Tag: Connections

Maddy Olver has spent most of her adult life beating the sunrise to the backstretch. To the young horsewoman in the pre-dawn twilight, it all felt necessary. Some dreams were worth sacrificing for, and becoming an apprentice jockey this winter made it all worthwhile.

“At the beginning, I wasn't sure what it would look like, I wasn't sure necessarily if I would be able to,” Olver said. “I wasn't sure where I would go or how long it would last. There were a lot of question marks, but I just knew it was something I at least deserved the chance to try to do.”

In her first months as a jockey, Olver has earned 10 wins at Aqueduct Racetrack, an impressive achievement for the 23-year-old on such a competitive circuit. The statistic does not come close to telling the full story, however, as Olver's success this winter was only made possible by years of work seen by almost no one.

When people think of riding racehorses, they conjure images of championship glory under a setting sun at events like the Kentucky Derby or Breeders' Cup. But this is only the reality for a select few, and to get there, riders must first earn their silks riding in early-morning workouts. Some never make it to the races.

Before she ever entered the winner's circle among the afternoon crowds, Olver first had to impress salty horsemen in front of empty grandstands. These connections have the power to make or break a rider's career.

“I'm not from a racing family,” Olver said. “All the support that I have comes from people who don't owe me anything. They're just doing it because they want to see me succeed.”

Olver, a Colorado native, rode horses from an early age, but her experience in racing was extremely limited before she traveled to France in 2017. Fresh out of high school, she worked as an exercise rider for trainer Gina Rarick and quickly fell in love with the sport. Two years later, she accepted a position in the U.S. for champion trainer Christophe Clement. Without any preexisting connections in the sport, she couldn't have asked for a better place to start in her stateside return.

While working for Clement in 2021, a bond with trepidatious 2-year-old filly Derrynane came to define Olver's body of work as an exercise rider. She quickly developed a reputation for profound care and understanding in the saddle during training. Derrynane went on to finish fourth in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint under jockey Joel Rosario.

“Derrynane was a little bit of an anxious filly with plenty of talent and speed,” Clement said. “Maddy kept the filly going without boiling over, without going the wrong way mentally. She was not an easy filly to train … even if she was anxious, she was always manageable with Maddy.”

Though Olver began working in New York through Clement's stable, it didn't take long for her to accept other training assignments after receiving her jockey's license. In fact, her work for smaller stables was what eventually led her to racing opportunities through jockey agent Joe Migliore.

Migliore, son of retired rider Richard Migliore and agent to several respected riders on the New York circuit, began delivering a different kind of sales pitch to convince trainers to give Olver a chance going into the 2022-23 season at Aqueduct.

“Advertise them as young, hungry, learning, improving,” Migliore said. “It's a much different pitch than a veteran rider for sure.”

It all started with Flattering Gal, a struggling filly trained by up-and-comer Orlando Noda. She was no Derrynane, displaying very little in her first two career starts on dirt, but had responded well to Olver in the morning. Noda was willing to take a chance when Migliore came calling. Olver noted that she was simply “trying to survive” in that first race on Nov. 12, but when a gap opened on the rail, she took full advantage and finished third at 31-1 odds.

“She got along good with the horse, and from there on out, she just kept coming back and working horses for me,” Noda said. “Whenever I have a shot, I always try to use the bug weight, and she has good work ethic in the mornings and whatever we ask her to do in the race, that's what she tries to do.”

For nearly a month, Olver toiled away, playing the part of hungry apprentice to perfection with a handful of mounts each week. She earned solid finishes in low-level races but her first win proved elusive. Fortunately for her, trainer Tom Morley was willing to try anything for his horse, Curbstone.

To Morley, a keen-eyed trainer from the United Kingdom, Curbstone was a turf runner based on his appearance and pedigree. But his instincts weren't serving the horse well.

The 3-year-old gelding's first race for Morley's stable on Nov. 19 was a disaster, a 38 ½-length defeat in an allowance race on the Aqueduct turf. Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano rode Curbstone that day and told Morley afterward that he simply didn't seem interested in racing. Something had to change, even if it meant taking risks.

