Walmac Roster Doubles with Pappacap and Fulsome

Walmac Farm has come a long way since owner Gary Broad purchased the historic property off Paris Pike in 2018. After several years spent resurrecting the farm and its signature blue and white barns, in 2022 Broad brought his multiple graded stakes winner Core Beliefs (Quality Road) home to be the first sire to stand in a newly renovated stallion complex.

This year, Broad added Grade I winner Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) to the roster, handing the farm's new stallion salesman Jay Goodwin a challenge to get the word out on the rookie sire in a short period of time after he joined the Walmac team in January.

As another breeding season quickly approaches, Walmac has doubled its stallion roster for 2024 with a pair of newcomers hailing from auspicious sire lines.

Broad's goal for this year was to lock down a new stallion by supersire Into Mischief and another by emerging influential stallion Gun Runner. He accomplished the mission with Pappacap, who stands out as the first son of Gun Runner to go to stud that was a graded stakes winner at two, and Fulsome, a multiple graded stakes-winning son of Into Mischief.

A homebred for George and Karen Russell's Rustlewood Farm trained by Mark Casse, Pappacap was a debut winner in May of his juvenile season and he returned to the winner's circle with a near-five length win in the GII Best Pal S. Later at two, he was runner-up to future Eclipse Champion juvenile Corniche (Quality Road) in both the GI American Pharoah S. and the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Pappacap also competed against top competition at three, running second to Jack Christopher (Munnings) in the GII Pat Day Mile S. and the GI Woody Stephens S.

“To have a Gun Runner that was that precocious and that fast at two and then he came back at three and was just as talented, we were extremely happy with his race record,” said Goodwin. “He just made sense for us. He also never ran on Lasix at two or three and today that is as big of a selling point for a stallion as any.”

But it's Pappacap's physical, Goodwin said, that has impressed the breeders who have stopped by to visit since the new addition was announced in early September.

“Physically, he's probably the best Gun Runner that I've seen,” he shared. “He's got that beautiful Gun Runner shoulder and neck, but he also has a little bit more hip than you would expect.”

For Goodwin, a former partner in Select Sales Agency who had never sold stallion seasons before taking on the job at Walmac this year, the experience of announcing the arrival of Pappacap to breeders in September was completely different than his start with Pinehurst, who joined the roster at Walmac in late November of last year well after most of the newcomers to the Kentucky stallion ranks had already been announced.

“The reaction from breeders has been crazy,” Goodwin said. “We had to fight tooth and nail last year for Pinehurst because we got him in here late. We were very happy with where he ended up, but we worked our butts off to get him to where he was. With Pappacap, it has been a lot easier. We just have to answer the phone. They're rolling in and he's going to breed a full book.

Goodwin reported that Pappacap is already closing in on 150 mares, adding that the stallion's $12,500 initial fee offers value for breeders looking to send their mare to a son of Gun Runner.

“Pappacap is going to come right under a lot of these Gun Runners,” he explained. “We priced him right and we priced him to have a full book. At $12,500, I think he'll be the best deal in the stallion book.”

From the family of Peruvian Horse of the Year Al Qasr (Aptitude), Pappacap is out of a graded stakes-placed Scat Daddy mare and is a half-brother to last year's GIII With Anticipation S. winner Boppy O (Bolt d'Oro).

Broad achieved his goal in standing sons of Gun Runner and Into Mischief, but with Juddmonte homebred Fulsome, the millionaire's female family might be just as notable as his sireline.

Fulsome and stallion manager Jose Rodarte | Sara Gordon

“Fulsome's pedigree is three generations of Juddmonte,” Goodwin explained. “The pedigrees on that farm are second to none. Juddmonte bred him, raced him and stayed in on him.”

Fulsome's dam Flourish (Distorted Humor) is a half-sister to Grade I winners Sightseek (Distant View) and Tates Creek (Rahy) and her produce record includes graded stakes-placed Mr Darcy (Harlan's Holiday) and Rimprotector (Point of Entry).

The pedigree also ties in to Walmac Farm's story. Fulsome's stakes-winning second dam Viviana is a daughter of Nureyev, who rose to prominence as a sire at Walmac several decades ago and is now buried near the stallion complex.

