Peter Pan | Horse Racing Free Tips

A Mating to Form a More Perfect Union

They may be pretty new to this business, but Jana and Roy Barbe are perfectly aware that it won't always be like this; that many breeders, in fact, have worked with Thoroughbreds all their lives without ever experiencing anything quite like Saturday night.

First they watched a colt they had raised winning the GIII Peter Pan S. by 10 1/4 lengths, for the crop's joint-highest Beyer, lining up a return to the same track for the GI Belmont S. As related in TDN last week, the Barbes had acquired We the People (Constitution) in utero with one of their first mares in a somewhat impromptu adaptation of their Bluegrass farm–initially just a rural sanctuary from Jana's highflying corporate career, and a Chicago home without a backyard.

Then, five hours after We the People crossed the wire, Letchworth (Tiznow) finally delivered a colt–aptly enough, by More Than Ready–whose delayed advent had caused her owners several days' tension. It turned out that the mare had merely been waiting for her first Henley Farms foal to magnify the value of her fourth.

This precious colt will now begin to benefit from the same loving attention that turned We the People into a $110,000 weanling, instantly recouping the $40,000 invested in his pregnant dam at Keeneland January in 2019.

The Barbes' advisors at that auction, like many others at the time, were wary of a sire at a familiar crossroads. With his first juveniles imminent, WinStar had clipped his fee from $25,000 to $15,000. Even so, in an instructive measure of the nervous opportunism of commercial breeding today, 85 covers that spring halved his debut book of 172.

But the Barbes insisted that this was a long-term play on a mare they loved, with a very decent family behind her. If the paternity of her foal was going to cool the price, so much the better.

In the event, they found themselves with a commodity right back in demand after Constitution made a flying start. Though himself unraced at two, he led the freshman table by individual, black-type and graded stakes winners, while his earnings were surpassed only by American Pharoah–who had, of course, been supported by mares corresponding to a $200,000 opening fee. The two have since passed on the stairs, American Pharoah now down to $80,000 and Constitution having been raised initially to $40,000, and then to $85,000 after Tiz the Law consolidated the reputation of that debut crop with a dazzling sophomore campaign.

Tiz the Law, now standing at Ashford, arguably paid for a self-serving response to the pandemic by Churchill Downs. A September “Derby” gifted priceless maturity to Authentic (Into Mischief), who had surely remained too raw to have beaten him in May. In the meantime, absurdly, Tiz the Law had found himself contesting a “Belmont Stakes” over nine furlongs in June. We only revisit this unilateral shredding of the calendar because it would feel hard, as a result, to describe We the People as Constitution's second Classic winner; and impossible, meanwhile, to determine his stamina potential for this unique test from the fact that he happens to be bred on the same cross as Tiz the Law.

Now everybody tries to solve the puzzles of breeding in their own way, and there's no need for dogmatism when we can settle things out on the racetrack instead. Purely as a matter of personal taste, then, I always mistrust anything that sounds more like a “formula” than simply matching complementary physiques in a way that secures balance and quality through the resulting pedigree. Since you can't ever be certain which strands will come through, even in full siblings, the best insurance is for it not really to matter.

(Tapit himself is a good example: the female lines out of his third generation respectively introduce the dynasties of Gay Missile, Monarchy, Aspidistra and Foggy Note. And that, by the way, is why we need to be wary of the huge books of today. When you required elite mares to reach elite stallions, the quality was locked in.)

This focus on depth, however, is actually consistent with “nicking” when you have an immediate cross of the type uniting Tiz the Law and We the People: by Constitution out of a Tiznow mare. In their third generation, six of eight genetic contributors are the same. In the fourth, because the third dam of both bizarrely happens to be a daughter of Crafty Prospector, the parity becomes as high as 13 of 16. A cross this close, then, is actually shorthand for examining the interplay between far broader influences. (Obviously this ceases to be true once people imagine they can cross entire sire lines, though tapering to ever more receding brands like Fappiano, A.P. Indy or Storm Cat.)

