5th-ELP, $70k, Msw, 2, f, 5 1/2fT, 2:45p.m. ET
Unveiled on a Tuesday, CANDY LANDY (Candy Ride {Arg}) will go to post for conditioner George Arnold not only carrying Martin Garcia but also the hopes that come with a $500,000 FTSAUG price tag. The bay has been seen religiously on Churchill Downs's work tab and has been given 6-1 odds on the morning line. The half-sister to MGSW & GISP Messier (Empire Maker), who was last seen finishing fourth in the GII San Pasqual S., will take on a field of ten with a full docket of also-eligibles. TJCIS PPs
6th-ELP, $70k, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 3:18pm ET
In this six panel dash of 3-year-old fillies, HAPPY CHARGER (Super Saver) and Port Townsend (Uncle Mo) will be separated by a single runner between them. The former is the full-sister to GISW & MGISP Happy Saver and hails from the female line of the great A.P. Indy through third dam Weekend Surprise. The latter is not lacking for family either as the first to the races for an unraced half-sister to two-time champion MGISW Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro). Port Townsend's female line includes the dam of GSW Mico Margarita, and GSW Dean Delivers (Cajun Breeze), who most recently ran third in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H.. TJCIS PPs
California breeder Adrian Gonzalez got quite the thrill when Yo Yo Candy, bred by his family's Checkmate Thoroughbreds, jumped up to win a graded stakes race at Saratoga on July 15.
The 2-year-old son of Danzing Candy paid $94 for his unlikely victory in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes, but his win also represented a potential boon for Gonzalez and all of California's breeders in the coming month: it was great marketing for the upcoming California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Northern California Yearling Sale, at which Yo Yo Candy sold for $6,000 in 2022.
“I was getting all these congratulatory texts, and people were telling me, 'This is going to be the best sale we've ever had!'” recalled Gonzalez, a member of the board of directors for the CTBA. “Well, we didn't even get 24 hours to celebrate, because the next day was the news that Golden Gate is shutting down.”
The sale grounds are just 30 minutes away from Golden Gate Fields. The surprise announcement rocked the foundation of California's Thoroughbred industry, especially those farms located nearest to the Northern California racetrack.
Gonzalez quipped: “Well, Golden Gate won't be there for these horses to run at, but we really only sell horses that win graded stakes at Saratoga, so come on up to Pleasanton and get one!”
On a personal level, it was the second major blow for Gonzalez in under a month. He and his family lost several promising yearlings they'd shipped to Kentucky for Keeneland's September Sale when a horrific trailer fire on the Bluegrass Parkway claimed their lives.
“The highs in this game are few and far between, and the lows can be so crushing, so you can't take the good things for granted when they come,” Gonzalez said.
The loss of those yearlings could be considered an even bigger blow because Gonzalez may not have had to ship them to Kentucky in the first place if California's Thoroughbred sales market was healthy enough to support that kind of quality.
“We really have to jump through a lot more hoops with our good ones,” he said. “Of course, it's tough to get a weanling to show up to Keeneland in November when you have a farm five minutes away! It's asking a lot of them to be ready for that, but now add shipping across the country. We have pulled it off many times, but I wish we wouldn't have to, that we had a suitable venue here.
“I try to send out to other markets the ones that I think will be valued there, because here in California, we've just had such a struggle with Barretts shutting down. We lost our training sales, which really hurt our yearling sale market by completely eliminating the pinhookers. Now we're feeling it when we don't have strong yearling sales, and it's hard to get people to breed their mares.
“I manage four stallions in California so I'm heavily invested in the market, and the market only works if people pay to breed their mares, so I think that's why we've seen so many farms shut down over the years.
“That's why you're seeing fewer breeders in the state, I think. California-breds still run for good purse money, but our sales struggle, so then the breeding industry struggles. At our Select Yearling sale, the median price is $20,000, but I would argue that it takes $35,000 to raise one.
“That's part of why I'm on the CTBA board of directors: I'm trying to push to help fix our sales, because it's up to all of us to help kind of navigate how we move forward. This is a scary time, for sure.”