For his next start on Dec. 9, Morley entered Curbstone in a $40,000 claiming race at 1 ⅛ miles on dirt. In addition to the surface change, it was also the first time the gelding raced for a price tag. At an uncertain time for the underachieving gelding, it only made sense to let him compete with less weight and his regular exercise rider. Olver got the mount.

“Honestly, my expectations were very low,” Morley said. “I was just hoping we could reignite this horse's love of racing, and we certainly seemed to do that … I can't remember the last time I smiled as wide a smile after a [claiming race].”

When Curbstone romped home to win by six lengths that day, it was impossible to nail down the exact cause. One thing was undeniable — Olver had done something right to earn her first win as a jockey. She rode Curbstone again on Jan. 28 and won even more impressively by 12 ¼ lengths.

Such commanding victories will certainly raise Olver's stock going forward, but despite all her success at Aqueduct this winter, she will not be able to stay in New York much longer. In the spring, some of the best jockeys in the country return to the circuit and form one of the strongest rider colonies in the world. Any race at Belmont Park or Saratoga Race Course can include 10 jockeys destined for the Hall of Fame. Many younger riders simply can't compete for opportunities.

With the colony returning to New York, Olver will begin looking for mounts at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. It's a common move for New York riders pushed to the fringe — for one reason or another.

Olver's identity as a woman in racing is still a rarity despite a growing movement over the last three decades. Talented female riders like Julie Krone and Rosie Napravanik have been present in the sport for some time, but Olver still finds that women in the industry have to work harder to receive the same opportunities.

“I think it still impacts any woman exercise rider or jockey now,” Olver said. “I think that if they have the opportunity to use a girl or a guy, they're going to choose a guy. They naturally might be a little bit stronger, and people know that and they're going to want, in their opinion, the strongest rider on a horse.”

Though many men in the sport have been willing to give Olver chances on the track, it's no coincidence that the young rider's career has quietly been propelled by women as well.

She received her first exercise riding job in France from Rarick, a female trainer. Noda, who gave her her first mount as a jockey, considers his wife, Melani Cruz, to be an integral member of his operation and appreciates women's abilities in the sport. Morley was hired to train Curbstone by owner Patricia Moseley, who also had to approve her trainer's choice of jockey. After winning her first race, Olver was interviewed by NYRA broadcast analyst Maggie Wolfendale, Morley's wife.

In between races at Aqueduct, Olver spent time learning from fellow jockeys Jackie and Katie Davis, daughters of trainer Robbie Davis, in a locker room specifically for women. The latter Davis sister is married to jockey Trevor McCarthy, another client of Migliore's. It's an insulated industry, and may not be without prejudice or preconceived notions, but Olver has managed to form a highly supportive network.

“Maddy is a jockey in my mind,” Morley said, his emphatic tone conveying more than the words themselves. “She's not a lady jockey but an apprentice jockey. She rides every bit as well as the apprentice boys, and the fact that she's a lady bug rider never played into my mind at all. I've watched the horses respond to her in the morning and they were obviously doing so again in the afternoon.”

At some point, Olver will shed her weight advantage as she continues to rack up wins. She will have to accept low-level opportunities at tracks further down the East Coast with the intent to someday return to New York full-time. It could be a long road.

Her life as a jockey has just begun, but after earning the respect of seasoned professionals in one of racing's most competitive locales, challenges thus far have had a way of shrinking before Olver. She focuses on the joy of riding and a love of the work. Clement's concise praise of his former rider could carry her further than any natural talent.

“We very much liked, altogether, her outlook on life and outlook on the job,” Clement said. “Basically, to make a long story short, she's just a good person. It's very refreshing when you work with good people.”

Patrick Moquin is a freelance journalist from Oceanside, New York. He is currently studying at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where he will receive a master's degree in 2024. He graduated from Fordham University in 2022.

As a Long Island native, Patrick has spent many spring and fall weekends at Belmont Racetrack, enduring a moderate horse allergy for his favorite pastime. He is also an avid New York Mets fan and struggling chess player, completing a trifecta of occasionally heartbreaking life choices.