So let's see what flavors stand out in the large inheritance shared by Tiz the Law and We the People; and then what emphasis might be latent in the surplus dividing them.

Well, the name that immediately leaps out is Foggy Note (The Axe II), mother both of Tapit's third dam and Tiznow's grandsire Relaunch. In each case, Foggy Note had been mated with In Reality–whose daughter out of the regal Magic (Buckpasser-Aspidistra) went on to produce the dam of Tapit's damsire Unbridled. (It was a daughter of Magic's half-brother Dr. Fager, incidentally, that produced Unbridled's sire Fappiano. One way or another, then, there's a lot of wholesome reinforcement here.)

Constitution's dam Baffled (Distorted Humor), a Royal Ascot-placed juvenile in a light career, would subsequently decorate his page with Boynton, a Group 2 winner at Newmarket for Godolphin; and Jacaranda, winner of the GIII Tempted S. And the pedigree also obtained fresh distinction from the GI Forego S. success of her half-brother Emcee (Unbridled's Song). Even as it was, her son made $400,000 as a Saratoga yearling.

That partly reflected Constitution's tall, rangy build, but her own parentage also had a nice shape: Distorted Humor had been chosen for her dam as a half-sister (by Ocean Crest, a rather forgotten son of Storm Bird) to Awesome Humor, a daughter of the same sire who completed the GII Adirondack-GI Spinaway double in 2002.

But it's Constitution's next dam that brings something intriguing to the We the People equation, as a daughter of Pass The Tab, who emerged from Santa Fe to run sixth in the 1981 Kentucky Derby. Because Pass The Tab's sire Al Hattab also gave us the fourth dam of We the People–and Al Hattab was a son of none other than The Axe II, the sire of Foggy Note.

This is all pretty ancient history, obviously, but it does feel healthy to see this doughty soil spread along the roots of the pedigree. Foggy Note herself (won 10 of 34 starts), Al Hattab (16 of 35) and Pass The Tab (11 of 33) all attest to the toughness and stamina associated with The Axe II. Certainly finding Al Hattab along the bottom line is no bad thing when you recall that one of his daughters produced Black Tie Affair, 18-for-45 and Horse of the Year at five; and that another gave us Holy Bull, whose own record as a broodmare sire is being lavishly advanced by the likes of Munnings, Cairo Prince, Caravaggio and Connect.

And this kind of bedrock could yet filter usefully into We the People's Belmont bid. Yes, we know that Tapit has made the race his own; that Constitution himself has had 12-furlong Classic winners in Chile; and that Tiznow is a powerful two-turn label. (Tiznow's remarkable dam Cee's Song (Seattle Song) is by a son of Seattle Slew, who in turn gazes down Constitution's sire line.) But the fact is that some strongly contrasting flavors intrude between Tiznow and The Axe II in We the People's bottom line.

Of course, we don't even know how far Tiznow might have drawn out Letchworth herself, as she was unraced. So, too, are two of the three foals (one raced in Russia) resulting from her sojourn at WinStar, who had bought her for $180,000 as a maiden mare (bred by Eugene Melnyk) before soon culling her to Henley Farms.

(It's obviously gratifying for WinStar to have “retrieved” her son as a 2-year-old, from Eddie Woods at the Gulfstream Sale, for $230,000–a price that achieved only a marginal gain on his yearling cost, in contrast with the previous pinhook cycle when Machmer Hall doubled their weanling investment.)

What we do know is that We the People's second and third dams, intervening between the sturdy pair Tiznow and The Axe II, are both by speed influences. And that fact told on the racetrack, too.

Letchworth is out of Harmony Lodge, a very brisk sprinter by Hennessy who also came through Woods's nursery at Gulfstream, for no less than $1.65 million, before making all in the GI Ballerina H. It feels quite alarming, in terms of We the People's prospects of lasting home in the Belmont, that Harmony Lodge's son by none other than A.P. Indy–while talented enough to run up a sequence of four as a sophomore before derailing–should have peaked in as hectic a dash as the GIII Shakertown S.

