“Welcoming I'll Have Another is an auspicious and historic moment for Old Friends,” said John Nicholson, president and CEO of Old Friends. “We are deeply grateful to Paul Reddam and Doug O'Neill for choosing Old Friends to care for this great champion and to celebrate his magnificent legacy with thousands of our annual visitors. Being able to welcome our fourth Kentucky Derby winner to retire at Old Friends is further tribute to the vision and values of our founder and my friend, Michael Blowen.”

Reddam added, “It is fantastic that he will have a permanent home at Old Friends where everyone can visit him. There was a lot of concern when he went to Japan for stud duty and that is permanently put to rest with his return to Kentucky.”

I'll Have Another is the fourth GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. winner to be retired to the farm. The other three are Silver Charm, War Emblem, and Charismatic.

“I'll Have Another is an amazing horse–very blue collar, workmanlike,” O'Neill said. “He was so naturally competitive. He meant and still means so much to us around the barn. He took us on the ride of a lifetime winning the Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. We're so grateful for his brilliance and being able to work alongside him during his amazing career.”

Upon his retirement, I'll Have Another was sold for $10 million to the Hokkaido-based Big Red Farm in Japan and began his stud career there in 2013. He remained there through 2018, then returned to the United States and stood at Ballena Vista Farm in Ramona, Calif. from 2019 to 2020, before moving to Reddam's Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsall, Calif. from 2021 to 2024.

He was pensioned in 2024.

“We are so grateful to Mr. Reddam and to Doug for trusting us to give their Derby and Preakness winner a safe, healthy, and fun retirement,” said Michael Blowen, founder and past president of Old Friends. “We're planning to put I'll Have Another in the paddock adjacent to Lava Man's. How cool is that?”

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On debut 2yo #8 MYSTICISM ($6.20) was a rocket out of the gate to go gate-to-wire in the opener at Del Mar. The daughter of War Front was ridden by @JockeyRamonVazq and is trained by Richard Mandella.

The early pick 4 is up next! Get your wagers in at https://t.co/nBYFHiPrdh pic.twitter.com/NzqLowRI5U

— TVG (@TVG) August 4, 2023

The first to the races for her dam, the victress has a 2023 half-sister by Ghostzapper. Clairvoyance herself is a half-sister to a fleet of black-type runners including SW Dagnabit (Freud); GSW & G1SP Darwin (Big Brown); and SP Bad Boy Rising (Freud). The extended female family is active in Japan with GSW & G1SP-Jpn Win Marvel (Jpn) (I'll Have Another) as well as his full-sister GSP Win Gerbera (Jpn) flying the banner. This is also the female family of GII Remsen S. winner Comeonmom amd GISP Nolan's Cat. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $49,200. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Cheyenne Stables LLC, Perry R. Bass II and Ramona S. Bass; B-Bass Stables, LLC & Candy Meadows, LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella.

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It wasn't the smoothest of breaks for the filly–who last year captured the G3 Niigata Nisai S.–this time around, but it didn't matter as she was content to drop well back off the early pace set by My Reine (Logotype {Jpn}) for the first 200 metres and then Speed of Light (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) for the next 600 metres, rating in front of just one rival until the far turn. As the leader and the chasing pack behind her rounded the bend, the winner was asked for run and while hugging the rail began picking off her tiring rivals one by one. At the top of the stretch she squeezed through the tightest of holes and took command within a dozen strides, pulling to a clear lead with victory in sight, only the storming Make a Snatch (Rulership {Jpn}) to worry about in the late stages.

Pedigree Notes

This Mill Farm homebred scored a fourth stakes win for the Deep Impact son Danon Ballade (Jpn), who has only 127 registered foals from five crops of racing age so far. His most notable win was in the 2012 G2 American Jockey Club Cup at Nakayama. Kita Wing is Kitano Ritsumei's second foal and first stakes winner, and is the only graded or group winner out of an I'll Have Another broodmare from 16 foals of racing age. Kitano Ritsumei, who is a half-sister to MSW & MGSP Stormy Sea (Jpn) (Admire Moon {Jpn}), also has a 2-year-old filly by Greater London (Jpn) and a yearling full sister to Kita Wing.

