Major Boost to Farr-Sighted Program

It is still relatively early days in his Turf adventure. But no matter how much Paul Farr can build on what is fast becoming a pretty serious commitment, he may never experience a more succinct sample of its ups and downs–and how bewilderingly entwined those tend to be–than his debut involvement in a graded stakes.

That came just a few days ago, in the GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill: the first chance to bank starting points for a certain race staged on the same track next May. Time to start dreaming. Unfortunately Magnolia Midnight (Midnight Storm), a Colonial Downs maiden winner owned in partnership by his Titletown Racing Stables, dropped right out to finish last behind Major General (Constitution).  On the other hand, the exciting winner happens to be the first foal out of an unraced daughter of Uncle Mo, No Mo Lemons, Farr had acquired from the estate of the late Gerry Dilger for just $70,000 at Keeneland last November.

That could obviously prove a pretty sensational bargain, if Major General can continue along the Derby trail the way he has started. No Mo Lemons, after all, is still only six and Farr has already sounded out WinStar about sending her back to Constitution next spring, to breed a sibling to Major General. But the spectrum of horseracing fortunes extends far wider even than the gulf dividing the two Iroquois runners in which Farr had some kind of stake.

For back in the spring No Mo Lemons had already promised an early dividend on her purchase, when delivering the foal she was carrying at the sale. Dilger could scarcely have chosen a more fashionable young stallion for her first cover.

No Mo Lemons with her 2021 Practical Joke filly | Courtesy Paul Farr

“So she produced this beautiful Practical Joke filly,” Farr relates. “I mean, just gorgeous. And, in fact, one of the main reasons I bought her had been the difficulty I'd had, along with some of the syndicates I was in, trying to bid on Practical Joke yearlings the prior September and October. They kept going for crazy prices, or what I thought crazy at the time. Of course, his progeny have meanwhile been performing on the track as well. But when I kept being outbid, I thought, 'Screw this, I'm going to go a little farther back in the timeline and buy a mare in foal to him instead.' And I liked this one's whole page and, of course, everything that Gerry Dilger had done over the past many, many years.”

Sure enough, the Practical Joke filly was an immediate standout among the 10 foals delivered by the Titletown mares with Sally Lockhart at Ballyrankin Stud. But then disaster struck.

“With that new rotavirus strain that popped in the Lexington area, at the beginning of the year, we had both the mare and her filly in quarantine for three weeks at Rood and Riddle,” Farr says. “And actually, we had just about got the foal over the parasitic infection–only for her then to spike an infection in her knee. We did everything we could. We tried several different cocktails of antibiotics. But when they're so young, they can't really do that aggressive a treatment. And finally the recommendation came from the vet that there was nothing more we could do, and we had to make the very hard decision that she shouldn't suffer anymore.”

Farr remembers, with bitter affection, kissing the little filly on the head in those last days; and subsequently visiting No Mo Lemons at Ballyrankin, which is just a mile up the road from the clinic. During the miserable period of confinement, the mare had exuded maternal dismay; a distraught, helpless sense that her foal, gated off within their cramped quarantine stall, was not in a good place. It was gratifying now to sense an almost palpable relief in the mare, that the shared ordeal was over.

And if Farr couldn't have been given a more painful reminder of the perils that may always lurk among Thoroughbreds, even after you have shown the most astute judgement, then it's not as though he needed any schooling in the merits of spreading risk. In his business life, that had long been his governing instinct.

It was actually in leading former employer PPL Corp's acquisition of two major Kentucky utilities, around a decade ago, that Farr was first introduced to the lifeblood of the Bluegrass. Several members of the management teams at those utilities were in syndicates together, claiming horses, and Farr saw the fun they were having. After a stint at the reins of a spin-off merchant power generation business, a buyout put Farr in a position to develop his nascent interest.

Paul and Kym Farr just before the Iroquois | Courtesy Paul Farr

“I was in a business very much oriented to risk management,” Farr explains. “So I felt pretty comfortable with the concept of spreading your risk with different trainers, different partnership groups, much as you do different assets in different locations. So while I'm still getting my legs under, I'm okay with managing exposure and nothing about the business scared me in any way.”

Inevitably, even so, seeking the right fit was a process of trial and error. There were attempts to cut corners. Farr soon discovered, for instance, that measuring the thickness of the cardiac wall was no substitute for the kind of heart that's needed in the heat of racetrack battle. So while auspicious physical attributes could and should be factored into decision-making, he soon realized that the all-important competitive desire would only begin to be disclosed many months after a yearling leaves the ring.

Open daylight maiden winner Magnolia Midnight | Coady

In the end, Farr and his wife Kym evolved a strategy of building partnership at different levels. On the one hand, for instance, he is involved with some buddies at Rainbow's End Racing claiming horses in New York; at the other end of the scale, equally, he's also contributing to the new Colts' Group put together by Brad Cox, Bradley Weisbord and Liz Crow. Having enjoyed his first experiences partnering with West Point Thoroughbreds, meanwhile, he has also made a couple of fresh commitments with that team; and then there's a little extra shopping with his pal Staton Flurry of Hot Springs, whose Flurry Racing Stables has a stake in Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil). Farr has also partnered with Sol Kumin (Madaket Stables) on a number of horses in the past two years.