Earning over $1.2 million throughout his career, Fulsome won five stakes races including the GIII Matt Winn S. and the GIII Smarty Jones S. at three and the GIII Oaklawn Mile S. and GIII West Virginia Governor's S. at four. He closed out his career with a Grade I placing in the Clark S. last year.

Goodwin noted that Into Mischief is often credited for the heart he puts into his horses and Fulsome is no exception.

“He was tough,” he said. “He was not scared to take on the fight. You could see him really dig down and fight every single race. As someone who breeds mares, you like to see that. You need heart. That's the characteristic I like the most.”

Goodwin's favorite race of Fulsome's career, he said, was the 2022 GIII Oaklawn Mile S. where the Brad Cox trainee closed late to win by a neck, defeating a field that included graded stakes winners Cezanne (Curlin), Silver Prospector (Declaration of War), Roadster (Quality Road) and Law Professor (Constitution).

“I think that was probably the best field he beat,” said Goodwin. “That Oaklawn Mile ends at the mile pole and at the top of the stretch you're thinking there's no way he's going to get there. I still don't know how he gets to the wire and then he ends up winning easily. Brad loved this horse. I talked to Brad after we got him and he said that he thought he would get him a Grade I. He didn't have anything but good things to say.”

Fulsome will stand for $7,500 in 2024.

Fulsome and Pappacap's combined race record of 10 wins from 29 starts is another point of pride for the team at Walmac.

“Both of these horses were sound and ran in a lot of races,” said Goodwin. “They were very talented and were at the top of their crop. They're both well-made and correct. When you see them, you see why they stayed so sound throughout their career.”

As Walmac gears up for another breeding season, Goodwin said the plan for the farm's fledgling stallion business is to continue to grow from here.

“I think Gary wants to find a couple every year,” he shared. “He knows how hard it is to make a stallion, but he also knows you have to get the mares. He's been game. We brought him both these horses and he was ready to roll, so I think we will keep growing. We've got four really good stallions by Into Mischief, Gun Runner, Quality Road and Twirling Candy, so we've got the sire power. We're going to breed a lot of mares here in the next few years and I can't wait.”

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MGSW Fulsome To Stand At Walmac Farm

MGSW Fulsome (Into Mischief) has been retired and will stand the 2024 breeding season at Gary Broad's Walmac Farm in partnership with Matt Bowling of Bowling Bloodstock, the farm announced Monday.

A Juddmonte Farms homebred trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome broke his maiden in his first start at three in January and proceeded to win three of his next four outings–and five overall as a sophomore–including the GIII Smarty Jones S. and the GIII Matt Winn S.

He also finished third to Proxy (Tapit) and West Will Power (Bernardini) in the GI Clark S. at Churchill Downs. Fulsome retired with a record of 17-8-2-2 and earnings of $1,244,553.

A stud fee will be announced at a later date.

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‘Spirit’-less PA Derby Weekend’s Main Event

The decision to withdraw GI Kentucky Derby first-past-the-post Medina Spirit (Protonico) from Saturday's $1-million GI Pennsylvania Derby is certainly a disappointing development, but eight of the nine remaining entrants already have at least one stakes win to their credit, six of those at the graded-stakes level, with a couple of new shooters that have earned their chance to contest a race of this magnitude.

Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) is a deserving favorite based on his body of work, one that could look dramatically more sparkling with a few different bounces of the ball. The wire-to-wire winner of the GII Louisiana Derby in March, the half-brother to champion Mitole (Eskendereya) made a run from slightly off the pace and may have hung late when third across the line in the Derby, beaten a length for all of it. Ridden for speed in the GI Belmont S., Hot Rod Charlie cut out an otherwise suicidal early pace and held well deep into the final eighth of a mile, only to be outfinished by Essential Quality (Tapit). His heart was on full display yet again in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. July 17, but he drifted in with a furlong to race, causing Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) to stumble, and was placed last. Connections passed on the GI TVG.com Pacific Classic at home and a trip back this way for the GI Runhappy Travers S. in favor of this spot, won by the Doug O'Neill (Leandro Mora)-trained Handsome Mike (Scat Daddy) in 2012.

“Selfishly, I want it for the whole team, but also for him as an individual,” said O'Neill. “It would be a pretty awesome result for Charlie to get a Grade I win, that's for sure.”