Monday, Nakayama, Japan
FAIRY S.-G3, ¥71,450,000, Nakayama, 1-19, 3yo, f, 1600mT, 1:34.30, fm.
1–KITA WING (JPN), 119, f, 3, by Danon Ballade (Jpn)
            1st Dam: Kitano Ritsumei (Jpn), by I'll Have Another
            2nd Dam: Liebestraume (Jpn), by Zenno El Cid (Ire)
            3rd Dam: Mount Mogami (Jpn), by Mogami (Fr)
   O/B-Mill Farm (Jpn); T-Shigeyuki Kojima; J-Makoto Sugihara;
¥37,595,000. Lifetime: 5-3-0-0, ¥75,280,000. Click for
   the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick
   Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2--Make a Snatch (Jpn), 119, f, 3, Rulership (Jpn)–Snatch Mind
(Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn). 1ST BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP
   BLACK TYPE. O-Silk Racing; B-Shiraoi Farm (Jpn); ¥15,170,000.
3--Speed of Light (Jpn), 119, f, 3, Lord Kanaloa (Jpn)–Silent Sonic
(Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn). O-Hidaka Breeders Union;
B-Sakurai Farm (Jpn); ¥9,385,000.
Margins: HD, 1 3/4, HD. Odds: 34.80, 11.60, 10.30.
Also Ran: Brown Wave (Jpn), Roc Star (Jpn), Antano Ballade (Jpn), Mississippi Tesoro (Jpn), Iconostasis (Jpn), My Reine (Jpn), Dunato Selene (Jpn), Hip Hop Soul (Jpn), Mitama (Jpn), Chihaya (Jpn), Energy Chime (Jpn), Divertision (Jpn), Blue in Green (Jpn). Click for the JRA Chart.

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“I was wondering what I was going to do when I grew up!” Seitz recalls in his gentle, humorous tones. (He was, by this stage, a Vietnam veteran and closer to 30 than 20.) “So seeing how I had loved the horses when I was younger, I took a trip out here. I'd never been to Kentucky before. They didn't have jetways back then, so as I went down those steps from the plane, it was a very odd sensation. I just said to myself, 'This is it. This is where I'm going to live for the rest of my life.' And I was right. I went down, I stopped, and I knew.”

And here he is, very nearly half a century later, reflecting in his office at Brookdale Farm on a career best measured not just by the scale or diversity of his achievements (raised and sold a Derby winner; pinhooked an Oaks winner; stood a champion stallion; raised a champion stallion) but by the respect of a whole community. In an industry often dominated by dynastic operations, he has literally made his name—to the point that the next generation, in sharing and enhancing its prestige, are themselves evolving into one of those Bluegrass clans whose nurture is a guarantee of trust. Seitz the outsider has become Seitz the patriarch.

“People use the term 'self-made man',” he remarks. “I don't believe in that. When I think of all the people that have helped me along the way—people who taught me, helped me understand, gave me a push, gave me knowledge, encouragement… That's not self-made. That's made by a lot of kind people. So I've been very fortunate.”

One way or another, it has been quite a journey to Versailles from his native Bronx. But he always had the right stuff in his own pedigree: his father had also been a Marine, serving on Iwo Jima; likewise an uncle, lost in a B-25. And when Seitz was five, he was blessed by a transformative change of environment—the family of six having previously squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment in the city—after his father joined the maintenance crew on a New Jersey farm belonging to the social reformer Geraldine Morgan Thompson. It was called Brookdale and, though since swamped by suburban development (for Brookdale University and a county park), Seitz would eventually preserve the name in tribute to the life-changing opportunity he found there. Because the farm, crucially, was divided between agriculture and a training track.

“All of a sudden, we'd left the streets of New York for this little hamlet in the country,” he recalls. “A wonderful place to grow up. And I became fascinated by those horses. There were all these different trainers in there, renting stalls, and the place had a great history going back. Regret had trained there—a Whitney farm was right across the road—and Colin was another that came off the place in the old days. And I was walking hots by the time I was 10. Of course, they gave me the easy horses, but I couldn't believe they were paying me: I thought it should be the other way round. A dollar per horse! It was a wonderful opportunity to learn, and I was so lucky to be able to find out, so early in life, what I wanted to do with all my ensuing years.”

Through high school, Seitz worked vacations as a groom and exercise rider at Monmouth Park. To this day he treasures a photograph of a filly named Triple Brook, in the winner's circle at Atlantic City in 1964. He's holding the halter, 17 years old, and couldn't conceive that life might contain any greater satisfaction: he'd helped to break the filly at her owner's farm.

The trainer is not in the picture. Seitz says that was pretty common at the time, to cede the limelight to the owner, though on this occasion Ralph McIlvain might just have been busy at the windows.

“Mr. McIlvain was a gambler,” Seitz recalls. “And he'd tried to hide this filly in the mornings. He knew she was really nice, and he didn't even run her in a maiden special weight, but in a claimer. She won by six. Obviously the word had gotten out, she only paid $2.70. He'd wanted to make a real killing. I didn't know anything that was going on, I was just a kid. But the owner found out that he was gambling with her, and that he could have lost her for $5,000, so he sent her to New York to Ridgely White. After that, she won the Vagrancy, she ran second in the Beldame, third in the Regret—all graded races today. Obviously she was a very good filly.”

