“I am grateful to be a part of Light Up Racing's mission,” Blacker said. “It is one that is very close to my heart and one I've put a lot of time and effort into over the years. Horse racing is a beautiful sport filled with equally beautiful, deeply caring and hard-working individuals, but is not actually what we, as a collective, are currently being portrayed as. It is a difficult assignment to be sure, but I am fully committed.

“This is an industry-wide problem and should be met with an industry-wide approach. A lot of important and necessary work is being done at the highest levels, but all of us possess the ability to have a positive effect, and it is our duty to not stand by and leave it to others. Highlighting the good being done, and the good that already exists, is something each of us can take part in.”

Blacker, who currently serves as a host, analyst and reporter with FanDuel TV, began her broadcasting career in 2004 and has worked with HRTV, TVG, and NBCSports. She is also a Keeneland Sales representative, a spokesperson for Equibase “Race Lens,” a pivotal figure in digital creation and ambassadorship for MyRacehorse, in addition to co-founding “I Am Horse Racing,” a non-profit organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of the

sport's unsung heroes.

“Christina Blacker's credibility within the industry, coupled with her unparalleled media expertise, makes her an invaluable asset in our mission to enlighten, engage, and evolve the narrative surrounding horse racing,” said board chairman Price Bell. “Christina has a proven track record of, not only illuminating the sport's finest aspects, but also addressing its challenges with integrity and insight. We are very excited to have her as part of the team.”

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In the old days, farm accountants might reckon on three seasons to retrieve the investment required to land a stallion prospect. The model was “three and out.” Nowadays, they're having to calculate closer to “one and out.”

In the verdict shared by one confidant, the market for second-season sires in 2024 is proving “brutal.”  Already five years ago, one of the big commercial farms managed to find just 53 mares for the second book of a stallion that had started out the year before with 223. It's very hard to see who benefits from that kind of volatility.

Knowing that the only thing as certain as demand for a new stallion is the brevity of attention, opening fees now tend to be very high. In fact, the percentage of sires that will achieve a viable niche in Kentucky naturally being very small, the majority will turn out to have started at the highest fee they will ever command.

The agents and managers tell their clients that first-crop yearlings represent their one shot to land on the next Into Mischief or Tapit while he's still affordable. But if that were true, why don't they stick to their guns in the stallion's third and fourth seasons, when fees, books and medians are on a giddy slide? That, after all, is precisely when your vaunted “judgement” is about to be vindicated by his first runners.

That leaves as their only real pretext the self-fulfilling one that a stallion's debut book will generally prove the biggest and best of his life. But if you've truly identified a stallion who can upgrade his mares, then wouldn't you want one of the few yearlings going to market the year after he has demonstrated that ability to a waiting world?

Look, everyone is doing this stuff with their eyes open. The industrial model enables a stallion farm to charge a relatively lenient fee because they're going to process a ton of mares. But if a turf sprinter could last year cover 293 mares in his first book, then breeders already know that they had better stand out from the crowd.

In fairness, these high-volume operations would surely prefer a consistent spread of temperate support, through four or five years, to the current polarities. True, some of them have mastered the challenge impressively, maintaining the famous “pipeline”–whether with their own mares, or through the kind of imaginative incentive schemes introduced by the late B. Wayne Hughes for an ice-cold second-year stallion named Into Mischief. And the farms that do struggle to maintain traffic can hardly blame commercial breeders, who need to put bread on their table. So we can only conclude that it all starts with those directing investment at ringside.

So what can be done? Anecdotally, we're hearing of farms offering deals on second-year sires: two-for-one, even free seasons. We're also told that “nobody's talking about it.” Well, let's change that. At the end of this article you'll find an email address to share your views or experiences.

In the meantime, one man characteristically prepared not only to address the situation but to do something about is Price Bell of Mill Ridge. This farm has made a pretty spectacular return to the stallion game with Oscar Performance, and is now determined to help its latest recruit face the headwind in his second year.