Yo Yo Candy and Angel Castillo pull a 46-1 upset in the Sanford (G3)
The sales issue in California brings a bit of a double-edged sword to the success of Yo Yo Candy, as well.
“We were disappointed with what he sold for,” Gonzalez admitted, referencing the colt's $6,000 sales price in 2022. “We are trying to raise them to be Grade 1 winners, and we have good clients that send us exceptional mares. I'm proud of that, but it doesn't necessarily translate to sales results. It's frustrating, when you win a graded stakes race with a 2-year-old Cal-bred at Saratoga, because as commercial breeders, it would have been nice to have gotten paid for that horse!”
Despite all the frustrations and uncertainties, Gonzalez finds himself in awe of the attitudes of California's horsemen.
“I feel like we are the most resilient of all breeders,” he said. “Through all the lost sales companies, the craziness of the 2019 breakdowns at Santa Anita, the loss of Hollywood Park and Bay Meadows, we have had more bad things happen out here than most other places, but we're still breeding all these mares. It's amazing to talk to the breeders who can't be swayed!
“We're gonna be doing this longer than anybody else because we are so resilient. You can't tell us bad news that will scare us away. Not one of them has talked about, 'How do we get out?' and I love that. I think it's the love that everybody has for this game here. The resiliency here is amazing, and that makes me really proud to be a part of California breeding.”
That passion for the game isn't something Gonzalez was born into. In college at Cal Poly, Gonzalez needed a job to put himself through the engineering program. He'd grown up around cow horses, and happened to see a farm with horses on it, so he stopped to inquire about work.
“It turns out, of all the places to land, that was a very important farm in the state at the time. Cardiff Stud Farm had these really neat stallions, and B. Wayne Hughes boarded his California horses there prior to purchasing Spendthrift Farm. I remember one day holding horses for the horseshoer and he's telling me about the pedigrees of these horses, yearlings by A.P. Indy and Seattle Slew.
“Well, I grew up thinking that a $5,000 rope horse was as good as it gets! I wasn't meaning to get into racing, but I was hooked, so I did anything I could to stay a part of it.”
Eventually, the horses began taking time away from his engineering studies, and Gonzalez was put on academic probation. He had progressed at Cardiff to the point that he oversaw a student internship program, and a meeting with a student advisor for that program led to Gonzalez going “all in” to racing. He wound up graduating with an animal science degree and worked at several different farms around the state.
Unfortunately, land values continued going up, so the farms he worked at would sell after just a few years. In 2007, the farm that had been Cardiff Stud Farm was purchased by land investors just before the housing market crash occurred, so Gonzalez was able to work a deal to lease the farm.
“I still had some of the clients of the farm, and they became my clients,” Gonzalez said. “I kind of started my own business then. I never was somebody who wanted to run the show, but there wasn't anything else, so I leased the place and turned it into a big training operation.
“I learned a lot. It's one of those things where you raise a good one, and now you just figure, 'Okay, if I do exactly what I just did, get 10 more of those mares, I'll get 10 more good ones. That's the blueprint, I just have to do it again.' But of course, that's not the case. You can do everything right, but you get some slow ones. You're constantly questioning yourself, because none of them are exactly the same and they all have their own personality and habits.”
As the economy began to get stronger, Gonzalez realized he needed to shift his operation.
“When the market picked back up, the owners wanted to sell,” he explained. “It was tough when clients would show up to see their horses and say, 'Hey, what's with the for sale sign out front?' While the facility was amazing, it wasn't good to operate out of a place that could be taken from us, so we bought our own acreage about 10 years ago now.”
Today, despite the challenges of this industry, Gonzalez finds himself recommitting to the business each and every morning. Just before dawn, he takes the time each day to drive the feed truck himself, doling out the grain and hay to the 100 or so horses on his Checkmate Thoroughbreds property.
