In this series, participants throughout the Thoroughbred industry share the names and stories of the horses that have taught them the most about life, revealing the limitless ways that horses can impact the people around them. Some came early on in their careers and helped them set a course for the rest of their lives, while others brought valuable lessons to veterans of the business.

Question: Which horse has taught you the most about life?

Bernard McCormack, Cara Bloodstock: “She was a gray mare by a stallion named Song, in Europe. I owned her before I had a car, and I used to ride my bicycle at the end of the bus route to go see her on a farm north of Dublin. I was maybe 18 at the time, out of high school about three months, and I'd say owning a mare before you own a car, and having to do that to see her taught me I had a passion, and what I did with the passion was what turned into a career.

“I don't know if she taught me anything specific, but what she instilled in me was that if you want to do something, you're going to have to go to the end of your bus route, get on your bicycle, and ride the last six miles to see her. That was something that a passionate person would do, and because I did that, I kept that level of passion.

“She was kept on a small farm in Malahide in north County Dublin. I was on the other side of the city. I had to take three buses to get there, and I couldn't take my bike on the train, so I had to take the bus. I got a car soon after, because I figured it was a lot easier.

“Did I lose money on her? No. Did I make money on her? No, but that was the lesson I learned, so that's okay.

“My riding horse passed away recently. I've owned a lot of horses for commercial reasons, and I can't say this mare, while I paid for her, was a commercial reason, but she was mine. Then, when my riding horse died, I kind of had the same feeling. It wasn't for a commercial reason, but he was mine. Those two sentiments are very closely entwined. Everything else is commercial, and reasoning, but the mare gave me the instillation of loving the horse, and that's carried true. That's a great life. If something interests you that much and give you those emotions, and you can have that for as long as I've enjoyed that…There's nothing better.”

Bernard McCormack

About Bernard McCormack

Bernard McCormack is the owner of Cara Bloodstock, a leading consignor in the U.S. and Canada, based at Mapleshade Farm in Janetville, Ontario.

A native of County Dublin, Ireland, McCormack learned about the Thoroughbred business from his father, a trainer and racing journalist. He graduated from the Irish National Stud program, and moved to Kentucky in the late 1970s to work at Walmac Farm.

In 1979, he moved to Maryland to take a job with Windfields Farm to work with the farm's yearling division. Two years later, he relocated to the farm's Ontario division, the home of the great Northern Dancer, and he became the farm's general manager in 1987, at age 27.

McCormack remained with Windfields until 2008, when he fully turned his focus to his Cara Bloodstock consignment, which offered its first homebred yearlings in 1997. Cara Bloodstock has consigned winners of all three legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, including 2021 Queen's Plate winner Safe Conduct and Breeders' Stakes winner British Royalty.

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The mare, a $22,000 (USD) purchase, was in foal to Tourist and delivered a handsome colt in February 2020. In September the youngster was the fourth highest seller at the Canadian Premier Yearling Sale, hammered down for $120,000 to Al and Bill Ulwelling, helped along by his 2-year-old full-sister Mo Touring's first-out victory at Gulfstream Park in June.

“It's a great program assisting our local breeders in retooling their broodmare band and bringing in some new blood,” said McCormack of the Mare Purchase Program, which provided him a 50 percent (CAD) rebate on Aunty Mo's initial purchase price. “The sales in Kentucky are full of mares that could do well in our program, and so when you are sent shopping with a de-escalator for cost of roughly 40 percent, depending on the exchange rate, it pays a lot of initial bills with the new purchase.”

McCormack also took advantage of the program when he added Queen Martha, a $16,000 (USD) acquisition from the Fasig-Tipton Mixed Sale, to his broodmare program in February 2020. The mare's English Channel colt sold for $30,000 (USD) this fall at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, less than one month before his 3-year-old full-brother, British Royalty, won the Breeders' Stakes.

“We had an outlay of $38,000 and we have those results, and they're not results that we had to wait years and years for, they're results that happened almost right away,” said McCormack, whose Cara Bloodstock currently houses six broodmares in Janetville, Ontario. “In terms of getting your money back, you get the check from the Mare Purchase Program, and then you get to breed them back — and breed them to an Ontario sire, you can get a little dividend if you do that — and so everywhere you look it's supporting the breeder.

