Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘This Filly Really Did Save My Little Brother’

When nothing was going according to plan and it seemed like everything around him was falling apart, Austin Thurman bought a racehorse. 

“This filly really did save my little brother,” explained his sister, Lizzie. “He'd always seen how the horses brought joy to my mom and dad. To us growing up, that's always what made them happy, and he saw 'Ellie' and just had to have her.

“You know how you have that horse, that one horse? This is his horse.”

When “Ellie,” racing under the registered name English, broke her maiden on Sept. 16 at Arlington Park with Lizzie in the saddle, Austin could barely contain his excitement. He was proud of the filly, of course, but it also felt like everything in his life was finally coming back together.

“I'm super lucky; blessed, I guess you could say,” said Austin, 22. “She's brought our whole family together. Lizzie's boyfriend helped break her, dad (co-owner Kelly) shoes her, mom (trainer Rhonda) rubs her down every day. 

“She's given us back that spark, and now I've got 17 horses here (at Fairmount Park). We've got mares in foal at the farm, young horses… Since she won, I've got another guy bringing us two more horses to train.”

Though the Thurman family has been involved in Illinois racing for over 30 years, Austin didn't grow up in the game. Instead, he spent the majority of his free time in high school working toward becoming an all-state wrestler, with dreams of earning a college scholarship.

That all changed when he broke his neck at age 16. Austin shattered his C6 and C7 vertebrae, and underwent surgery to place four screws and a spacer in his neck.

“It's crazy, but I'm able to ride the pony every day,” Austin said. “The doctors didn't even think I would be able to do that, but I only lost about 10 percent of my mobility.”

Nonetheless, his wrestling career was over. Austin made the best of his situation, and after recovering began flipping cars to pay for his first two years of college. He was studying for a finance degree and had gotten an internship working 38 hours a week for One Main Financial. 

It was a solid job, a good potential career, but Austin wasn't happy. 

“I was just miserable; it wasn't what I wanted to do,” he said. “When I was in class every day, I was thinking about what I could be doing when I got out of class.”

Austin had started helping his parents around the racetrack in his spare time. Since expanded gaming became legal in Illinois in 2019, the racing industry was beginning to show signs of hope and regrowth. His mother, Rhonda, then a full-time manager at WalMart, reinstated her trainer's license that year, and along with her husband began conditioning a couple horses at the family farm in Collinsville, Ill. 

Austin got more involved with the horses, and also helped a woman named Dawn Martin a few days each week. When Martin told Austin she wanted to sell a couple horses, everything clicked in his mind. He suddenly knew what he wanted.

“I had this week where everything wasn't going right with the job and school,” Austin said. “I dropped out of school, quit my job, and bought this filly. I just walked out, and didn't go back.

“I called my dad and asked if he wanted to look at some 2-year-olds Dawn had. English looked like Cox's Ferrara, a filly we had a long time ago. I knew that horse was a runner. We decided to sleep on it. At the time, the project vehicle I was working on was an old Chevy pickup. My dad was in on it with me, so the next day we sold the truck and then went and bought the horse. It all happened in the same week.”

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Austin and his father brought “Ellie” home to the farm, and set about starting the English Channel filly under saddle. Lizzie, who'd always wanted to be a jockey and had been working with the family racing stock every day since she was old enough to hold a pitchfork, was the first one on her back.

When Lizzie broke her leg at the track, her boyfriend Javier Diego stepped up to finish getting English ready to race. The filly made her debut at Keeneland in October, but wasn't quite ready mentally and finished at the rear of the field.

Undeterred, Austin and Lizzie worked with her over the winter. 

“Austin and I have always said that I'm gonna be the trainer and he's gonna be the owner,” said Lizzie, laughing. “We're best friends, like a year and a half apart. He's my little big brother. Everyone always thought we were twins.”

When they brought English back to the races in March of 2020, she rewarded their efforts with a second-place finish in a maiden special weight at Fairmount Park.

Then COVID-19 hit.

“The only places you could run were Will Rogers Downs or Fonner Park,” Austin recalled. “I hauled her down to Will Rogers a couple of times, and she ran well enough.”

Luck fell the wrong way again in the summer of 2020 when a barn fire at the Thurman farm killed three yearlings and destroyed multiple vehicles and most of their equipment. The racing stock was at Fairmount Park at the time, thankfully, but the fire was still a huge hit, both emotionally and financially.

