Tag: Connections

Trainer Larry Demeritte's dream has always been to make it to the Kentucky Derby, and he's now one step closer after 2-year-old colt West Saratoga (Exaggerator) won Saturday's Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes beneath the Twin Spires.

“When I was growing up in the Bahamas, I always watched the Kentucky Derby, and I said, 'In order to win the Kentucky Derby, I need to be in Kentucky,' so I came over here as a very young man,” Demeritte said. 

That was 47 years ago. 

While the first Saturday in May is still a long way off, the dream feels a lot closer than it did in 2017, when Demeritte was given six months to live.

Diagnosed with multiple myeloma (bone cancer) and a disease called amyloidosis, which causes the body to make abnormal proteins, Demeritte has been undergoing chemotherapy once a month for 6 ½ years.

“You know, I can't focus on what's going on with these frail bodies we have,” said Demeritte. “I said a prayer last week. I said, 'Lord, you always bless everybody, so I got to come over here and I thank you for it. Even if I don't achieve the goal of going to the Kentucky Derby, I can live with that, but that's the desire of my heart.' Because I know that if you do His will, He will bless you with the desire of your heart.

“Life is like bumps in the road. Sometimes you hit some bumps, and sometimes it smooths out for you. That happened today for us, and I'm grateful.”

Of course, Demeritte knows he has to do his part, as well. For example, this colt's purchase for $11,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling sale is the result of years of practice at selecting horses other people may have overlooked.

He's had has some successes: Lady Glamour was a $1,000 yearling who would earn a graded stakes placing and $126,170 on the track before selling in foal to Not This Time for $115,000; Daring Pegasus was a $3,000 yearling who earned $122,092 in Demeritte's name (and $212,518 overall); She's That Cat was a $12,000 yearling who became stakes placed and earned $101,020 in Demeritte's care (and $334,729 overall).

“I go to the sales every year and we don't buy a lot of horses, but we try to get horses that are gonna be racehorses,” Demeritte said. “My motto is I buy a good horse cheap. I don't buy cheap horses.

“I try to look for horses that I think will stand up to the way I train a horse. And you know, if a horse has more than one defect, because they all have a defect, it's about what you can live with. This horse is really balanced and he had a good throat.”

Those bargain successes are a big source of pride for the Bahamian native.

“It's so cool, because I always said when I came here, I was the only farm manager who was Black in Kentucky,” said Demeritte. “I like upsetting the cart, because that's this game. You never know who could come up with a good horse, but you have to keep at it. You've got to keep working, so I am really excited for that.”

So, although it took West Saratoga five starts to break his maiden, a few more than Demeritte thought would be necessary, the trainer never felt overly concerned.

He has a lot of experience training 2-year-olds; in the Bahamas, before Demeritte made the move to the United States, he trained the country's champion 2-year-old three years in a row.

“[West Saratoga] would have broken his maiden earlier, but we had the number one post four times in a row,” Demeritte explained. “It's pretty tough going five-eighths, to come out of the one hole, you know. We never wanted to treat him like a sprinter, because he always seemed like he wanted to stretch out, so we didn't want to really pressure him to go really hard from the break.”

Nonetheless, West Saratoga ran three seconds, two at five furlongs and one at seven furlongs, before finally making it to the winner's circle when stretched out to a mile at Ellis Park. 

The progression is reminiscent of something Demeritte learned from his father, also a trainer in the Bahamas.

“My dad was a very, very good conditioner of a horse, so I learned that from him: how to feed a horse, and really condition a horse,” said Demeritte. “The only thing is that I understand there's a peak to every horse, and he would always try to get a little more out of every horse. I learned that if you try to get more than that peak, then it slides over the other side. Now, I understand how to know what I have in the horse, and how to keep them at their peak.”

From his base at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Demeritte watched as West Saratoga approached that peak. So even though the colt was the second-longest chance on the board at 12-1 in the Iroquois, Demeritte remained confident.

“I'd been telling [owner] Harry [Veruchi] all week that they'd have to run 1:36 to beat him, because I knew I had him set up to run that kind of time,” Demeritte said. 

West Saratoga was in fourth early on, then went five wide before digging in to pull away from his rivals to win by 1 ¾ lengths.