“It's a program that I have my clients look at closely and pay attention to, and I know it's been hard to get across the border, but things are starting to open up so this opportunity might actually be a little bit more available, given that people can actually travel to the sales as the US border opens.”

For 2021-22 the Mare Purchase Program offers Ontario residents a 50 percent rebate, to a maximum of $25,000 (CAD), on the purchase of any in-foal mare sold for a minimum of $10,000 at seven Ontario Racing recognized public auctions. The maximum benefit to any individual or entity is $75,000 CAD and, upon purchase, mares must meet the Ontario Resident Mare requirements.

In addition, the Mare Recruitment Program offers non-residents the opportunity to receive a $5,000 rebate for each mare brought to Ontario to foal in 2022, to a maximum of $25,000 (CAD). Mares must be new arrivals to the province, or have changed hands through a recognized public auction for a minimum purchase price of $5,000 (USD), and must meet the Ontario Resident Mare requirements.

Breeders who participate in either program are also eligible for a $2,500 (CAD) incentive for all enrolled mares who are then bred to a registered Ontario Sire in 2022.

Complete details and eligibility requirements for all three incentives are available on the Ontario Thoroughbred Improvement Program (TIP) website.

“Two years ago we brought in 129 new in-foal mares to the province, of which 79 of them were bred back to Ontario sires. Ontario is one of, I think, three jurisdictions in North America where our live foals reported actually went up,” said Ontario Racing TIP committee member David Anderson. “So the program is working, and we've tweaked it a bit this year, increasing some of the caps, lowering the floor to allow more people to get in, making it easier for the local breeders. It's the only one of its kind in North America and I would encourage all Ontario breeders to take advantage of it.”

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Blueberry is by Uncle Mo, out of a graded stakes-winning mare. He had the mind of a racehorse, and we're told he showed such impressive speed in the mornings, his training team suggested he be nominated to stakes races at Woodbine before he'd even made a start. We joke sometimes about our “underachiever” who cost $400,000 as a yearling and won a little over $4,000 in return.

But the reality is, there's a little air of disappointment when racing people are asked about OTTBs. Many are eager to support aftercare in word and in deed, but there's often a wistful air if you ask them about a specific horse that has left their operation for a second career. 'Oh yes,' they may say. 'It's a shame they didn't work out.'

I get it; no one spends six figures in stud fees, or pays an Eclipse Award-winning trainer's day rates hoping to find out their horse is slow, or injury-prone, or briefly brilliant but eventually flat. Everyone wants to win the Kentucky Derby. Everyone wants to catch lightning in a bottle. Perhaps it's good that so many people in this sport wake every day with these stars in their eyes, continuing to breed, sell, buy, train, and care for the thousands of horses who support so many livelihoods. Everyone who has a role in a racehorse's life is subject to back-breaking work, long hours, lost money, and chasing sleep. There wouldn't be an industry to employ us all if we didn't have crazy dreams to make all of that worthwhile.

But the reality, which I know people understand just as keenly, is that there will be many more horses like Blueberry than American Pharoah. When I wrote about the challenges of aftercare in late 2019, 28 percent of Thoroughbreds born between 2005 and 2014 never even made it to the races. One Australian study found that about 40 percent of that country's racing population retired each year, with only 10 percent of those heading off to breeding careers. The 2020 American foal crop is estimated to be 19,010, but there were only 99 Grade 1 races held in North America last year – it's just a matter of logic that some horses will have a career on a breeding farm waiting them, but most of them will not.

The last few months of under saddle work with Blueberry have been a joy. I tell people that he makes me look a lot smarter than I am, because the level of dressage we're working on now is physically easy for him. Our trainer, Stephanie Calendrillo, told me at one point that she loves a horse who loves to work, who asks her when she encourages them to lift their backs and soften their jaws, 'How high do you want me to lift?' She said Blueberry does it for you and then asks 'Oh sorry, was that enough? Do you need me to do more?'

He loves going to work, but he's smart about it. I pulled him out of his stall for a morning ride this week – his first in a couple of weeks – and where others might have expended calories on exuberant bucks and hops, he was immediately quiet, focused, responding to the slightest twitch of my rein or heel. He does not waste energy (if anything, he can trend towards 'sleepy' rather than quick), and believes with all his heart he is a professional who has Done All Of This Before even when he hasn't.