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Six years after stepping away from his dual Hall of Fame father's stable, trainer Norm Casse will have his first starter in an American classic race. Southlawn, winner of the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, will stamp the 39-year-old's name in the program for this year's Kentucky Oaks.

“This is a filly that we liked last year; we thought she was a Breeders' Cup type filly and it just didn't pan out, but she's good now,” Casse said. “I was with my dad in Ocala and I said, 'Wouldn't it be something if we had two of the favorites for the Kentucky Oaks?' He's got Wonder Wheel (champion juvenile filly), I've got Southlawn: we will sort it out on the track!”

That friendly rivalry notwithstanding, Southlawn represents another strong connection to Casse's time as his father's top assistant. The 3-year-old daughter of Pioneerof the Nile is owned by longtime Thoroughbred enthusiast Robert Masterson; Masterson also owned two-time Eclipse Award winner Tepin, the mare whose career gave the younger Casse the boost he needed to step out on his own.

Casse was with Tepin pretty much every step of the way, overseeing her day-to-day care and training throughout a career that saw the mare win Grade/Group 1 races around the world, from Royal Ascot's Queen Anne to the Woodbine Mile and the Breeders' Cup Mile.

“She was the horse that really kind of gave me the confidence that I knew what I was doing,” Casse said. “We knew she was special from day one, but it took us a little bit of time before we figured out what she wanted to be, and that was a turf miler. Managing a horse like that, taking on the world's best, and winning, it makes you start believing in yourself as well.

“I always had intentions of going out on my own, and maybe I would have rather done it earlier, but I would have failed. Once Tepin's career was over, it was time to move on because we weren't going to do anything more impressive than that.”

Masterson's support in the earliest days of his training career means the world to Casse.

“He was the only guy at the beginning that sent me horses,” Casse explained. “He had a few years of bad luck, we just didn't do well and they weren't what we thought they were. I appreciate the fact that Robert stuck with me. He's been around the game for a long time, and he never lost confidence in me. It's very very special to have this horse in this race for him.”

Looking ahead to walking around Churchill Downs' clubhouse turn on Kentucky Oaks day, alongside a horse with a real chance, Casse reflected that it wasn't necessarily the career path he saw for himself as a child. 

Though his father was heavily involved in racing, as well as his grandfather, Casse didn't start out enjoying the sport.

“I grew up resenting horse racing a little bit,” he told Blood-Horse in 2021. “My dad and my mother divorced when my brother and I were very young, and I didn't get to see dad a lot. When I did go to see dad during the summers, we'd have to go to the races and be in the barn all day. Being a little kid, there was a lot of resentment there.”

Casse focused on sports, specifically, baseball. He even played a year at the college level, but in 2004, a New York-bred named Smarty Jones took on the world in Casse's hometown of Louisville, Ky.

“Everything changed for me when Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby,” he recalled. “From that day forward I decided I wanted to be a horse trainer on my own one day. It was not because I was forced into it with my family, it's because I had that passion. I had been to every Kentucky Derby since 1996, I don't know what it was about Smarty Jones, maybe it was his story or his undefeated record and I also love his trainer. The energy at Churchill that day – I don't know how to describe it, but it transformed me, I know that.”

It took a few years for Casse to own up to that dream with his father, but his father embraced it readily and set to work. Casse said he really began to develop as an assistant and trainer from about 2013 to 2016. When Tepin retired, Casse knew it was time.

It still took time to develop his own program, however, shifting away from being seen as his father's assistant to a very good trainer in his own right.

“I think everything worked out the way it should,” Casse said. “At first people were just giving me project horses, horses the bigger barns didn't think much of, so it wasn't easy. But I needed those lean years when I started to become a better trainer. When I was working for dad, he was feeding me his best horses. That meant that I didn't work with lesser-caliber horses. Now I'm on my own and that's who I ended up with. I became a better trainer by working with them.”

Casse earned his first career win with Tiznoble on May 10, 2018, at Churchill Downs. He picked up his first graded stakes win on June 15, 2019, when Hard Legacy captured the G3 Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Six years into his solo career, Casse has trained four individual graded stakes winners and a total of 138 winners, and his statistics are continuing to trend in the right direction. During the first three months of this year, Casse has saddled the winners of 16 races, already approaching nearly double his number of winners from 2022.

