Florida Sire Series Wraps Up With My Dear Girl, In Reality Saturday At Gulfstream

The $1.4 million FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series will wrap up Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., with the $400,000 My Dear Girl, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for fillies, and the $400,000 In Reality, the 1 1/16-mile open division.

The FSS series finals for 2-year-olds sired accredited Florida stallions will be supported on Saturday's program by the $125,000 FSS Wildcat Heir, a mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up sired by accredited Florida Stallions, and the $100,000 Hollywood Beach, a five-furlong turf sprint for 2-year-olds.

LNJ Foxwoods' Outfoxed, a breathtaking 13 ½-length winner of the $200,000 FSS Susan's Girl Aug. 28 at Gulfstream, is the star attraction in the My Dear Girl. The Bill Mott-trained daughter of Valiant Minister has subsequently had a pair of half-mile breezes at Gulfstream.

Outfoxed broke her maiden in the seven-furlong Susan's Girl while coming off a third-place finish behind Echo Zulu in a Saratoga maiden special weight race July 15. Echo Zulu came right back to capture the Sept. 5 Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga.

Stonehedge LLC's Cajun's Magic, the winner of the $100,000 FSS Dr. Fager, and Arindel's Octane, who captured the $200,000 FSS Affirmed, are slated to clash in the In Reality around two turns. Octane led throughout the Affirmed while finishing 3 ¼ lengths clear of runner-up Cajun's Magic.

Gulfstream will also host the Taste at the Track event Saturday Bourbon & BBQ. The unlimited testing event begins at 1 p.m. in the Flamingo Room. Guests will be able to enjoy a variety of southern-style dishes, paired with your favorite premium bourbons, whiskeys and handcrafted cocktails.

For tickets go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taste-at-the-track-bourbon-bbq-tickets-165899514915

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Noted Florida Breeder Gilbert Campbell Passes Away

Gilbert G. Campbell, co-owner with wife Marilyn, of Stonehedge Farm South near Williston, Fla,. died Thursday at Lowell General Hospital in Massachusetts, following a brief illness.

Campbell was 91. Besides his wife Marilyn, he is survived by his son Gary Campbell who told Lowell Sun reporter, “Despite his remarkable success in business, he was incredibly humble. He was such a down-to-earth person who would treat the janitor with the same respect he would treat the CEO.”

Campbell, a successful businessman in several industries is most remembered for his stellar accomplishments and decades of dedication to the Florida Thoroughbred industry. Longtime Stonehedge Farm South manager, Larry King, commented “He loved his horses and we inspected them all every time they (the Campbells) came down, and he would say “I can't wait to see these run.” Marilyn is very involved and loves the horses . . . and his wishes which he had told me many times was for it to keep right on going forward.”

Leading Florida breeder and former president of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, Gilbert G. Campbell was a multiple graded stakes-winning owner who won 461 races with earnings of more than $13 million under his name and then an additional $6,078,818 under Stonehedge LLC. In 2013, the top horseman ranked 75th by earnings in North America and was among the top 100 by wins in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2001, and 2013 (since 2000 *Equibase).

Campbell's top homebreds include millionaire multiple graded stakes winner, Grade 1-placed Blazing Sword; graded stakes winners Ivanavinalot (Grade 2 Bonnie Miss Stakes and dam of two-time filly champion Songbird); Watch Me Go (Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby); Friel's for Real (Grade 3 Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap); etc.

Among 15 Stonehedge winners that have scored in the 'Tradition-rich' Florida Sire Series are most recently, sons of Cajun Breeze (standing at Stonehedge Farm South), Cajun's Magic and Dean Delivers, who brought home the exacta for owner/breeder Stonehedge LLC, in the FTBOA Florida Sire Dr. Fager S. at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., July 31.

It goes without saying, Gilbert G. Campbell will go down in racing's history books as one of Florida's legendary horsemen.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Nothing Foolish About Larry King’s ‘Dream Life’ At Florida Farm

There aren't many cowboys from the Old West still working with racehorses these days, so it's up to their descendants to carry on the traditions of horsemanship from that bygone era.

Larry King's formative years were spent watching and absorbing that myriad of skills from his late father, and the longtime farm manager for Gil and Marilyn Cambell's Stonehedge Farm in Williston, Fla. has been applying them ever since.

The farm has seen multiple graded stakes winners developed under King's tenure, as well as a total of 16 winners in the lucrative Florida Sire Stakes (FSS) series. Last year, Stonehenge homebreds filled out the superfecta in the FSS Affirmed.

This July 31,the 66-year-old King celebrated another milestone success as a pair of Stonehedge homebreds ran one-two in the FSS Dr. Fager at Gulfstream Park.

“I told somebody today, 'When you ride around Ocala and look at all the farms and all the horses, all the people shooting for the bigger races, I'm surprised we can even win a race, because there's so many horses,'” King said. “It's certainly not easy to do. 