“I saw the early fractions, but the last part I didn't see, because I was rooting too hard,” he said, laughing. “He's a nice colt, and he's moved forward with every race. … We've had some good horses in the past, but none like this one.”

The next step will be a race like the Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland on Oct. 7, but West Saratoga is unlikely to make the trip out west for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park.

“I would really love to start him at Keeneland,” Demeritte said. “That's the right thing for the horse. A lot of the races that he had short were more like workouts, so I feel like that's the proper step, to run him here at Keeneland then give him a breather.”

Demeritte hasn't yet considered how he might plan a spring schedule for West Saratoga, the star of his nine-horse stable. Right now, he's enjoying the ride.

“Hopefully this ride lasts a long time!” he quipped. “Now, I've run a lot of horses on Derby day, practicing for the Kentucky Derby, so when the day comes I don't have to be nervous!”

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘Bumps In The Road’ Can’t Stop Demeritte’s Derby Dream appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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There's a spot near the rail at Woodbine where you'll find Ericka Rusnak on race day afternoons, a place at which her long-range camera allows her nearsighted eyes a clearer view of the action. 

Those well-worn footprints have seen their fair share of heartache, to be sure, but on Aug. 20, 2023, that is where the longtime horse enthusiast was standing when she achieved the pinnacle of Thoroughbred breeding dreams in Canada. A colt Rusnak foaled, one of just two she bred in 2020, won the $1 million King's Plate, first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.

“I remember watching the other horses come to him on the far turn, and thinking, 'He's gonna get swallowed up here,'” Rusnak said. “Then he just starts pulling away. I remember putting my camera down and just screaming for him, then thinking, 'Oh yeah, I should probably take pictures again!'

“I was crying before he even crossed the finish line. It is beyond belief, really. I kind of look back now, and surreal has become one of my favorite words. It's difficult to find appropriate words to describe not only that day but that moment, because nothing seems powerful enough.”

Rusnak, 44, has managed a 16-stall barn at Hill 'n Dale Farm for nearly 20 years. She was there in the dark hours of the morning to welcome Paramount Prince into the world on Feb. 26, 2020, nicknaming the colt “Maverick” for his rough and tumble personality.

“He was literally the toughest foal I have ever raised,” she admitted. “He just had so much personality growing up, and he was naughty! One of my friends, I have photos of her standing in a hole that he had dug in his paddock. We would fill it in, and he would dig it right out again! He'd break fence boards, chase his paddock friend. He had a sweet side to him, but he was aggressive for sure!”

“Maverick,” born in the age of the camera phone just before the pandemic shut down the outside world, grew up to the sound of the camera flashing in his direction. Prior to his King's Plate victory, Rusnak put together a video with highlights from his first 18 months of life. Among the highlights is a clip of the yearling playing with a stolen hose!

“I'm biased, of course, but he is also beautiful,” she said. “Even now, I follow and take photos of him. He's got a great big engine behind, and a tiny white heart on his neck!”

Rusnak can still recall a childhood ripe with adventurous forays across her aunt's pastures, seeking the company of a handful of Standardbred ex-racehorses and broodmares, as well as the many times her aggrieved parents would have to hunt down their disappeared daughter. 

Her father, a police officer, and her mother, a real estate agent, weren't quite sure what to do with the newfound horsey obsession. Finally, Rusnak's parents purchased her a riding lesson. That was all it took; she was hooked. 

Admittedly, Rusnak struggled to figure out exactly how to incorporate her love of horses into her life. At first she considered the veterinary profession, then she thought about becoming a police officer, but it was a co-op at a Standardbred farm that really sealed the deal. 

Always a hard worker, Rusnak was working in tobacco and at a grocery store at the same time as her employ at the Standardbred operation, all while a rowing coach attempted to convince her to point to the Olympics.

“Rowing was twice a day, every day, but the spark just wasn't there like it was for the horses,” said Rusnak. “They absolutely consumed me.”

In 2004, Rusnak heard that Hill 'n' Dale Farm was hiring.

“I even sort of remember what I was wearing that day, and going up to Glen Sikura's office, and vaguely the interview itself,” Rusnak said. “It was my first job working directly with Thoroughbreds, and he hired me to manage a 16-stall facility. There are mares and foals, sales yearlings, the occasional layup, etc. I'm basically a one-woman show, from wrapping, bandaging, feeding, cleaning, fixing tractors, and even cutting paddocks!

