Obituaries | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘A Wonderful Ride’: Looking Back On The Life Of Ken LeJeune

The racing world just lost a fan. Ken LeJeune died at home on Friday, Dec. 4 after a brief illness. In his 40-plus year career, he was a jockey, trainer, bloodstock agent, and all things in between; but always a fan.

He quietly went about his business; no advertisements, no parties, rarely a mention in the trade papers. That wasn't his thing. His involvement in horse racing reached far and wide. There are not too many people I can think of in the business who have not asked him to train, examine, fix, buy, sell, evaluate, or shelter a horse. He loved every minute of it. It was his life's blood.

We met at Delta Downs in winter 1980, He was hungry, trying to ride Thoroughbreds until the Quarter Horse meet came in spring. We lived in a tack room; we married four months later, and still didn't own a running car. No matter, we had each other, and racing. He rode a match race the day we wed.

He rode races for several years, sometimes away from home for months, other times dragging the family along – hotel to hotel.

We eventually moved lock, stock, and barrel to Ocala with $65 and a tank of gas. He started breaking Thoroughbreds for various farms, the first being for Fred Hooper, where he was a regular rider of the famed Precisionist.

When race riding ended, he dreamed of training, and buying horses. The first horse he sold went to Jack Van Berg; a horse given to him as a “thank you” for getting up at 4:30 a.m. to gallop a few horses prior to his usual job. He enjoyed helping others in the business, and that's where he spent most of any profit.

He partnered in the early 2000s on a few cheap horses, one, which he bought as a field buddy for $1,300 dollars, became my namesake Carey's Gold, who fell just short of sweeping the Florida Stallion Stakes circa 2001. Bad feet, oh my, the horse had bad feet. He worked endlessly on those bad feet.

New York trainer Gary Contessa was the first prominent trainer to see talent in Ken's horsemanship, and soon Kenneth was in business, in a big way.

In later years, we became close friends of Jim and Susan Hill, and enjoyed many racing related, and personal trips together, all the while talking horses. Always talking horses.

Over the years, he had the good fortune of finding, or developing some of the best; Peace Rules, Divine Park, Genuine Devotion, Anne's Beauty, Bay to Bay, Clearly Now, Flip Cup, and more recently, Totally Boss, Gufo, Mo Forza, and untold others I'm sure I've forgotten.

He was a true Cajun, and he never left his roots. He enjoyed fishing in the Gulf, a few cold beers at the end of the day, and a stop at the farm to check on the horses. He found total happiness in sitting on his pony, and watching his charges march like soldiers to the track. His faithful dog Sissy, always following behind, logging miles every day to keep up with him. She never wavered.

Although he was ill, even he did not know in the end that it would come so soon. He lived life by the drop and consumed every last bit. It may have seemed unfair, but it was long enough.

He adored, and was so proud of our children, John, and Piper—and I'm sure bent everyone's ear to speak of their success. They, in turn, adored him, and I am proud to say inherited a strong work ethic, humble gratitude, and a commitment of service to others.

To those who believed in him, I thank you. You allowed him to earn a living in a sport that he loved. For almost 40 years, I tagged along for the wonderful ride.

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‘Truly The Horse Of A Lifetime’: Grade 1 Winner Congaree Dies At Age 22

Multiple Grade 1 winner Congaree was euthanized due to the infirmities of old age on Sunday, Nov. 22, at Valor Farm near Pilot Point, Texas, where he had been standing prior to being pensioned earlier this year.

Owned by Janice McNair, who, with her late husband Bob, bred and raced Congaree in the name of their Stonerside Stable, Congaree was one of a handful of horses the McNairs retained after selling their farm, training center, and bloodstock to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum in October of 2008 in order to devote more time to their NFL franchise, the Houston Texans.

“Congaree was such a special horse,” said Janice McNair. “I am so grateful for all the many happy memories Congaree gave us. He was so unique, and had the most loving personality. He was a delight to be around, and it was always such a thrill to watch him run. Congaree was truly the horse of a lifetime for us.”

Trained by Bob Baffert, the chestnut son of Arazi out of Mari's Sheba raced 25 times, from age two to age six, including an amazing streak of 22 consecutive starts in graded stakes, beginning with a win in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial in 2001 in his stakes debut. Overall, Congaree won five Grade 1 stakes, from seven to 10 furlongs, and five other graded stakes, while placing in another six, including the 2001 Kentucky Derby and Preakness. His time for the one-mile split in the Derby remains the co-second fastest mile in the classic's history. Congaree also ran the fastest dirt mile in North America in 2002, winning the G1 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct in 1:33.11. He came back to win that race again in 2003 and remains the only two-time winner of the Cigar Mile. Congaree was undefeated at Aqueduct, winning three Grade 1s and a Grade 2. Overall, he competed at ten tracks in five states coast to coast.