Whether in the Brookdale barns or at the track, Seitz was acquiring a diploma in old school horsemanship: not just from veteran Irish trainers like Tom Harraway and Mike Fogarty, but also from other grooms. Seitz was avid to learn, and his vocation seemed plain. But then came two intrusions: college in Western Pennsylvania and then, with his country at war, aviation with the Marine Corps. In Vietnam, they were shooting down pilots as fast as they could be trained. With corresponding urgency, two days out of Officer Candidate School, Seitz married his sweetheart Peppe who had attended a sister school to his own.

Leaving Peppe with her family, Seitz became a bus driver in the sky, flying 50 men at a time in giant H53 Sea Stallion helicopters, first from Okinawa and then off the Vietnam coast with the fleet they called Yankee Station.

“I spent my last two months flying in, flying out,” he says. “I have to be honest, I was very fortunate. I did see some of the results, and I transported some unfortunates, but I never spent a night 'in country', as they called it. I never had those situations to deal with, that were so hard on many people.”

On his return, he became an instructor at the Navy Flight School. It was a traumatic time for the nation, and no less so for a young serviceman who had seen friends maimed or killed. There was much hurt and confusion over the hostility of so many compatriots when his peers had shown such courage and sacrifice.

“It was difficult,” Seitz says. “The country was fed up, and rightfully so by '73, '74. But it was difficult to understand the reaction of some people, it felt like they were shooting the messengers. I grew my hair long as quickly as I could. Aviators have those leather jackets, just like you see in the movies, with the squadron patches and identification. Nowadays I realize how beautiful those are, really it's your history. But I took them off, gave away my uniforms to my children. So I was actually disrespectful myself, because it all just felt so wrong—the way we were treated. Eventually you get over something like that, but I do still remember it very keenly.”

But if Vietnam had proved a white-hot furnace, then immersion in the cooling waters of the Marine ethos had forged a character that would serve Seitz no less well in his civilian career. He never lost his sense of pride, fidelity and resolute humility. “You find out who you are,” he says. “It's a separate culture that very few Marines don't honor. Once a Marine, always a Marine. So many aspects are valuable: fortitude, discipline, camaraderie, excellence. They have a saying: adapt, improvise and overcome. Simple, but very true.”

All the same Seitz was decidedly at a crossroads, back in 1973, when he took that fateful flight to Kentucky. But while he had just one door to knock, that was enough. Peppe's father had encountered a Standardbred man, Francis McKinsey who had managed Walnut Hall and Almahurst, and asked him to look out for a chance for a hardworking ex-Marine.

“He was a very kind, generous man and along with Joe Taylor, who had a Standardbred background also, helped me find this job on a small farm belonging to Tom Collins,” Seitz recalls. “On The Rocks Farm, it was called. Doesn't exist anymore. I was very early to be a farm manager. To put it bluntly, I wasn't qualified. My experience had been with horses in training. But if I didn't know something, which was often, I'd call Francis in the evening and he'd tell me what to do. So if I was often learning by my mistakes, he helped me to learn quickly.”

After a couple of years Seitz extended his education to the rapidly evolving sales scene. First came a stint under Ted Bates at a new subsidiary to the New York firm of Fasig-Tipton, testing out Keeneland's local monopoly. (Today, of course, Seitz's daughter Anna is bringing things full circle as Fasig-Tipton's much esteemed Client Development and Public Relations Manager.)

“It was just Ted, and a secretary, and I was his assistant,” Seitz says. “I did everything from putting on the hip numbers to setting out the chairs, whatever it took. Ted was not just a wonderful horseman but a wonderful man, very open with his experience. The [1976] Derby winner Bold Forbes and Preakness winner Elocutionist had both just come out of their tent sale, for about $15,000 each. Soon after came Genuine Risk, Seattle Slew, and, bang bang bang, they just kept coming.”

Then came a turning point, Seitz stepping into the slipstream of agency pioneer Lee Eaton.

“In my opinion, Lee invented that business,” he says. “He was very good at it, he was selling lots of horses and back then you got five percent for everything, whether you sold or not, so that was very lucrative. I did a few sales for Lee, and then he gave me some of his overflow. And it was amazing, the quality even of his overflow.”

With the help of his former patron Collins, who introduced him to his banker and the concept of debt, Seitz leased a plot and experimented with half a dozen weanlings in a nascent pinhook market.