“I think that's one of the most important jobs on the farm,” he said. “You're the first to see if something is wrong; which mares don't come up to eat, who's getting bullied, things like that. I'm able to manage the farm better when I'm part of that. I've also been known to join zoom meetings and talk to dignitaries from other countries while I'm cleaning stalls!”
Those board meetings and strategy calls and sales discussions are far from his favorite part of the business, but Gonzalez recognizes their importance all the same.
“You know, I do have a lot of confidence in the leadership that we do have out here,” he said. “We have some very smart people in those meetings that I do believe will be able to fix this and make a transition to a better racing future. That's partly why I keep doing what I'm doing; maybe it's blind faith, but I have to keep doing what I know how to do best, and that's raising good horses.”
Never underestimate the power of a Thoroughbred mare.
Anyone who has ever had one knows they're in their own league when it comes to personality, determination, and heart. For Kyle Rothfus and husband Sean Smith, a series of mares started them on a path that has led to moving to their own farm, launching a charity and trying to tackle one of horse racing's most difficult aftercare challenges.
Run Binky Run left the racetrack in 2017 at the age of nine after a 96-race career was cut short by Hurricane Maria. By then, “Binky” had been sold and sent to Puerto Rico, where she was one of many horses whose barn had lost its roof, leaving her standing in deep muck. The result was a raging skin infection and serious hoof problems. She was offered for adoption by Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, and a friend sent Rothfus her adoption ad.
“Binky” was a turning point for Rothfus, who had become enamored with horses as a child and began cleaning stalls at a farm near his home in Pennsylvania. That led to a dressage career with Hilltop Farm in Colora, Md. In his time training Warmbloods, he also did side work at the Thoroughbred yearling auctions in Kentucky. After a few years as a working equestrian professional, he was burnt out and exhausted, so he got out of the barn and moved to Las Vegas for a non-equine job. Rothfus spent 12 years with no horses, but when he decided he wanted to be in the barn for fun, he chose a Thoroughbred.
“I fell in love with the breed because they're intelligent, they're a little reactive; they're sensitive without being stupid,” he said. “They're just lovable.”
He had bought the Shakespeare mare Lady Macjazz from a DreamHorse listing in 2014 and prepared her to compete in dressage at the 2015 Thoroughbred Makeover, but a last-minute injury had knocked them out before the competition. As many riders do, he then became fascinated with the challenge of training a horse for the Makeover and adopted mares for the 2016 and 2017 editions. When he heard Binky's story, he stepped up to adopt her and took her to the 2018 Makeover in the competitive trail division.
Binky opened Rothfus' eyes to the plight of horses, especially hard-knocking mares, in Puerto Rico. Worthy of Wings (who retired at 13 with 138 lifetime starts) and Secret Paradise (who retired at 11 with 162 starts) followed Binky in earning places in the barn.
“I've always had a special spot in my heart for mares in general, but particularly really hard campaigners,” he said. “They're never marketed well. Those horses that are like 10 coming off the track and they've run 80+ times, they're harder to transition. They take longer.”
Rothfus is one of those people who seems to be everywhere on social media; you may know him as Kyle The OTTB Mare Guy on Facebook. He's posting about each of his horses, their training progress, and he's also reading a lot – keeping an eye on posts that come through his feed on horses looking for homes, the conversations people have about Thoroughbred aftercare. Often, he would try to help connect people who wanted to help a horse with a rescue organization or reach out to former racing connections to let them know one of their ex-runners may need help.
He quickly realized that when it comes to Thoroughbred aftercare, mares are in a particularly difficult spot. They're often leaving the track or the breeding farm later, which may mean they come with injuries or have spent years without a saddle on their backs.
“As I started to do all that work, I realized the broodmares are the bigger challenge,” he said. “I still want to network and help the war horse mares, so when they need a home I can have a spot for them to go, but the broodmares that are 16, 17, 18, now what we're focusing on is giving safe landing spots for broodmares retiring from breeding.”
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Playing off Worthy's name, he decided to launch Mareworthy, an organization dedicated to education, networking, and some limited sanctuary for Thoroughbred mares in need.
