First Foal for Lost Treasure

The first foal by group-placed Lost Treasure (Ire) (War Front) is a colt out of Little Miss S (Candy Ride {Arg}). The mare is a half-sister to Grade I winner Crisp (El Corredor).

“How fitting that the first foal by this regally bred group-placed son of War Front from the immediate family of Galileo (Ire), would be out of a half-sister to Grade I winner Crisp,” said John G. Sikura, President of Hill 'n' Dale Farms, which stands the 6-year-old stallion. “That's what happens when you have great partners like Glen Hill Farm who sent the mare to Lost Treasure.”

Tracey Caudill of Watershed Equine, which bred the foal, reported, “Little Miss S had a magnificent Lost Treasure colt this morning. If they all are like him, you guys have a goldmine of a stud. The only foal I've had to compare to this Lost Treasure colt is the Army Mule I foaled last year for Hugh Moore out of the mare Deceive.”

Lost Treasure stands at Hill 'n' Dale at a fee of $5,000.

“I am a big believer in this stallion's chances,” Sikura said. “I couldn't ask for a better start to this promising young stallion's career.”

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Fletcher Jones’s Unusual Racing Legacy

Warmed by the fireplace, or perhaps by sipping yet another glass of a Santa Ynez vineyard’s rich and full-bodied red, I was contemplating the new year and how it needs to be better than the fiasco that was 2020. The wine, by the way, was issued by a label called Westerly and named Fletcher’s Red, and it happens to be the namesake of a man who burned a short but bright trajectory through horseracing. He’s also had a positive impact on young people’s lives in ways in which he could never have imagined or predicted.

By most accounts, the handsome, tough, and brilliant Fletcher Jones had it all. He was enthusiastic about the future; about his two sons; his extensive art collection that included a famous Picasso; his horses; and his company that made it all possible, which was the cutting-edge Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) that had turned him a multi-millionaire in his 30s. But unless you’re in your 70s or older, you’ve probably never heard of him.

On a rainy evening in early November of 1972, shortly after an election that subsequently featured one of the greatest crooks of presidential history in Richard Nixon, Jones left his offices in Century City and piloted his small plane towards home. His destination was the nearly 4,000-acre Westerly Stud Farm in Santa Barbara County near the Danish-settled village of Solvang, about an hour northwest. He’d bought the place in 1965, a smaller parcel first, the Sigvard Hansen Ranch of transplanted eastern socialite, painter, poet, author, and breeder Amory Hare Hutchinson, who’d died the previous year. Later, Jones added a massive chunk of adjoining acreage from the Rancho Piocho and developed Westerly into what’s been universally described as an immaculate state-of-the-art facility for breeding, foaling, and training–a home at one point to more than 300 horses, half of them owned by Jones, with the others boarders. Promised Land was one of three stallions at Westerly at the time, and it’s where his California-bred daughter Spectacular was conceived. She would foal Spectacular Bid in 1976.

The only place comparable to Westerly in California back then was nearby Flag Is Up Farm in Solvang, which was developed by publishing heir Hastings Harcourt and Monty Roberts and housed a number of stallions, including Petrone (Fr) and Successor, the Bold Ruler champion 2-year-old colt of 1966 who’d been purchased for a reported $1 million from Wheatley Stable. Both showplaces were nestled in a verdant northern Santa Barbara valley between the Pacific Ocean and the foothills of the Santa Ynez mountains, in a region not known at the time as a place for breeding and raising high-class racehorses. Later, other prominent farms would follow, including in 1975 Marty Wygod’s River Edge Farm near Buellton, a leading California nursery for years and the home of California leading sire Pirate’s Bounty. Wygod, incidentally, once worked for Jones at CSC, and Jones reportedly gifted Wygod with Wygod’s first two horses.

Jones never made it home from that election night, reaching neither the Santa Ynez airport nor the landing strip on a driveway at Westerly that he also sometimes used. Instead, he crashed into a ridge about eight miles from the airport and died, aged 41 and in his prime. He was a skilled pilot in good health, by all accounts, and there’s never been an explanation of how and why the plane crashed.

In late October of 2020, shortly before an election that featured one of the most divisive, civics-challenged, and chaotic presidents in history, The Fletcher Jones Foundation announced that it was granting $1 million to endow a chair in Citizenship and Civic Virtue in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University. “Students will learn what democracy requires of its citizens and will benefit from an education that promotes moral and political principles and practices concerned with the welfare of the community as a whole,” the Christian university said in a statement upon receiving the grant.

In 2019, the foundation awarded $6.4 million in grants and it has altogether given more than $230 million since it first began operations under John Pollock, who was Jones’s longtime attorney.

