On Sunday afternoon, a day before the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale, an Oklahoma breeder ventured out to Walmac Farm in Lexington, Ky., to get a look at first-year stallion Pinehurst and chat with new stallion sales man Jay Goodwin during the farm's open house.
The 4-year-old son of Twirling Candy was put through his paces outside the stallion barn, behaving better than most young stallions would during a brisk, gusty day in Central Kentucky. After the colt was put away, the breeder turned to Goodwin.
“I think I've got a couple mares for him.”
Pinehurst entered Kentucky's stallion ranks in an unorthodox manner, after Gary Broad's Walmac Farm secured the Grade 1 winner in partnership with Kiki and Louise Courtelis' Town and Country Farms in a late-November Fasig-Tipton Digital “Flash Sale.”
In a market where rookie stallions are typically revealed well ahead of the November mixed sales, and they're frequently booked full before Christmas dinner is on the table, Pinehurst didn't arrive at Walmac until the day after Thanksgiving, and it was still a few more weeks until the administrative tasks behind standing a new stallion were solidified well enough to set an advertised fee.
That's why Goodwin said visits like the one from the Oklahoman breeder were so important. The North American Thoroughbred industry is one that's strongly dictated by inertia, and a fledgling stallion operation standing a new stallion that's late to the party doesn't enjoy many of the advantages of his fellow rookies.
When breeders came out to the farm and looked at the horse, though, Goodwin said the inertia disappeared and, more often than not, seasons got sold.
“That's been everybody's reaction,” Goodwin said about Sunday's interaction. “Once you get them out here and they see him physically, and knowing he was a Grade 1 winner at two, it's one of those things. Considering we're getting in late and behind the eight-ball, we couldn't be happier with where we are right now.”
Goodwin himself is a late addition to the stallion sales rat race, joining the Walmac staff after this year's Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. He'd never sold stallion seasons before taking the job, but he was plenty familiar with Pinehurst before it was his job to market him.
“Before I even took the job, I took two breeding rights on him, just coming to look at first-year stallions,” said Goodwin, who has about 60 mares of his own. “I was a believer before anything.
“I think that's why Gary brought me on, to ease the minds of breeders and get these horses out there,” Goodwin continued. “That was the first thing. You have to sort of say, 'We're going to be here and we're about to make a splash in the stallion business.'”
He wasn't alone. Goodwin said the high-level breeders that have pledged mares to Pinehurst's first book included Elm Tree Farm, Woods Edge Farm, Machmer Hall, and John Penn.
Goodwin said Pinehurst already has over 100 mares booked for the upcoming breeding season, but he believed his ceiling could be considerably higher than that.
“We would love to get him to 150,” Goodwin said. “I think 125 to 150 is going to be a good spot for him.”
To accomplish that, Goodwin said getting breeders to the farm to look at the horse was paramount.
“He's 16.3 [hands tall],” Goodwin said. “Great hind leg. I've had several people say he's stretchy, a lot of leg, but still so balanced. He's one of those when you walk on up to him, you say, 'Man, he didn't look that big from over there.' He's got that Twirling Candy walk that everybody loves.”
On the racetrack, Pinehurst won three of seven starts and earned $1,213,500, chalking up a win in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity as a 2-year-old, and taking the G3 Saudi Derby at three.
Goodwin was also quick to note the connections that purchased Pinehurst at auction. The colt sold as a weanling to Peter O'Callaghan of Woods Edge Farm for $180,000, and he sold as a yearling to SF/Starlight/Madaket, as advised by Donato Lanni, for $385,000.
“For him to be bought by who he was, those are two of the best sets of eyes in the horse business, and that's one of my biggest selling points on him,” Goodwin said. “Woods Edge is probably one of the top five weanling buyers in the business, and Donato's resume speaks for itself. That's about as good as you can get.”
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.Goodwin will also be selling seasons for the original member of Broad's Walmac stallion roster, the Grade 2 winner Core Beliefs, who will enter his second season at stud in 2023.
“He is as pretty a Quality Road as I've seen,” Goodwin said. “What a shoulder and hip. He's so balanced and so powerful. He looks like an athletic running back. He's not your typical Quality Road, but he's built right and correct. Great bone. I was so impressed when I saw him the first time.”
Goodwin likes the hand he's been dealt in terms of the stallions under the Walmac shingle, but he also realized his job was to sell the farm's brand as much as it was to sell stallion seasons.
The Walmac property had been quiet on the stallion front since the likes of turf star Mr. Sidney left the farm in the late 2010s under previous ownership, but even before that, a stallion of true national repute like Songandaprayer was even further in the rearview mirror.
When Broad purchased Walmac Farm in late 2018, it had been a long time since commercial breeders had considered it a major stop on the stud farm map, and combating that “out of sight, out of mind” mentality is certainly a challenge that won't be solved overnight.
The trick for both the stallions and the farm itself is getting eyes on them. When they do, Goodwin said the pieces come together.
“I would come here when I first moved here to see Songandaprayer and Successful Appeal, and I used to breed quite a few mares over here,” he said. “Everybody that's come out here has told us what a beautiful place it is, and they hadn't been here in a while.
“You've got to show people,” Goodwin continued. “It's a very fickle business, and it's like a stallion with 3-year-olds. No matter what, you've got to produce and show, and keep showing up every weekend. I think we're just going to have to keep showing up with good horses, and show people that Pinehurst is going to get 125-150 mares, even though we were behind the eight ball, and that Walmac stallions is back in business.”
The post ‘I Was A Believer Before Anything’: Goodwin Introduces Pinehurst, Walmac Farm To Breeders On A Short Clock appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
