys room, backstretch, etc. to help him conduct interviews. One night, when we were getting tapes of races to use on the show, we taped me as Trevor Denman calling the world-record performance of Spectacular Bid from the Strub Stakes of 1980 (Dave Johnson had called the race at SA).

“I mailed it to Trevor and asked what he thought. He said he was ‘flabbergasted,’ adding, ‘I played it for a couple of people and they thought it was me. That was an amazing tape.’

“I was so happy and truly believe that it inspired me to call Hollywood Park management in December 1992 to let them know I could imitate their vacationing announcer Trevor Denman as well as the late father of the gentleman filling in, Gary Henson (his father was Harry Henson, who called at HP for 24 years). I had no experience, but eventually Hollywood Park management let me call two races in the press box into a tape recorder, and that led to me being invited to call two races on closing day.

“Trevor wrote me a recommendation letter in 1994, and I sent that along with a tape of my calls to 60 tracks around the country. I got a break at Hialeah Park, filling in for four days in May 1995. The following year, they hired me as their full-time announcer.

Trevor Denman with legendary golfer, and racehorse breeder, Gary Player.

Frank Mirahmadi

“His letter: ‘This letter is to state my backing for Frank Mirahmadi as a track announcer. Frank is talented and has a knack for calling races. He has confidence and, given the chance, should develop into a fine announcer.’

“How amazing is that? Trevor is such a nice man, and his backing certainly helped me open a few doors. He also has given me incredible advice throughout my journey calling races.

“When I got the Santa Anita job, he was so happy for me. I know he wanted me to get this job. Trevor has become a great friend. So has his wife, Robin. We talk on the phone every month or two, and although he specifically said he didn’t want to give me any critique, he offered what he calls ‘helpful hints’ about minor things in my calls.

“To me, it’s like Picasso telling an art student how to make a few subtle changes. My career has been inspired by his brilliance, and I have such fond memories of hundreds if not thousands of his race calls.

“My favorite Denman call all-time is his 1989 Preakness. Many don’t realize he was calling at Pimlico back then. He gave an epic call of Sunday Silence and Easy Goer for the on-track audience.

“Trevor sees what the average person can’t see in a race. Go watch Songbird’s debut. He basically told us she is a superstar.

“I also love this call of Best Pal winning the Big Cap ... “Kent Desormeaux pushes the button on Best Pal ... Best Pal in a formality, what a superstar he’s turned out to be ... Best Pal romps home in the Big Cap.”

In a game where critics are at the ready with all eyes and ears awaiting the slightest blunder in the call of a race, Mirahmadi is a refreshing original, his fertile brain replete with specious

thoughts. An example: in the fifth race at Santa Anita this Feb. 28, a three-year-old gelding named I’m a Bad Boy won the onemile turf event, setting less than frenetic fractions of 23.69 for the first quarter, 48.95 for the half-mile and 1:12.78 for six furlongs, dawdling home a mile in 1:36.57.

The relatively slow early times were at the forefront in Mirahmadi’s mind as the even-money favorite neared the finish line, alluding to the major reason for the two-length victory, he said that the three-year-old “moved softly early.”

He didn’t utter more common phrases, such as “went slow early, or “set leisurely fractions early” but “moved softly early,” likely a first for any race track announcer.

Another luminous example came in the third race at Santa Anita on Jan. 24 when Sophisticate, favored at 10 cents to the dollar, overwhelmed three hapless rivals, drawing away at will through the stretch to win by a length after attending the early pace, Mirahmadi declaring at the time, “the drama’s over.”

Drama? That’s a word more commonly used in theatre, not horse racing, but Mirahmadi dug to the depth of his vast vocabulary for a more propitious fit.

No surprise, really, since Mirahmadi is candid about his love of the game, confessing, “I’m a fan first,” adding, “It’s a privilege to be Trevor’s friend and I think of him every day in what I still call ‘Trevor’s booth’ at Santa Anita Park.”

The sentiment is reciprocal for Denman, who unabashedly admits, “Frank and I are close friends. He is the best announcer in America right now.”

They are both welded to the emotion of the race.

And away they go!

RIGHT: Frank Mirahmadi and Trevor Denman on the night Trevor was inducted into the CTBA Hall of Fame, February, 2023.

RIGHT: (L-R) Mike Battaglia, Luke Kruytbosch, Dave Johnson, Trevor Denman and Frank Mirahmadi at All-Star Announcer’s Day at Churchill Downs, 2000.

# SOUNDBITES

Since 2013, when the Kentucky Derby began using a point system to determine who starts in the Run for the Roses, no filly has raced in the Derby. This year, only seven of the 373 three-year-olds nominated for the Triple Crown were fillies. Do three-year-old fillies deserve better treatment, either by making Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks points interchangeable and/or by making a more meaningful and permanent filly Triple Crown?

# Kevin Attard

I do think they should have the option to run in the Oaks or take on the boys. Obviously, it takes a very special filly to win that race. Having a Triple Crown for the fillies I think is a wonderful idea. A series for the fillies would be something of significance. In today’s age of social media, you can reach out to a broader audience. In Canada, they do have the Triple Tiara. It’s not the equivalent to the colts. It doesn’t get the attention of the real Triple Crown.

# Bret Calhoun

I think the only way they can get points is one of the prep races against the males. Honestly, I think it’s a fair enough system. In my mind, if they’re going to take them on in the Derby, they probably should have to be proven against some of them in their prep races.

# Neil Drysdale

Interchangeable points don’t work because you can’t run colts against fillies, but I think fillies should be running in the Triple Crown, especially looking back in history. The point is if you’ve got a filly and you want to run a mile and a quarter (the Derby distance) instead of a mile and an eighth (the Oaks distance), you should be allowed to do that. My own opinion is that the point system seems to be quite arbitrary. The point system needs to be continually revised until they get it right.

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# Richard Mandella

The Oaks is a big purse, and it’s at a very high level. You kind of hate to have too many fillies in the Derby. Maybe there could be a committee, people from Kentucky, California, New York and two other places, that allows starters to get in the Derby as a special case.

# Todd Fincher

Well, as long as they’re not transgender it’s okay (long laugh). I don’t think it’s against the fillies. If they want to run in the Derby, they just have to face the boys in the preps. The filly races are pretty lucrative. There’s so much money not only in the purses, but in winning a Grade 1 with a filly. So unless you think you’re a real monster, you just stay in your lane. If you think your filly is good enough, well, run with the boys.

# Peter Eurton

Wow, that is a good question, because I’ve never really even thought about it. For me, I would think that they should have an opportunity, but then it’s going to keep out some of the colts. That would be the biggest issue.

# Ron Moquett

I would say make a more permanent and meaningful Filly Triple Crown. Or there could be a deal where you could give up your status as a filly and only run in the Derby preps to get your own points and make yourselves eligible for the Kentucky Derby. That’s fine. That’s good because you did it against the competition that you are required to meet. You can’t get Derby points by beating fillies to run against colts. But I think we should constantly be looking at things to evolve the sport and keep moving forward. In the end, you’ve got to remember the whole thing we’re trying to do is to breed a better horse. So every decision we make sincerely should be about showcasing the best of our breed.

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