“Everybody's excited when you win. It was a lot of fun, and in three more weeks we'll try again (in the next leg of the FSS series). They'll have to pop up and be special.”

With a lifetime of horse experience, King knows special when he sees it. It all hearkens back to his youth, a nomad-like experience following his father, Joe, from racetrack to racetrack all around the United States. Some tracks were recognized and official, while others were anything but.

“He was a cowboy from out West, and came from a long line of cowboys,” King said of his father, who served as an Army surgical technician during World War II. “He worked the ranches, then got into running Quarter Horses. He trained performance horses, like cutting and reining and stuff like that. We've always been in horses our whole lives.”

Larry King remembers riding his dad's Quarter Horses at the bush tracks of central Louisiana; his 87-pound weight was the perfect advantage during the back-country match races. 

“It didn't matter how old you were, just if you were light enough,” King said. “I was probably between 9 and 11 years old. Nobody abused horses or done nothing like that, it was just a rough life. Those people were tough… it's a different world. 

“We went to places in Mexico and stuff where there were knife fights. I remember daddy tellin' me to go get in the truck! There were no rules.”

After the first 13 years of his life had been spent traveling the racetracks from Louisiana to West Virginia, and everywhere in between, King must have been relieved when his father was offered the position of farm manager at Waldemar Farm for Howard Sams. Under the elder King's horsemanship skills, the farm produced many top runners, including the 1975 Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure.

Joe King saw the difficult nature of the future classic winner right away, and assigned his son to care for the obstinate colt.

Joe King, with What a Pleasure, sire of 1975 Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure

“He was quite the handful,” Larry King remembered. “You could work with him all day putting his halter on and off, rubbing his head, and you could leave and go to lunch and it was like you never touched him.”

Foolish Pleasure didn't look like much when he arrived at the 1973 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale as a part of the Waldemar consignment.

“There's a lot of stuff that throws off the experts,” King said, chuckling. “He was crooked; he turned out horrible, and he was back in the knees. One big buyer came by the consignment, and Daddy led him out and said, 'This is the best colt in the barn.' I'll never forget what the man said: 'If that's the best you've got, don't show me anything else!'”

Foolish Pleasure commanded a final bid of just $20,000, and while he never outgrew his difficult nature, the colt did go on to win seven Grade 1 races, including the Derby, for owner John Greer and trainer LeRoy Jolley, earning $1,216,705.

King recalled watching the Kentucky Derby on television with his father: “What a dream. We really felt like we'd had a part in it, and that was something special.”

After taking over the farm manager position when his father retired, King was unsure what his own future held when Waldemar Farm was sold to Gil and Marilyn Campbell in 1988. The couple renamed the facility Stonehedge Farm South.

“My wife said, 'What do we do?' King recalled. “I said, 'Well, we're gonna go get some boxes.' Then the next thing I know the new owners came up to me and asked me to stay on.”

Working at the same farm for just shy of five decades has allowed King to play a major role in its expansion to over 500 acres, as well as the development of some of Florida's top Thoroughbreds.

“We just have a ⅝-mile track, we breed, we foal; we do it all,” said King. “Me, I mow a lot of grass! Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, they like to do it from the ground up. We've had success with it.

“I just wanted to fish, and they allow me to do that. I will never leave here unless they sell it or run me off. I'm here to finish it off. My nephew, Jamie King, he runs the training operation. I've got good people on the farm.”

Looking at the pedigrees of the farm's FSS winners from the past two years, sire Cajun Breeze has also been a major part of that success: the Stonehedge exacta in last month's Dr. Fager featured two colts both sired by Cajun Breeze.

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The appropriately-named Cajun's Magic is that latest FSS winner, but King revealed that the talented 2-year-old colt's trainer, Michael “Beau” Yates, was the man behind Cajun Breeze making the move to Stonehedge.

“Michael used to ride for me here at the farm,” King explained. “I know his mother, and I still know him well. When his dad passed, he inherited a nice little farm with a training track, and we were diversifying our trainers. He's a good horseman; he's got horseman blood, back from his grandpa. You really can't teach all that to people.”

Yates had bred Cajun Breeze, a speedy, stakes-placed son of Congrats, to a few mares of his own. 

“He's not really set up to stand a stud, so I went and looked at his foals that he had,” said King. “Mr. Campbell asked me what I thought. This horse bred good, he could run, all his foals looked great, he's an outcross to everything we had, he nicks to nearly every mare, and they can run. He's had small, small crops; we've kind of been lucky, because we've had the only ones. When we start breeding some outside mares, we might have some more competition!”

Yates also predicted the Dr. Fager exacta a month before the race was run.

“We were very impressed how they broke their maidens, of course,” King said. “But then you hear about this horse and that horse, going back and looking at replays, and I thought, 'Man, these other horses really look good.'”