Through the rest of the year, Austin hauled English around the Midwest to run her about once a month. She kept running well, hitting the board fairly often but never quite getting the job done.

“She's been pretty honest with me,” said Lizzie, who's piloted English for most of her starts. “She's always trying, and right there, but the racing gods were never with us.”

When 2021 rolled around, the Thurman family was fully invested in horse racing once again. They had mares in foal for the first time in years, and once again sent horses to Fairmount Park, now Fanduel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, with Austin at the helm as assistant trainer. 

Lizzie, meanwhile, took a job riding for trainer Steve Asmussen in Indiana along with her boyfriend. Still, every time English ran, Lizzie came back to meet her brother in the paddock wearing the family silks.

The Thurman family at Fairmount Park

The Thurmans got their first win since 2017 in August of 2021, when Rejoice an Be Glad hit the winner's circle at Fairmount, but Lizzie wasn't able to ride that day. When English followed suit about a month later at Arlington, getting it done in her 19th career start, Lizzie was in the saddle.

“It was my first win for Mom and Dad, and at Arlington,” Lizzie said. “I've won one other race there, but always wanted to win one for mom and dad there. It hit home a little more.”

Reflecting on that winner's circle moment, Austin could hardly contain his pride in his filly.

“Every time she runs, we thought she was going to win,” he said. “She'd been knocking on the door, but finally got it done. She's like my 1200-lb dog, and she just never quits trying for me.”

Lizzie echoed her brother's sentiments about English.

“She is a very sassy drama queen but we all love her,” she said. “It's funny because she's so full of herself, and it's just Austin's horse.

“She gave us that little bit of hope when we needed it, you know? She's a cool little filly.”

For Austin, English's win represents success beyond just the racetrack. He enjoys getting up in the mornings, spends all his free time at the barn with his horses, and is as hands-on as possible with 17 head under his care. He rides the pony to the track every day to watch his horses train, learning as much as possible from his parents along the way, and he truly can't imagine doing anything else with his life.

The Thurman family has since added another victory to their 2021 tally, building momentum for the future. Austin truly seems to have found his calling, thanks in large part to “Ellie.”

“You just can't make it up,” Austin said, laughing. “We're just the little guy with a few horses in Illinois, but we're in the winner's circle.”

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War Like Goddess Earns Breeders’ Cup Berth With Flower Bowl Win

In a longtime turf stakes race run at a new distance and a new venue, War Like Goddess got a new title: Grade 1 winner. The daughter of English Channel bided her time behind the front-running La Signare, waited for the final turn to make her move, and sprinted away to victory over Great Island and My Sister Nat in the 1 3/8-mile Flower Bowl at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Breaking from the third post, War Like Goddess got a clean start, settling in third behind La Signare and Great Island early. On the backstretch, Lovely Lucky took over third, leaving War Like Goddess six lengths behind the front-running La Signare, who set early fractions of :24.71 for the first quarter, :48.83 for the half-mile, and 1:13.66 for six furlongs. Entering the final turn, the lead was down to two lengths as Great Island started to challenge La Signare's lead going into the Saratoga straight. Julien Leparoux angled War Like Goddess out from the hedge on the turn, seeking a clear running lane in the race's final furlongs.

In the stretch, Great Island made the lead as War Like Goddess sprinted down the center of the track, passing Great Island to take the lead and win by two lengths. Great Island held off a surging My Sister Nat to finish second.

The final time for the 1 3/8-mile G1 Flower Bowl was 2:13.07 over a firm turf course.

The Flower Bowl is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. As a Win and You're In race for the Filly and Mare Turf, the winner earns a feed-paid guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the corresponding race at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, War Like Goddess is a 4-year-old filly out of the North Light mare Misty North. Owned by George Krikorian, the filly is trained by Bill Mott. With her win in the Flower Bowl, the filly has four wins in five starts, for a lifetime record of six wins in seven starts. Consigned by Hemingway Racing and Training Stables, War Like Goddess was purchased by H N D Bloodstock for $30,000 at the 2020 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Two-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age sale.

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War Like Goddess Rolls to Fourth Straight in Flower Bowl

The meteoric ascent of George Krikorian's War Like Goddess (English Channel) continued in Saturday's GI Flower Bowl S., contested at Saratoga for the first time and lengthened to 11 furlongs. Coincidentally, the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf will be contested over that exact trip the first weekend of November and with the victory, the 4-year-old has earned an all-expenses-paid trip to Del Mar, where she figures to take plenty of beating.