Rothfus and Smith moved from their base in Ohio to a farm outside Georgetown, Ky., last year – which was quite a learning curve for Smith, who had limited horse handling experience before waking up to broodmares in his backyard. (He's now a pro, and is the origin of the couple's racing nom de course, Horse Husband Stables.)
Rothfus approaches the problem of broodmare aftercare from a variety of angles, as is his wont in life. His catchphrase on his resume is “I fail faster” because he says he's willing to try anything and everything, with curiosity and humility, and learns quickly from what doesn't work. As a result, Mareworthy's work is multi-faceted. The farm has limited stall space for sanctuary residents, but the organization does take on a few, and Rothfus maintains contacts with accredited non-profits around the country to get an idea of who could step in with a home the next time he encounters a mare who needs somewhere to go. He's also interested in gathering data about how many broodmares leave production each year and need rehoming.
Education is another component of his work. Many times, he believes retired broodmares are at risk largely because someone in their past didn't make a plan for them.
“Dispersals often tend to be, the kids inherit the farm, they don't know what to do with the horses, and they find an auction,” he said.
That's often the starting point for a mare to end up in a neglect situation or in the bail pen pipeline.
Rothfus is eager to connect people with estate planning resources and contacts at non-profits who can find horses appropriate new homes. He can also talk them through the decision-making for euthanasia, which he believes can sometimes be the best option for an older horse who absolutely must leave the farm. Many times, he said, broodmares end up in a bad spot because many people don't know sending them to a horse trader or a livestock auction may put them in a dangerous situation.
He also visits Kentucky Thoroughbred auctions and keeps an eye on older, barren mares who go through the ring as no-bids. Then he reaches out to consignors to let them know he can help find them a home if need be.
Before and after photos of Grisham, a recent Mareworthy rescue who now has sanctuary at the farm. Photo courtesy Mareworthy
He's also the person who may call a breeder or former owner if he sees a post about a mare in trouble – not because he believes they're always able, obligated, or willing to help, but because many people in the Thoroughbred industry still don't know how the bail pen economy works, and have no other way to be notified if a horse they once loved has fallen on bad times.
Mareworthy can also serve as a legal facilitator in cases where a new home has been identified; an owner can donate a mare to the organization, which can then adopt the horse to an already-waiting home. Mareworthy's adoption contract gives the non-profit the legal right to check up on the horse throughout its life, providing the donating owner peace of mind that the mare isn't disappearing into the ether with no follow-through.
Of course, a lot of this work has Rothfus monitoring the bail pen pipeline.
“I said we'd never get a horse out of a feed lot; we've gotten five horses in seven months,” he said. “I never thought I'd give money to a kill pen. Grisham [a recent acquisition who's 24 years old], I looked at her and thought 'She didn't choose to end up where she did. It's not her fault. So I have to look at the horse's part in it, too.'”
Ultimately, he hopes to reduce the bail pens' supply of aged mares by connecting with owners before they call a dealer or livestock auction.
Rothfus says he does all this because he believes in horse racing and wants it to succeed – so much so, he has become a small-scale breeder. He bred his first Makeover mare (who was a private purchase) to Vertiformer, resulting in Lady Dyanaformer, who won just under $50,000 on the track before retiring.
Lady Dyanaformer on her foaling day in 2018 alongside dam Lady Macjazz. Photo courtesy Mareworthy
“I want to support and protect racing because I think the sport is good. I think it's the most natural thing you can do with horses,” he said. “It's an interesting industry to just be getting into when it's, I feel, in kind of a precarious spot. I have three, four years potentially until I'm going to be running these babies…am I going to have races to enter them in? That's a scary thought.”
The days at Mareworthy can be long ones – anyone who runs an equine charity knows it requires the combined skills of a farm manager, a pasture expert, an engineer, a veterinary technician, a fundraiser and a marketing genius – but Smith explained why it's all worth it to both of them.
“At the core of it is always the horse,” he said. “It's recognizing, from beginning to end, that you appreciate the horse. It's the horse that matters, the horse that you're all cheering for.”
