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‘A Small Step Of 70 Years’: Mike Shanley Excited About Budding Star Nova Rags

His biggest success stories in parts of five decades owning and breeding Thoroughbreds have come on the grass, but Mike Shanley has a budding dirt star on his hands that just may well be the best horse he's had in nearly 20 years. Maybe ever.

“I hope so,” Shanley said. “We'll see more on Saturday.”

Shanley's stakes-winning homebred Nova Rags, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, will face the biggest test of his young career in the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa at Gulfstream Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Derby for 3-year-olds headlines a blockbuster program featuring 10 stakes, six graded, worth $1.85 million in purses. In its first 69 runnings, the Derby has produced a remarkable 60 Triple Crown race winners, the most recent being 2020 Belmont (G1) hero Tiz the Law.

Shanley would like to add Nova Rags' name to that list but, in keeping with a career spent in law as a real estate attorney and judge as well as his long association with racing, he matches that optimism with an equal dose of reality. He has never run a horse in the Triple Crown.

“We're obviously very excited with what he's done so far and looking forward to the Florida Derby. It's certainly a big step up, but Bill Mott feels comfortable with it and that's how we're going into it,” Shanley said. “Really all the credit goes to Bill and [son and assistant] Riley and the Mott team for bringing him along to this point.”

Nova Rags was a maiden special weight winner in his debut last October at Belmont Park, then ran fourth as the third choice in a field of seven in the Nashua (G3) at Aqueduct to cap his juvenile campaign.

By 2012 Belmont winner Union Rags out of the Smart Strike mare Wishful Splendor, Nova Rags has run twice at 3, both at Tampa Bay Downs, winning the seven-furlong Pasco Jan. 16 and finishing second by a length to stablemate Candy Man Rocket in the Sam F. Davis (G3) Feb. 6.

“Bill insists and I agree on proceeding a day at a time. I know it's trite, but proceeding a race at a time,” Shanley said. “If Nova Rags does well on Saturday, then I expect he'll be taking us to the Kentucky Derby. But to think about that now is just one step too far.”

Shanley is a native of upstate New York, growing up in the Binghamton suburb of Vestal in the Southern Tier region. He graduated from Albany Law School in 1972 and stayed in the area where he raised six children with wife, Lyn. “Pretty much retired” in recent years, the Shanleys now live primarily in Florida.

He got his first horse, a pony named Trigger, at the age of 4, but Shanley's introduction to owning Thoroughbreds came as part of a partnership group that purchased Grade 1 winner Ends Well from Greentree Stable in 1985. He and best friend Leonard Leveen were among a triumvirate that owned Turk Passer, winner of the 1995 Turf Classic Invitational now named for late Hall of Fame writer Joe Hirsch.

“It was really just a result of my interest in horses. Initially I got into one of the early racing partnerships and it just developed from there,” Shanley said. “There were three partners in Turk Passer, and I was the managing partner. We had great fun with him. He was our first Grade 1 winner and, believe it or not, Johnny Velazquez's first Grade 1 winner.”

Turk Passer also provided Shanley with his first of two trips to the Breeders' Cup before being retired in 1997 with eight wins and $735,320 in purse earnings. Velazquez has gone on to a Hall of Fame riding career that includes nearly 6,300 wins and a record $431.4 million in purses earned.

Shanley won another Grade 1 in the 2003 Sword Dancer at Saratoga with Whitmore's Conn, a horse he co-owned with his wife and named for both of their mothers. Whitmore's Conn also won the Bowling Green (G3) in 2002 and 2003 and retired with seven wins from 28 starts and a bankroll of $740,426.

“Whitmore is my mother's maiden name and Conn was Lyn's mother's maiden name, so Whitmore's Conn was the choice,” Shanley said. “Lyn's mom passed away a number of years ago at the age of 99 and my mother is still living by herself and taking care of herself in Bradenton at almost 97.”