Aloha West, winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar in 2021, covered 83 mares in his first book. Emboldened by the quality they report in his first foals, Bell and the shareholders are offering a new incentive to keep the horse (an $8,500 cover) in the game.

“If you're the breeder of record of an Aloha West that wins a maiden special weight, as a 2- or 3-year-old, you'll get a free season the next year,” Bell explains. “In other words, it's after actually having done something that you'll get rewarded. As opposed to what you hear now, where it's like, 'You get a free season this year, but then if the horse makes it, you're going to have to pay a $20,000 stud fee to breed back to him.'

“Heaven forbid, Aloha West has 40 maiden winners his first crop? Then we'll have to give away 40 seasons. But it would also mean he's champion first-crop sire, so I'd love nothing more than that problem!”

The point is that it should all come down to belief.

“At the end of the day, if you stand a horse at stud, and support him with your mares, that's got to be because you believe that their foals will become successful racehorses,” Bell says. “And now that purse money is where it is, you can make that play. You won't always have to go to the commercial sales market. Yes, you've got more bills if you don't. But the reward, at the end, is potentially worth it.”

Somehow, somewhere along the line, people have come up with this idea that there's a difference between breeding for the racetrack and breeding for the ring. For anyone prepared to play a slightly longer game, however, there should be nothing more commercial than putting a winner under your mare.

“Absolutely,” Bell agrees. “For your mare and for your stallion, right? I mean, I don't have all the answers, anything like it–but I guess that is exactly my query about the whole thing.”

Aloha West found himself in a very tough intake: Flightline, Life Is Good, Jackie's Warrior, Jack Christopher, Epicenter. But it was no picnic for Oscar Performance to lock horns with Justify, Good Magic, City of Light. And he duly had to earn his stripes through the standard adversities.

“Oscar Performance actually had the same number of mares in his first and second years, which was like 120,” Bell says. “Just like Aloha West, because of the breadth, quality and belief of the shareholders, he was going to remain supported through those early years. He went 120, 120, 80, and then 60. And it was probably only as many as 60 because he had a winner at Keeneland in April. That got him another 10 mares or so in that fourth book.”

Which brings us back to a point made earlier: if you actually believe in what you were doing, the fourth season is exactly when you would be playing: you get the best value about a horse even as he's about to announce his prowess for all to see.

“And yet some horses don't even get to a fourth crop in America!” exclaims Bell. “I think my dad [Headley Bell] made that point when he bred to Arrogate in his fourth crop. There was a lot of uncertainty along the way, before he exploded with Cave Rock and all the rest. Nobody gets it right every time. Well, it's that yo-yo of chicken and feathers–you're still back at feathers. With the middle market so bifurcated, you stick to your guns because you're either going to be rewarded or you're not. There's no safe 'bond' play. If you hit, you're going to get well paid; and if you don't, you got nothing anyway.

Oscar Performance | Photos By Z

“That's why you do see some very shrewd breeders using horses in years three and four. And I'd like to believe that a little bit of that's happening right now. There's still a lot of mares to be booked. People have seen the incentives. They're like, 'Well, let's see her foal and then see what kind of deal I can get.' Which may also be a reaction from last year, which felt quite transitional.”

Arguably, the staggering books reported in 2023 felt as though one or two farms were making a point after seeing off the proposed mare cap. But it's certainly interesting to hear these imaginative perspectives from Mill Ridge, which last engaged with the sector way back with Diesis and Gone West. After all, the whole environment has seen wild changes in the meantime.

“We're all kind of sheep and if we're not careful we'll run ourselves right over a cliff,” Bell warns. “The whole beauty of the game, the whole reason we do it, is that ultimately no-one knows for sure where a good horse comes from. So if you believe in Aloha West, or any other horse, the whole quest should be about the finish line.

“People say, 'Oh, I have a commercial broodmare band, therefore I should only breed the first-year sires.' I mean, I appreciate that. But if everyone has that attitude, then nobody stands out. And I think it also makes you question your horsemanship, your judgment. So maybe we should just get back to believing what we believe in, and going for it–above all, like I said, because purses are really good.”

