Western
Loving life Lovingier on an awesome roll thanks to Awesome Gambler BY STEVE SCHUELEIN
A
WESOME IS ONE of the most overused adjectives in the English language, but it is an appropriately prominent part of the vocabulary of Terry Lovingier. The stock of the California owner-breeder has skyrocketed this year, largely because of the success of stallion Awesome Gambler and his accomplished daughter, Grade 1-winning Willa B Awesome. Lovingier, who is in the oil business, hit an equine gusher at his Lovacres Ranch in northcentral San Diego County and is loving every minute of his awesome run. “It doesn’t get any better than that,” Lovingier said recently sitting at a table in the Directors’ Room at Betfair Hollywood Park while enjoying an afternoon at the races with his wife, Barbara, brother Lonnie, sister-in-law Jan, and father, Russ.
“We watch them grow up,” Lovingier said of the joy of spending much of his time at the recently built 650-acre farm. “Racing is great, but I love raising the babies. That gives me the most enjoyment.” Lovingier, 55, lives in coastal Seal Beach but usually spends four days a week at the ranch he started in 2005 that is within a two-hour drive of his home and is located eight miles from Warner Springs and 28 miles east of Temecula. “I had a farm in Murrieta, but the government claimed it through eminent domain to build a sewertreatment plant,” Lovingier said. “I took the money and bought the new place, then an old cattle ranch owned by Linda Templeton, a partner in many of my horses.” Lovingier has
Terry Lovingier owns the 650-acre Lovacres Ranch in north-central San Diego County
developed Lovacres, a labor of love, into one of the fastest-rising success stories in California breeding. Dotted by 200 oak trees and partitioned into mostly five-, ten-, and 20-acre pastures, Lovacres is bustling with a growing population. “We have 60 to 80 broodmares— about 40 of my own—and break about 100 babies each year,” Lovingier said of the facility that includes two barns and a sixfurlong training track. “We got the synthetic [surface] from Santa Anita when they removed it a couple of years ago and use it on our track.” Dorothy Mischka and Gregorio Rincon oversee most of the workload at the ranch, but Lovingier lives in a large ranch house on the property and is a hands-on owner. “I just enjoy taking walks at the ranch,” he said. “It’s a slice of heaven,” Barbara said.
Awesome stallion
Benoit & Associates
Lovacres became even more heavenly with the arrival of Awesome Gambler, who heads a lineup of five stallions that includes Bushwacker, Rio Verde, Time to Get Even, and Grace Upon Grace. The young stallion, whose first crop are threeyear-olds, attracted national attention this year when Willa B Awesome captured the coveted Santa Anita Oaks (G1) and with the arrival of several precocious two-year-olds. “I knew his owner, Pete Walski, from earlier days in the Quarter Horse business,” Lovingier said. “Awesome Gambler bowed a tendon at Del Mar and Pete decided to stand him here. Pete is still the majority owner, and I’m a partner. “I loved him from the first moment I saw him,” Lovingier said of the eight-year-old by Coronado’s Quest. “He was a big, strapping horse, about 17 hands. I always thought if he reproduced himself, he would be a premier stallion, and he has been able to do that to a high degree.” The highest degree has been achieved by Willa B Awesome, a chestnut out of Cause I’m Tricky, by Nineeleven, a pensioned stallion once campaigned continued on page 38 THOROUGHBRED TIMES
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