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‘He Was My Idol’: Wesley Ward Saddles Saratoga Winner For Hall Of Famer Steve Cauthen

Winning any race at Saratoga is highly rewarding for trainer Wesley Ward, but a victory from Palace Avenger in a Thursday six-furlong allowance held sentimental value for the conditioner winning on behalf of co-owner and longtime friend, Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen.

Ward, who was a jockey for five years before transitioning to training in 1989, grew up idolizing Cauthen, who piloted Affirmed to victory in the 1978 Triple Crown at the age of 18 before moving to Europe due to weight restrictions in the United States.

“He was my idol,” Ward said.

Owned by Cauthen's Dreamfields in partnership with Don Brady, Mark O. Board and John Gaynor, Palace Avenger notched a second career win, arriving at the event off a runner-up finish at Churchill Downs at 29-1.

“It's always nice to win for a guy like Steve,” Ward said. “He's really a class act. Just a guy you really want to win for because he's such a great person.”

Ward began riding in 1984, just five years after Cauthen moved his tack to Europe, where he would go on to become a three-time champion jockey in Great Britain. During their careers as riders, both Cauthen and Ward were represented by agent Lenny Goodman.

Partnering in campaigning Thoroughbreds together is something that both Cauthen and Ward had always talked about doing.

“I always watched him from afar,” Cauthen said. “After I retired, I would see him at the sales and the track. We'd always stop and chat with each other and we would say 'We've got to get together' and we finally did.”

While Cauthen made his mark in Europe as a champion rider in the 1980s, Ward is currently making a name for himself as a trainer. Ward is known for having a knack with training young horses and sending some of his talented young horses to Europe, including Lady Aurelia who was named European Champion 2-Year-Old Filly in 2016.

“I'd say his job was harder,” Cauthen said. “It's a lot to take on going over there with a horse that's never run over a course like the ones in Europe, and he's figured it out. Not just at Royal Ascot, but at France and all over the place.”

Cauthen has some familiarity with the family of Palace Avenger, having piloted the daughter of Palace's grand dam Chimes of Freedom to victory in the 1989 Group 1 Moyglare Stud and 1990 Coronation Cup, both Group 1.

“It's a good family,” Cauthen said of the Private Account mare who also produced 2003 Champion Sprinter Aldebaran and multiple graded stakes winner Good Journey. “Chimes of Freedom was a chestnut with a white blaze so her and Palace Avenger are similar in that regard. They're about the same size, about 16 hands. The biggest similarity between the two is that they both try. That's the part you can't see when you buy them.”

A start against stakes company could be on the horizon at some point for Palace Avenger.

“I think that's what we're on the lookout for somewhere. We've talked about it a little bit,” Cauthen said.

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Travers ‘The Logical Spot’ For Peter Pan Winner Country Grammer

Following a victory in Opening Day's Grade 3 Peter Pan at Saratoga Race Course, Country Grammer is a likely candidate for the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8, according to his connections.

Owned by Paul Pompa, Jr. and trained by Chad Brown, the 3-year-old son of second crop sire Tonalist notched his first graded stakes score in the 1 1/8-mile event for sophomores over the main track. Guided by Irad Ortiz, Jr., Country Grammer broke sharply from post 2, tracked in fourth off a moderate pace, found an opening along the rail around the far turn and established command at the top of the stretch holding off Caracaro to win by a neck, registering a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

“If he comes back well, the Travers would be the logical spot. It's coming back a little soon but so far, so good,” Pompa, Jr. said. “We always have liked this horse, but the COVID-19 situation has created gaps, just due to lack of racing.”

Country Grammer arrived at the Peter Pan off a third-place finish against allowance company at Belmont Park, running 6 ½ lengths to eventual Belmont Stakes fifth-place finisher Tap It To Win. After a fourth place finish in his career debut on grass, he switched to the main track, breaking his maiden by 3 ½ lengths at Aqueduct going the Peter Pan distance.

Pompa, Jr. said the 1 1/4-mile Runhappy Travers should suit Country Grammer.