Bell, of course, has a heartening example front and center in the thriving Oscar Performance.

“Our shareholders believed in him and look how well they've been rewarded,” he remarks. “Oscar Performance was pigeonholed. He didn't really have much support from pinhookers, because they were like, 'What am I going to do with a turf horse?' But then he starts having 2-year-olds winning six-furlong stakes on dirt. So now he's being supported because he's exceeded expectations.

“And for Aloha West and Eclipse Thoroughbreds, it's always been the same: believe, and believe big. We really believe in this horse, in his brilliance and his opportunity to contribute to the breed. And that's why we want to reward those who believe with us.”

The horse's obvious challenge, commercially, is that he didn't race until the February of his 4-year-old campaign. But Bell points out that he was routinely posting bullet works as a juvenile, before being sidelined.

“So while it doesn't show in the form line, when you look at his work pattern, there's no doubting his 2-year-old quality,” he says. “And he's a gorgeous horse: not a typical Hard Spun, maybe, I think he gets more from the Speightstown mare: he's really typey and beautiful. So he's got the pedigree, he's got the brilliance, and then he has the great partners and other breeders who believe in him.”

The paradox is that second-season sires actually face one question mark fewer than the rookies who enjoy such clamorous attention: breeders have at least had the chance to see what kind of stock they're putting on the ground. But even that will have its limits: Lookin At Lucky could never overcome the lack of physical glamor in his stock even after he produced winners of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic. In the end, different people pin their belief on different things. But where there is authentic belief, then it's logical for both sides of the deal to keep the faith and share the rewards.

“I mean, we're all looking for the golden ticket,” Bell concedes. “Maybe we need to recalibrate our expectations a little, and not always be searching for the lottery win. But I do think that if you're breeding a horse, you should at least believe that they're going to win a maiden race, right?”

Contribute to the debate: Do you have something to add about the first-year/second-year sire conundrum for publication? Email suefinley@thetdn.com.

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The initial public forum for Light Up Racing at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington Monday night kicked off the most encouraging effort I've seen in my 44 years in horse racing. Vicky Leonard, the Kiwi PR pro who spearheaded a similar effort in Australia after a spate of tragic accidents in the Melbourne Cup, cogently outlined this grass roots campaign to a packed house and was greeted with thunderous applause.

I taught the capstone course in public relations for several years at the University of Kentucky with a systems approach stressing internal publics are just as important as external publics and PR is not simply spin, it is an agent for positive change. Light Up Racing is an exemplar.

In meetings like the ones being held in Lexington, through seminars planned in person and on-line, and through the resources provided by the excellent website up and running at lightupracing.com, the people who make our industry run can seize the day and transform tragedy into transcendence to build a sustainable sport that demonstrates daily our love for the horse.

Monday's meeting was standing room only with a broad spectrum of grizzled industry insiders and enthusiastic young up-and-comers ready to be the change our sport needs. Thank you Price Bell and Jason Litt for your efforts to get this off the ground. I can't wait for the Mar. 5 meeting at Keeneland so we can get started.

Brian Malloy, who is the former managing editor of Thoroughbred Times and ran the Lexington, Ky., office of Shandwick, Intl., then the world's largest PR firm, is now a Thoroughbred breeder in Central Kentucky.

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Held Monday, Feb. 26 at Fasig-Tipton, the event drew over 200 industry members who gathered to learn about how Light Up Racing was founded and what it has already accomplished around different parts of the globe, what the organization aims to achieve in the U.S. going forward, and how individuals can play a role in social change to work toward reshaping the public's perception of horse racing.

It was a diverse group of attendees, with leaders of some of the top Kentucky farms on hand as well as representatives from various racing organizations, bloodstock agents, consignors and breeders. But it wasn't so much about the entities that were represented as it was the individuals who attended because, as the event's presenter Vicky Leonard explained to the group, the public is much more likely to respond to a community of individuals rather than an institution.

