Tag: Mill Ridge Farm

Mill Ridge Farm Sets 2021 Stud Fee for Oscar Performance

Mill Ridge Farm has set the 2021 stud fee for world record turf miler Oscar Performance (Kitten’s Joy) at $15,000, LFSN. Bred and raced by Jerry and John Amerman, he won the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, captured Grade I stakes at 2, 3, and 4, and broke a 20-year track record at Belmont Park at a mile in 1:31.23, all with no Lasix.

“We celebrate his third year, for we have seen so many of his foals and they are genuine quality,” said Headley Bell. “He has every opportunity to buck the trend and have more mares in his third year than he had in his first two of 118 and 116. At a stud fee of $15,000 live foal, he is value, for you have these quality foals in the pipeline.”

The post Mill Ridge Farm Sets 2021 Stud Fee for Oscar Performance appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Price Bell Named Mill Ridge Farm General Manager

Mill Ridge Farm is pleased to announce the appointment of Price Bell Jr. as its general manager.

Upon completing his MBA from Vanderbilt's Owen School in 2010, Price returned to Lexington and his life's passion, the Thoroughbred industry. With conviction for the sport and believing in the great opportunity to develop the industry's fan base, Price became actively involved with the founding of Horse Country, while assisting as a bloodstock agent for the Mill Ridge affiliate, Nicoma Bloodstock. He serves on the boards of the KTA-KTOB, TOBA, National Museum of Racing, Fayette Alliance, Amplify Horse Racing, and Horse Country.

Price said it is a tremendous honor to work with the team at Mill Ridge, many of whom worked with his grandmother and 2020 National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame inductee, Alice Chandler.

“In the summer of 1995, I began work at Mill Ridge Farm under the tutelage of the team responsible for raising generations of great Thoroughbreds. It is an honor to work with many team members from when I first started,” said Price.

His father, Headley Bell, will continue on as Mill Ridge Farm, managing partner, a role he has enjoyed since 2008, as well as enhancing its affiliate, Nicoma Bloodstock, which he founded in 1979.

Since 2000, Mill Ridge Farm has raised and/or sold 35 Grade 1 winners. The affiliate, Nicoma Bloodstock, has led its clients to reach the pinnacles of success by capturing countless Grade 1 races including: two Arc de Triomphes, two Kentucky Derbies, one Kentucky Oaks, four Breeders' Cup races and two Horse of the Year titles in 40 years of service.

The post Price Bell Named Mill Ridge Farm General Manager appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A Spotlight on Stress in the Era of COVID: Price Bell

Working in racing has always been a stressful occupation; a roller-coaster of emotions, triumphs and tragedies, long hours and travel. Add a global pandemic and unprecedented economic worry, with many participants fearing for their health, livelihoods and businesses, and the stress can become almost overwhelming. It’s the sort of topic many people don’t like to talk about, but we asked several industry participants to open about what particular stresses they were feeling during these very concerning times, and how they were dealing with them.

PRICE BELL, Mill Ridge Farm 

We are very lucky. My godfather spent 20 days in the ICU due to COVID-19 and twice was presented DNR papers to sign, giving him 30 minutes to improve his oxygen saturation levels prior to intubating him.

He is home- still recovering, but home. He was diagnosed on March 16th. We spoke on March 18th and at that time, “it was not as bad as the flu, just more aggravating.” On March 20th he was admitted to the hospital, March 22nd the ICU and discharged home on April 12th. He is still recovering, but can now walk for 30 minutes. He played fullback for Coach Parcells at Vanderbilt, and on March 15th he was in the best shape of his life. We are lucky.

It is really hard. Like many, Beth and I both work full-time. Trying to excel in our professions, parent/teach/keep it on the rails with our two children (five and three) and have a relationship is impossible. The peace of two sleeping children is often our greatest victory.

Perspective, patience and community have been key to “handling” the stress of the pandemic.

Perspective that our health, the health of our team, the health of their families and the health of our families and loved ones is paramount.

Patience that we are all going through this together. We have to be patient with each other because it’s impossible to know if someone is up or down on the “coronacoaster.” I can’t say that I always have perspective and patience, but it’s something I am consciously working towards.

Our community has provided us with plenty of silver linings. We have felt great joy in sharing Mill Ridge on virtual tours, we have had many family picnics that never would have occurred because we would have been “too busy” in the past and we have forged relationships with plenty of neighbors with whom we would have normally only shared a passing hello. And, the love I felt at the outpouring of support when I tested positive for COVID-19 recently and had to isolate away from my family for 11 days. I was lucky and asymptomatic.

We will get through this and be stronger together.

Would you be willing to share your thoughts on stress during this particularly difficult time? Email the TDN’s Katie Ritz at katieritz@thetdn.com or Sue Finley at suefinley@thetdn.com.

 

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The Next Generation with Shayna Tiller

  The TDN has partnered with Amplify Horse Racing to present “The Next Generation,” an ongoing video series featuring young people who were not born into the Thoroughbred business, but are now excelling within the industry.

Growing up next to Laurel Park, 24-year-old Shayna Tiller always felt a strong attraction to horse racing. But it wasn’t until she was in college that she decided to pursue a career in the industry.

On a whim, she applied for an internship with the Saratoga Special. After spending one summer at the Spa, she was hooked for life. Over the past four years, Shayna has been on a whirlwind tour of the industry- doing everything from foaling out mares, chasing down a story on the Saratoga backstretch, working as an exercise rider, and interning for Fasig-Tipton.