Other top horses for Shanley have included Stormy Len, second in the Secretariat (G1) and third in the Northern Dancer (G1) in 2013 for he and Leveen; Grade 3-placed Freedom Rings, who ran in the inaugural 2008 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf; 2006 New York-bred stakes winner Peg's Prayer, named after Shanley's late aunt and godmother; and fellow six-figure earners Dubliner and Aussie Prayer.

In 2002, when Leveen dispersed his bloodstock holdings and gave them the mare Dana's Wedding, the Shanleys began making the transition into breeding. They continue to own Wishful Splendor, a Grade 3-placed mare who was retired after winning her final start, the then-ungraded Suwannee River Handicap in 2004 at Gulfstream.

“We really shifted from focusing on the yearling sales and 2-year-old sales to a breeding program. That's what we've been focused on the last number of years. Nova Rags is a product of that program, which takes longer to develop than driving to Keeneland and buying a horse,” Shanley said. “We have a 2-year-old Nyquist filly with Niall Brennan in Ocala and a yearling More Than Ready colt who's with Sarah Sutherland at Indian Creek Farm in Kentucky.

“To me, it's more interesting because you get the opportunity to race or purchase a mare, hopefully with a pedigree that will carry on,” he added. “Then you have decisions every year on how you want to breed the mare. You get the most beautiful colt or filly in the world every spring, which is great fun. You watch them grow up and eventually, hopefully, get to the racetrack and do well.”

Nova Rags was consigned to Keeneland's 2019 September yearling sale but did not meet his $275,000 reserve. The Shanleys plan to be at Gulfstream Saturday to cheer on their young star and continue a lifelong love affair.

“My mother and father bought a horse for me, a riding pony, when I was 4. Since then I've been in love with horses,” Shanley said. “It transitioned from a 4-year-old having a riding pony to the Florida Derby on Saturday. A small step of 70 years.”

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A Life-Changing Mare for Breeders of Travel Column

Sometimes you talk to a breeder and know instantly that each and every horse he or she raises is their pride and joy.

There might be no better example than Chris Welker.

As the co-breeder of 'TDN Rising Star' Travel Column (Frosted), Welker can share dozens of stories of the youngster's time at Spring Ridge Farm. She can tell you about the many frustrating sessions they went through when Travel Column was a hard-headed yearling, but if you bring up the filly's win in last year's GII Golden Rod S., you can practically hear her beaming through the phone. Ask her to show you a photo or two of Travel Column's younger days, and she'll pull out 20.

For Chris and her husband Bayne Welker, Fasig-Tipton's Executive Vice President, Travel Column is their most accomplished horse after nearly 20 years in the business as breeders. To make her even more special to the couple, they nearly missed out on purchasing her dam.

In 2016, Welker was on the hunt for a mare for a client at the Keeneland November Sale. While stopping by the Denali Stud consignment, she asked if they had anything that might fit her farm's budget. They said they did, but that the mare was by Victory Gallop.

“I told them I didn't know if I wanted a Victory Gallop mare, but I saw her and I really liked her,” Welker said. “She was very pretty, not really big. I loved the fact that a couple of her foals had sold for a lot of money.”

The mare, named Swingit and in foal to Bodemeister, had produced three winners but she also had two dead foals on her record and had not produced a foal the year prior.

“She had a little bit of a spotty produce record but you could say she'd probably be worth a shot for $50,000,” Welker said, recalling her thought process. “I thought if she ends up having a good Bodemeister, she'll pay for herself.”

So with a strict budget in mind, Welker watched Swingit enter the sales ring and crossed her fingers as she raised her hand for a budget-maxing $50,000.

“Lo and behold, we got her for exactly that,” she recalled. “I don't think I'd have paid any more. That's a lot of money for us.”

The next day, Swingit's third foal Neolithic (Harlan's Holday) ran second in the GIII Discovery S. in his stakes debut. He would go on to place in three Graded or Group I races and earn over $2 million.

Welker's hopes for the Bodemeister foal came true when the colt sold for $310,000, the highest-priced yearling for his sire in 2018.