Light Up Racing's Vicky Leonard | Photos by Z

“A lot of people don't believe what institutions say and they really struggle to trust companies,” Leonard said. “In fact, it's at the point now that a friend on social media–even if you've never met them–is twice as credible as a government leader or a business. The reason for that is we have such an access to information that we expect it and institutions can be very poor at giving it so therefore if they don't, we immediately distrust them.”

Leonard's Australian-based marketing agency Kick Collective launched Kick Up For Racing in 2022 after a string of breakdowns at the Melbourne Cup led to an increased negative perception of racing in Australia. Kick Up For Racing provided a resource for Australian racing participants to properly address common concerns about the sport so that they could go into conversations equipped with accurate information. Over the past two years, Kick Up's social media platform has distributed engaging, educational media content and has worked with industry participants to address misinformation by giving fact-checked responses.

With the anti-racing voice growing louder in the U.S., Light Up for Racing was founded with the goal of emulating Kick Up's success. Spearheaded by Price Bell, Roderick Wachman, Jason Litt and Dr. Jeff Berk, Light Up for Racing was launched late last year.

Monday's event focused on the science of social change, diving into the psychology behind how public perception is formed and how it can be molded over time.

Leonard explained that in general, people look to their peers to form their opinions.

“We believe people who believe what we believe,” she said. “We want to be able to trust information from people who are like us. If they have the same value system, it's far more likely that we will trust and believe what they tell us.”

Examining social movements like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014 and the Black Lives Matter social media movement in 2020, Leonard said that diversity is another important factor. An individual is more likely to believe a subject to be legitimate when they see people from several different social groups share an opinion on the topic rather than multiple peers from the same social group.

“This is awesome for our industry because we have people working for minimum wage and we have billionaires. We have people everywhere in between…That widespread reinforcement is crucial.”

According to Leonard, the level of transparency behind a movement also has a major impact on it's effectiveness, as well as access to consistent data and information.

The question, 'Isn't horse racing cruel?' is one that every racing participant has been confronted with at one point or another. Leonard broke down how individuals can address the topic through science, data and research by asking the other person how they have arrived at their conclusions about the sport.

“90% of people come from the perspective where they actually don't know,” she said. “They don't have a clue what's going on and they're taking one tiny piece of information [to form their opinion].”

Leonard said that people often base their opinions on topics like fatalities, whip usage, and 2-year-old racing. For these subjects and others, Light Up Racing has curated concise, science-driven responses on their 'Common Questions' page that can serve as a launching point to engage in meaningful conversation.

In the coming months, Light Up Racing will be hosting workshops and community groups to train people on how to have effective in-person conversations and social media engagement.

“We need to get proud, we need to stand strong and we need to represent our industry in the best way we possibly can because ultimately, the power is with you,” Leonard told the audience.

Following the presentation, many attendees remarked on the massive turnout and their optimism for similar numbers at future events. One person said they were surprised and encouraged by the diversity of those in attendance and another said the fact that Light Up Racing has seen so much success already in Australia gives them confidence that their strategies can have a powerful impact here as long as the program continues to receive the industry's support.

Light Up Racing's next event will be held Tuesday, March 5 at Keeneland and will focus on transforming negative opinions into positive opinions through strategic communication and social media engagement.

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“The baby has great bone, size, and substance,” said Machmer Hall owner Craig Brogden. “Very happy with the beautiful baby.”

In addition to the 2021 Breeders' Cup Sprint, Aloha West also finished second in that year's GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. and third in the 2022 GI Churchill Downs S.

Aloha West stands at Mill Ridge Farm for $8,500 LF.

“As a side note, this foal was born on my grandmother, Alice Chandler's birthday,” said Mill Ridge's Price Bell. “Also, Oscar Performance's first foal was born on her birthday, January 15, 2020…serendipitous!”

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Light Up is spearheaded by a group of industry participants, including Price Bell, Roderick Wachman, Jason Litt, and Dr. Jeff Berk. Kick Collective, the marketing agency behind the Australian-based initiative Kick Up for Racing, is driving the marketing and communications.