“I learnt my lesson several years ago trying to do things more on the 100 percent,” Farr reflects. “Through all these different avenues I get to share the experience of a lot of really smart people–whether that's Clay Scherer, who helps Staton and me, or the whole infrastructure at West Point, or Liz Crow, or Tom Morley who does the training for Rainbow's End in New York.

“Brad Cox probably trains more horses that I have an interest in than any other trainer, but then think about all those guys on the West Point team: they have John Sadler out in California, there's George Weaver, there's Shug McGaughey, there's Christophe Clement, Dale Romans, Steve Asmussen, Dallas Stewart, so many relationships. I was listening to a podcast they put out to the ownership group the other day, with Dallas Stewart, and Terry Finley was mentioning how they go back 30 years together. So doing things this way lets you tap into deep relationships, and aligns you with people with deep knowledge, people that are world-class.”

And that's also the level he sees in the counsel and empathy of Lockhart, now truly like family to him. In principle, he intends to keep Titletown's breeding and racing operations separate. No doubt some occasional flexibilities will be required, but it's the commercial possibilities that are exciting about the emergence of Major General. For his dam's first Titletown cover, Farr and Lockhart settled on Kantharos, seeking a slightly more streamlined animal after her first three foals–including the Always Dreaming weanling sold alongside her last November, to Steven W. Young for $95,000–all came up a pretty generous size.

Dripping Gold's Saratoga debut | Sarah Andrew

Not that this windfall for No More Lemons is the only excitement for a program gathering momentum all the time. At the same auction where he found her, Farr gave $240,000 for Swiss Skydiver's half-sister Is It Gold (Indygo Shiner), and the Nyquist colt she was carrying is evidently a knockout. Within 24 hours of Farr's first involvement in a graded stakes, moreover, Dripping Gold (Lemon Drop Kid) was fast-tracked to Grade I company in the Summer S. after a debut success at Saratoga for a partnership also including West Point Thoroughbreds and John A. Ballantyne. Shug McGaughey confessed himself rather disappointed with fifth place at Woodbine, and believes there remains better to come. But already the next cycle promises ever more action: the Weisbord-Crow group alone gives him a piece of the action in a couple of dozen elite Saratoga and Keeneland graduates. And Farr is also involved, meanwhile, in a Tony and Kim Dutrow group now prospecting the big yearling sales in Europe.

Titletown's Green Bay Packers-inspired silks | Courtesy Paul Farr

Titletown is named for Farr's hometown and his beloved Green Bay Packers and their 13 championships, and there's no mistaking the sense of purpose that could someday bring him to the equivalent of Super Bowl territory with Thoroughbreds, too.

“To have 2-year-olds running in a Grade III and a Grade I, a day apart, was very exciting and I hope that as young horses both will improve for their experience,” Farr says. “And obviously it was fantastic to see Major General do his job for his dam, and get the 'Win-and-You're-In' for the Breeders' Cup. Hopefully he can go on and do fantastic things.

“Okay, with the Practical Joke foal, Lady Luck put her thumb on the scale a little bit the other way. But that's part of this game, with its amazing ups and downs. I have tended to be somewhat lucky in business, and in life. I've got a great family, five kids, and done great things with my companies. At the level we're talking about, you do need the resources to compete. And when I put a dollar to work, I don't necessarily expect to get that dollar back. I'm very fortunate that I don't need to–though it would be nice, right, to have this stuff work.

“But for me, everything in life comes down to the people part. I just really have to enjoy who I'm involved with. With the New York group, those are smaller dollar amounts. But, same thing: wonderful people. Anybody can put money to work. But horses have tragic things happen, horses have amazing things happen. Irrespective of the size of the check, it's about being with fantastic people that you enjoy spending time with, and going on that roller coaster ride together.”

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Major General Tops Road To Kentucky Derby Leaderboard After Iroquois Win

WinStar Farm and Siena Farm's $300,000 Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes winner Major General added 10 points on the “Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve” and an automatic berth to the Nov. 5, $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“I thought it was an impressive performance in only his second start for him to jump up like that and progress to two turns,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I was very pleased with him. Hopefully, he continues to make progress. I haven't talked to Elliott (Walden) and the WinStar team about his next plans but I would probably think we would train him up to the Breeders' Cup.”

Major General debuted at 6 ½ furlongs at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where he recorded a front-running victory. In Saturday's Iroquois, the Constitution colt rallied from 4 ½ lengths off the early pace. He's scheduled to ship back to his New York base Sunday.