King needn't have worried. Cajun's Magic and Dean Delivers finished a neck apart, ten lengths better than the closest competition. 

Cajun's Magic (outside) wins the Dr. Fager Stakes over stablemate Dean Delivers at Gulfstream Park.

“Somebody once said it was the water, somebody else said it was the limestone in the soil,” King said, asked to explain the farm's success. “I wouldn't dare say we're better than anyone else. It's just excellent land, and we try to breed using common sense… But I'm proud of what we've done because we haven't had half-million-dollar mares or big sires. We just raise them right, and start them right, and we get a little lucky.

“It's also gratifying to see the Campbells have success after all they've put into the game.”

Other major successes for the Campbells include a 2016 Florida leading breeder title; 2011 Kentucky Derby starter and G2 Tampa Bay Derby winner Watch Me Go; 2016 Preakness starter Abiding Star; breeding and racing Ivanavinalot (West Acre), G2 winner and dam of champion Songbird; breeding $2.4 million-earner Marlin; breeding and racing millionaire Blazing Sword, G3 winner Always Sunshine, G3 winner Well Defined, and G3 winner Friel's For Real.

Looking back at his own role in all that success, King deflected the praise.

“I've been very fortunate with my job, and with my wife,” he said. “I've been married 42 years, and had the same job for 48. It's been a dream life; everything fell into place.”

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Cajun’s Magic Delivers A Win In Dr. Fager At Gulfstream

Stonehedge LLC's Gil and Marilyn Campbell collected their 16th success in the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series Saturday when Cajun's Magic edged stablemate Dean Delivers in the $100,000 Dr. Fager at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

“It's quite a thrill,” said winning trainer Michael Yates. “They've been such a big part in the Florida breeding industry. To be a part of the team is an honor, for sure.”

The Dr. Fager, a six-furlong open-division sprint, co-headlined Saturday's 13-race program with the $100,000 Desert Vixen, a six-furlong event for fillies won by My Sassenach, kicking off the 2021 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes, a tradition-rich series for juveniles sired by accredited stallions standing in Florida.

Cajun's Magic ($15) rallied from far off the pace to win a stretch duel with Dean Delivers by a neck to complete a Michael Yates-trained exacta in what turned out to be a two-horse race in the stretch.

“After they broke their maidens, Mrs. Campbell asked me which one I liked best. I said, 'Personally, at this point,' I feel like we have the exacta. I don't know which one's the best,” Yates said.

Saturday, Cajun's Magic proved the better Yates trainee by a very narrow margin in the Dr. Fager. Making his third start after finishing second in his debut and breaking his maiden by 4 ¾ lengths July 1, Cajun's Magic settled well off the pace under Jesus Rios, as Laki Lio set the pace along the backstretch, pressed by Hope in Him, the 8-5 favorite ridden by Samy Camacho, and Dean Delivers and jockey Miguel Vasquez. On the turn into the homestretch, Laki Lio and Home in Him began to falter as Dean Delivers took command and took the lead into the stretch. Cajun's Magic launched a three-wide drive on the far turn and quickly joined his stablemate, who was the 8-5 second choice in the wagering.

Cajun's Magic passed his stablemate in mid-stretch but was all-out to hold off a resurgent Dean Delivers approaching the wire. Gold Special rallied under Marcos Meneses to finish third, 10 lengths farther back. Home in Him checked in sixth of seven starters. Cajun's Magic ran the six furlongs in 1:11.01.

Both Cajun's Magic and Dean Delivers are sons of Cajun Breeze, who was owned and trained by Yates during his racing career in which he earned $246,000 the hard way while competing in allowance and stakes company in South Florida. Believing that the son of Congrats was a better horse than he showed on the racetrack, Yates took a leap of faith and stood him at stud upon his retirement in 2015. Cajun Breeze immediately proved to be a promising Florida stallion.

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“It's pretty surreal. He's throwing some nice horses. I think the best is yet to come from him,” Yates said. “His first couple crops, he had some pretty small numbers from some pretty ordinary mares. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have bought half of him and have bred a decent number of mares to him. The proof's in the pudding.”

The Florida Sire Stakes has a storied history dating back to 1982, when it was created by Ocala Breeder and owner Dan Lasater. The six-race series has produced six Eclipse Award champions: Awesome Feather (2010 Juvenile Filly), Big Drama (2010 Sprint), Holy Bull (1994 Horse of the Year and 3-Year-Old Male), Smile (1986 Sprint), Brave Raj (1986 Juvenile Filly), and Not Surprising (1995 Sprint Champion).

The Florida Sire Stakes series will continue Aug. 28 with the $200,000 Affirmed and the $200,000 Susan's Girl for fillies, both slated for seven furlongs, and Sept. 25 with the $400,000 In Reality and the $400,000 My Dear Girl for fillies, both to be run around two turns at 1 1/16 miles.

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