Pollock knew Jones well, liked and admired him, and wrote a succinct and unvarnished biography of him. According to Pollock, Jones wasn’t a particularly charitable man. He wrote: “Although today the world remembers the philanthropic accomplishments of The Fletcher Jones Foundation and its special support for the colleges and universities in California, Fletcher did not, in his lifetime, spend money or time to help his fellow man. His income tax returns for the last few years of his life show charitable gifts of less than $200 per year. The creation of The Fletcher Jones Foundation as the beneficiary of the bulk of his estate was prompted more by his desire to minimize estate taxes than it was to support in perpetuity the various charitable and educational organizations that today receive over $7 million a year.”

It wasn’t Jones’s intent to help and educate young people, but it’s his legacy that he has done so, transcending anything he did in racing, where he did quite a bit in a short time.

Typecast Versus Convenience

Jones bought his first yearlings in 1964, a year before establishing Westerly, and one of them was Fleet Host, a California-bred son of My Host who won the California Derby and a division of the San Luis Rey and later went to stud at Westerly. His best, however, was the Prince John mare Typecast, who at six in 1972 defeated males in the Sunset H., Man O’ War S., and Hollywood Park Invitational Turf H. and was named the Eclipse champion handicap mare.

Craig Bernick, 42, who runs Glen Hill Farm, is that rare youngster who knows of Jones, and it’s not only because he happens to be well read and a student of pedigrees and racing history. His grandfather Leonard Lavin, then president of the cosmetics giant Alberto-Culver Co., established Glen Hill in Ocala at about the same time Jones was setting up his Santa Ynez property, and the two titans clashed when Jones issued that time-honored challenge to Lavin: My horse is faster than yours and let’s put up money for a match race and settle it.

Reports at the time said that Jones was irked that Lavin’s trainer, Willard Proctor, had suggested that Convenience, a 4-year-old daughter of Fleet Nasrullah who’d defeated Typecast in the Vanity H. by a half-length with a five-pound advantage, was just as good as Jones’s mare, who’d finished second with trouble.

The Typecast versus Convenience match race materialized at Hollywood Park in mid-June of 1972 with each owner putting up $100,000 and the track adding another $50,000 for a winner-take-all purse of $250,000 over nine furlongs on dirt at level weights–a record purse for a match at the time. The race was memorable, with Convenience winning by a head in 1:47 3/5, and Jones, always pragmatic, was a gracious loser.

Five months later, Jones was dead, and the following January his stock was dispersed for $4.4 million at a special auction at Hollywood Park that drew buyers from around the world. Heron Bloodstock, as agent for Shigeo Yoshida (not to be confused with Zenya Yoshida, who purchased eventual leading Japanese sire Northern Taste as a yearling for $100,000 in 1972), bought Typecast for a then-world record of $725,000 for a horse at auction. She was bred to Sir Ivor that spring and sent to Yoshida’s farm in Japan, where her second foal, the filly Pretty Cast, was the champion older mare in Japan in 1980. There’s been only one other stakes winner from the family since then, the aptly named Australian-bred Group 3 winner There’s Only One, whose fourth dam is Typecast. Convenience, on the other hand, is ancestress of too many stakes winners to list here, and Bernick said that Glen Hill still owns four mares that trace to her – which is also a connection to his grandpa and tangentially to Jones.

As for Westerly Stud Farm, it was split into parcels and sold. Most notably, D. Wayne Lukas utilized part of it for his Westerly Training Center, where horses such as Gl Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone were prepared for the track. It later morphed into part of what’s now Tommy Town Thoroughbreds.

Perhaps the biggest growth in Santa Ynez since the breakup of Westerly has been in the wine-growing sector. Michael Speakman bought the Westerly label three years ago, and he’s been curious about Fletcher Jones since. By chance, I spoke to him about Typecast and suggested that he name a bottle after her, and he loved the idea and promised to do so in this new year.

I suppose Fletcher Jones’s racing legacy isn’t quite done yet.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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From The Experts: Craig Bernick

On the back of the eagerly anticipated stallion fee announcements in Europe, we spoke with a number of leading industry figures about value. Today we hear from Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm.

TDN: Who have you identified as a first-year stallion at an appealing opening fee?

CB: Pinatubo (Ire) was a top-class 2-year-old and his introductory fee of £35,000 is probably very fair compared to where similar horses have started off over the years. Shamardal is the sire of Lope De Vega (Ire) and he comes from the female family of Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Kodiac (GB), so it all looks promising.

TDN: Best value proven stallion, and why?

CB: Showcasing’s fee has come down this year to £45,000 which looks very fair as he has proven that he can get top-class horses. To me, Mohaather (GB)’s G1 Sussex S. was the most impressive race I saw all year, and I almost chose him as the first-season stallion I was excited about.

TDN: Who would you consider to be an under the radar stallion?

CB: Starspangledbanner (Aus)’s percentage of winners and stakes performers to runners compares favourably to many other stallions that are double his price or more. His quality of mares has been improving every year as he has done a better job getting them in foal and to me there’s a good chance his fee of €22,500 could look like a huge bargain in a few years.

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Lope De Vega Colt Tops Second Day At Tattersalls October Book 2

A son of Lope de Vega was the star turn when selling for 675,000 guineas (US$916,770) on a remarkable second day of Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, which saw nine lots sell for 300,000 guineas (US$407,451) or more, taking the two-day total to 14, three more than last year's three-day total.