Having known his mother, I'd hoped when I adopted him that he would have this mindset. I did not know, until about May when he began ground driving walk/trot/canter, how he moved, beyond having a very impressive walk at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale in 2018. In his first months with me, he was on 24-hour turnout while he recovered from some minor ligament desmitis and we awaited a stall and better weather at my trainer's main property. When I saw him stretch out at a trot and felt his floaty canter for the first few times, I used a few four-letter words. I hadn't just adopted a nice horse, I'd adopted a really nice horse.

I'm excited to bring him to the Thoroughbred Makeover next month, but I also recognize that it's just our first show season goal. There will be other seasons after this one, and I think he's just going to get better with time.

'I'm not surprised,' Stephanie told me. 'He's well-bred, and class is class, no matter what you're doing with them.'

Blueberry warming up at his second dressage show in July, where he would win his Intro C class and finish second in his Intro A class

I think it's time we change the conversation about these, the vast majority of the Thoroughbred foals born in this country each year. There were 27,700 races held in North America, which means there were fewer than 27,700 winners, but that doesn't mean that every horse who didn't win a race, or who found a non-breeding second career has failed – they were just a predictable part of the statistical picture of competitive racing.

By extension, we can also reframe the successes of the racing connections for those horses. Part of the goal of breeding Thoroughbreds is to create an athlete, and breeders Jay and Christine Hayden did that. One of the goals of a commercial consignor is to be a source for Thoroughbreds with a lot of potential, and Cara Bloodstock achieved that in selling him. One of the goals for responsible owners is to be caring stewards of their horses' welfare, and Godolphin did that, backing off on his training at the first sign of trouble and providing me a sound horse with no limitations on performance. One of a trainer's worries is ensuring that they keep their horses physically and also mentally sound, and Johnny Burke and Brad Cox ensured their staff preserved Blueberry's kind impression of humans, allowing me a relaxed 4-year-old gelding who sometimes gets groomed by my trainer's 4-year-old little girl.

Horses with second careers are simply those who found renewed purpose in a different job. When humans do this, it's called resilience. Let's give our OTTBs the same credit for finding their calling.

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COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions have made interstate travel difficult, as highlighted by the requirement that out-of-state riders in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby arrive by Aug. 31. International travel has proven to be an even greater task, but a handful of Canadian consignors have crossed the border to sell horses during the September yearling sales, ready for all the hoop-jumping it entails.

David Anderson of the St. Thomas, Ontario-based Anderson Farms said getting into the U.S. is the easy part, it's what happens when he returns home that will pose the biggest challenge.

“As of right now, there's no requirements to quarantine in Kentucky,” he said before the yearling sale season. “We've been very fortunate in Canada, and particularly in Ontario, we took some early measures to shut things down, and our positive coronavirus cases are down to 30 or 40 a day. It's virtually nothing.

“Unfortunately, when I come back to Canada, I'm going to have to endure a 14-day quarantine, but that's fine, as long as I can get to Kentucky,” Anderson continued. “That's my main focus right now.”

Anderson had two horses cataloged in the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase, and he'll have 12 cataloged throughout the marathon Keeneland September Yearling Sale. His horses shipped to Kentucky in June for sale prep, and he said the process of shipping horses back and forth over the border has not changed drastically this year, compared with getting himself from place to place.

Bernard McCormack of Cara Bloodstock in Janetville, Ontario also had a pair of yearlings entered in the Fasig-Tipton sale, and 15 more in the book for Keeneland.

McCormack was able to dip a toe into the 2020 yearling market during the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (Ontario Division) Canadian Premier Yearling Sale on Sept. 2, where he handled the $90,000 (Canadian) sale-topper.

He said the Ontario sale did not require a negative COVID-19 test to attend like the Kentucky sales. Instead, organizers conducted temperature checks and had participants fill out questionnaires. Once people were on the grounds, seating was spaced apart and limited in the pavilion, and security guards were placed at the entrances and exits to ensure the headcount remained under the limit.

