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John Fernung Passes Away

Longtime Thoroughbred horseman John Fernung, 79, passed away Mar. 5, 2020, in Ocala, Florida. In the early 1970s, Fernung was the racing manager for the powerful Dan Lasater Racing Stable. Lasater Stable was the leading money winning stable in the country five years in a row and won three Eclipse Awards during that time. During Fernung's tenure as Lasater's racing manager, the stable raced Grade I winners, Hot N Nasty, Honky Star and Royal Glint among others.

In the late 1970s, Fernung relocated from the racetrack to become Lasater's Farm Manager in Ocala. During the next few years, Fernung and Lasater developed a nationally renowned stallion station. Among the stallions they brought to Ocala were North America's leading sire in 1981, Nodouble, his sire Noholme II, Holy Bull's sire Great Above, and Silver Charm's sire Silver Buck.

When Lasater dispersed his Thoroughbred holdings in 1984, Fernung purchased the 1000-acre facility in partnership with another Eclipse Award winner, John Franks, to form Southland Farm. During his tenure with Franks, Fernung syndicated At The Threshold, sire of 1992 Kentucky Derby winner Lil E Tee.

Fernung also mentored several members of his family who entered the Thoroughbred industry. Among them is his brother, Brent Fernung, who along with his wife, Crystal are the owners of Journeyman Stud in Ocala. Fernung's nephew, Scott Warner is the farm manager of Robert S. Evans's Courtland Farm in Maryland. John Fernung's son Andrew is the latest member of the family to enter the Thoroughbred industry. Andrew is currently the Sales Coordinator for Eddie Woods Stable.

John Fernung is also survived by a daughter Nicole Fernung, grandson Bryce (Andrew and Cally), brothers Jerry Fernung (Barbee) and Andrew S. Fernung, sister Linda Warner and three nephews and four nieces.

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Journeyman’s Horse Fever Statue to Go Through OBS Ring for Charity

A most unusual offering will be up for sale at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The last hip to go through the ring on Tuesday, Mar. 16, will be “Clockwork Fury,” a horse statue with an intriguing history that is part of the Horse Fever 20/20 public art project. The public art, which features life-sized horse statues by various artists, has given over $350,000 in grants to artists and organizations.

Breeders will be familiar with Clockwork Fury as he has greeted visitors at Ocala’s Journeyman Stud, owned by Brent and Crystal Fernung, for the past decade. The winning bidders of the statue about 10 years ago recently had him upgraded by his original artist, Mark Hershberger, and are sending him through the ring to raise funds for Florida Thoroughbred Charities (FTC) and Marion Cultural Alliance (MCA).

“This past year [due to the COVID-19 pandemic], FTC didn’t get to have their gala, had to cancel their big golf tournament. They lost a lot of money,” said Crystal Fernung. She said FTC supports Second Chances, where incarcerated women care for retired racehorses and get vocational training in horse care. “Second Chances is such a great program. I drive by it every day. With FTC being the major source of income, we thought if there was a way we could donate ‘Fury’ and get him sold, we could help. OBS is a game changer.

“Anyone from anywhere can buy him,” continued Fernung. “Creech Horse Transportation has philanthropically offered to deliver him to wherever they have a truck going. We’ll have internet bidding and people can see him in person at the [OBS] January sale [Jan. 26-27].”

Clockwork Fury is the official anniversary ambassador for the Horse Fever project, but is unique in that he has been donated back to the program by the Fernungs. His recent upgrade by his original artist has been monumental.

Clockwork Fury at Journeyman Stud | Courtesy of Crystal Fernung

“He’s made it through four hurricanes,” said Fernung. “There’s bluebirds that come to nest in him every year. Mark has preserved their nest and placed it inside him. Now he has 2020 technology, has fiberoptics in him. There’s so much more Mark could do now. He’s fiberglass, like all the others. But when Mark created him 20 years ago, he had him cut up in different shapes, painted him to look like metal, then put all that back together. His eyes are antique opera glasses that Mark had found. His star is a solar panel. His tail is these big, heavy chains, and when you move his tail, his head moves. We had no intentions of buying anything when we saw him 10 years ago, but when Mark had dry ice coming out of his hips and nose, it was, ‘Whoa.’ When they knocked him down to us for $15,000, Brent looked at me like, ‘What did you just do?'”