“He was just a special horse,” said Baffert. “We had gotten to know the McNairs after training Chilukki for them, but it was through Congaree that we really got to know the whole family, and we made some great memories. Congaree was a really fast horse, and could carry his speed. His Kentucky Derby performance was one of the best, he set a blistering pace for the mile and hung in gamely. Another race that stands out in my memory was his Hollywood Gold Cup win in 2003. He just destroyed the competition. We raced all over the country with him, and it was just so much fun to show up with a horse like Congaree.

“First time I saw him, he really caught my eye,” Baffert continued. “I was looking at all these well-bred yearlings at Stonerside and saw him in a paddock nearby, and I said 'Wow, can I take that chestnut? I'll trade you back one of these Danzigs for him.' He didn't have the most perfect conformation, but he made up for it with heart. He was a real noble horse, sweet, kind, just a great personality.”

Congaree barely survived a difficult birth, presenting at 152 pounds – well above average size, especially for a first foal. Sickly and confined to stall rest due to several broken ribs, he quickly became a staff favorite with his friendly personality. Janice McNair remembers feeding him peppermints on the many visits to Kentucky the couple made from their Houston home.

“Congaree loved his peppermints and knew what the rattle of a candy wrapper meant at an early age. He especially seemed to bond with my husband Bob. The two had a special connection, and I know Bob got tremendous joy watching him run. He was such a character, just a very special horse.”

Retired to stud at Adena Springs in Kentucky, he was later moved to New York and eventually to Texas. In total, Congaree has sired 13 stakes winners from 317 starters, including six graded or group winners, with Irish highweighted filly Maoineach and Grade 1 winners Jeranimo ($1,525,364), Don't Tell Sophia ($1,382,479), and Killer Graces among his leading runners. As a broodmare sire, his daughters include the dams of Grade 2 winner and classics-placed Homerique and 2020 Group 3 winner New Treasure (IRE).

“Congaree was the epitome of what we hoped to accomplish with the Stonerside breeding program,” said John Adger, longtime racing and bloodstock manager for the McNairs. “It was fitting he was our first Grade 1 homebred, as his dam and granddam were part of the purchase of the Elmendorf broodmare band of Jack Kent Cooke in 1997 – an acquisition we considered the cornerstone of the breeding program. Congaree, in fact, earned back nearly the entire cost of that investment with his race earnings. He always gave 100 percent in every race. He was an Eclipse Award finalist three times – Horse of the Year, champion sprinter, and champion older horse.”

“Congaree had so much class,” said Ken Carson, general manager of Valor Farm. “He was a pleasure to be around, an easy-going horse who certainly loved his mints.”

“I am very grateful to all the people who played a part in his life – all our Stonerside staff, Bob Baffert and his team, our friends and family who traveled the country with us to watch him race, and to his many loyal fans who reached out to us over the years,” said Janice McNair. “He's been at two great farms here in Texas – first Will Farish's Lane's End Texas under the excellent care of Danny Shifflett, then after Lane's End closed, we were fortunate to be able to move him to Douglas Scharbauer's Valor Farm. We are especially grateful to Farm Manager Donny Denton and the entire crew at Valor for the wonderful care they have given Congaree. We are honored that he has been buried in the cemetery at Valor alongside so many of the great horses owned by the Scharbauer family.”

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Illness Claims Grade 1 Winner Archarcharch In Korea

Archarcharch, a Grade 1 winner and veteran sire, died in Korea on Oct. 15, per Korea Racing Authority records.

According to Alastair Middleton of the KRA, who spoke with representatives of Sungsoo Farm where Archarcharch resided, the 12-year-old son of Arch had spent an extended amount of time battling an illness believed to be caused by a parasitic infection. He was treated over the autumn, but his condition worsened, and the decision was made to euthanize the stallion.

Archarcharch had resided in Korea since late 2017, and he covered his first book of mares there in 2018, making his oldest Korean-sired crop yearlings of 2020. Prior to that, he stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, where he began his stud career in 2012.

Domestically, Archarcharch has sired six crops of racing age, with 274 winners and combined progeny earnings of $23.2 million.

Archarcharch's top runner to date is Next Shares, who won the G1 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes and continues to compete against high-level turf competition. His other runners of note include Grade 2 winners Mr. Misunderstood and Ivy Bell, and Grade 3 winner Toews On Ice. Internationally, the stallion has been led by Irish-born Qatar Man, who was named Singapore's Horse of the Year in 2018 (where he competed under the name Elite Invincible) and finished in the money in a U.A.E. stakes race.