Welker had a stallion in mind for Swingit after she foaled, but Denali's Craig Bandoroff called with a different idea.

“Craig was kicking himself for not buying the mare,” she said. “He called and said he would like to do a foal share with Frosted. He said we needed to breed her to something new and exciting.”

When it came time for Swingit to foal, Welker was left on her own as Bayne was off inspecting yearlings.

“The mare had a bit of a funny produce record and I was a bit nervous because I didn't know her well,” she admitted. “Most of the mares I've had for a while and I know them.”

Thankfully, everything went smoothly and Travel Column made her way into the world Apr. 10, 2018.

“The mare was perfect and it was a beautiful foal so I took pictures and sent them to everybody,” Welker said. “I'm proud of the fact that I got to foal her by myself. If I had known what she was going to be worth, it wouldn't have been so easy, I can tell you that.”

It didn't take long for Welker to learn this Frosted filly danced to the beat of her own drum.

“I thought she'd be either really good or not worth a damn because she was really tough,” Welker quipped. “She took tough to a whole new level. If she was in one of those moods, you might as well walk away and try the next day. It was her rules, not yours. I don't care if you were six feet tall and 250 pounds, it wasn't going to happen if it wasn't on her terms. I hated that about her, but I also loved it about her.”

As the filly developed and the weeks closed in on the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale, Welker knew a flight from Kentucky to New York could prove problematic for the spirited filly.

“I thought, God if we get to the airport and she gives us any trouble on the airplane, it's not going to be good,” she said. “So I just started trailering her around. If I was going somewhere I would just load her up and take her with me a few times a week. I took her to the grocery store with me.”

When the day came for Travel Column to ship out, she boarded the plane without a hitch or an ounce of sedative.

Welker's goal going into the sale was for the filly to reach $400,000, but she said her conservative husband was thinking perhaps half that amount. A few days into showing, Welker's price point had gotten a bit higher.

“By the second-to-last day of showing, you're starting to think crazy because you could see how popular she was and how she had absolutely taken control of that show. When they would bring her out, everybody wanted to know who she was.”

Travel Column's $850,000 hammer price was the most expensive sale for her first-crop sire in 2019.

But Swingit's next foal would prove to be Welker's favorite yet.

After foaling Travel Column, Swingit was supposed to go to an up-and-coming proven stallion with some rumored fertility issues, but Welker had bigger plans.

“Bayne really wanted to breed her to the less expensive stallion and I said 'Bayne, I really do not have a good feeling about this. Just let me do what I need to do,'” she said. “From the time Neolithic came along, my dream was to take her to American Pharoah because I thought, when else would a person like me have a chance to breed to him?”

The horsewoman said she still remembers hauling the mare into Ashford Stud and clipping American Pharoah's tag onto Swingit's halter.

“I've got pictures of it on my phone,” she said. “I just remember standing there thinking that this foal is going to be worth a million dollars, he's going to be a solid bay and it's going to be a colt.”

Aside from one small star on an otherwise bay colt, Welker's premonitions turned out to be completely correct.

Last year, Swingit's American Pharoah colt, now named Corton Charlemagne, sold for $1.25 million to Speedway Stables.

“I had envisioned for so long what he would be like and he was exactly that,” Welker said with emotion. “He's got the same temperament as American Pharoah. He knows what you're thinking. He's smart, very laid-back and self-confident. His picture is my Facebook profile. Every time I look at a picture of him or start thinking about him, I just start crying. I just want everything to be the best for him.”

This year, Swingit's City of Light yearling colt will see the sales ring.

“We're as excited about him as we've been about any of them,” Welker said. “I see a lot of the filly in him. He's a little more precocious like she was, but he's got that laid-back way like the American Pharoah colt.”

While Swingit was barren this year, she was bred to Uncle Mo a few days ago.

As Welker monitors the development of Swingit's youngest foal, she keeps a close eye on Travel Column from afar.