“Chad always liked him, but he never trained well at Belmont for some reason,” said Pompa, Jr. “We knew he would appreciate going two turns. Should we go to the Travers, we think the extra eighth of a mile is to his advantage.”

Country Grammer, bred in Kentucky by Scott Pierce and Debbie Pierce, is out of the Forestry broodmare Arabian Song and his third dam Willstar produced Group 1 winner on turf Etoile Montante. He was purchased for $450,000 at the OBS April Sale in 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where he was consigned by Wavertree Stables.

Should Country Grammer move forward to the Runhappy Travers, he would be Pompa Jr.'s second contender in the “Mid Summer Derby”. In 2016, he owned sixth-place finisher Connect, who went on to defeat that year's Kentucky Derby top three finishers in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby en route to a Grade 1 Cigar Mile triumph.

“He beat a real tough field in the Pennsylvania Derby that year,” Pompa, Jr. said. “There were a lot of serious horses in the race that year and it was the first year they made it a Grade 1. Exaggerator, Nyquist and Gun Runner were all in there, so he beat a really nice field.”

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Ask Your Insurer Presented By Muirfield Insurance: Covering Your Home With An Equine Farm And Ranch Policy

Equine insurance experts answer your questions about insuring Thoroughbreds for the breeding and auction realms.

Email us at info@paulickreport. com if you have a question for an insurer.

QUESTION: How does insuring your home on a farm through the usual homeowner channels compare with lumping it in with a Farm and Ranch Policy?

BRYCE BURTON: Equine Farm and Ranch Package policies are designed for people who own or lease farms where horses, or other livestock, are boarded and pastured. If you own or lease a farm, the chances are that both your Farm Property and Liability coverage needs would be best met under an Equine Farm and Ranch Package Policy. If there are owned dwellings on the farm, from a cost perspective, it makes the most sense to include these dwelling property coverages within the Farm Package policy, in order to have all coverages bundled together.

The main difference between your run-of-the-mill homeowner's policy and a Farm and Ranch Policy is the liability coverage. As a horse owner, or farm operator, you face unique risks that are not covered under a homeowner's policy. If you own horses that are boarded on the property, the package policy includes liability for your owned horses while on and off premises, including but not limited to the racetrack, show ring, breeding shed, etc. Farm owners that board non-owned horses also have the option to place care, custody, or control insurance, which covers the insured in the event that something were to happen to a non-owned horse while in their care.

The liability portion of the package covers the owner or lessee's business pursuits, such as boarding, training, riding instructions, etc., which would otherwise be excluded under a homeowner's policy. Any litigation that may arise as a result of the farm and equine operation, including pending litigation costs, would be covered under the Farm and Ranch Policy, but may be excluded under a homeowner's policy.

Regarding coverage for property, most homeowner's policies exclude farm outbuildings, so appurtenant structures used for business purposes such as barns, offices, and arenas are often excluded from homeowner's policies. Additionally, coverage for business personal property is also typically inadequate or excluded on a homeowner's policy, which results in inadequate or no coverage for farm equipment such as machinery, tack, tools, feed, and hay. On a Farm and Ranch Policy, farm personal property can be scheduled to provide replacement cost and there is no limitation for the business use of the property.

Bryce Burton is a property and liability specialist for Muirfield Insurance. He is from Frankfort, Ky., where he grew up an avid race fan. His Thoroughbred racing fandom combined with a collegiate internship in the insurance industry, culminated in a start in the equine insurance field. Bryce has been with Muirfield Insurance since 2014, following his graduation from Transylvania University in Lexington.

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How Tasso’s Turned-Away Sale Made Breeders’ Cup History

One of the early mileposts for just about any racehorse purchased at a 2-year-olds in training auction is to finish that season with a win in a Breeders' Cup race.

By that standard, Tasso's road from the sale ring to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner's circle was an unmitigated success, making him the first 2-year-old sale graduate to win the race in the same year. By the standards of a commercialmarket racing prospect, Tasso was an economic dud whose true value would only be appreciated after his time in the ring.