“I wanted to play the game, more than just board horses,” he remembers. “The weanling trade was fairly new. There was Stanley Petter, there was Lee, a few others. So the timing was very fortunate. We spent about $60,000 total on those six and they sold for almost double, November to July, which was outrageous good fortune. Two became New York stakes winners, in races that would now be graded; and a third was stakes-placed in California. So we couldn't have been any luckier, starting out.”

Steadily Seitz expanded his portfolio, while acquiring parcels of land piecemeal: just 10 acres, at first; then another 10, 32, 165. Today Brookdale encompasses over 400 acres on different tracts.

“Which I could never have imagined in a million years,” he says. “When I got off that plane, I'd thought to myself, 'If I work hard here, in a couple of years I might be able to manage a small farm.' But fortune has been amazing for me, especially with my help. Victor Espinoza has been here 35 years. People like him have just been a godsend.”

Another market that then remained usefully immature was the one for stallions. “There wasn't the competition then,” Seitz says. “So I took a shot on a horse called Greinton. Beautiful, beautiful horse. Correct. Mile speed. Good pedigree.” He pauses wryly. “And he was an abject failure, just a dud. But I was in the business.”

In 1988, therefore, his friends Ric Waldman and John Perotta, who managed Deputy Minister, approached Seitz to stand the horse when Windfields closed its Maryland division.

“I believe he had 3-year-olds coming,” Seitz recalls. “And the rest of the story everyone knows. He took off, immediately he came here, and the arrangement worked extremely well. He was a big strong horse, very virile. He was a handful, a strong personality. In fact, one of the first times Victor went in the stall with him, the horse grabbed him by the pectoral muscles, lifted him in the air and threw him down. From that day on, we treated him differently. But he became leading sire in North America twice. He was here until he died [aged 25, in 2004], and is buried up in our cemetery. So, another big strike of fortune.”

Seitz has presided over many changes in the business. He remembers Paul Mellon, as a shareholder in Greinton, ringing to caution against the reckless expansion of his book to 60-odd mares. But he has always moved with the times, always adapted like a good Marine.

By the early 2000s, when stallion recruitment had become prohibitive, Brookdale streamlined back to sales prep and boarding only. Sons Freddy Jr. and Joe, also Marines, were meanwhile progressively given responsibility, in management of the farm and sales divisions respectively. The one constant, throughout, has been results.

Brookdale graduates remarkably include not just I'll Have Another (Flower Alley), the result of a mating recommended by Freddy Jr. to long-time client Harvey Clarke, but also the horse he beat in the Derby, Bodemeister (Empire Maker). Tapit was foaled and raised here before being presented for sale as a $625,000 yearling; Serengeti Empress (Alternation) was pinhooked as a weanling; while the latest champion through this nursery is Vequist (Nyquist), raised for breeders Tom and Sue McGrath of Swilcan Stable.

Yet for all these moments of fulfilment, Seitz admits that nothing has ever gratified him, day to day, more than his six or seven years with a trainer's licence.

“By that stage I had this place running smoothly, with the right people, and my background as a teenager had primarily been with horses in training,” he explains. “I had five stakes winners, never from more than eight to a dozen horses. Keeping horses in training truly is a sport of kings but I loved every minute of it. If the fairy came up with a magic wand, that would be very easy for me. Other than a healthy family, the thing I'd most want is a really good horse.”

One way or another, at 75, Seitz has left very few stones unturned with Thoroughbreds. But his own versatility is matched by the object of his obsession: he sees no golden seam to separate the best from the rest.

“They come in all shapes and sizes,” he says with a shrug. “I like correct individuals, with size and some quality. But I used to go to the spit box at Keeneland to look at the winners cooling out, trying to figure out what makes a good one. And I never accomplished much that way at all!”

Seitz credits David Lambert as a mentor who gets closer than any to finding that elusive formula, and Sally Lockhart among many others for their contributions over the years. Above all, of course, there is the immense satisfaction of having three of his children follow him into the world of Thoroughbreds.

When he first came here, the Bluegrass establishment could still resent perceived interlopers. Seitz feels this to be no longer the case; that commercial breeding has made for a wholesome meritocracy. In the meantime, of course, he has himself created a family brand. Typically, this observation elicits a modest chuckle.

“That's right,” he says drily. “And I think about that. There's an old saying, 'shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations'! I could worry about that, but it's too far down the road. I have 16 grandchildren, no doubt some will stay in the business.

“I've done this so many years now. I'm still here just about every day, but I'm learning to slow down. I try to stay in my own lane. I'm having trouble figuring out where I belong. But I'll get there, because I still love it just like that 10-year-old kid.”