Midnight Bourbon will jump as the second favorite and is likely to be bet well down from his morning line. Able to control a moderate pace in wiring the GIII Lecomte S. over the winter, the strapping bay was runner-up in the Louisiana Derby and ran with credit to be sixth in the Derby after being farther back than connections had hoped. Second to Rombauer (Twirling Candy) in the GI Preakness S. after racing more prominently, he showed tremendous athleticism to pop right up from the incident at Monmouth and gave Essential Quality all he could handle in the Travers last time, going down to a neck defeat while earning a career-best 107 Beyer.

“Hopefully, Saturday is his turn,” said David Fiske, racing manager to Winchell Thoroughbreds. “It's been a peculiar year. Most years, the field for the Kentucky Derby evaporates the day after the Derby. This year we've had Essential Quality, Midnight Bourbon, Hot Rod Charlie, Medina Spirit–even though he scratched–he's still going. There are a lot of them out there and they're all quality colts.”

Fulsome (Into Mischief) pinch-hits here for Derby second and 'TDN Rising Star' Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and capped a three-race winning streak with a convincing victory in the GIII Matt Winn S. at Churchill May 29. A money-burning third to the progressive Mr. Wireless (Dialed In) in the GIII Indiana Derby July 7, he bounced back in this track's GIII Smarty Jones S. Aug. 24, but will have to run significantly faster to factor here.

Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) bested next-out 'Rising Star' Caddo River (Hard Spun), future MGSW Greatest Honour (Tapit), GSW Bourbonic (Bernardini) and GISP Miles D (Curlin) to graduate at Belmont Oct. 11 and went missing for 10 months before returning to take a first-level Saratoga allowance by 5 1/4 lengths Aug. 14, for which he earned a 101 Beyer. Trainer Bill Mott is a two-time winner of the race, including To Honor and Serve (Bernardini) a decade ago.

Americanrevolution (Constitution) won the state-bred restricted New York Derby at Finger Lakes by 7 1/4 lengths July 19 and added a five-length success in the Aug. 27 Albany S. for Todd Pletcher, whose lone win in this race came courtesy of Harlan's Holiday in 2002.

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O’Neill Confirms Team Merchants For Oklahoma Derby At Remington Park

West Coast-based trainer Doug O'Neill has confirmed he will enter Team Merchants in the $400,000 Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Sunday, Sept. 26, stakes coordinator Don Thompson has announced.

O'Neill said Team Merchants should arrive in Oklahoma City via a FedEx jet from California on Sept. 22. O'Neill, trained two horses to Kentucky Derby wins – Nyquist in 2015 and I'll Have Another in 2012. Team Merchants is a Kentucky-bred son of Nyquist, out of the Square Eddie mare Edwina E. The colt, bred and owned by Reddam Racing, is lightly raced with five starts, two wins, and $88,940 earned. His regular rider is Mario Gutierrez, who rode both of O'Neill's Kentucky Derby winners in their run for the roses. Team Merchants has yet to win a stakes race in his career.

Keepmeinmind, a 3-year-old that lost by a neck to Essential Quality in the $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this summer, has been nominated to the Oklahoma Derby, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 26 at Remington Park. Keepmeinmind is trained by Robertino Diodoro and owned by Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith, and Spendthrift Farm.

Others already announcing earlier their expectation to run in the Oklahoma Derby include Arkansas and Ellis Park Derby winner Super Stock out of Steve Asmussen's barn. Asmussen is the all-time winningest trainer in racing history.

Fulsome, a colt by the top sire in the country, Into Mischief, out of the Distorted Humor mare Flourish, could be sent to the Derby by Brad Cox for Juddmonte Farms. Cox is the second-leading trainer in the country behind Asmussen in earnings this year. Fulsome has won four of his last five starts, including the $300,000 Grade 3 Smarty Jones Stakes at Parx in Philadelphia. He also won the $150,000 Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Mr. Wireless, a gelding by Dialed In, out of the Arch mare Voussoir, is from trainer Bret Calhoun's barn and runs for owner JIL Stable. He has won four of his last five starts, including two Grade 3 races – the $500,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park and the $300,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand.

King Fury, a colt by Curlin, out of the Flatter mare Taris, resides in trainer Kenny McPeek's barn. He is owned by Three Chimneys Farm and Fern Circle Stables and has a win in the $200,000 Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., in April, before running second in the $500,000 Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio in June.

Remington Park racing concludes this week with a nine-race card Saturday, Sept. 18, the first post is 7:07 p.m. Central.

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