Four of the bay filly's prior starts had come at a mile and three furlongs and farther, as she graduated by a convincing 3 1/4 lengths at Churchill last October before getting some time off. A better-than-it-might-look fifth from after trying to make a run from last in the GIII The Very One S. at Gulfstream first off a four-month layoff Feb. 27, War Like Goddess came with a furious stretch rally to make the grade by a nose in the GIII Orchid S. in Hallandale Mar. 27. She handled the extra furlong of Keeneland's GIII Bewitch S. Apr. 23 with consummate ease, scoring by 3 3/4 lengths, and made this track's GII Glens Falls S. her third straight graded conquest with a 3 1/4-length defeat of My Sister Nat (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) Aug. 7.

La Signare (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) hit the ground running and set a reasonably strong pace for the distance as Great Island (Scat Daddy), extremely impressive in winning the GIII WinStar Matchmaker S. over nine panels at Monmouth July 17, was ridden much handier. War Like Goddess settled just behind midfield, with the white-capped My Sister Nat content to caboose the field. War Like Goddess, a bit headstrong through the lane for the first time settled much more kindly down the backstretch, but it was Joel Rosario who was first to play his hand, as he sent Great Island after her front-running stablemate, in an attempt to get first run on the heavy favorite. Great Island claimed La Signare in upper stretch, but Julien Leparoux had yet to move a muscle atop War Like Goddess, and the duo hit the front, felt one left-handed crack of the crop and pulled confidently clear. Great Island drifted a bit in upper stretch and was home a half-head better than My Sister Nat.

“She's a classy filly,” said Leparoux. “You can do whatever you want and she'll still give you that punch in the end. It's nice. It's a sign of the good ones, for sure. Bill Mott knows how to get them to these Grade 1s. They took their time with her and it has paid off. For sure, the Breeders' Cup is the goal, so if she gets there healthy, she'll be going in with a big chance.”

Pedigree Notes:

The 12th worldwide Group 1/Grade I winner for Calumet's under-appreciated English Channel, War Like Goddess is the ultimate rags-to-riches story. With no black-type to be found in her first couple of dams, War Like Goddess attracted a couple of $100 bids at Keeneland November in 2017, but two fewer bids at the September sale, when she was led out unsold for the upset price of $1,000. She had a few admirers at OBS June in 2019, selling for $30,000. War Like Goddess is one of two of her sire's 32 graded/group winners worldwide to be produced from a Danzig-line dam (Irish Strait).

The dam of the 3-year-old gelding Market Economy, by English Channel's son Optimizer, Misty North is responsible for the 2-year-old filly Thecradlewillrock (Red Rocks {Ire}). She was sold in foal to Calumet's Bal a Bali (Brz) for $1,000 at the 2019 November Sale and produced a colt last May now named North of Bali.

Saturday, Belmont Park
FLOWER BOWL S.-GI, $600,000, Saratoga, 9-4, 4yo/up, f/m,
1 3/8mT, 2:13.07, fm.
1–WAR LIKE GODDESS, 122, f, 4, by English Channel
                1st Dam: Misty North, by North Light (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Misty Gallop, by Victory Gallop
                3rd Dam: Romanette, by Alleged
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($1,200 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $1,000 RNA Ylg
'18 KEESEP; $30,000 2yo '19 OBSOPN). O-George Krikorian;
B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-William I Mott; J-Julien R Leparoux.
$330,000. Lifetime Record: 7-6-0-0, $713,684. Werk Nick
Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Great Island, 120, m, 5, by Scat Daddy
                1st Dam: Voyage, by Rahy
                2nd Dam: Matlacha Pass, by Seeking the Gold
                3rd Dam: Our Country Place, by Pleasant Colony
($160,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $300,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Alpha
Delta Stables, LLC; B-Ben P Walden Jr & Larry Taylor (KY);
T-Chad C Brown. $120,000.
3–My Sister Nat (Fr), 118, m, 6, by Acclamation (GB)
                1st Dam: Starlet's Sister (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Premiere Creation (Fr), by Green Tune
                3rd Dam: Allwaki, by Miswaki
(€20,000 Ylg '16 ARQFEB). O-Peter M Brant; B-Ecurie Des
Monceaux (FR); T-Chad C Brown. $72,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, NO, 6 3/4. Odds: 0.40, 6.50, 8.00.
Also Ran: Lovely Lucky, American Bridge (GB), La Signare (Fr). Scratched: Coastana. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Jack Sisterson Has Become A Kentucky Downs Regular With Calumet

Calumet Farm's trainer Jack Sisterson is looking forward to the distinctive all-turf FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs, which opens this Sunday.