Anthony Stroud continued his buying spree on the second day of Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, securing the Lope de Vega colt out of the Galileo mare Loch Ma Naire for 675,000 guineas (US$916,770).

“He is bred on a successful cross – Lope De Vega ex Galileo – he is an attractive horse and beautifully bred, and Lope De Vega has done incredibly well,” said Stroud, after buying on behalf of Godolphin.

The colt's dam is a half-sister to the dual Group 1 winner Simply Perfect and was offered by Newsells Park Stud on behalf of breeder Andrew Stone's St Albans Bloodstock.

“The team did a great job prepping him but we have only had him for eight or nine weeks, so credit must go to Andrew Stone of St Albans Bloodstock who bred him and the farm that raised him,” said Julian Dollar of Newsells Park Stud.

“In this climate we did not think it would be at all easy, but the market seems to have taken off incredibly this week. I keep thinking there was value last week, but I am not complaining, it is fantastic. Thanks to all the people prepared to take their hands out of their pockets and spend big money on racehorses, long may it continue.”

The colt, who Stroud secured at the expense of underbidder Andrew Balding, is the fifth highest priced colt in the history of the October Book 2 sale.

Glen Hill Farm Strikes for Frankel Filly at 460,000 Guineas

Fairway Thoroughbreds' John Camilleri, breeder of wondermare Winx, enjoyed a second consecutive day in the limelight when the Frankel filly out of Love is Blindness was sold to Hubie De Burgh for 460,000 guineas (US$624,757) on behalf of Craig Bernick's Glen Hill Farm. Like yesterday's 400,000 guineas (US$543,267) Kingman colt, Camilleri's filly was offered by Harry McCalmont's Norelands Stud.

“She has been bought for Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm to go into training with Fozzy Stack,” said de Burgh. “We tried all week through Book 1 and could not get anything. This filly is by one of the great sires of the modern era and there are classic winners in her page, she could be a Guineas or an Oaks filly.

“On top of that she is a beautiful looking filly from a top farm where I keep a lot of stock, and I've known her since she was foaled. I watched her and every time I have seen her she gets better and better and better. As you can see, she is a queen. Now we keep our fingers crossed and hope she is going to be as good as we think she is going to be!”

Of the buyer Craig Bernick, De Burgh added: “Craig is a great lover of the horse industry and is going to be a great breeder, he has got some wonderful stock in Europe already. He wants to collect this quality of bloodstock because he is thinking 20 years ahead, hopefully she will be one of the foundation mares in the broodmare band. Craig is developing an Australian operation, European and American, it is very exciting.”

De Burgh rounded off by saying; “You just don't get your hands on fillies like this. She has a bit of Frankel about her, she really walks, has a really good hind-quarter, she is just all quality.”

The Sir Percy mare Love is Blindness is a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Reliable Man and a granddaughter of the English and Irish Oaks winner Fair Salinia.

White Birch Farm Strike for Showcasing Colt

Agent Demi O'Byrne secured two of the lots to sell for 300,000 guineas (US$407,451) or more on the second day on behalf of Peter Brant's White Birch Farm, the first of which was the Showcasing colt consigned by Kenilworth House Stud. The son of the Acclamation mare Harlequin Twist was knocked down to O'Byrne for 310,000 guineas (US$421,039), a substantial return on the 70,000 guineas (US$95,073) that Kenilworth House Stud manager Gerry Ross and “a couple of mates” paid for him at last year's Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

Ross said: “He had a good walk – as auctioneer Alastair Pim said he was one of the best-looking walkers he had seen through the two weeks. A foal will never lose its walk. Hopefully he will go on to fulfil his potential, he has been flat to the board here all week and his last show was as good as his first. He has been a pro so far, hopefully he will continue.”

Of the prospects ahead of this sale for a profitable result, Ross said: “A week ago I would never had dreamt of that sort of money, but once you have a couple of big players involved you never know where it is going to end.

“Yesterday's trade was the best trade there has been all year. There was no vendor going into the ring with their chest out, but at least you've a bit more confidence.”

Little more than 30 minutes later, O'Byrne struck again when securing a daughter of first season stallion Ribchester for 300,000 guineas (US$407,451). Out of the Teofilo mare Hint of Pink, the filly was another success story for Harry McCalmont's Norelands Stud who bred the filly in partnership with Patrick Robinson, author of the famed bloodstock novel “Horse Trader: Robert Sangster and the Rise and Fall of the Sport of Kings”.

“Her half-brother winning in the last week or so was a big plus, timing is everything in this business,” said McCalmont. “I am very pleased because she belongs to my good friend Patrick Robinson. A couple of years ago Patrick wrote a book called 'Lone Survivor' which became a blockbuster movie. Patrick decided to retire and take up breeding horses and gave me a few quid to spend on them. I am delighted for him.”

Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale continues with the third and final session at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

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