In fairness, Declaration of War did get Harmony Lodge's other black-type operator to extend as far as nine furlongs. (Likewise on turf/synthetics, confirming Hennessy's versatility in terms of surface.) But while Tiz the Law obviously saw out a 10th furlong well, in the GI Travers, we must remember that his second dam was by Go For Gin. That's a pretty stark contrast with Hennessy: Go For Gin was by a son of His Majesty out of a Stage Door Johnny mare.

This divergence feels all the wider with both Tiz the Law and We the People having third dams, as mentioned, by another source of speed in Crafty Prospector. Harmony Lodge was out of his half-sister to GII Tom Fool H. winner Diligence (Miswaki), Win Crafty Lady: a winner eight times across four seasons–as befits the daughter of an Al Hattab mare–including a Grade III over just six furlongs.

Win Crafty Lady also proved accomplished in her second career. She bred a GII Arkansas Derby winner by Dehere, in Graeme Hall; but her other graded stakes winner Win McCool, though by Giant's Causeway, prospered around a single turn. And beneath her this meanwhile remains a dynamic branch of the family: Win McCool's unraced daughter by Unbridled's Song produced the tragic Magnum Moon (Malibu Moon), while Graeme Hall's sister is second dam to a recent Grade I scorer in Pinehurst (Twirling Candy). Rookies or not, then, the Barbes deserve credit for prizing the bloodlines behind Letchworth–and have duly earned their incidental Constitution bonus.

For now, in terms of domestic Grade I success, Tiz the Law has been emulated only by Americanrevolution in the Cigar Mile, leaving their sire behind American Pharoah (four), Liam's Map (four) and Honor Code (three) in his intake. But it's only a matter of time before Constitution attends to that, his sheer consistency in elite stock already setting him apart even before the upgrade in his mares kicks in. Remember that his first $85,000 covers–and there were no fewer than 188 of those–have only just hit the foaling straw this spring.

As things stand, Constitution has 22 stakes winners at 6.6% of named foals; 52 stakes performers at 15.6%; 13 graded stakes winners at 3.9%; and 30 graded stakes operators at 9%. Among active stallions, his own sire is among very few who can set higher standards across the board. With Tapit entering the evening of his career, the succession is being keenly contested. But while there are several less expensive alternatives, Constitution is certainly giving himself every chance to be named the People's choice.

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Evenly-Matched Eight Try to Punch Belmont Ticket in Peter Pan

It'll be hard to separate the eight-horse field lined up in Saturday's GIII Peter Pan S. at Belmont, the track's traditional prep for the June 11 GI Belmont S., as evidenced by four horses landing between 3-1 and 4-1 on the morning line.

Given the narrowest of nods at 3-1 is WinStar Farm, CMNWLTH and Siena Farm's We the People (Constitution). Making a somewhat belated debut going a mile Feb. 12 at Oaklawn, the $230,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream buy kicked away to an impressive 5 3/4-length romp, and was similarly dominant in five-length success in an allowance there a month later. The bay will look to rebound after finishing a dull seventh as the second favorite in the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 9.

“The timing is just right,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset told the NYRA notes team. “He broke his maiden five weeks ago. It's five weeks away from the Belmont, and obviously it's a class test. What we want to see is if he can make his run from the middle of the turn to the wire. If he runs anywhere from one to three, we'll take a strong look at the Belmont. Hopefully, we can get some pace in the race and we'll be there that day.”

LNJ Foxwoods' Set Sail (Malibu Moon) looms a dangerous shipper for Richard Mandella. Third as the 9-5 chalk on debut Feb. 26 at Santa Anita, a race out of which the first, second and fourth finishers came back to win, the homebred stretched out to two turns there Mar. 27 and drew off to an auspicious 7 1/2-length graduation. The rail-drawn colt has worked sharply since, recording a pair of :59 flat five-furlong drills at Santa Anita Apr. 17 and 25 before working seven panels in 1:25 4/5 (2/2) there May 7.