“I think she has a really exciting future,” she said. “[In the GII Golden Rod S.] we were just hoping she would hit the board. We didn't really expect her to win, but then the way she won was pretty exciting.”

Travel Column made her sophomore debut in last weekend's GII Rachel Alexandra S., running second by a neck to Stonestreet homebred Clairiere (Curlin).

“I would not want to be around her right now after she got beat,” Welker said. “I guarantee you that she's a little tougher than normal if I know her at all.”

For nearly 20 years, the horsewoman has been running the Welker's 70-acre Spring Ridge Farm with the full-time help of two employees and weekend help from husband Bayne. They currently have five of their own mares, plus three client mares, seven yearlings and two geldings.

She said she tries not to think about what a win in the GI Kentucky Oaks would mean for their farm, but instead focuses on everything that has already been achieved since she purchased Swingit.

“This mare has already changed our lives,” she said. “The American Pharoah colt is the love of my life. [An Oaks win] would be amazing but I don't even want to think about [it]. I'm just so grateful for what Travel Column has done for us already. She's the most accomplished horse for us by a landslide.”

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Owner-Breeder David Clancy Has An Early Trifecta For 2021 Queen’s Plate

David Clancy has his early Queen's Plate triactor picked out.

There are 195 calendar days, and plenty of races to be run before the gates open on the 162nd edition of Canada's most famous horse race.

While it's far too early to speculate as to which horses will go postward in the $1 million, 1 ¼ mile classic at Woodbine on August 22, the horseman with three early contenders attached to his name is sporting a big smile these days.

“I think it's very special,” said Clancy, who bred the trio of Giant Waters, Smiley Sobotka, and Stephen. “I'm happy and proud.”

Clancy owns one of the three Thoroughbreds, namely, Giant Waters. Smiley Sobotka, a chestnut son of Brody's Cause, is owned by Albaugh Family Stables LLC, and Stephen, a bay son of Constitution, is owned by father and son team Al & Bill Ulwelling.

One would expect, understandably, that Clancy would be rooting for Giant Waters to take all the spoils in the oldest continually run stakes race in North America.

Not so.

For the longtime horse racing fan, a win by any of the three would be a dream realized.

But that being said, a victory by Giant Waters would be money in the bank – literally.

“I get as much enjoyment out of other people winning with horses that I bred,” offered Clancy. “In this case, I wouldn't say it's [wanting Giant Waters to win the Plate] 100 per cent true. Given the money part, I guess that would be better for me.”

Trained by two-time Plate winner Dan Vella, Giant Waters has a record of 0-2-2 from four starts. Despite his maiden status, the son of Giant Gizmo-Green Waters has looked sharp in all of his races to date, including third-place efforts in both the Cup & Saucer Stakes and Coronation Futurity, run last October and November, respectively.

Vella, who won the 1994 Plate with Basqueian and the 2012 running with Strait of Dover, has high praise for his sophomore colt.

“Distance is his friend,” said the conditioner with nearly 850 lifetime victories. “That's a big thing for any racehorse. You can win a lot of races going short, but you don't win the big ones. He likes both surfaces, but probably prefers the turf a little bit. He handles both well. He shouldn't be a maiden – he had such a tough trip in his second race – but that is a benefit to us now. He's at Classic Mile [Florida] right now and we're looking forward to seeing him get his first start of the year.”

A meticulous breeder, Clancy, owner of Clancy CPA & Co., a Toronto-based accounting firm, dedicates hours upon hours to homework when it comes to adding broodmares and planning matings to his band at his farm in Tottenham, Ontario.

The hope, as always, is to produce competitive and versatile runners, horses that can flourish at Woodbine Racetrack and beyond.

Giant Waters is a prime example of Clancy's breeding blueprint approach.

“I bought his granddam, Countervail, at the Keeneland November 2011 sale. I think it was one of those sales where people were sleeping at that moment, and I managed to buy her at a pretty cheap price in relation to her pedigree. Giant Waters' mother [Green Waters], I bought her through a claim as a first-time starter as a racing prospect and obviously liked the family. Unfortunately, her racing career had some injury issues along the way, but I had faith that Green Waters would be a successful broodmare.”