One of his biggest success stories has been the filly Super Quick. It took the Whitney homebred six starts to break her maiden, but she would go on to win a Grade 3 stakes for Casse's team.

“Up to this point she's been one of my best horses,” he said. “Again, she was naturally gifted in the morning, but we ran her a few times and she disappointed us sprinting. It turns out she really likes a route. I really feel like, in my dad's barn, we wouldn't have given her the same opportunities or found the same success.” 

“I feel very confident in what we do and in my team,” Casse continued. “Now I can tell just from going down the barn and looking at the horses that we have, there's a difference in quality. Southlawn is near the top, of course; I always have known what to do with a horse like her!”

Like Tepin, Southlawn was sourced by bloodstock agent Deuce Greathouse. The dual champion mare was bought for $140,000 at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton August Sale, while Southlawn commanded a final bid of $290,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale.

Southlawn won at second asking, then finished a disappointing seventh in the G2 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs. That effort led Casse to try the filly on the grass.

Despite continuing to train well, Southlawn's two turf starts resulted in a ninth and fifth-place finish.

“We always thought she was good,” Casse said. “I don't believe in morning glories. If a horse is showing you talent in the mornings, but it's not coming across in the afternoon, you just haven't figured them out yet.

“After her last start on the grass that was another disappointment, jockey Tyler Gaffalione said she was displacing badly. We already knew we were going to give her the winter off, so we got her to Fair Grounds immediately and had a myectomy performed.”

Dorsal displacement of the soft palate can severely inhibit a horse's ability to breathe properly, and thus their desire to run. A sternothyrohyoideus myectomy is a fairly non-invasive procedure which can be performed in the horse's stall while standing. It removes a portion of muscle behind the jaw bone, and carries about a 65 percent success rate of resolving displacement, according to Texas A&M.

“She's basically undefeated since then,” said Casse. “We have always thought that she was a serious racehorse, but something was holding her back, and we think that's what it was.”

When Southlawn began to appear ready for a race, however, the Fair Grounds wasn't carding very many races on the turf. 

“Sometimes you're more lucky than good,” Casse quipped. “Instead of waiting another month to run her, we decided she was ready to go and entered her on the dirt. It was obvious what to do from there.”

Southlawn won her first start after the throat procedure by eight lengths, and returned to win the G2 Fair Grounds Oaks in her next start by 3 ¼ lengths, defeating a pair of heavy favorites at 8-1 odds.

Now, the filly has returned to Churchill Downs with the rest of Casse's 30-strong string, and she's settling in to prepare for a tilt at the lilies. Though his father will likely have Eclipse Award winner Wonder Wheel targeting the same race, Casse is confident in Southlawn's chances.

“I think we have a very good shot of winning,” he stated boldly. “It's a wide open race, and though I know it doesn't look like it on her past performances, she loves Churchill Downs. I know the mile and an eighth will suit her just fine. She just gives me a lot of confidence.”

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Fans tuning in to Sunday's Sunland Park Derby card may be surprised by the appearance of jockey Felipe Valdez' name in the program. With a mount in seven of the day's 11 races, the 43-year-old Valdez is in the midst of a comeback he truly never saw coming.

Plagued by injuries throughout his career, including a broken back that initially left him unable to walk and kept him out of the saddle for 3 ½ years, Valdez was finally forced to announce his retirement from the saddle in 2017. He hadn't ridden since March of 2016 at Santa Anita, when a fall broke his collarbone for the second time in five months and left him with damage to his right arm.

“All the pain I have is horrible and is not getting any better,” Valdez said in 2017. “I cannot keep living my life thinking I will be back.”

It took 13 surgeries and nearly seven years away from the racetrack, but Valdez did recover from his injuries. In December of 2022, he reached out to New Mexico-based trainer Todd Fincher with hopes of getting back to working with horses.