The post How Brookdale Farm’s Fred Seitz Made a Name For Himself appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“It is an exciting time of year with the Kentucky Derby approaching,” said Pat Stickney, TRF's Executive Director. “With so many eyes on horse racing, we are happy to be able engage a new audience on the importance of Thoroughbred aftercare. We are so grateful for the continued support from Stoneware & Co., as well as the generosity of Doug O'Neill and Mario Gutierrez who are devoting their valuable time to participate.”

With 400 bottles available exclusively through Stoneware & Co. for $129 each, the bottle is offered for pre-sale at www.stonewareandco.com.

“We believe bourbon collectors and horse racing fans will be clambering to own one of these rare bottles,” said Steve Smith, owner of Stoneware & Co. and Managing Partner of Paristown. “These signatures represent the finest in KY Derby history and are a perfect complement to this beautiful bottle of the world's finest bourbon. It will make a great addition to any bourbon aficionado's collection, while supporting an organization that literally saves horses and changes lives.”

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Of course, that's not headline-worthy information for the trainer who turns 53 on May 24. He already has two victories in the Run for the Roses on his growing resume, in 2012 with 15-1 outsider I'll Have Another and in 2016 with 2-1 favorite Nyquist.

It's also not breaking news that O'Neill generally and refreshingly sees the glass as half full, and such is the case with Hot Rod Charlie, who worked six furlongs in 1:13.68 at Santa Anita Saturday prior to the first race.

It was Hot Rod Charlie's final major breeze for the 147^th Kentucky Derby, and O'Neill was still well-satisfied after he had a chance to sleep on it.

“I'm very happy,” O'Neill said by phone at 7 o'clock Sunday morning as he waited to board a plane that would lead him to the Bluegrass State. “He went very nice, very steady. It was exactly what we had hoped for, and Flavvy was very happy with it as well. That means a lot.”

“Flavvy” would be Flavien Prat, Santa Anita's runaway leading rider with a 93-54 bulge over runner-up Juan Hernandez. Prat was aboard Hot Rod Charlie for Saturday's workout and rides him in the first jewel of the Triple Crown.

“They're all individual horses, but we're optimistic,” O'Neill said when asked if there was a difference approaching Saturday's classic from his previous two experiences.

“But this year the Derby does seem like it's really wide open. It will be interesting to see where we draw (post positions will be announced on Tuesday) and how he settles in. He ships today and we're eager to see him at Churchill Downs and how he does.

“But like Nyquist and I'll Have Another, we're excited about the opportunity. He's a good shipper (having finished second by less than a length at odds of 94-1 to undefeated Eclipse Award champion Essential Quality in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last year, and winning the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds on March 20).”

Hot Rod Charlie, a Kentucky-bred son of Oxbow owned by Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing, LLC and William Strauss, will have elite company on his journey.

“His mentor, Lava Man, is going with him,” O'Neill said, referring to the fabled gelding who celebrated his 20^th birthday this year and is affectionately called “The Coach” by stable staff.

“He's funny,” O'Neill said of Lava Man, now a stable pony after a storybook career as a racehorse, once claimed for $50,000, winner of 17 of 47 races, earner of $5,268,706 and elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015.

“With his shirt on and a saddle on, he looks great. But like me, when you see him with his shirt off, you can tell he's 20.”

Not to worry. As Mark Twain once said, “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been,” and for Team O'Neill, there have been plenty.

The post O’Neill Sending Lava Man (aka The Coach) To Assist Hot Rod Charlie In Kentucky appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Doug O'Neill hopes the third time's the charm, even though the 52-year-old trainer has captured the world's most famous race twice before, with I'll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist in 2016.

But it never gets old.

Hot Rod Charlie is sitting on go with 110 Kentucky Derby qualifying polnts and Prat committed as his rider. Hot Rod Charlie is scheduled to have his final major Derby breeze next Saturday at Santa Anita.

“Now it's day to day to day, keep him injury free and keep moving forward,” O'Neill said. “I would think having gone through the Derby twice before is an advantage.

“It is all horse driven, based on who you're going there with, but we're very optimistic with Hot Rod Charlie. He's already shown he can ship and perform well at the highest level.

“We're excited, and the previous experience definitely is a benefit, I would think.”

As to the origin of the colt's name, O'Neill attributes it in part to the dam's sire. “He's out of a mare (Indian Miss) by Indian Charlie, so I think that's where it comes from, but Hot Rod?

“I'm not sure about that, but for us it's got a good ring to it.”