Last year, she graduated from the Irish National Stud course. She now works as the Director of Sales for Mill Ridge Farm, and also shares her passion for promoting the stories of the people behind the sport through the ‘Riders Up’ Podcast she created with roommate Autry Graham.

KR: How did you get involved in horse racing?

ST: I’m originally from Laurel, Maryland and I grew up 10 minutes from the racetrack there. My mom and sister are deathly allergic to horses, ironically, so no one in my family was really into it. But my parents are from Bowie, Maryland and my dad always liked to go to the track and he took me with him a couple times. I did one Pony Pal ride there, and I was sold for life.

So I rode horses growing up, and I did a school project in high school on Lasix in horse racing and I interned with some of the state vets there at Laurel and Pimlico. I learned all about it and was kind of hooked from that point.

When I was in college at the University of Maryland, we had to apply for a fake internship as part of the general education requirements. I found an ad for the Saratoga Special, and just decided to apply. So I shipped up to Saratoga, didn’t even know what a blacktype race was, and I was interviewing Todd Pletcher the next day.

They put us up in a barn apartment above the McMahon’s Farm. Ann McMahon drives a car with a license plate that says ‘Funny Cide One’ on it. They raised Funny Cide and he was my favorite horse growing up. So I thought, “Well, I want to come back and learn more.” So I spent my winters with them, and any break I had from college, I was there.

I transferred my last year of college to a smaller agricultural school in Pennsylvania to get more hands-on experience. I galloped in the mornings and interned with the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation when it was in its beginning stages. Then I was with Fasig-Tipton for a while before going to Ireland for the Irish National Stud Program last year.

So I guess as a new person in the industry who knew that I knew nothing, I wanted to get a full perspective on the industry and I was just eating it up. I think that’s what’s so cool, is that people in this industry really allow you to do anything you’re interested in.

KR: What was it that drew you to this industry?

ST: I think that it’s all rooted in a love for the horse. I went to college to be a vet, but when I was going through it, I realized I didn’t really want to do that. When you grow up as a little horse girl you think you’re either going to be a barn manager or maybe manage a tack shop or be a vet. So when I found horse racing, I just saw that you can actually go and make a career for yourself and work in a dynamic industry, and that’s what drew me in.

Being in Saratoga, it’s the most inspiring place you can be, really. I was around the top horses in the country and the top trainers- the people you see on TV. I wanted more and more of it, and it snowballed from there.

KR: What is your favorite part about this business?

ST: I really love the sales. I think what’s so cool about them is you sell horses at different stages of life and you’re trying to find where they’re going to peak. It’s also a bit of a matchmaking project with each horse, so it’s really neat seeing them grow, especially the foals to yearlings and the yearlings to 2-year-olds. You’re trying to find the perfect match of who’s going to purchase them and then you get to see them go on and win races and become big bad race horses that you’ve seen since they were babies. There’s really nothing like it.

KR: Tell us about what you do now.

ST: I’m the Director of Sales at Mill Ridge Farm. Mill Ridge was founded by Alice Chandler in 1962, which is really special for me, being a woman in the industry as well. She was just inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. So it’s kind of cool to be a female working here and carry on her legacy.

In my position, I oversee all of the sales operations, so that consists of recruiting, seeing the horses prep and placing them in sales, and then working in marketing to make sure they reach the right buyers and communicating with clients to help them succeed. I get to do a lot of different things, which is what’s so fun. No day is the same, and obviously going to the sales is a whole other job when I do that.

Another fun thing I do with my roommate Autry Graham is we started a podcast called Riders Up. We’re two young girls in racing and we like to have conversations with different people on the podcast and talk about their lives. It’s not your stereotypical handicapping podcast. You don’t want our picks. We tell the stories behind the business, and it’s really fun. You can find us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and we have an Instagram that we interact with a lot too.

KR: What are your career goals?

ST: I’ve always wanted to have my own consignment, so that’s something that I’m getting a little taste of here at Mill Ridge. I’m hoping in the next 10-plus years, I’ll be able to do that on my own.

KR: If you could change one thing about this industry, what would it be?

ST: I think if I could change one thing, it would be how we interact with the public. I come from a family that knows nothing about horse racing, so every time we have our newest public scandal or whatever the situation may be, I hear it from the public’s standpoint, rather than our standpoint as an industry. I think it’s so important for us to educate the public and tell them what’s really going on and be more transparent, because the more transparent you are, the less you have to lose.

I also think we need to work to appeal to the public. My friends all used to go to the Preakness and they wouldn’t even watch a horse race during the day, but they all got hooked on it from there, and it made them want to go back for more. It was more like a sporting event for them than a serious gambling experience. So I think we need to improve our engagement with the public.

KR: What was it like being a total newcomer in the sport?

ST: I was definitely very intimidated when I first started in racing. It just seems completely isolated and you don’t really know how you’re going to break that barrier. I got into it pretty late. I was in college when I first started, and I was around people who have grown up in it their whole lives and knew all these things that I didn’t even know were possible.

I’ve found though, in racing, how much people do embrace you once you actually get into it and show you want to learn. I have had so many great people who have helped me along the way. It’s kind of incredible. I don’t know why they’ve done so much for me. So I think that was the initial struggle, but now I just feel really lucky to be a part of it, and it’s amazing how much people help you.

The post The Next Generation with Shayna Tiller appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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