“I never thought I was gonna ride again; I was reaching out to gallop or work with horses,” Valdez explained. “He said, 'If you want to work, come down to New Mexico and I'll give you an opportunity.' He started putting me on horses to gallop in the mornings, and then he put me on my first horses in the afternoon. 

“The first day I came back, I won my first race after seven years (a Jan. 1 maiden special weight at Sunland aboard Fincher trainee Still In The Trap). It was very emotional, and I was very happy; I never thought that would happen again in my life.

“I'm gonna be very thankful for the rest of my life to this man, because I don't think anybody would do what he did. To give me the trust to ride good horses, you are just not going to find that with many people.”

Valdez had won a race for Fincher at Del Mar in 2015, so he was familiar with the trainer and was wanting to ride anywhere except California, the site of some of his worst injuries. 

Fincher, a long-time leading trainer in the Southwest region, said he granted Valdez a chance for several reasons.

“Well, everybody deserves an opportunity, don't they?” the trainer mused. “It wasn't just because of him. We kind of have a shortage of jockeys around here, so I thought if it works out, then it does. He's worked hard for it and he's earned it.”

A native of Mexico City, Valdez took out his license as an apprentice in 1997. He captured the riding title at Portland Meadows in 2001 and was among the top jockeys at Hastings Racecourse for several seasons before shifting his tack to Southern California.

The wreck at Hollywood Park that left Valdez with two fractured vertebrae occurred on Dec. 3, 2010. He spent a year between a wheelchair and a walker, wrestling with whether or not to agree to a specialized surgery with a 50 percent success rate. Even with the surgery, doctors warned Valdez he'd never ride again.

With a successful operation to implant pins in his spine, Valdez underwent extensive physical therapy and made it back to the winner's circle in April of 2014 at Emerald Downs. It was an emotional triumph, to be sure, but it came with plenty of warnings from his doctors.

A year and a half later, Valdez suffered a broken collarbone, fractured ribs, and a pinched lung in a fall at Los Alamitos. A second fall just five months later broke the collarbone again and damaged ligaments in his right arm. 

Once more, doctors were unconvinced Valdez would ever return to the races, and Valdez subsequently announced his retirement.

“I had had four or five surgeries then, and it was hell,” Valdez said. “I was in pain 24/7, I was not getting any better, and nothing was working.”

“In one moment of my life, I thought that I was lost,” he admitted. “I lost my health, my job, everything.”

There were several friends who kept Valdez from giving in to his injuries, among them Hector Palma, Luis Acosta, and an attorney named John.

“They supported me all the way, let me borrow money when the insurance wouldn't pay for one of my surgeries, and always gave me good hope that everything was going to get better,” said Valdez. “They showed me that nothing is going to last forever. Horses get injured, but with time, they get better, and humans are the same way.”

Eventually, after 13 surgeries with little improvement, Valdez decided to try something different.

“I stopped taking medications and just let my body heal, just gave it the time,” he said. “Now, I don't even take Tylenol or anything.”

Valdez also credits both his family and his dogs with helping his return to health.

“My daughters, especially my youngest, were always asking me when I was going to go back riding,” he explained. “I also got into the habit of going hiking every day with my dogs. They're like my second kids, and every day they would go to the door and bark and go crazy to go hiking, so every day we'd go four or five miles, even if I had to go slow.”

Valdez began supplementing his physical therapy routines with time on a mechanical exercise horse, and eventually felt strong enough to reach out to Fincher.

With 15 winners since his return to riding, including two stakes races, Valdez has a lot to be proud of. While he doesn't have a mount in the marquee race on Sunday's card, he has been tabbed to ride several morning-line favorites and feels good about his chances. 

Recently Valdez heard the story about New Mexico-based racing analyst Julie Farr's son, Bryce Bordieu, who lost his leg after an injury suffered when a horse flipped over on him during morning training hours at a training center. 

“It caught my eye because I went through something similar when I injured my back,” Valdez said. “I had an issue with one insurance company to cover my surgery, so I know how hard it can be. I don't really know him, but he's so brave, this kid. He's very passionate about life, knowing that he lost his leg but trying to be strong and live a normal life.

