John Timothy Kirby has already won one race this summer at Saratoga Race Course, and the 26-year-old conditioner will look to break through at stakes level when he sends out maiden winner South America in next Saturday's $200,000 Herb Moelis Memorial Saratoga Special (G2), a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for juveniles.
His grandfather, the late John F. Kirby, and father, Timothy Kirby, enjoyed immeasurable success in Massachusetts in particular at the now defunct Suffolk Downs.
“They won a ton of those Mass-bred stakes and some open stakes,” said John T. Kirby. “When my grandfather died, one of the stewards [Susan Walsh] from Suffolk wrote a nice story about him and said between my grandfather and my father with one of our homebred horses for a span of 30 years, every year, won at least one Mass-bred stakes race.”
One of their more memorable stakes winners was John F. Kirby's Massachusetts homebred But Jim, a chestnut son of great Massachusetts-bred multiple graded stakes winner Rise Jim. But Jim put together a record of 84-12-10-18 for purse earnings of $188,699 while racing from 1989-98.
The eldest Kirby saddled the hard-knocking chestnut to a trio of stakes scores, including the 1992 and 1994 edition of the Tonight's The Night Handicap at Suffolk Downs. He handed the torch to his son and Timothy Kirby picked up his first stakes win when But Jim captured the 1995 Rise Jim at the now defunct East Boston track.
John T. Kirby said But Jim, a 1987 foal out of the Liberty Hall mare But What, came from hearty stock.
“He only passed away maybe four years ago. He lived into his 30s,” Kirby said. “He was a really cool horse – they were all runners. We had his mother at the farm until she was in her 30s.”
The younger Kirby hung out his own shingle in 2017 and has enjoyed modest success thus far with 39 wins from 360 starters for purse earnings in excess of $1.1 million.
He picked up his first win at Saratoga with the appropriately named On Our Way Boyz, who graduated in an off-the-turf maiden claiming tilt in September 2021 and doubled up on his Spa success when Maggie broke through at maiden claiming level here on July 16 with a neck score as the mutuel favorite.
His first Spa win ignited a special relationship with jockey Luis Saez, who picked up the mount aboard On Our Way Boyz and later guided Runningwscissors to a 21-1 upset score last June at Belmont. He also piloted Hero Tiger to a Claiming Crown score in November at Churchill Downs.
“It actually happened by accident,” recalled Kirby of Saez' score with On Our Way Boyz. “We had Javier Castellano named on the horse and he was named on another one on the also-eligible list – that horse drew in and Javier chose the other horse. It was an off-the-turf race and that was the year Saez won the riding title. His mount scratched when it came off-the-turf and we were lucky enough to get Saez and he won that race for us.
“The next time we rode him was at Belmont with Runningwscissors and he won a '2 other than' allowance race and paid $45,” added Kirby, with a laugh. “Luis rides great for us and Kiaran McLaughlin, his agent, is great to deal with. They know we don't bring horses up there unless we have a shot.”
Saez is already engaged to ride South America in the Saratoga Special, picking up the mount from Silvestre Gonzalez, who guided the chestnut gelding to victory on debut in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight on July 19 at Parx Racing. There, he broke alertly and established command through an opening quarter-mile in 22.68 seconds, widening his advantage through a half-mile in :46.56 en route to a 5 1/4-length score in a final time of :53.12 to garner a 68 Beyer Speed Figure.
Kirby breezed the Daddy Long Legs gelding three times from the gate over the Parx main track ahead of his visually-appealing graduation.
“The rider didn't even ask him to make the lead, he just did it on his own,” said Kirby. “Two works before he ran, he really breezed impressively by himself without company. After that, we were pretty excited about him. From the time he came into us here – on looks alone – we knew he was going to be better than average.”
The chestnut has since breezed back a half-mile in :49.81 on July 30 at Parx as he prepares to stretch out another two furlongs.
“He came out of it very good. He knows he's the man. The way he trains, he could definitely go further,” Kirby said.
And in much the same way that John F. Kirby passed the torch to Timothy Kirby, the newest conditioner in the family is also benefitting from some helpful advice from his father.
“My dad is great with the babies. He taught me everything I know. The older horses we claim are pretty easy – just keep them happy and they run,” Kirby said. “But my dad's given me a lot of good advice with this guy. He is very patient with him. He was a little rogue when he came to us, so we let him pick things up slowly and get a good foundation under him and not run until they're really ready.
“My dad says, 'Wait, or they'll make you wait,'” added Kirby.
Patrick O'Sullivan's Florida-bred South America will mark Kirby's second stakes starter following Runningwscissors, who ran seventh in last year's Parx Dash.
Kirby said he will ship South America up to Saratoga on the morning of the race as he looks to secure a memorable score for a family steeped in racing tradition.
“That's what we've done every time we run in New York. We've had luck with it, so we don't want to upset the apple cart,” Kirby said. “To get a stakes win –a graded stakes win –would be unbelievable. Saratoga is the toughest place in the country to win a race if you ask me. To win any kind of race there is special, but especially a big race like that going up against the top trainers in the county and the top juveniles. It would be the biggest win my family's ever had.”
Bred in Florida by Patrice Veilleux Roth and Dr. Robert M. Roth, South America is out of the Virginia-bred Hard Spun mare Spun Copper, who is a half sister to the stakes-winning Maryland-bred Sky's Not Falling.
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