Electability (Quality Road) looks for his third straight victory for Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown. A no-impact seventh debuting on the Saratoga lawn last August, the $300,000 Keeneland November purchase returned with a half-length tally going a mile Mar. 5 at Aqueduct and repeated by a head there Apr. 8.

“It's a big test for this horse, but he hasn't done anything wrong yet and he appears to be looking for a little more distance, so we'll see how he steps up,” said Brown, a two-time Peter Pan winning trainer.

Other main contenders include Golden Glider (Ghostzapper), who gets a bit of class relief after running fourth in the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and GI Toyota Blue Grass S., and Western River (Tapit), who rallied from nearly 20 lengths off the pace to earn his diploma going away by 3 3/4 lengths last out Apr. 2 at Oaklawn.

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Highflier Lands Running on Pastures New

Somehow they had got it into their heads that it might be nice to buy “a small, gentleman's farm”, just 10 acres or so, as an eventual retirement project. Jana Barbe's daughters, emulating her own childhood passion, had always enjoyed riding and some of the show horses were kept here in Kentucky. Such a beautiful part of the world, they hired a local broker and did some idle prospecting. Then came the 2008 crash.

“And this business, being built on disposable income, suffered terribly,” Barbe recalls. “Suddenly it felt like every farm was on the market. And our broker called with this place on Newtown Pike near Georgetown. Just a little bigger than we wanted.”

Like, eight times bigger. But they came out and had a look anyway. A little Eden on the Elkhorn Creek. There and then, Barbe's husband announced that their search was over.

They returned to their Chicago home, situated on a 25×125-foot lot, and Barbe summoned all the hard-headed sense that had for six years made her the only woman on the global board of law giant Dentons.

“Roy,” she said, “you're out of your mind. We can't possibly do this. I work like a dog, seven days a week. I'm on the road all the time. Not to mention the fact that we know nothing about farming. You grew up on the northwest side of Chicago. I've never taken care of my own horses. We don't even have a yard. This is a working farm. It comes with a tractor!”

“No,” he said, immovable. “We're going to do this.”

Be in no doubt, there are still days when she lies there at night, watching the monitors from the foaling stalls, asking how did this happen.

“I can never sleep when we're waiting,” she says. “Even though we have someone on duty.”

This week she has been fretting over the overdue delivery–aptly enough, of a More Than Ready foal share–by an 11-year-old daughter of Tiznow, one of eight Thoroughbred mares now residing at Henley Farms. Letchworth's fourth foal is imminent even as her first prepares for the GIII Peter Pan S., at Belmont on Saturday, with prospects of breaking into the elite of his crop. We the People (Constitution) disappointed when fast-tracked to the GI Arkansas Derby, after two sensational scores, but that attempt to shoehorn him into the first Saturday in May was perhaps too much too soon. Either way, as its first graduate, We the People has already sealed the accidental emergence of this boutique Thoroughbred nursery.

Jana Barbe | Courtesy Henley Farms

But it's a fair question she asks: how did this happen? Raised near Miami, without the affluence for horses of her own, Barbe always found a way to get across a saddle: summer camp, stable work, college riding club. On graduating from law school, when her peers were leasing apartments, she devoted her first paychecks to leasing a jumper. She stabled him in downtown Chicago, on Schiller and Orleans, alongside the carriage horses.

By the time the Barbes bought Henley Farms, however, horses had long been marginal to her stellar career and the raising of a family. The first thing they did, then, was track down all the show horses that had maintained an equine connection over those years. “They looked after you and the girls all that time,” said Roy. “Now it's our turn to look after them.”