The six-day season continues on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 8, 9, 11 and 12. First post is 12:20 p.m. Central.

Since he was hired as Calumet's private trainer in May 2018, Sisterson has increased his involvement at Kentucky Downs. He had two starters that first year, seven in 2019 and 10 last year. As this meet approached, Sisterson said Calumet would be well-represented in stakes – including G1 Man o' War winner Channel Cat in the $1 million, Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup – and overnight races. He has four horses entered for the opening-day 11-race program and another two in Monday. That includes In Effect in Sunday's $750,000 Big Ass Fans Dueling Grounds Derby.

Sisterson, who is still looking for his first win at the track, said that Kentucky Downs is a refreshing change of pace from typical American racing and fits the Calumet program. As an aside, Calumet Farm owner Brad Kelley, who grew up in Simpson County, also owned Kentucky Downs in partnership and then outright from 1997-2007. Among Calumet Farm's stallions is 2007 male turf champion English Channel.

“Well, it's obviously intriguing because we have a lot of horses that are bred to run on the grass,” Sisterson said. “We have a lot of English Channels because he stands at Calumet and they really seem to take to that configuration. It is quite refreshing to go down there for a week of racing, just because it is different. It's not the flat oval track. You've got the mile and five-sixteenth, 6 1/2. It's just a great, fun week.”

However, Sisterson said that the undulating kidney-shaped course can be a bit of an adventure for horsemen.

“You've no idea what horse is going to take to it,” he said. “Which horse won't. Which horse will. Full fields. Just a lot of excitement going on down there.”

Sisterson had Channel Cat with him at Saratoga all summer. After Channel Cat finished fourth in the G2 Bowling Green on July 31, Sisterson opted to skip Saratoga's G1 Sword Dancer on Aug. 28 and wait for the race sponsored by Calumet. He thought that the Calumet Turf Cup was a better fit for the speedy horse. Plus there was no need to guess whether the 6-year-old son of English Channel can handle Kentucky Downs: he won the 2018 Dueling Grounds Derby while being trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.

Trainer Kenny McPeek will go after his third victory in the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks Sunday with Susan Moulton's Oliviaofthedesert. The Bernardini filly was fourth in Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks on Aug. 7 at Ellis Park. Last year at Kentucky Downs, Oliviaofthedesert finished third in the $500,000 Mint Juvenile Fillies.

McPeek, a stalwart at the track, ranks fourth in career wins with 26 from 153 starts. He said he expects to have at least 20 starters during the meet.

Four-time Eclipse Award winning trainer Chad Brown, perennially the champion turf trainer in America, was the leading money winner at last year's meet with $980,375. A good chunk of that came from Juddmonte Farms' Flavius winning the $750,000 Tourist Mile, which this year was elevated to Grade 3 status, received a purse hike to $1 million and was renamed the WinStar Mint Million.

Flavius will seek to become the first two-time winner of the stakes, drawing post 11 in the field of 11 for Monday's race. In his most recent start, Flavius won the restricted Lure Stakes on Aug. 7 at Saratoga.

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has plenty of experience at Kentucky Downs. He has five wins from 13 career starts. He started running more at the track a few year ago on the advice of his son Reeve, then an assistant and now with his own stable. Reeve McGaughey encouraged his dad to re-establish more of a presence in their native Kentucky. The elder McGaughey was a mainstay in Kentucky until relocating to New York in the mid-1980s.

McGaughey entered Joseph Allen's homebred 3-year-old filly Flying Fortress in Sunday's seventh race, a $145,000 first-level allowance. Flying Fortress, a daughter of Uncle Mo out of Dakota Queen by War Front, broke her maiden first-out on Aug. 4 at Colonial Downs. She is a full sister to Allen's Enola Gay, who broken her maiden at Kentucky Downs in 2019 and won the G2 Appalachian during Keeneland's 2020 summer meet. (Enola Gay also won an allowance race Tuesday at Colonial Downs.)

McGaughey said the timing of the Kentucky Downs meet is ideal for New York-based horsemen who face a gap between the end of the Saratoga season and the start of the Belmont fall meet on Sept. 16.

“I think it's a good alternative,” he said. “We leave here on Labor Day and don't run again until the following Thursday. It fits right in there, so why not take advantage of it and take advantage of the purses?”

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