“We have been inspired by the impactful work of Kick Up in Australia and believe we have a similar opportunity in the US,” said Price Bell, one of the founding directors of Light Up.

“Kick Up informs the public conversation about horse racing in Australia through grassroots education and engagement. Fundamental to its success is using data and factual information to provide transparency, and accessibility to our horses. This has created a culture of accountability to the horse. We believe we have similar opportunity, to support and inspire the collective voice of our industry participants.”

Established in 2022, Kick Up has quickly become a valuable resource for the Australian racing industry with content focused on addressing the common concerns surrounding horse racing. In addition to a digital presence via its website and social channels, Kick Up has fostered a community who are empowered to address misinformation about horse racing and share positive stories to their networks.

Vin Cox, Managing Director of Godolphin Australia and a Director of the Victorian Racing Club who host the iconic Melbourne Cup at Flemington, said:

“The anti-racing groups are well-funded, well-organized, and have been allowed to shape the public narrative of our industry, unopposed. Kick Up stepped in and empowered and emboldened racing supporters by providing fact-based articles that correct the misinformation being propagated by the anti-racing community.

“The social capital surrounding the Melbourne Cup carnival is now at its strongest in many years, and although anecdotal, I firmly believe that the work done by the Kick Up team has had a hugely significant impact.”

In a similar theme, the primary objective of Light Up is to empower the industry community with accurate knowledge by providing transparent information and distilled research.

Every industry issue Light Up will challenge is guided by a fundamental question: “What is in the best interest of the horse?”

Dr. JR Coffman, a past President of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, captured this sentiment when he wrote, “whenever a question is answered based upon the welfare of the horse, the human principles involved are also best served in the long run. We are here for the horse; to the extent that we are responsive to that concept, we will prosper both as individuals and as an organization.”

Light Up is committed to dismantling the wall of secrecy that often surrounds the industry, empowering participants with the knowledge and confidence to engage in meaningful conversations with the concerned public and external media, and most importantly, provide the information needed to make informed decisions that prioritize equine safety.

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In the nearly 40-year history of the Breeders' Cup, only two sets of full-siblings have won Breeders' Cup races. It's difficult enough for a mare to produce one Breeders' Cup winner, but two individual Breeders' Cup winners? That's such a rarity only six mares have ever done it. And only two of those six have had lightning strike twice as they've produced two Breeders' Cup winners by the same sire. The first set, Juddmonte homebreds Banks Hill (GB) and Intercontinental (GB), won the GI Filly & Mare Turf in 2001 and 2004, respectively. By Danehill and out of the wonder mare Hasili (Ire), each wrapped up their broodmare careers in Great Britain.

Closer to home are full-sisters Sweet Catomine and Life Is Sweet. Both by Storm Cat out of the Kris S. mare Sweet Life, the Sweet sisters won the 2004 GI Juvenile Fillies and the 2009 GI Ladies Classic, respectively. Both raced as homebreds for Pam and Marty Wygod and both were uber-talented with a number of other top-class graded events on their CVs to go along with their Breeders' Cup wins.

The moment was cemented alongside Trevor Denman's call in 2009 at Santa Anita. Life Is Sweet, despite capturing the GI Santa Margarita and two other graded stakes earlier that year, had the distinct misfortune of running against the mighty Zenyatta three times in 2009. She was always a bit in Zenyatta's shadow, magnified because the two shared a conditioner in John Shirreffs. Zenyatta, the defending Ladies Classic winner, would skip the race in 2009 and face the boys in the Classic instead, which of course she would win in one of the most thrilling Breeders' Cup races to date. Without her stablemate, Life Is Sweet finally had her moment to shine and shine she did.

Life Is Sweet takes the 2009 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic | Sarah Andrew

Life Is Sweet trailed about 20 lengths behind the leader leaving the backstretch, was still last coming off the turn, and borrowed a Zenyatta-like move. Denman captured the excitement:

“Life Is Sweet exploding in the center and Life Is Sweet looking like she just joined in at the quarter pole! And it's Life Is Sweet and Garrett Gomez annihilating them in the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic. Life Is Sweet could not have been more impressive!”