That's why you'll find a 31-year-old Welsh Pony next to the dam of We the People. But the Bluegrass soon began its cultural osmosis. Their first farm manager's dad was the late Marvin Little, Jr., breeder of Hansel (Woodman), who invited them to take a piece in a broodmare.

“And that's how it starts, right?” says Barbe. “You dip a toe in, then a whole leg. And one day you wake up and say, 'You know, we could do this. We have all this land, we have paddocks, stalls, everything we'd need.' So that's how it began. But those first years, it should have been a reality TV show. Every stupid horse mistake you could make, we made. Amateur with a capital 'A'.”

But every trial, every error, became a lesson learned. Four years on, they confidently perform their own foaling. And the two sides of Barbe's life not only dovetail but nourish each other. Long before Covid, she was adapting to remote working.

“It soon became apparent that clients were more focused on whether the work got done, and its quality, as opposed to where it might have been done,” she says. “Lexington has airports. I can travel wherever. I'm on a public company board [Invitation Homes, Inc.], a private company board [The Boler Company], I'm a senior advisor for Blackstone. And they all get it.

Courtesy Henley Farms

“Mine is a life of extremes. Yesterday one of the warmbloods had a gas colic. It wasn't severe, but he loves attention so I groomed him for an hour and a half, because it kept him standing. And when I came in and looked in the mirror, I mean, I was wearing his winter coat. I was disgusting. And I did think that if I had to get on a Zoom call now, and explain this! But they've all accepted that people have passions in life, that can run the gamut, and it's OK.”

And then what a treat to break off: nice clean office, fancy hotels, not to mention intellectual stimulation.

“The business world gives you at least an illusion of control,” Barbe reflects. “I'm a control freak by nature, and it gives you that feeling: 'OK, I'm in charge, we're going to make a decision, we're going to weigh in on this. I have authority, a degree of autonomy.' Then you come here, and some colt is dragging me down the road, and there's no control. None. You can be derailed by the weather. And these horses, they all have minds of their own. Like Letchworth's Audible [yearling]. From a very young age, he found it necessary to jump out of the paddock. Doesn't go anywhere, doesn't actually want to leave his herd. But he can clear a four-foot fence, uphill, without a scratch. So very athletic, right? But I have no control.”

Obviously they try to be as proactive as possible in sales prep.

“But so much of farming is about reacting,” Barbe accepts. “And being tuned in. And accepting that what will be, will be. So yes, it keeps everything fresh. During Covid, it was the horses that kept me sane: the bonds, the empathy, were amazing. When I go away for business, I get to be a different person. But then I come back here, and I prize it: I'm in heaven on earth.”

With that inquiring mind, Barbe has relished learning pedigrees. Indeed, while stressing her gratitude to advisors at Taylor Made, it was she who found Letchworth at the 2019 January Sale: unraced, but out of Grade I winner Harmony Lodge (Hennessy).

“The inner nerd takes over, reads every page of every book,” she says with a laugh. “It was one of our first sales, she was pregnant to Constitution, who at that point was an unproven 'bubble' horse. We knew that bloodlines plus black type would be out of our range, so we had to choose–and we went with bloodlines. So I dragged Roy to see her, and she's big and beautiful. At first Taylor Made said, 'Hmm, don't know, what are you going to do with the baby?' And we said we weren't buying for the baby, so they went and looked at the mare and said actually she's really nice.”

And, in the event, the baby turned out to be an unexpected bonus. Constitution's first juveniles flew, and this colt–from his third crop–proved formidable in every way. Barbe shares footage of him bucking and careering round a paddock when barely a week old.

We the People as a foal | Courtesy Henley Farms

“He was strong-willed and aggressive,” she recalls. “Like, if you turned your back, he playfully bit you. He literally came out bucking. He'd cow kick. He was high-spirited, independent, fearless. The mare's Audible colt, he's massive too, but you can walk into the box and pet him. You couldn't have done that with We the People.”