Clancy's unwavering belief and patience paid off in the form of Giant Waters.

He's not the only one in his family that became an instant fan of the horse.

“My grandson Jason told me not to sell him,” recalled Clancy. “He said, 'Grandpa, he's going to be a good racer, do not sell him!' He loves that horse. His farm nickname is “Guinness,” but Jason calls him “Root Beer.” He really likes Green Waters too. She's his favourite in the paddock. She's kind of the boss of the paddock.”

There is the same pride in Clancy's voice when he speaks of Smiley Sobotka and Stephen.

Fashioning a win and a pair of seconds from four starts, Smiley Sobotka has yet to race at Woodbine, contesting races at Ellis Park, Keeneland, Churchill Downs and Tampa Bay Downs, to date.

He was ninth in the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis on February 6.

“I bought the dam, Dance Thewayouare, at Fasig-Tipton in 2013. I always thought she had a great pedigree even though she wasn't a great racehorse. Interestingly, she is from the same family of [breeder] David Anderson's horse Gretzky the Great, and she is in foal to Nyquist, the sire of Gretzky the Great, arguably the present favourite for this year's Queen's Plate. I really thought that was a nice horse to pick up. I kept her first foal, a filly named Dance Ready, who was claimed and then I claimed her back with my partner on many horses, Donald Whalen. I like that family a lot. I think she'll be a nice mare down the road as well.”

After an eighth-place finish in his debut last August at Woodbine, Stephen finished second in his next start, following it up with an ultra-impressive score in the Coronation Futurity on November 1.

The Kevin Attard trainee is in Ontario in preparation for the start of the 2021 Woodbine Thoroughbred campaign, slated for April 17.

“Stephen, his dam is Naughty Holiday. I also owned her mother, Mrs. Coolidge. I really, really liked that mare and had her for a few years. When I saw Naughty Holiday at the 2017 November Keeneland sale – she was in foal to what would become Stephen – I bought her. I kind of lucked out buying her at a very reasonable price. I was happy that I was able to get back into that family. I told people that I liked the mother so much that I bought the daughter.”

Clancy, who would venture to Woodbine on weekends in his younger days hoping to put some money in his pockets by handicapping the races, also loves racing so much that he decided to get into the sport in a different capacity in the mid-2000s.

In 2005, he purchased a pub in Burlington, Ontario, and shortly thereafter obtained an off-track betting parlour for the establishment. He was later introduced to Woodbine-based trainer Steve Attard, and sales consignor and breeder Susan Foreman, who sold and partnered with Clancy on his first yearling.

The horse, Keino West, is a nod to Kenyan track legend Kip Keino, a gold medalist at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics.

Trained by Attard, Keino West broke his maiden at the end of his two-year-old campaign.

At three, the son of Kissin Kris competed in all three legs of the 2009 Canadian Triple Crown Series. He was sixth in the Queen's Plate, fourth in the Prince of Wales, and fifth in the Breeders' Stakes.

Now, some 12 years later, Clancy could be back in the spotlight once again, perhaps with three chances to win the country's most coveted race.

An accomplished track & field competitor in his day – he would classify himself as a decent allowance horse – Clancy doesn't need to be reminded that pacing oneself on the path to the Queen's Plate is paramount.

“The breeding game is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. It takes a lot of patience. It has its ups and downs like a marathon does. Sometimes you're running well and something happens, you get a cramp and fall back, and breeding is the same thing with setbacks. You have to have that fortitude to handle the mental issues that come with the territory in horse racing.”

None of it prevents Clancy from dreaming big when it comes to his trio of Plate hopefuls.

“The first horse I ever bought made it to the Queen's Plate. The race is a big goal and objective, for sure. It would be pretty cool to win it one day, either as a breeder or an owner.”

Or, with a little racing luck and the perfect trip, perhaps both.