The post O’Neill On Winning The Kentucky Derby: ‘It Is All Horse Driven’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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“Honestly, thinking back, what I remember most is those bus rides back from games we lost,” says Patrick O'Neill. “And that's crazy to say. We were very competitive. Second or third, pretty much every year we played in the Ivy League. But it's those losses where you really get to know who you can trust; what people's characters are; who you can lean on when you play a bad game, or vice versa. Those are the memories that stay with you. Those were the times where I needed them, or they needed me. And we were always there for each other.”

But that kind of intensity, by definition, can't extend a lifetime. These were young men of elite accomplishment, in both intellectual and physical capacity; and they were entitled to corresponding ambition. When they left Brown University, they knew that the world would gradually have to look a little different: they would have to think about careers, courtship, maybe someday starting a family. And that implied a dread you would never want to admit to yourself, when still in your early twenties. What if life was never again to be lived in quite the same pitch?

Patrick wouldn't presume to compare what they had shared to military service. He has too much respect for veterans to do that. But maybe it's as close as you can get, outside uniform and within the law.

“Football is violent, it's aggressive, oftentimes scary out there,” he reflects. “And you grow this brotherhood. 'I got your back, you got my back.' You have that competitive spirit. You win together, you lose together. We've seen each other cry, we've seen each other get hurt, we've seen each other triumph.

Dan Giovacchini, Eric Armagost, Alex Quoyeser, Patrick O'Neill and Reiley Higgins at the Breeders' Cup | Patrick O'Neill photo

“So we have these four amazing years where we spend literally every waking minute with each other. Woke up in the same house, went to work out together, breakfast together. Often you're in the same classes. Film studies together, football practice together. And, at the end of the day, fun together as well.

“And then you graduate, and go off into the real world. Now each one of us, we're very fortunate. We got the jobs we worked so hard for, through college and internships and all through our education. But, to some degree, there's this hole in your life.”

So they decided to form a racing partnership, just to keep those precious ties from getting too loose. It wasn't even Patrick's idea. The other guys always knew that he was mad about the ponies. During their senior year, he insisted on adding TVG to their cable package, and they knew that his uncle trained out in California. In fact, he was still in his freshman year when Doug O'Neill and his brother and assistant Dennis won the Kentucky Derby itself with I'll Have Another (Flower Alley). The year after Patrick graduated, they did it again with Nyquist (Uncle Mo). So this, his friends saw, was not just a quirky obsession; this was pretty much a family business.

Not for his dad, admittedly.  As the oldest of four brothers, Dave O'Neill had seen the other side of the coin. Their father—Patrick's grandfather, that is, for whom he is named—had an infectious enthusiasm for racing back in Detroit, but equally contagious were his wagers. One would lead to another, and the oldest of his boys learned a wariness of the track. Doug and Dennis saw only the excitement, and after graduating from high school they were immediately walking hots. But Dave felt that someone in the family should maintain an even keel. He went to the University of Michigan through a caddie scholarship, and then broke down the next door with a great job in telecommunications out west.

But life being what it is, the brothers received very different dividends for their staking plan in the gamble of life. Dave grew sick of corporate America after the telecoms sector crashed in the early 2000s and, since Patrick's mom Margie was originally from Hawaii, that's where they moved for a new start. On the flip side, Doug and Dennis went from winning $8,000 claimers at Bay Meadows to transforming Lava Man (Slew City Slew) into a triple Hollywood Gold Cup winner with a ticket to the Hall of Fame. Patrick was captivated, albeit from afar now that they had moved to islands 3,000 miles away.

Tragically, his other uncle Danny died of melanoma at just 38; and then his father was diagnosed with a similar condition in his mid-50s. They gave him maybe six months or so. Patrick was by then at Brown, literally half a world away from Hawaii, and that was a lot to deal with.

“But he ended up making it two years,” Patrick says. “And I could not be more thankful to him for making my graduation. What an amazing brother he was to my uncles, husband to my mom, and dad to myself and my sisters. Looking back, yes, there was a lot going on. But I was very blessed to have such great support around me, with the O'Neills and my mom's side as well, and then all these amazing friends. We remember him, and he's definitely on this ride with us today.”

Hot Rod Charlie (#9, right) wins the $1,000,000 Grade II Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds | Hodges Photography

Because some ride it's turning out to be. As we've noted already, it was four of those amazing friends—Eric Armagost, Dan Giovacchini, Reiley Higgins and Alex Quoyeser—who had to talk Patrick into investing in his uncle's barn. Patrick agreed that the football brotherhood had to stick together. They had all ended up on the West Coast, but obviously they were no longer living in each other's pockets. A couple of years ago they had a reunion, and Patrick organized a backside pass at Del Mar. They had a tour of the barn, met Doug and Dennis, cheered home a winner for the team.