Slipstreaming the momentum of his sire, the feisty weanling immediately recouped the $40,000 paid for his mother when making $110,000 at Keeneland November from Machmer Hall. (He exactly doubled his value in the same ring the following September, albeit a second pinhook cycle only inched him up.) And he may yet perform further services to the page, plainly having far more ability than he showed in his first big test.

“He's so fast, his times were insane,” Barbe says. “But he'd never been in a crowd before, he got stuck in there and didn't like it one bit. The trainer [Rodolphe Brisset] in his interview said that he's not an easy horse, and he wasn't from birth. The personality comes through pretty quickly. My hope would be that he learned, that he can digest and process the experience and bring that speed to bear.”

With his upgrade, We the People's half-brother by Always Dreaming advanced his $65,000 yearling cost (lower than Barbe expected, evidently due to a corrected OCD) to $220,000 from SBM Training & Sales at OBS April. (“The same athleticism,” says Barbe. “Only in a more manageable brain and package.”) But whatever happens next, We the People has already taken the couple who raised him somewhere they hadn't really anticipated in starting their Thoroughbred adventure.

“I was a little ambivalent about the racing,” Barbe admits. “I love animals, and in many ways racing is problematic in how it treats horses. It's an industry in transition, and appropriately so. It does need to clean up its own house. But I do now understand what I didn't fully appreciate before: the way that these Thoroughbreds are born to run. Our babies in the back field, they gallop up the hill, they gallop down the hill, nobody's forcing them. And then We the People happened. Watching this horse we bred, I was screaming like a lunatic at the television. It was like, 'OK, now I get this. This was a baby I played with here. This is quite different.'”

Roy Barbe | Courtesy Henley Farms

In the meantime, she had been heartened that her new community not only embraced these city novices but shared their values; that so many walk the walk on welfare. But something else also happened, the day Letchworth's bronco baby made his debut. All her competitive spirit was suddenly in play. And, as Barbe acknowledges, you don't carve out a career like hers without being extremely competitive.

“It's never easy when you're the only woman in the room,” she says. “But in life I generally find it helpful to give people the benefit of the doubt, to ascribe good motives. Life's too short to go into the room expecting trouble or rejection or condescension. And anyway I'm not easily dissuaded. It's like riding: you fall, you pick yourself up, you get back on.”

She works hard to be not just a model for aspiring young women, but also an advocate and mentor. “Choose your battles, with an eye on the prize,” she urges those who seek her counsel. “Not every pass is a touchdown. You can get a first down by three relatively short running plays. Tortoise, not the hare. Don't be derailed by every obstacle, every potential argument. Don't allow your sense of security and self-worth and identity to be shaken by others. External validation is great, when you get it, but it in the end it's artificial. What has to drive you is internal.”

Easier said than done, she grants. “There'll be lots of days with lots of tears,” she says. “You know that 'glass ceiling' people talk about? I used to come home from work and my husband would be picking shards out of my head. When I graduated from law school, in 1987, the percentage of women equity partners at big law firms was between 15% and 18%, and the goal was 20%. And the goal today? Still 20%.

“But the more deliberate and strategic I became, the more I understood my power, and married that power to my authenticity, the more effective and accepted I became. But you shouldn't have to wait until you've turned 50 to wake up one morning and say, 'OK, so maybe if I hold my breath a little here, am a bit more measured there…' We're demanding a level of grit and resilience that is unfair. Because the work is hard enough.”

Courtesy Henley Farms

So how has she found the Turf, still so dominated by males?

“It is a very conservative environment, and needs a lot more diversity of all kinds for sure,” she accepts. “But the only way we're going to achieve that is one person at a time, one foot in front of the other, and being really smart in how we go about it. We will get there. Because we have to. In the end the sport will become integrated because it can't not.”

That's also why she believes other, systemic issues will also be tackled: because continued obstruction of reform will simply kill the industry. “In the end, everybody engaged in the sport will have a choice to make,” she says. “Change is hard, I get it. But the sport will have to evolve, or it won't survive. If people think that's not coming, they haven't been paying attention.”