Archarcharch stood three seasons in Korea at Sungsoo Farm in Icheon, just south of capital city Seoul, primarily covering the farm's own mares. He saw 35 mares in his debut season in the country, and he followed up in 2019 with 48 mares. The report of mares bred for 2020 has not yet been released.

While those numbers might seem fairly low compared to some of the other notable U.S. stallions who have been sent to Korea – five U.S.-born stallions covered more than 100 mares in 2019, led by To Honor and Serve at 164 – there are a few factors that explain it.

Icheon is about 270 miles over land and sea away from Jeju Island, Korea's southernmost point, which serves as the heart of the country's Thoroughbred breeding industry. Furthermore, the Korean government owns and subsidizes many of the country's most notable stallions, allowing breeders to to send their mares to them at minimal cost, which drives up their numbers.

As a private-standing stallion far from the country's hub of activity, Archarcharch went against the current, but Middleton said the stallion's number of mares bred was actually quite high considering that criteria.

During his own on-track career, Archarcharch won three of seven starts for earnings of $832,744. He was bred in Kentucky by Grapestock, and he raced for for Robert and Val Yagos, who bought him as a yearling for $60,000 from the Paramount Sales consignment.

After finishing second in his debut start, Archarcharch broke his maiden in the Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds. Two starts later, he established himself on the Kentucky Derby trail with a wide-running victory in the G3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

He remained at Oaklawn for the remainder of his Derby prep races, finishing third in the G2 Rebel Stakes, then formally punching his ticket to Churchill Downs by taking the G1 Arkansas Derby by a late-running neck at odds of of 25-1.

Archarcharch drew the dreaded inside post during the 2011 Kentucky Derby, and he finished a non-threatening 15th. He pulled up lame after the race and was vanned off after suffering a condylar fracture in his left-front leg. The colt underwent surgery soon after the race and his retirement was announced shortly thereafter.

Archarcharch currently has one son at stud in the U.S., Toews On Ice, who resides in New Mexico.

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Prominent Owner, Breeder Frank Generazio Jr. Dies At 91

Frank Generazio Jr., an owner and breeder responsible for some of the most memorable turf runners of the past couple decades, died Saturday at the age of 91.

A resident of Jupiter, Fla., Generazio was a participant in the Thoroughbred business for five decades with his wife Patricia, under whose name their horses usually ran. Their racing operation began in the Northeast at tracks like Suffolk Downs and Rockingham Park, and the stable can primarily be seen today in New York and Florida under trainer Christophe Clement.

Generazio entered Thoroughbred ownership after a conversation at his father's birthday party led to a group of friends agreeing to put in money to claim a handful of racehorses at Suffolk Downs. After a few years, he was the only member of the group still in the game.

The Generazios became fully entrenched in the business after the $27,000 yearling purchase of Concorde Bound, a colt who went on to become a Grade 3 winner in the mid-1980s. He then retired to stud, and though he died of colic after a couple seasons at stud, the handful of foals he produced set the roots for his owner's homebred program through their success on the racetrack and in the breeding shed.

In recent years, the pink and green Generazio colors were best known for flying over a pair of homebred high-level gray turf sprinters in Disco Partner and Pure Sensation. Disco Partner set a world record for six furlongs over the turf at Belmont Park when he won the 2017 Grade 3 Jaipur Invitational Stakes in 1:05.67. Pure Sensation, who is still racing in 2020, is an eight-time graded stakes winner, and he won the Jaipur himself in 2016.

The Generazio homebred program has also included Discreet Marq, who won the G1 Del Mar Oaks for her breeders, then sold for $2.4 million at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November sale. They also bred and raced Discreet Marq's dam and granddam.

In addition to owning and breeding, Generazio spent time as a trainer in the Mid-Atlantic, racking up 370 wins from 1991 to 2006. His most notable runners in that span included Grade 2 winner Concorde's Gold and Grade 3 winners Unreal Turn and Play It Again Stan. He also trained the multiple stakes winner Concorde's Tune, who became a successful sire.

Generazio was a long-serving president of the New England HBPA, a member of the New Jersey HBPA, and he was a high-ranking member of the National HBPA.

The Generazios have based their breeding operation at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla., since the 1990s, and they currently board about 35 horses at Joe and Helen Barbazon's farm, between broodmares and young horses.

Though the Generazios were clients well before the transaction, their relationship with the Barbazons was solidified with the private purchase of Presious Passion, a colt bred by the Barbazons.

Presious Passion went on to to earn $2,694,599 over the course of eight seasons, including two victories in the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes, a win in the G1 Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Championship Stakes, and a runner-up effort in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park. The gelding returned to Pleasant Acres at the end of his racing career.

Memorial details for Generazio are still to be announced.

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