Gleason Joining Margaux As Farm Trainer

John Gleason will assume the position of farm trainer at Margaux Farm effective Oct. 2, the operation said in a release. He will report directly to the farm's General Manager Richard Budge.

Gleason has amassed over three decades of experience in Thoroughbred horse care management in training, starting and rehab. After beginning his career showing halter and Western pleasure horses, Gleason transitioned into Thoroughbreds in his early 20s at Glen Ridge Farm, where he managed and prepared yearling and 2-year-olds for the sales. Gleason took a position with Bryan and Holly Rice's Woodside Ranch in 2001 and during his time there, helped to break and train horses for the likes of Bob and Beverly Lewis, Jay Em Ess Stable and Overbrook Farm. Gleason comes to Margaux off a 10-year run with Woodford Thoroughbreds in Ocala, where he started as training manager and added farm manager duties five years later.

“With the completion of the new Margaux Tapeta track this fall, we look forward to John making an immediate positive impact at the farm,” the release says.

Margaux Farm has been owned outright by Canadians Jim and Susan Hill (pictured) since 2014 after partnering on the farm for several years. With a variety of trainers, the Hills have campaigned the likes of GISW Grand Arch, GSW & GISP Daddy is a Legend and GSW Tizahit.

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Advancements in Equine Reproduction Examined at KTFMC Meeting

LEXINGTON, KY–As the calendar turns over to June and the 2023 breeding season nears its close, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Manager's Club (KTFMC) focused its monthly meeting on advancements in the equine reproductive field and how the latest research, as well as new treatments and diagnostic tests, might have practical application for farm managers at this point in the breeding season and on into next year. Held Tuesday evening at Copper Roux in Lexington, the event featured presentations from three equine veterinarians.

Dr. Emma Adam, who specializes in equine veterinary outreach for the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center, provided an update on this year's breeding season. She discussed several issues that have been problematic for breeders this year and pointed out how farm managers can be involved in advancing research efforts addressing those concerns.

While Rotavirus was not nearly as prominent this year as it was during the outbreak in Central Kentucky in 2021, Adam said that some farms were hurt by the diarrheal disease in 2023. She explained that there is work being done this summer to test a new vaccine that would protect against the most recent strains of the virus and said that they are seeking the help of local farms as researchers are collecting blood samples from foals that developed Rotavirus this year.

“That is going to help us identify antibodies that naturally responded to the infection and [help us] move forward with the idea of producing synthetic antibodies that could potentially help us in the face of not having that vaccine to hand quite yet,” she said.

Current research efforts are also going toward addressing Nocardioform placentitis and Leptospirosis. Adam said that research is being conducted on mares that developed Nocardioform placentitis and initial results suggest that an early-warning diagnostic test may be available in the future. Meanwhile, a new serovar has been identified in North America for Leptospirosis and a number of asymptomatic horses are testing positive for the bacterial disease across Central Kentucky.

For managers that dealt with Nocardioform placentitis this year, or if they know of or suspect the presence of Leptospirosis on their farm, Adam urged horsemen to contact the Gluck Center's research team.

“This summer, if you have mares that don't have a good reason for being empty, please give us a call,” Adam said. “We would love to test them free of charge to try and see if these mares are potentially carriers of Lepto. We're only as good as the data that we get. When we get those samples into our diagnostic lab, that is the material we can use to help you not just from a practical basis of diagnosing and getting the material for us to do research on, but when we have those numbers, we can go to the grant funding agencies and say we need some money because this is 'this big' of a problem.”

Adam also shared that recent research on fescue is focused on its presence in pastures throughout the winter months. Fescue toxicity in mares is a common concern in the spring, but Adam noted that ergovaline–the alkaloid produced by fescue that causes the symptoms of fescue toxicity in mares–can be present in pastures year-round.

“In the winter, we normally think that our fescue isn't growing and that we don't have ergovaline to worry about in our pregnant mares,” she said. “That absolutely is completely and totally not the case. We had lots of farms this winter where the only thing growing was fescue and that fescue is hotter than Hades, so it has plenty of ergovaline.”