“I'm going to donate five percent of my earnings on Sunland Derby day to them so that he can get the prosthetic he needs. Hopefully I can help this guy and his family.”

Long-term, Valdez wants to stay healthy enough to ride a few more years. 

“I wish to be healthy, just to ride until I'm 50,” he said. “And, If I'm lucky, to be the leading rider here once before then!” 

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Leslie Amestoy walked away from the OBS auction ring when bidding rose above $180,000. That was the budget she and her husband, Pierre, had considered for the son of Practical Joke, after all.

Minutes later, Pierre Amestoy returned to the table and showed his wife the sales ticket: he'd bought the colt for a final bid of $230,000.

“She was so happy we got him,” Pierre said, “but then she asked me, 'Do you think that was the right move?'”

Pierre paused.

Then his wife said: “Hey, that's his name! Practical Move.”

Fast forward to 11 months after the sale, and it becomes obvious that going above their expected price tag for the colt was a very “practical move” for the Amestoys. The colt won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December to close out his juvenile season, and in his 3-year-old debut, Practical Move proved his mettle with a 2 ½-length win in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita.

In total, Practical Move has won three of his six career starts for earnings of $434,200, and in so doing, has likely earned himself a spot in the 2023 edition of the Kentucky Derby.

“This was our dream,” Leslie said after the San Felipe. “It's been our dream for years and we love the colt; we are so happy and we really think we have a great horse.”

Looking back at that experience in Ocala, Pierre explained his reasoning for continuing to bid on the colt after his wife had given up.

“It was our first trip to Ocala,” he said. “We spent a week there, and we saw so many horses, hundreds of horses. Actually, we found him the very first day, and we just kept coming back to him. He had all the pieces we were looking for: a speed sire, a distance dam, he had to be able to carry the scope through his size and length, and he had to work fast. As we went through the progression, he wowed us for such a big colt to have the turn of foot that he showed in his work (:10 ⅕).

“You know, we've bought a lot of horses through the years at Keeneland, Ruidoso, the California sales, so we're well-versed in the process. Sometimes there's an educated risk to take, and that's what we did.”

The Amestoys are not new to the horse racing industry. They have owned, bred, and raced both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses for multiple decades, but their primary success has come near their hometown of Albuquerque, N.M.

In the 1970s, Pierre followed his father and brothers around the racing circuit in New Mexico. The patriarch led his family of six children to enjoy horse racing: two of Pierre's brothers became successful trainers, while another became a jockey.

In 1975, after his father sold the family drywall business, Pierre was asked to come to the racetrack as an agent for a couple friends who were jockeys.

“I didn't know what a condition book was,” Pierre admitted. “I got there very green, and I didn't know what to expect, but I started off with two jockeys who were well-known and well-received. I was quickly accepted by the trainers and the racing office, and I learned fast. I was fortunate to have a good stable of jockeys through the next 12 years, and we won multiple leading rider titles around New Mexico.”

Among the riders Pierre represented were Kent Koyle, Steve Renteria, Flavio Martinez, Rick Houghton, and Louie Figueroa, among others.
In 1979, Pierre met his future wife at Turf Paradise. Leslie, also a native of Albuquerque, was a national champion hunter/jumper at age 17, but had switched to racehorses after high school.

When the New Mexico racing industry began to decline, the couple moved away from the racetrack in 1988, resuming work in the construction business with Pierre's father. Both found that they missed that day-to-day connection with horses.

Pierre and Leslie bought Lobo Farm in Paris, Ky., in 2000, breeding mares, pinhooking yearlings, and reconnecting with the animals they loved. Unfortunately, the recession forced the sale of the farm in 2010.

Racinos had come to New Mexico in the meantime, so purses and, thus, the entire state's horse racing industry were on the upswing. The Amestoys had already begun running a lot more New Mexico-breds, both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, and enjoyed quite a bit of success.

Perhaps the most recognizable name was that of First Moonflash. Pierre purchased the Quarter Horse as a yearling for $55,000 in 2006, and he would go on to win 18 of 25, including seven Grade 1 races, and earn just shy of $1 million.