Not that the Barbes intend turning the game on its head. Certainly their program is conforming to established market prejudices, using new sires and fashionable crosses. But they have shown imagination, too, for instance in acquiring (with Taylor Made's help) a 2-year-old Ghostzapper filly for just $10,000. She wasn't going to stand training but conformation and pedigree nonetheless made her eligible to breed.

“So we put her in the field and she was raised by two old hunter geldings,” she says. “And her first baby is to die for. So we've tried to be super strategic in our shopping, and super nimble.”

Barbe and her husband are heartened by their reception from a community that might normally profile them only as patrons, not as rivals or colleagues.

“Lots of people have told us it's great to have new blood in the sport,” she says. “And I do feel like we do have a place here; that our voice as a new entry matters, and can join others to advance the sport.”

Recently they hosted an organisation of young corporate highfliers at Henley Farms, eager to learn more about opportunities in Kentucky and the horse world. More than one took them aside with the same awed message. “Look what you've done here,” they said. “You've made your life the way you want it. How many people would take on that risk?”

“I married a man who knew nothing about horses, and he embraced the dream,” Barbe says. “I got really lucky there. And I feel like we're so privileged to be here, to have the chance to pursue dreams. I mean, my dream wasn't horseracing. It was living with my horses. But to have found a life that revolves around them, to have been able to make that happen? It's like everything else, really. One foot in front of another, and chase the dream.”

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Promise Keeper Flying The Flag For Up-And-Coming Breeder Rock Ridge Thoroughbreds

Woodford Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm and Rock Ridge Racing's Promise Keeper posted a 2 1/4-length score in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan, proving himself a top contender for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 5.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the Constitution chestnut, piloted by Luis Saez, stalked the early pace of Wolfie's Dynaghost before taking control at the stretch call and fending off Nova Rags and stablemate Overtook's charge.

Out of the Curlin mare Mira Alta, Promise Keeper was bred in Kentucky by Rock Ridge Thoroughbreds, which was established in 2013 and is located in Versailles, Kentucky.

Rock Ridge Thoroughbreds is owned by Kerry Smith, proprietor of Smith Contractors, Inc., his wife Lou, their son Joe and his nephew Codee Guffey.

The 30-year-old Guffey, who oversees the operation with his wife, Hailey, makes his primary living with the family-owned construction business.

“We're new to the industry. We bought the farm in 2013 and I went to my first Keeneland sale that fall,” said Guffey. “The mare, Mira Alta, we purchased in our second year in the industry. We're still learning and to be able to get a mare like her early was a blessing.

“We keep 12 to 15 mares,” continued Guffey. “This is a family affair. My family owns a construction company and that's our livelihood. We decided to get into this as something we could all enjoy together. I work for the family business and my wife and I live on the farm and oversee the operation here. We never had horses before. We had some cattle. But being in the construction industry, we're not afraid to work. We just try and use a common sense approach and it's been very rewarding.”

Mira Alta was purchased for $200,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale. In addition to Promise Keeper, she has produced the stakes-winner and graded-stakes placed mare Wicked Awesome and the graded-stakes placed colt War Stopper, who is in training with Pletcher for owners Salerno Stables and Madaket Stables.

Guffey said Mira Alta made a tremendous first impression.

“Her page is what made me mark her down, but it was her looks that got me hooked,” said Guffey. “She's a gorgeous chestnut mare with a blaze face. I like to say Promise Keeper got his looks from her. I know Constitution can throw some good-looking foals, but she's a gorgeous mare and she has a respectable pedigree in her own right.

“A sister to Mira Alta produced Owendale and he's a very nice colt,” added Guffey. “She's out of a nice mare that Stonestreet owns but I guess Mira Alta didn't earn a place in their band because she's unraced. Stonestreet has some very nice mares and they can't keep them all.”