Denman didn't mention the significance at the time of just the second set of full-sisters to win the Breeders' Cup, but owner Marty Wygod did in the winner's circle. And make no mistake, for a broodmare to accomplish that is a very, very big deal. Sweet Life would be named Broodmare of the Year in 2009.

The sisters Sweet were both foaled and raised at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington. Ric Waldman of Storm Cat fame worked with the Wygods on the matings, according to Mill Ridge's Price Bell, Jr. Donnie Snellings, now with Denali Stud and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club's 2018 Farm Manager of the Year, was instrumental in raising both as fillies at Mill Ridge. Even today, so many years after they'd left his care, his affection for them still rings through.

“It was an immense gratification [to see them win the Breeders' Cup],” said Snellings. “That's what we do this for. We obviously work long hours and to see something you've raised turn out that way is immensely gratifying.

Sweet Catomine with Ruben Trujillo | Sarah Andrew

“Sweet Catomine was my special one. I really liked her. We raised her there on the farm and she was just a special filly. Sometimes when you're around good horses, they just give you a feel. She was super easy to deal with, had a great attitude, would do anything you asked her to do, very willing.”

Bell confirmed that Snellings knew early something exceptional was brewing with Sweet Catomine.

“Sometimes when you work with them, you just know there is something different,” said Bell. “I still remember him gloating about Sweet Catomine. He said she breathed different air. He had a soft spot for her. He talked about her with passion.”

Snellings was pleased to confirm it.

“You get a sense that the animal is special and she was very special. We had her up until she was a yearling, both of them until they went off for breaking,” said Snellings. “To see horses like that move on and go on to win the Breeders' Cup means we raised them the right way. It's very gratifying.

Life Is Sweet | Sarah Andrew

“Life Is Sweet I don't remember as well as Sweet Catomine, but that's just a fantastic family. How often does this happen? Two full-sisters winning the Breeders' Cup. How fortunate it is that both those fillies were raised at the farm. Mill Ridge has had some very special mares and some very special owners.”

Sweet Catomine broke her maiden in the GI Del Mar Debutante as the first in a five-race win streak–all in graded races–which included the Juvenile Fillies. She was a part of the late Julio Canani's barn. Her Breeders' Cup win, five years before her younger sister's, happened during the championship's stop at Lone Star Park. Tom Durkin had that call and it was just as exciting as Life Is Sweet's. Let's pick it up leaving the backstretch, with the patented Durkin energy that made every Breeders' Cup call indelible.

“Oh! Sweet Catomine had to check and it cost her dearly. She checked in traffic… Sweet Catomine now has running room. And here comes the big filly on the outside… Sweet Catomine has overpowered them and strides away impressively and unquestionably the 2-year-old filly champion. She wins by five.”

Sweet Catomine with Ruben Trujillo and Life Is Sweet with Pedro Valdivia at Lane's End | Sarah Andrew

Sweet Life was carrying Life Is Sweet in utero when Sweet Catomine won her Breeders' Cup. The mare had three more foals by Storm Cat: the MSW & MSP colt named Calimonco and two unraced fillies. Another daughter, by Bernardini, would produce MGSW Modernist, a son of Uncle Mo whose first foals were born this year. He stands at Darby Dan Farm.

“It's a phenomenal family that we worked with and raised for the Wygods,” said Bell. “Those [Breeders' Cup] races were incredible.”

Both Breeders' Cup winners raced briefly after championship day. Sweet Catomine would be named the Eclipse champion 2-year-old filly and the next spring parlayed a GI Santa Anita Oaks victory into a try against the boys in the GI Santa Anita Derby. To the disappointment of many in the sport, she wasn't herself that day and finished fifth as the odds-on favorite, one spot behind eventual GI Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo. A controversy ensued, resulting in the Wygods removing her from Canani's barn to the Shirreffs shedrow, where she only spent a brief amount of time. She was eventually retired without racing again.