The post Major General Tops Road To Kentucky Derby Leaderboard After Iroquois Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Major General’s Bold Move A Winning One In Iroquois, Earns BC Juvenile Spot

Javier Castellano made a bold move with Major General on the far turn in the Grade 3 Iroquois, moving up quickly on the outside of horses to challenge front runner Stellar Tap entering the stretch. Under the Twin Spires, the son of Constitution dueled with Stellar Tap, took the lead in the final sixteenth of a mile, and held off Tough to Tame to win the G3 stakes by a neck and grab a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

In a crowded field of 10, Magnolia Midnight and Roger McQueen were one-two early, with Stellar Tap and Tough to Tame just back in third and fourth. Major General sat in the middle of the pack fifth on the backstretch, but Castellano in the white silks of WinStar Farm did not wait for the stretch to bid for the front, moving up quickly on the outside of the leaders as they entered the far turn. Just before the field hit the stretch, Stellar Tap took over the lead, with Major General to his outside, the two on even terms as they straightened out into the race's final furlongs.

In the Churchill Downs straight, Major General dug in, dueling with Stellar Tap and then pulling away late, his final surge enough to hold off surging Tough to Tame and Red Knobs in the race's last yards.

The final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:44.88. Find this race's chart here.

Major General paid $11.80, $6.60, and $4.80. Tough to Tame paid $23.40 and $11.60. Red Knobs paid $9.00.

The G3 Iroquois is a Win and You're In race for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The winner earns a fees-paid guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the corresponding race at the Breeders' Cup World Championships, scheduled for Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

As an early prep race for the 2022 Kentucky Derby, Major General earns 10 points toward a spot in the starting gate for the Run for the Roses.

Bred by Circular Road Breeders, Major General is out of the Uncle Mo mare No Mo Lemons. He is trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by WinStar Farm and Siena Farm. With this win in the G3 Iroquois, Major General remains perfect in his short career, with two wins in two starts and career earnings of $232,525.

 

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Major General Earns His Stripes in Iroquois

Major General took his record to two-for-two with a gutsy score in the GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill Downs Saturday, earning a spot in the gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The $420,000 KEESEP buy went gate to wire in his 6 1/2-panel unveiling at Saratoga Aug. 21 and was given a 9-2 chance for this step up in class. The bay raced off the rail in mid-pack as a pair of longshots battled through an opening quarter in :23.82. Moving into a joint fourth as the half went in :47.89, Major General charged to the lead alongside 'TDN Rising Star' Stellar Tap (Tapit) approaching the far turn and they entered the stretch in unison. A brief battled ensued, but Stellar Tap threw in the towel halfway home and a host of pursuers rallied up to take his place, but Major General held on for a narrow victory over Tough to Tame. Stellar Tap's jockey Ricardo Santana claimed foul for some bumping in the lane, but the result was left as is.

“You're always confident whenever Todd [Pletcher] puts you on a horse,” Javier Castellano said. “His team does a great job and this horse is just learning. He seemed to enjoy going two turns and when the other horses got to him in the stretch he started to re-break.”

Pedigree Notes:
Major General is the eighth graded and 17th black-type winner overall for WinStar stallion Constitution, whose third crop is two this year. Circular Road Breeders bred both Major General and his dam, the unraced No Mo Lemons, but sold them both in 2020. Major General went as a Keeneland January short yearling for $265,000 to Northface Bloodstock and was successfully pinhooked into a $420,000 September yearling, where Maverick Racing took him home. No Mo Lemons was hammered for $70,000 by Titletown Racing Stables at the Keeneland November sale and her now-yearling colt by Always Dreaming brought $95,000 at the same sale from Steven W. Young. No Mo Lemons didn't produce a 2021 foal, but was bred to Kantharos for next term. A number of stakes winners trace to the grandam of No Mo Lemons, a half-sister to GISW Well Chosen (Deputy Minister), including GISW Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}) and MGSW & GISP Multiple Choice (Mt. Livermore). Uncle Mo, with just seven crops to race himself, is young for a broodmare sire, but Major General counts as the third stakes winner out of his daughters.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
IROQUOIS S.-GIII, $300,000, Churchill Downs, 9-18, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:44.88, ft.
1–MAJOR GENERAL, 118, c, 2, by Constitution
               1st Dam: No Mo Lemons, by Uncle Mo
               2nd Dam: Lemon Lady, by Lemon Drop Kid
               3rd Dam: Lady of Choice, by Storm Bird
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($265,000
Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $420,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-WinStar Farm
LLC & Siena Farm LLC; B-Circular Road Breeders (KY); T-Todd
Pletcher; J-Javier Castellano. $177,525. Lifetime Record:
2-2-0-0, $232,525. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Tough to Tame, 118, c, 2, Speightster–She'sa Tough Tiger,
by Tiger Ridge. ($75,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR). O-Rittdiculous
Gazmanian Stables; B-Elizabeth H. Muirhead (KY);
T-Christopher Davis. $57,750.
3–Red Knobs, 118, c, 2, Union Rags–Hokey Okey, by Lonhro
(Aus). ($75,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Jim Bakke & Gerald
Isbister; B-Caldara Farm Inc. & Flaxman Holdings Limited
(KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $28,875.
Margins: NK, 3/4, HF. Odds: 4.90, 37.30, 29.70.
Also Ran: Bourbon Heist, Stellar Tap, Guntown, Strike Hard, Husband Material, Roger McQueen, Magnolia Midnight. Scratched: Lucky Boss.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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