In 2008, First Moonflash set his first world record when he went 400 yards at Sunland Park in 18.735 seconds.

First Moonflash set three more world records at Sunland Park in 2009: 350 yards in 16.715 seconds; 440 yards in 20.685 seconds; and 440 yards in 20.274 seconds, breaking his own previous world record. That same year, First Moonflash set a new track record at Albuquerque for 440 yards in :20.979 seconds.

At stud, First Moonflash's first crop produced the winner of the $2.6 million All American Futurity (G1), Handsome Jack Flash.

However, it was a cross on a Thoroughbred mare that would eventually lead the Amestoys into the world of high-class Thoroughbred racing. Roger Beasley owned a Southern Halo mare named Mi Camila. A foal-sharing agreement with the Amestoys led to a 2016 gelding by First Moonflash named Freedom Flash, who would go on to win a Grade 2 and become an 870-yard specialist, earning $417,301 thus far. A full sister was born in 2017, Mi Moonflash, who has collected multiple stakes wins and a Grade 3 placing for earnings of $315,357.

“We have a great relationship with Roger,” Pierre said. “He called me last February and said, 'Let's go get a couple of Thoroughbreds, something for the big races.' That led to the trip to Ocala.”

That trip actually led to the purchase of four 2-year-olds. Along with Practical Move, the Amestoys and Beasley partnered on a colt by Valiant Minister and a filly by Girvin.

In fact, the Girvin filly, named Blessed Touch, also turned in a big performance on the same weekend Practical Move won the San Felipe. She finished third in the G3 Santa Ysabel Stakes, earning 15 points toward the Kentucky Oaks.

The Amestoys also partnered with longtime friend Mike Abraham at that Ocala sale, buying a colt by Munnings. While Neiman has yet to start, it was the connection with Abraham that led the Amestoys to trainer Tim Yakteen.

“I asked Mike, 'Who do you know in California that doesn't have 150 or 200 head, somebody hands-on?'” Amestoy recalled. “He knew Tim, but called Jaime Gomez (a Quarter Horse trainer at Los Alamitos), and Gomez recommended Tim as well. This was before he kind of came to the forefront with the Baffert horses last year.

“He is a hands-on trainer, always watching and clocking all his own horses. He's also as good a guy as you can meet: he's trustworthy, honest, and he communicates with us.”

Pierre decided to send Practical Move and Blessed Touch to Yakteen, and the trainer has worked to develop them into promising racehorses.

“The first couple of races, (Practical Move) was green and didn't know how to switch leads,” Pierre said. “Tim has brought him along perfectly and has taught him, and now he's finishing like we expected he could finish.”

After the Los Alamitos Futurity win, Yakteen gave Practical Move a 30-day break during which the colt matured and put on weight. Heading into the San Felipe, Yakteen was very confident.

“He was getting better and better, and Tim's confidence before the race rubbed off on us,” Pierre said. “We thought we had a good enough horse to win it; it was just whether we got a good trip or not!”

Meeting jockey Ramon Vazquez for the first time in the paddock, the former jockey agent had just a few words of advice before the San Felipe.

“I said, 'Get him up close enough that you're not gonna get in trouble, and come out of that turn with a free run,'” Pierre remembered. “It couldn't have worked out any better, and Ramon is confident in him now.”

“He is a phenomenally gifted horse,” Yakteen said after the San Felipe. “I am amazed at how strong he is and how he has matured from a 2-year-old to a 3-year-old. Everything has fallen into place.”

The plan now calls for Practical Move to start in the Santa Anita Derby on April 8 before heading to Kentucky.

“We think we have enough points to get to Kentucky already,” Pierre said. “Leslie is busy finding an AirBnB, because we have lots of family and friends that want to come!”

Pierre hasn't attended the Kentucky Derby before, though he's been to Churchill Downs for the Breeders' Cup a couple times. Leslie did attend one Derby with a friend, but now the couple will get to show up as Derby owners.

“We've won a lot of races in New Mexico, had a couple of Quarter Horse champions, but he is the biggest thing we've got going,” Pierre said. “We are super excited, and we think he's that kind. We are ready to go all the way.”

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