Multiple Grade 1-winner Tiz the Law is currently the most famous son of Constitution. The New York-bred captured last year's Grade 1 Belmont Stakes for trainer Barclay Tagg and owner Sackatoga Stable.

Guffey said the farm has been a strong supporter of Constitution with the mating to Mira Alta priced at $15,000 before the stallion's runners elevated his stud fee to $85,000. Promise Keeper was purchased by Woodford Thoroughbreds for $160,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Warrendale Sales.

“He was a super nice foal and yearling. He was always a standout,” said Guffey. “Unfortunately, the year we sold him, Constitution didn't have Tiz the Law or 3-year-olds at the time and just didn't have that hype about him yet. We were about a year early on that. But Woodford bought him for $160,000 and anytime you can get 10 times the stud fee, you best take it.”

Promise Keeper graduated at second asking when stretched out to one mile on February 6 over a sloppy Gulfstream Park main track ahead of a troubled stakes debut in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 6.

He redeemed himself with a dominant 5 1/2-length score in a nine-furlong optional claiming score on April 8 at Keeneland and proved his class with Saturday's graded triumph which garnered a career-best 89 Beyer.

“We were really excited for the Tampa Bay Derby because we felt like he fit with those horses and was a top quality 3-year-old,” said Guffey. “But he literally fell to a knee coming out of the gate. He lost a shoe. He got bumped in the turn. It was just a bad trip. We just decided to forget about that – it's horse racing.

“We were all there for his Keeneland win and that gave me the reassurance that he's the horse we thought he was,” he added.

Guffey said the farm bought back into Promise Keeper after his maiden win.

“We were fortunate to get back in on him after he broke his maiden and we were really proud of his effort yesterday,” said Guffey. “It's different when you raise these horses, you get a lot of emotional ties to them.”

Guffey said the farm generally breeds to sell, but bought back into Promise Keeper with an eye to supporting their star pupil at stud.

“We take everything to the sale and put a price on it, but we do tend to keep our homebred fillies and get blacktype and make mares out of them,” said Guffey. “We don't have a lot of desire to own the colts, but we always felt highly about this one.

“From a breeding standpoint, we'd love for him to become a stallion and be able to support him in that process.”

Guffey said Mira Alta, who has a 2-year-old by Shanghai Bobby, has again been covered by Constitution.

“We have an Honor Code filly that's a yearling. That one may not make the sale if Promise Keeper continues to improve,” said Guffey. “The mare has a really nice Mastery colt at her side now. It's early, but we like to say it's her best one yet. He's a chestnut and has not quite the markings that Promise Keeper has, but he's a pretty colt.”

Rock Ridge Thoroughbreds is also the breeder of Hit the Woah, a dark bay daughter of Vancouver out of the More Than Ready mare Christie's Ready.

Trained by Christophe Clement, the stakes-placed Hit the Woah is nominated to Saturday's Grade 3 Soaring Softly at seven furlongs on the Belmont turf for sophomore fillies.

Guffey said he is proud of the farm's early success from their young broodmare band.

“We only had eight foals from Promise Keeper's crop and he's now a Grade 3 winner,” said Guffey. “If we could get two graded stakes winners out of an eight-foal crop that would be a huge accomplishment for our breeding program. Hit the Woah is by Vancouver. He stood for $15,000 and we sold her for $150,000.

“I bought all young mares, so we have to be patient,” he added. “Hit the Woah was that mare's first baby. We have a Malibu Moon colt from her and she's back in foal to American Pharoah.”

While hope springs eternal in the breeding business, Guffey said his family is enjoying their foray into racing and would dearly love to be at Belmont Park on June 5 for the “Test of the Champion.”

“We sure have enjoyed it so far and hope to for many years,” said Guffey. “We have a great group here that works for us. If Promise Keeper is there June 5, we'll be there. I promise you that.”

The post Promise Keeper Flying The Flag For Up-And-Coming Breeder Rock Ridge Thoroughbreds appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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