Life Is Sweet finished second in her one start the spring following her Breeders' Cup win, but she had a history of tying up and it was decided to retire her. It was in the days before TikTok and Instagram, but Shirreffs surely would have been a sensation if they'd been around. At the time, he uploaded a number of videos of Life Is Sweet around the barn to YouTube and they were extremely popular. Bell remembers them, too.

“In those early days when John would have a camera in the barn, he spent a lot of time with Life Is Sweet. He would feed her each morning as she was laying down. I just remember John loving on her, feeding her in the stall on the ground. It was beautiful, individual attention he would give to her and I'm sure all of his horses. He really showcases them as individuals.”

For an example of one of the videos, click here. Spoiler alert: it will warm even the hardest of hearts.

When contacted recently, Shirreffs shared the video and commented, “This is Life is Sweet, everything on her time.”

Ruben Trujillo and Sweet Catomine with Pedro Valdivia and Life Is Sweet | Sarah Andrew

Both Sweet Catomine and Life Is Sweet were retained by the Wygods and each produced several winners. They are now living the life of Riley together at Lane's End Farm near Versailles.

“Both are pensioned,” said Alys Emson, who works in client management at Lane's End. “Sweet Catomine had her last foal in 2018. Life Is Sweet had her last foal in 2021. This is the 2-year-old filly called Life's for Living [by Uncle Mo]. She was sold as a yearling [to Mathiesen Racing at Keeneland September for $170,000]. Mr. and Mrs. Wygod still board their mares with us and have retained various offshoots of the family.

“They are different physically,” continued Emson. “Sweet Catomine is a big, wide-chested mare that is very powerfully made. Life Is Sweet is a little smaller and more refined in type.

“We have a group of retired mares that live in two to three separate fields depending on the time of year. These two are in the same field. They are outside all the time unless they need special care. They are fed and checked twice a day and just allowed to enjoy life and do as they please.”

Broodmare of the Year Sweet Life passed away earlier this year at the age of 27 and was buried at Lane's End. As Juddmonte's Hasili was based primarily in Newmarket, Sweet Life remains the only U.S.-based mare to produce two Breeders' Cup-winning full-siblings. To borrow words from Bell and Snellings, surely “she breathed different air.”

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It wasn't so long ago that the magnificent sire Gone West held court at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington. From 22 crops, all while at Mill Ridge, he netted a mouth-watering 9% black-type winners from starters, including Breeders' Cup winners Da Hoss (twice), Johar, and Speightstown, all back in the days when the Breeders' Cup was still a single day and there were far fewer races.

The son of Mr. Prospector passed away in 2009, but his influence on the Breeders' Cup was not done and neither was Mill Ridge's. Among Gone West's sire sons are Speightstown, who has sired two Breeders' Cup winners, and Elusive Quality, who has sired three. His grandsons include Quality Road, sire of four Breeders' Cup winners. And among the major runners out of his daughters is another Breeders' Cup winner in Awesome Feather.

The Mill Ridge team hasn't stopped there. Eight Breeders' Cup winners have been bred, raised, and/or sold by the Central Kentucky farm. Additionally, Mill Ridge's involvement in Horse Country has created an extra ripple effect of the Breeders' Cup's impact on farms big and small, as well as on the fans who visit those farms. And now, the two young sires who are standing at Mill Ridge are both Breeders' Cup winners.

Oscar Performance on a Horse Country tour along with Mill Ridge's tour guide Ryn Harris and managing partner Headley Bell. Earl the Corgi is quite popular on the tours and on social media. | Sarah Andrew

Oscar Performance won the GI Juvenile Turf in 2016, while Aloha West won the GI Sprint in 2021.

“That's like starting two full teams for the University of Kentucky basketball team,” said Price Bell, Jr., general manager of Mill Ridge, with a laugh about the eight Breeders' Cup winners combined with the two additional championship day winners in the stud barn. “That's the beauty of the Breeders' Cup. How lucky are we to have been able to associate with this many horses on Breeders' Cup days?