During the evening's second presentation, Dr. Maria Schnobrick of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital discussed a new service that Rood & Riddle is offering to promote the regression of endometrial cups.

Endometrial cups, which form on the uterine wall at around 35 days of gestation to promote pregnancy, secrete eCG (equine chorionic gonadotropin) and prevent the mare from normal ovulation. These cups persist until 100 to 150 days of gestation regardless of the viability of the embryo.

Schnobrick and her colleagues have made progress in developing a treatment for regressing these endometrial cups when a mare loses a pregnancy so that she can return to a normal cycle in a shorter amount of time. Schnobrick said that current treatments, like laser treatment, have inconsistent results and only about a 50% success rate. However, she has found promising results from using Settle, an immune stimulant that is used to treat endometritis.

In an experiment conducted in collaboration with Dr. Carleigh Fedorka and Dr. Mats Troedsson, 16 mares were aborted at 40 to 45 days of gestation. One week later, they received their first injection of Settle. After another week, they received a second injection. The experiment produced statistically significant results when, an average of 23 days after their first treatment, 80% of mares were cycling normally compared to 33% of mares in the control group.

Schnobrick said that this year, she had three mares that experienced pregnancy loss at 60 days and were able to get back in foal after receiving this treatment at Rood & Riddle. She noted that she has also seen positive results when treating mares that have retained endometrial cups from the previous breeding season and are not cycling regularly.

Hagyard Equine Medical Institute's Dr. Kristina Lu presented on advancements in diagnosing endometritis using N-acetylcysteine and she also discussed the benefits of pregnancy monitoring at this stage in the breeding season.

According to Lu, the current methods for diagnosing endometritis through a swab culture or a lavage of the uterus produce inefficient results. She noted that about half the time, a mare can have endometritis but test negative in a swab culture.

Lu's research efforts have gone toward using N-acetylcysteine to help break up mucus and free bacteria from the endometrium in order to better test for the presence of infection. In one experiment, 59 mares were diagnosed for endometritis. Using a lavage diagnostic test, 81% tested negative. But when the same mares were tested after receiving acetylcysteine, only 27% tested negative.

Lu also discussed the importance of pregnancy monitoring and the benefits of compiling a list of “problematic mares” ahead of next year's breeding season.

She explained that placental abnormalities from this year's foaling could be one of the strongest indicators for potential issues ahead of next year's foaling season. A mare could have a normal foaling, but a slight issue with her placenta–like evidence of subtle ascending placentitis or if the cervical star did not rupture regularly–could prove to cause problems down the road.

“This mare is raising her hand saying, 'The next pregnancy, I might not be normal,'” Lu explained. “So this mare might go on your list. She's definitely one that is worth watching in the future.”

Also during Tuesday's KTFMC meeting, information was presented on the Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation's Irish National Stud Scholarship. Learn more here. Also, Godolphin USA's Charities Manager Katie LaMonica discussed this year's Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards. Nominations for those awards are open now through July 16 and can be accessed here.

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Pin Oak Stud Names Jeff Danford New Farm Manager

Former WinStar Farm broodmare manager Jeff Danford has been named farm manager at Pin Oak Stud near Versailles, Ky. The farm was sold earlier this year to Jim and Dana Bernhard after the passing of Josephine Abercrombie this January.

“Leaving WinStar was a difficult decision and I want to thank Kenny and Lisa Troutt for all they have done for me over the past nine years,” said Danford. “I am excited about this new opportunity and am thankful to Jim and Dana Bernhard for trusting me with the duties at Pin Oak. Pin Oak has such a great history and it is an honor to be part of this new chapter.”

Prior to his time at WinStar, Danford had also been at Overbrook Farm, Starwood Farm, Margaux Farm, and Crestwood Farm. Originally from Southern Illinois, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from Missouri's Truman State University.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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