“There were a lot of variables, but it all went well from my perspective,” McCormack said. “The buyers were very careful, and as a consignor, you want to talk to your buyers and that was all very possible with distance and having a mask on. You can still tell a joke with a mask on.

“We had a sanitizing station where the vet book was, and I basically held on to the book more than I do in the past,” he continued. “I pretty much kept it with me so I could keep the book myself, and not have to pick up a book that 50 people have been turning the pages on.”

Though the Ontario sale provided a useful dry run for the September sales, it also pulled the curtain back on a sobering reality of the North American auction market for the foreseeable future – Not all Canadian buyers are going to want to spend two weeks on the sidelines to buy horses in-person in the U.S., especially during one of the busiest times of the year on an already condensed Woodbine stakes calendar.

McCormack said he noticed a few extra bids coming in for the top lots of the Ontario sale, courtesy of horsemen who might recognize this will be their only opportunity to secure yearlings in-person at auction this year.

In absence of some of the main principals and trainers that make up the Canadian buying bench at Kentucky sales, McCormack said he was utilizing every option at his disposal to bring the horses to those buyers, as well as their agents, whose role will be more important than ever.

McCormack noted that many of the major barns at Woodbine winter in Florida after the Ontario meet closes, and they have developed relationships with bloodstock agents in both locations. Whether they're coming from the north or the south, the key players should be able to have eyes and ears on the sales grounds, which makes providing the proper information to them crucial.

“I have mostly Canadian-breds selling in both sales,” he said. “You have the videos done, and of course, there's always contacts that you can reach out to get information to. I know a few Canadian agents that are going down, and I've encouraged them to reach out, and if they want to see them on the farms and cut their trips a little shorter because of commitments back home, we'll work with them if that's what's required.”

When it comes to employees on the sales grounds, McCormack and Anderson both said they decided against bringing down any grooms, showpeople, or other staff that make their consignments run from Canada, instead hiring locally in Kentucky.

“We've got some new staff that have not worked for us be- fore,” Anderson said. “Certainly, they come highly recommended. You'd like to have the same people year-in and year-out, but we're going to roll with the punches and hope for the best.”

Like the horsemen at Woodbine, the two consignors said the 14-day quarantine upon returning to Canada was too big of an ask for barn help in the U.S. sales.

Anderson said Canada has been proactive with contact tracing throughout the pandemic, which can be restrictive on day- to-day movement if a citizen is supposed to be in quarantine. However, he and McCormack both said they were fortunate to have their farms for quarantine boundaries, allowing them to get outside and continue their work relatively uninterrupted.

“You literally are supposed to stay in your house, and if you go outside at all, you have to stay in your backyard and wear a mask,” Anderson said. “I went through this back in the spring when I went to Florida, and I had three phone calls from the government checking up on me. We now have an app in Canada called the COVID Alert app, and it tells you if you've been in close proximity to anyone that's tested positive for the virus. It will alert you, and then you should immediately go into quarantine because of it.”

The two weeks on the bench has become part of the norm for McCormack, who has crossed the border repeatedly to transport mares between Ontario and Kentucky for breeding.

“I've done it six times this year, just shipping breeding stock,” he said. “I've never felt more thankful for having a farm because it's a natural bubble. My wife can do the banking and the other bits and pieces that can be done running around. I think one of my cars, I filled it up at the end of April and didn't have to fill it up again until the middle of June. I was just driving my truck back and forth to Kentucky.”

Both consignors will be back in Kentucky for the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale in late October, and the Breeders' Cup will be just down the road at Keeneland shortly after, followed by the November mixed sales running through the middle of the month. Between the necessity of selling horses and the challenges posed from re-entering the country, playing the long game in Kentucky for the fall is the likely plan for the horsemen from up north.

“Right now, I plan on staying,” Anderson said. “I just booked my hotel for right before the October sale through the end of the November sale. I'm booked in for probably four weeks. I'm just going to stay down. I spend the better part of 90 to 100 nights in Lexington anyway. It's almost like my second home.”

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It's opening day of the bellwether Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and the Paulick Report has the insight and analysis you need in today's edition of the PR Special newsletter.