“And they were like, 'Wow, this sport is incredible!'” remembers Patrick. “And being smart, career-oriented guys, they said, 'Look, you kind of have an inside path in a lot of this: you know all about breeding, you have this great connection through Doug and Dennis. We should think about creating a syndicate.' And for me personally, knowing my grandpa's story, I was pretty adamant against it. But slowly they convinced me. But I said, 'Well, if we're going to do this, we're going to do it the right way. We're going to create an LLC; we're going to have an operating agreement; we're going to treat it like a diversified portfolio, and leverage Dennis at the sales, and Doug and Team O'Neill for the training.'”

They started with a share in a couple of OBS juveniles. One broke exactly even. The other “we got totally crushed on.”

“So we probably had one bullet left, in terms of continuing our business,” Patrick recalls. “And we got a call that fall from Dennis, at the Fasig-Tipton October Sale. As you know, typically Dennis doesn't buy yearlings. But he said, 'I'm looking at this colt, he's a half to Mitole (Eskendereya), and he's gorgeous. He's not just a sprinter: he's athletic, he's everything I look for in a horse.'”

There was a leg left, would the boys be interested? This was just before the Breeders' Cup, where Mitole would go on to nail down a divisional title. His sibling should have been unaffordable but—”all credit to Dennis”—they got him for $110,000. If his sire wasn't especially commercial, great: his racing career was a perfect template. Just like Oxbow, Hot Rod Charlie took four attempts to break his maiden but is now legitimately on the Classic trail.

When he sneaked into the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile field, they looked at the pari-mutuel board and saw that “Chuck”, as they call him, was 94-1. They shrugged. What a blast, just to be there. Then they watched in astonishment as Hot Rod Charlie cruised into contention and then took over at the top of the stretch. Though ultimately just caught by Essential Quality (Tapit), he pushed the champ all the way. “We were going berserk,” says Patrick. “We were hitting each other, jumping, chairs were getting thrown.”

So who still missed the football field now? Suddenly this could even be a Kentucky Derby horse. True, “Chuck” was beaten on his return in the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. and, albeit he finished really well, the two who held him didn't do much for the form next time. But then, last Saturday, Hot Rod Charlie won the longest trial of all in the GII Louisiana Derby. The giant shadow of Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) loomed over their frontrunner turning in, but plucky “Chuck” just kicked again and saw him off decisively. Next stop Louisville, first Saturday in May.

“In the paddock Midnight Bourbon looked incredible, as Steve Asmussen's horses usually do,” Patrick reflects. “And when he ranged up, I was like, 'Uh-oh, this is not good.' But our guy's just so tough. He doesn't care that he's a hand shorter than Midnight Bourbon. All he knows is he wants to get to that finish line first.

“Doug and his team have done such an amazing job with him. In the Lewis, at a mile and 1/16^th against two really good horses, he was probably 75 percent fit after 90 days off. Then with the seven weeks to this race, he'd never been training better. He's always been a lean horse but he's finally filling out.”

One thing Patrick can't stress enough. His guys only have one leg in this horse, and would hate for their youth and enthusiasm to distract too much attention from their more seasoned partners. He knows that for Bill Strauss, and the Roadrunner syndicate of Greg Helm, a bone fide Derby contender crowns much a longer and deeper investment in the game—not just financially, but in terms of their own passion and commitment.

“They could very much have been like, 'Oh my God, who are these young rascals?'” Patrick says. “And they could not have been cooler or greater. They say, 'I love this sport. I want it promoted to the younger generation. You guys are doing that, and should do it as much as you can. Keep going.' These are two amazing individuals. And that's what happens, when you go on a ride like this. From people you didn't know at all, you end up with friends you'll have forever. Greg and Bill will be mentors to me and my friends for the rest of our lives.”

Strauss joined the youngsters and their families and girlfriends to celebrate in New Orleans last Saturday, and whatever happens in Louisville the whole group will be enjoying every second. As the Turf evangelist within his group, moreover, Patrick has loved to see the passion and the knowledge bloom among his novice buddies.

“That's my inside joke to them,” he says with a laugh. “I tell them, 'You guys are screwed for the rest of your lives.' You're going to have this ride. And then we're all going to be chasing this feeling, and this type of horse, for the next 20 years. So I'm able to tell them how lucky they are. They ask so many questions, like who is this Tapit guy who wins every race? And what are these Ragozins, and Beyers, and Thoro-Graphs? But it's great, for me personally, because I love this sport so much and having great young talent come into it is huge.