“Glen is more than a boss to me now; his whole family is extended family to me. I'm really fortunate to have such an amazing relationship with him and everyone here.”

Around the same time, Rusnak had purchased a Thoroughbred mare she'd hoped to make into a riding horse. A friend pointed out that the mare, Mood Swings, was a full sister to a stakes winner, and suggested Rusnak breed her.

The first foal, a filly later named Lovin the Mood, went to the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society yearling sale before going on to break her maiden at Woodbine.

From then on, Rusnak aimed to breed one or two of her own foals each year. 

Platinum Steel, the dam of “Maverick,” was a purchase from the 2017 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Rusnak had only bought mares from that particular sale twice before, and she found that everything she'd marked in her catalog was selling way beyond her budget.

“This particular mare, I saw her in the back ring, and I hadn't had her page marked,” said Rusnak. “Just like when you're betting horses, sometimes there's just something about a horse that grabs your attention. She was a chestnut with very little white, and she was a good size. She had a good pedigree, and was a half-sister to a lot of fillies. She fit my own system that's worked out before, so I thought, 'Maybe I can get her.'

“I was just trying to find out a bit more, and I saw that her half-brother Army Mule had won a race at that point. Twenty-five thousand was the absolute max of my budget, I wouldn't have bid again, but I got her. Then her page really improved!”

The Eddington mare was in foal to Kantharos at the sale, and arrived back to Hill 'n' Dale in Canada safe and sound.

“When I bought her, she was irritable and grumpy, so I nicknamed her 'Stella,'” Rusnak said. “She's changed so much in six years; she's a mint monster now, and if I call her out in the field, she comes running!”

Stella foaled a colt by Kantharos in 2018, and Rusnak admits she was perhaps a bit overeager with her aspirations after Army Mule's Grade 1 Carter win in April that year. 

“I was a bit too excited for my own good,” she said. “I thought I was gonna go to the 2-year-old in training sale, so I put a high reserve on him and bought him back out of our sale, then sent him to Kentucky to be prepped for the Keeneland 2-year-old sale. Then COVID hit. I don't have deep pockets, and I  had gone beyond my budget, so I ended up scratching him and trying to race him. None of it panned out. He had setbacks as a 2-year-old, then as a 3-year-old, and finally he ran second as a 4-year-old. Now, one of my best friends has him as a riding horse and that's cool.”

Rusnak opted to send both Platinum Steel and her only other mare, Stormin Wife, to Society's Chairman in 2019. 

“I've always liked the stallion,” Rusnak said. “He doesn't have a lot of mares compared to some stallions in Ontario, and despite that his success has been really impressive. I liked the cross, and I was trying to get to Northern Dancer, just having seen what she'd been bred to and what the foals look like.”

Sadly, Stormin Wife passed away the day after foaling her 2020 filly by Society's Chairman. After that, Rusnak opted to send Platinum Steel to a different stallion, opting for Souper Speedy the next two years and then Silent Name.

She also decided to finally take advantage of the foaling facilities at another barn on the Hill 'n' Dale property.

“I've lost a few to foaling difficulties before, and it's just such a tough business,” Rusnak said. “Foaling my own, it's exhausting. It's a bit unpredictable, because the mares will often give you a lot of signs, but sometimes they won't. I'm a notorious worrier, and I've had some bad luck, so I would lose sleep for weeks around foaling because I would just start to doubt myself.

“I finally said, 'Why am I doing this to myself?' Now, they foal them out at the main farm, so I still get to go and watch, but it's not nearly as taxing. Other than that, I bring them back right away, and I spend all my time with them!”

Rusnak also still owns a daughter of Platinum Steel by Giant Gizmo. The filly, now named Just Imagine, wound up needing to be hospitalized for 10 days as a foal. 

“She's really lucky to be here,” said Rusnak. “It's pretty special with everything that she overcame, and she grew into a monstrous 17 hands. She's a beautiful mover, but I wasn't ever able to get her to the races. I decided I'd look out for her for the rest of her life. Now she's on lease and in foal as an embryo transfer mare, but I still own her. I might have to try to breed her myself; I never imagined I'd have another giant pedigree update like this!”

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