In this edition, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills checks in with Canadian-based consignors Bernard McCormack and David Anderson to see how the restrictions surrounding COVID-19 have affected how they'll sell horses during the September sales and beyond.

This issue's Stallion Spotlight features Mark Toothaker of Spendthrift Farm discussing Cross Traffic, the leading freshman sire of his class. Dr. Bart Barber of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital offers his opinion on the medication policies implemented by sale companies in Ask Your Veterinarian, and we look at the young sires already making an impression in the prestigious Book 1 of the Keeneland September Sale in Young Sire Watch.

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

Thanks as always to the advertisers who made this issue of the PR Special possible:

• ThoroughbredAuctions.com/Judge Lanier Racing Dispersal
• Spendthrift Farm
• Lane's End
• Kentucky Performance Products/BoneWise
• New Vocations
• Shadwell Farm
• Blue Grass Farms Charities

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

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Consigned to the sale by Bernard McCormack’s Cara Bloodstock, the chestnut–offered as hip 15–was bred in Ontario by Whitford Bloodstock and is the latest foal from the multiple stakes-placed Holidaysatthefarm (Smarty Jones). The 12-year-old mare, already the dam of three winners from as many to race, is a half-sister to dual Grade III winner Rich In Spirit (Repriced), in turn the dam of GSW & GISP Wishing Gate (Indian Charlie) and granddam of SW and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Summering (War Front). The winning ticket was signed by John Di Scola.

A pair of offerings tied for second-dearest lot on bids of C$82,000. Hip 119, a Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales-consigned daughter of Lane’s End’s Mr Speaker from the family of Queen’s Plate and Sovereign Award winner Woodcarver (Woodman) was hammered down to Jim Menzies, while hip 136, a Langfuhr full-brother to SP Sweet Crimson and close relative to SW Will She (Wando) and MSP Sweet Grass Creek (Wando) was sold to Derek Chin, also from the Hill ‘n’ Dale draft.

A filly by Noble Mission (GB), who is a half-sister to SW Always Inthe Munny (Munnings), was led out unsold on a bid of C$100,000.

CTHS reported sales on 142 horses from 197 through the ring (27.9% RNA) and turnover of C$2,795,300. The average was C$19,685 with a median price of C$14,000. In 2019, a total of 157 horses were sold for C$3,381,400, an average of C$21,358 and a median of C$13,000. The buyback rate was 35.9%.

Click here for full results.

The post Old Forester Colt Tops CTHS Canadian Premier Yearling Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Wednesday's auction saw 142 horses sold for revenues of $2,795,300 (Canadian), down 17 percent from last year's renewal when 157 yearlings brought $3,381,400.

The average sale price fell 8 percent to $19,685 from $21,538. However, the median price rose 11 percent on Wednesday to $14,500 after finishing at $13,000 in 2019. The buyback rate finished at 28 percent, compared with 36 percent last year.

John Di Scola purchased Wednesday's sale-topper, an Old Forester colt, for $90,000 (Canadian).

The chestnut colt, offered as Hip 15, is out of the stakes-placed Smarty Jones mare Holidaysatthefarm, who is the dam of three winners from as many runners. Bred in Ontario by Whitford Bloodstock, the colt hails from the family of Grade 2 winner Wishing Gate and Grade 3 winner Rich in Spirit.

Cara Bloodstock consigned the sale-topper, as agent.

Two horses tied for the day's second-highest price, each bringing $82,000 (Canadian).

Hip 119, a Mr Speaker filly, went Jim Menzies. The bay filly is the first foal out of the unraced Proud Citizen mare She Stands Proud, from the family Canadian champion Woodcarver and Grade 3 winners Grand Bili and Firm Dancer.

The filly was bred in Ontario by Gustav Schickedanz, and she was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, agent.

Schickedanz and Hill 'n' Dale were also responsible for the other half of the second-highest price, Hip 136, a Langfuhr colt named Langstaff Road who sold to Derek Chin.

Langstaff Road is out of the stakes-placed City Zip mare Sweet Bama Breeze, whose four foals to race are all winners. He is a half-brother to stakes winner Will She and stakes-placed Sweet Grass Creek, and he is a full-sibling to stakes-placed Sweet Crimson and winner Wandofuhr.

To view the auction's full results, click here.

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