“No joke, it gives me chills, to see some of the best friends in my life so happy right there in the winner's circle. That's one of the best feelings in the world. This sport that I grew up in, that means so much to my family—and they are hooked. It shows you what a great world this is, and that if we market it properly, who knows what it could be for this next generation?”

As the one who understands the odds still to be overcome, Patrick is trying not to think too far ahead; especially with the Breeders' Cup this year returning to what is nowadays his local track. He knows to take everything one step at a time. But “Chuck” has the potential to be a precious vehicle for the whole industry. For one thing, as the final bequest of Edward A. Cox Jr., he already has a bunch of people in his corner—from his late breeder's grandchildren (well over three dozen of those, at the last count) to that old sage Bill Landes at Hermitage Farm. Bob and Sean Feld, too, will be hoping that Hot Rod Charlie can continue to magnify the skill with which they pinhooked a $17,000 short yearling. But the biggest deal of all is if young people on the outside see just how much fun these boys are having.

With such momentous stakes, then, they do well to remember the lessons learned together on the football field. To some people, sport is too frivolous to justify the emotion and money that many of us pour into it. But we only do that because it really teaches us about life, and about each other; because we know how true a mirror it holds up to the world.

“I don't even know if this whole thing is a million-to-one,” Patrick says. “It might be more like a billion-to-one. We really try to keep each other's feet on the ground. That's the input that I always received from my dad, from Doug and Dennis: about all the ups and downs in life. I respect LeBron James so much, but he's perfect physically, he's super smart and an amazing athlete. But then you also have guys like Steph Curry, who's six three. They figure it out. Those are the people that resonate because they have to get through tough experiences, tough times.

“So yes, sport is an amazing analogy for life. And if you can properly navigate college sports, it helps you to deal with other trials and tribulations. So with Hot Rod Charlie, obviously I hope he never loses another race again. But we'd be foolish to think that will be the case. There will be a time when he doesn't run to his best, and we're going to sit there and have five seconds to sulk about it. But then we're going to realize that life goes on, and that we still have each other. Just like a loss in football. You keep moving forward. Because all the amazing experiences you're going through together are never going to be

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The 52-year-old Michigander won the 2012 Run for the Roses with I'll Have Another and in 2016 with 2020's leading freshman sire Nyquist.

O'Neill currently has two sophomores listed in Pool 3 of the 24 Kentucky Derby Future Wager categories, Hot Rod Charlie and The Great One, each offered at 20-1 on the morning line.

The Great One, a Kentucky-bred colt by Nyquist who is owned in-part by Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson's ERJ Racing Stable, comes off a smashing 14-length one mile maiden score here on Jan. 23 and is being pointed to the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on March 6.

Second, beaten a nose in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity Dec. 19, The Great One earned a 92 Beyer Speed figure in his maiden triumph.

The Great One worked six furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday morning in 1:15.80, while Hot Rod Charlie went four furlongs in :51.20.

Of the 24 categories listed for Pool 3 in the KDFW, horses in eight of them (better than 33 percent) call Santa Anita home.

They are Concert Tour, Freedom Fighter and Medina Spirit, each at 20-1, and Life Is Good, 8-1, all trained by Bob Baffert; Dream Shake, 20-1, Peter Eurton; Hot Rod Charlie and The Great One, each 20-1, O'Neill; and Roman Centurian, 30-1, Simon Callaghan.

Six of the last nine Kentucky Derby winners have been based in Southern California, five at Santa Anita: Authentic, 2020; Justify, 2018; Nyquist, 2016; American Pharoah, 2015; and I'll Have Another, 2012.

California Chrome, winner of the Run for the Roses in 2014, was headquartered at Los Alamitos.

The post Will The Great One Help O’Neill Score A Kentucky Derby Hat Trick? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The 11-year-old son of Flower Alley began his stallion career in Japan, and was brought back to the U.S. to stand in California at Ballena Vista Farm prior to the 2019 breeding season. He was first purchased privately a few months ago by Doug O'Neill, I'll Have Another's trainer during his on-track career, who turned the horse over to the Reddams.

The purchase was done with a bit of urgency over concerns that the stallion might be sent overseas once again.

I'll Have Another won five of seven starts for the Reddams and O'Neill, earning $2,693,600. He earned his spot on the classic trail with wins in the G2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes and G1 Santa Anita Derby. Then, he showed off an incredible closing kick to run down pacesetter Bodemeister in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Bred in Kentucky by Harvey Clarke, I'll Have Another is out of the winning Arch mare Arch's Gal Edith.

Already a veteran sire in Japan, I'll Have Another is responsible for 220 winners, led by Group 3 winner Another Truth.

A stud fee for I'll Have Another will be announced at a later date.

Read more at Daily Racing Form.

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