From the first crop of Grade 1 winner Fappiano, Tasso was bred in Florida by Timothy Sams of Waldemar Farm and his business partner Gerald Robins. The same operation had produced Hall of Famer Foolosh Pleasure a decade earlier. Both men owned five shares in Fappiano, purchased during his racing career, meaning their incentive to get the stallion off to a fast start was high.

The Waldemar Farm consignment had a pair of Fappiano colts on offer for the 1984 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale, with the first selling to $250,000 – the most anyone paid for a foal by the stallion at the marquee auction. Tasso, on the other hand, was brought home after hammering at $50,000, under his reserve.

In the months that followed, Tasso was trained toward the 1985 Fasig-Tipton Florida Selected 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale at Calder Race Course. After being the less-impressive half of the Fappiano tag team among Waldemar's Saratoga consignment a year earlier, the bad luck continued for the colt who was cataloged as Hip 1; a notoriously hard spot for a horse to maximize its value, while buyers are still straggling onto the sales grounds, finding their seats, or saving their bullets for later offerings or sessions.

Sams knew he was going to be up against it in that spot, so called in a favor from prominent owner Bertram Firestone, a Virginia-based horseman who earned the 1980 Eclipse Award for outstanding owner with his wife Diana. That early in the sale's proceedings, Sams knew he'd need someone to prime the pump for him.

“Bert is a good friend of ours, and I saw him in the walking ring before the sale and asked him if he would bid this horse up to $100,000 for us,” Sams said in a 1985 interview with BloodHorse. “He said 'Sure.' Then he came up to me later and asked me if I liked the colt, and I told him that I did. He suggested that we send the horse to Aiken to Marvin Greene and see what Marvin thought about him, and said 'If Marvin likes him maybe we can make a deal.'”

The colt went to South Carolina to begin his formal racetrack training, but an injury kept him on the shelf for much of his time there, Greene decided there wasn't room for him in his barn, and Firestone walked away from the arrangement.

Newspapers reported that Tasso's beleaguered owners spent more time trying to shop the horse out for private sale, but at some point, a juvenile has to prove himself on the racetrack to be worth selling. Tasso was placed in the California barn of Neil Drysdale, and he made his debut in May of his 2-year-old season, three months after his trip through the sale ring at Calder.

Tasso quickly cast aside whatever the buying public failed to see in him, winning five of seven starts during his juvenile year. Showing the ability to win from a deep close or a stalking trip in the preceding starts, Tasso earned his first major win in the G1 Del Mar Futurity. The going was much smoother two starts later when he dusted the G2 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland by six lengths.

The colt was not nominated to the second-ever Breeders' Cup in 1985, but his purse earnings from his Breeders' Futurity rout were just enough to cover the $120,000 late entry fee, ensuring him a spot in the gate at Aqueduct.

Despite coming into the race off an impressive victory, Tasso left the gate in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile as the field's third choice. Everyone looked up to even-money favorite Mogambo, a homebred for Peter Brant who obliterated the G1 Champagne Stakes by 9 3/4 lengths, and beat several of the field's hopefuls in the process.

The betting public's second choice was Storm Cat, a Grade 1 winner who appeared to have the race in hand after a well-placed stalking trip until the very last jump, when Tasso and jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. completed a wide-running closing move to outkick the future superstar sire by a nose. Mogambo never threatened, and ran sixth.

The Breeders' Cup win later clinched Tasso's case for the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 1985.

Tasso wasn't the first graduate of a 2-year-old sale to win a Breeders' Cup race. That honor went to Wild Again, the winner of the inaugural Breeders' Cup Classic, who was an RNA during the 1982 Fasig-Tipton juvenile sale at Calder. However, Tasso's victory was proof of concept that a young horse could go through the ring at a 2-year-olds in training sale and win at the fledgling marquee event just a few months later. The fact that he was essentially unwanted at the sale is just icing on the cake.

Tasso continued to race into his 4-year-old season, but he never won another graded stakes contest after his juvenile season.

He retired to Lane's End in Kentucky for the 1988 breeding season, but he never found significant footing at stud domestically. Tasso finished his stud career in Saudi Arabia at Al Janadriyah Farm, an operation once owned by the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz that became a popular stop for visiting U.S. presidents.

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