New York breeder Ron Bowden has seen his breeding program flourish as of late with the Danny Gargan-trained siblings Dakota Gold and Ramblin' Wreck. Bowden was all smiles in the winner's circle following Thursday's 1 1/16-mile $125,000 Rick Violette at Saratoga Race Course, where the latter was elevated to first following the disqualification of Let's Go Big Blue.
Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Peter Searles and Patty Searles' Ramblin' Wreck, a 3-year-old chestnut gelding, became the first stakes-winner for New York-sire Redesdale when he captured the seven-furlong NYSSS Spectacular Bid on June 18 at Belmont Park before finishing second at the beginning of the Saratoga meet in the NYSSS Cab Calloway.
Dakota Gold, bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Bowden, has won at least one stakes race for the past three years, beginning with a triumphant stakes debut in the open company Nownownow in September 2021 at Monmouth Park.
Owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, the Freud colt was second in last year's Rick Violette at Saratoga before earning redemption in the Spa's NYSSS Cab Calloway. This year, he defeated multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Somelikeithotbrown by three lengths in the July 3 Hudson Valley at Belmont before a close second in the restricted Fasig-Tipton Lure here on August 5. He has additionally in the money in 9-of-12 starts.
Both Dakota Gold and Ramblin' Wreck are out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Dakota Kid, who was owned by Bowden's Dakota Stables II.
Bowden, a native of Chicago, Illinois, campaigned Dakota Kid in California with trainer Tom Proctor. She broke her maiden in rein to Hall of Famer Gary Stevens.
“The mare, as Gary Stevens said, will go all day long. The longer, the better. He would get off the horse, come over to me and say, 'Ron you won't believe it, the longer the better,'” Bowden recalled. “When a guy like Gary Stevens says that I keep that in the bank. Now that I see her offspring, I go, 'Wow, she really had it.'”
Bowden, an advertising executive, boards his mares and foals at Lili Kobielski's The New Hill Farm in Hoosick Falls, New York. In addition to Dakota Kid, Bowden also has her first progeny, Dakota Dancer, who is currently in foal to Grade/Group1-winner Mendelssohn; and Kats Girl Cala, a 9-year-old bay who also is by Lemon Drop Kid. Her sophomore Astern filly Sail With the Wind finished seventh on debut over yielding Mellon turf in late July for trainer Leah Gyarmati and owner Bona Venture Stables.
“Lili does a marvelous job with the foals and at the sales. She's an amazing woman, who knows what she's doing,” Bowden said.
Dakota Dancer, a Freud chestnut, was initially campaigned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing before being claimed last August for $15,000 by Bowden and Presque Isle Downs-based trainer Kevin Rice. In her first start for new connections, Dakota Kid captured an open maiden special weight two starts before earning black type when third beaten a half-length in the 1 1/16-mile Gem City. She picked up another triumph in a Presque Isle allowance before making her final start when off-the-board in February's Grade 3 Endeavor over the Tampa Bay Downs turf.
“He [Kevin Rice] turned that horse around in a hurry. She won a maiden special at Presque Isle and from there, he ran her up the ladder,” Bowden said. “He really liked her and wanted to keep running her. He put her in a Grade 3 at Tampa in her last start and she tried so hard and hung in as long as she could. She's got a big dosage of the Storm Cat, not as much as the Lemon Drop Kid mare line.”
Bowden said Dakota Dancer has the potential to be a prolific broodmare.
“Both Lili and I are really anxious to see what she produces because she's a gorgeous looking mare,” Bowden said.
Bowden spoke of the uncanny resemblance between the chestnuts Dakota Gold and Ramblin' Wreck, who are stabled next to each other and each sport a distinctive white blaze.
“Ramblin' Wreck and Dakota Gold have shown both Dean and myself that they're locomotives, not Ferraris,” Bowden said. “They show that you can't just step on the pedal, you can't make it up in a hurry. But you can get them rolling down the track.
“Ramblin' Wreck seems to have a little more scope to him,” Bowden added. “I think when you get into the genes and the nicking and trying to catch that genie in a bottle, as they say, he just got more of the dosage of the Lemon Drop Kid and Dakota Gold has more of that Storm Cat line to him.”
Bowden said he took an old-school approach in terms of the mating with prominent New York sire Freud, who he referred to as the 'King of New York.'
“I had brought the mare here and I just figured to go with the best and see what you can come up with,” Bowden said. “My challenge was to prove the value of my mare's bloodlines the old fashioned way: breeding to relatively inexpensive sires to show what the mare can do.”
Bowden cited the immaculate pedigree of young sire Redesdale as the reason for mating him with Dakota Kid. A son of Speightstown, Redesdale is out of the Danzig mare Harpia – a full-sister to highly influential sire Danehill.
“That about dropped my jaw. When I look to nick, I look at the baseline. They all say it's about the mare, but it really is all about the mare. I thought about how hard it would be to get that mitochondrial gene,” Bowden said. “I honestly don't think he [Ramblin' Wreck] hit his fifth gear yet in any race. His second race out when Danny Gargan put him on the turf was about the closest you might see to him hitting that fourth gear, but what we saw yesterday, he was getting ready to go to fourth gear. Irad said he had a ton of horse underneath him. That finishing power – I just love it – and the Danehill influence is why we chose Redesdale. Inexpensively, I think I've proven the value of the mare's line.”
Dakota Kid currently has a 2-year-old named Dakota Country, who will be trained by Gargan. The colt is by 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man, who was campaigned by the Reeves.
“As a part of the deal that Dean and I put together, he threw in a breeding to Mucho Macho Man,” Bowden said. “I always loved that horse, he's an underrated sire. But he can really throw some good horses, particularly on the turf. When he gave me the free breeding to Mucho Macho Man and when that foal was born, Lili about came out of her skin. She said, 'Oh my God, I can't believe how gorgeous this one is.' The guys on Dean's farm in Florida think he could be the best one yet, which says a lot.”
Bowden did not breed Dakota Kid last year, but she has a Caravaggio weanling that has been entered in the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She is currently in foal to 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify.
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