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Breeders’ Cup: Godolphin Wins Third Straight John Deere Award For Outstanding Breeder

Strengthened by victories from She's a Julie, Lord North (IRE) and Essential Quality, Godolphin has won its third consecutive John Deere Award, honoring the outstanding breeder of the 2020 Breeders' Cup World Championships and the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The John Deere Award, presented by Breeders' Cup Limited and NTRA Advantage, emphasizes the contributions of breeders to the Breeders' Cup program. The industry's breeders provide funding for the purses for the World Championships through the annual nominations of foals and stallions.

NTRA Advantage and John Deere will award a John Deere TS Gator Utility Vehicle to Godolphin.

The John Deere award winner is determined by the breeder who received the highest number of first-place finishes in Graded/Group stakes in the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series of 81 stakes races in nine countries, and in the 14 Breeders' Cup World Championships races (13 Grade 1 events and one Grade 2), which was held this year at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. Each Grade/Group 1 win was worth 10 points; Grade/Group 2 wins were worth six points; Grade/Group 3 wins were worth four points; and listed stakes wins were worth two points.

Godolphin-bred runners earned 40 points by winning four Group/Grade 1 races in England and the United States. Godolphin finished 10 points in front of both Coolmore Stud and Northern Farm/Northern Racing, which tied for second place with 30 points each.

Godolphin's run to the title began on June 13 when the 5-year-old mare She's a Julie, a bay daughter of Elusive Quality out of Kydd Gloves by Dubai Millennium (GB), captured the Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park, which was “Win and You're In” for the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). Just four days later, the 4-year-old gelding Lord North, a bay son of Dubawi (IRE) out of the Giant's Causeway mare Najoum, gave Godolphin its second victory in the competition when he won the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot. The Prince of Wales's Stakes was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race which earned Lord North a free berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1).

In the fall at Keeneland, the 2-year-old colt Essential Quality secured the John Deere title for Godolphin. The striking gray/roan son of Tapit out of Delightful Quality by Elusive Quality took the “Win and You're In” Claiborne Breeders' Futurity on Oct. 3, which earned him an automatic starting position in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. One month later, Essential Quality won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile by three-quarters of a length.

“Godolphin's third consecutive John Deere Award is a true testament to their longtime success among international breeders,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders' Cup Chief Racing Officer and Executive Vice President. “We congratulate His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the entire Godolphin team, and we are grateful to this organization and the continuing commitment from all Thoroughbred breeders around the world who support the Breeders' Cup racing and nomination programs.

“We are also very proud of our partners John Deere and NTRA Advantage for recognizing the importance of the breeding industry with the sponsorship of this award,” added Delgado.

“The Breeders' Cup and John Deere's commitment to International Racing reflects the goals and ambitions of the global Godolphin breeding program to strive to compete at the highest level,” said Jimmy Bell, President, Godolphin USA. “Godolphin is honored to be recognized with this award.”

“John Deere would like to once again congratulate Godolphin on this excellent achievement for the third consecutive year,” said Auston Till, Manager Partner Sales, John Deere Ag & Turf. “We are thrilled to award a John Deere Gator™ Utility Vehicle for this outstanding accomplishment.”

The overall competition for the John Deere Award played out at the sport's highest level, as progeny of Coolmore and Northern Farm/Northern Racing also demonstrated standout performances in their deadlock for the runner-up spot. Coolmore-bred Group 1 winners won three Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races, beginning with Love (IRE), who won the Darley Yorkshire Oaks at York on Aug. 20; Magical, who took the Irish Champion Stakes on Sept. 12 at Leopardstown; and Shale (IRE), winner of the Moyglare Stud Stakes on Sept. 13 at The Curragh.

Offspring from Northern Farm/Northern Racing also won three Group 1 Breeders' Cup Challenges races, all in Japan. Almond Eye (JPN) won the Victoria Mile on May 17 at Tokyo Racecourse, Gran Alegria (JPN) took the Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo on June 7, and Chrono Genesis (JPN) captured the Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse on June 28.

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