Fernung said she wants the “horse” that has served their farm so well to be able to continue to help others by the use of his proceeds.

This will be the fourth Horse Fever event in Ocala after projects in 2000, 2005, and 2011. Many of the statues from the earlier installations can still be seen around Ocala, while some have even traveled out of state. There will be a total of 15 horses for Horse Fever 20/20, all of which are scheduled to be unveiled Feb. 8. For more information, visit mcaocala.org/hf-2020.

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MGSW Mr. Money Retired to Journeyman Stud

Mr. Money (Goldencents–Plenty O’Toole, by Tiznow) has been retired from racing and will enter stud in 2021 at Brent and Crystal Fernung’s Journeyman Stud in Ocala, Florida. Mr. Money will stand as the property of Allied Racing LLC and Spendthrift Farm for $5,000 live foal in the 2021 breeding season.

During his juvenile season, Mr. Money hit the board in his first two starts before breaking his maiden by 3 3/4 lengths going a mile and a sixteenth at Churchill Downs. The bay rounded out the season with a fourth behind Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Sentient Jet Breeder’s Cup Juvenile.

At three, the Bret Calhoun trainee annexed the GIII Pat Day S., GIII Matt Winn S., GIII Indiana Derby and GIII West Virginia Derby before finishing second, beaten a nose, by Math Wizard (Algorithms) in the $1,000,000 GI Pennsylvania Derby, finishing ahead of GI Preakness S. winner War of Will (War Front), GISW Improbable (City Zip), and GI Breeder’s Cup Dirt Mile winner, Spun to Run (Hard Spun). This term, the 4-year-old won the GIII Ack Ack S. and retires with six wins from 18 starts and earnings of $1,360,430.

“Mr. Money is as well named as a horse can be,” Brent Fernung said. “He went where the big money was and took home a bunch of it. He won four consecutive graded stakes as a three-year-old and probably should have won the Pennsylvania Derby as well!”

He continued, “As a son of leading third crop sire, Goldencents, Mr. Money brings that super prolific Into Mischief sire line to Florida in the form of a truly top racehorse.”

Mr. Money is the second foal out of the Tiznow mare, Plenty O’Toole. She has three other foals of racing age, including additional winner Julia’s Kitty. Plenty O’Toole’s stakes producing dam, O’Toole (Distorted Humor), is a full-sister to G1 Dubai World Cup winner, Well Armed who earned over $5 million.

Chester Thomas, whose Allied Racing LLC raced Mr. Money in partnership with Spendthrift Farm said, “I couldn’t be more proud to stand Mr. Money at Journeyman Stud. He was an incredibly talented race horse with tons of class coupled with speed and endurance. I intend to breed a dozen or so of my own mares to Mr. Money. I have a huge amount of confidence in him.”

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Journeyman Stud Fees Remain Unchanged for 2021

Stud fees for Khozan (Distorted Humor), St. Patrick’s Day (Pioneerof the Nile) and Fury Kapcori (Tiznow) well remain unchanged for 2021, Journeyman Stud announced Wednesday. Khozan will stand for $10,000, St. Patrick’s Day for $5,000 and Fury Kapcori for $2,500.

“We had so many requests for Khozan in 2020 that we were forced to turn away a lot of mares,” Journeyman’s Brent Fernung said. “Khozan certainly has accomplished enough to justify raising his fee for 2021 under normal circumstances, but with the current uncertainty caused by the pandemic, Crystal and I decided that leaving his fee at $10,00 was the proper thing to do.”

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