“We'll often have visitors say, 'Well, don't you have an unfair advantage because you get to watch them in the field and then watch them win?' We know how special it is to get to do this.”

From the start, Oscar Performance had the Bell family's fingerprints all over him. Fittingly, he was raised on the farm and has now returned to the place of his birth to stand. He is also the sire of Sunday's GIII Zuma Beach S. winner Endlessly from his second crop of 2-year-olds. Endlessly is an unbeaten dual graded winner–for the same connections as his sire–who will try to emulate his sire in the Nov. 3 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“We raised Oscar Performance for the Amermans and helped with the mating. Now for a horse for the same connections to go on and keep that dream alive is very special.

“We feel so lucky and blessed to associate with so many incredible people and breeders and clients and horses,” said Bell. “The Breeders' Cup is what we're all striving for and dreaming about as soon as you do a mating. We feel so blessed to have gotten there and want to keep going.”

Sarah Andrew

Mill Ridge is a popular spot on the Horse Country tours and Oscar Performance has become a showman.

“To connect him with guests is so special,” said Bell. “People have just fallen in love with him. We've really enjoyed sharing him with people and seeing the way he's become a fan favorite. It has been very meaningful as we share that he was the best 2-year-old on the turf in his generation, the best 3-year-old on the turf, and that he set the world record at a mile. One of those three things often sticks with people. To be able to share him with fans is really special.”

As a racehorse, Oscar Performance had a devastating kick.

“What I found so brilliant in his Breeders' Cup is that he had broken from the 13 hole, yet was able to clear the field,” said Bell. “To break from the 13th post to get clear and over at Santa Anita is a big thing. I remember very vividly where I was when he broke his maiden [at Saratoga in August of 2016]. And then his Breeders' Cup, we sat and watched it at the office with my dad because my wife and I had a 15-month-old. It was our son's first Grade I and one we certainly remember as a family. It would be so memorable if Endlessly could do it, too. We're so blessed to have those relationships.”

Aloha West, whose first foals will be born in 2024, took a different route to Mill Ridge.

“He was raised by our friends at Nursery Place by John Mayer,” said Bell. “I think for his Breeders' Cup, what was so telling, is that was the ninth race he had had that year. He'd showed some ability at two, had some shins, hurt himself at three. They were really patient with him. [He debuted at four], broke his maiden in February culminating with a Breeders' Cup win. He danced every dance, had nine starts that year, no real break. He was sort of the clever horse on the backside; people had a lot of chatter about him going into the Breeders' Cup. And then he showed that will to win.”

Halter tag keychains, including one of Breeders' Cup winner Life Is Sweet, in Mill Ridge's Horse Country gift shop | Sarah Andrew

In addition to their two Breeders' Cup-winning stallions, one of whom they had also raised, Mill Ridge has been intimately involved with 2000 Distaff winner Spain, 2003 Turf dead-heater Johar (one of Gone West's winners), 2004 Juvenile Fillies winner Sweet Catomine, 2005 Mile winner Artie Schiller, 2006 Distaff winner Round Pond, 2009 Ladies' Classic winner Life Is Sweet, and 2013 Juvenile Fillies winner Ria Antonia. For those keeping score, that was four consecutive winners from 2003-06 and six in that decade alone.

Winning the Breeders' Cup doesn't get old though. On the contrary, it leaves one hungry for more.

“Once you've been there, you want to experience it again,” said Bell. “You want to do it again and again and again and again.”

Bell has distinct memories of every winner. Some stood out early.

“I often put Sweet Catomine as the one that everyone on the farm thought was very special. For her to culminate as champion and the way she had done it was wonderful. Sometimes you do see something when they're young and it's very gratifying.”

Some stand out because of the relationships with the breeders.

“Artie Schiller was awesome because Leroidesanimaux (Brz) was the overwhelming favorite and he beat him handily, squarely, no excuses. He ran by him like he was standing still. It was a great culmination of the relationship we had with the Moussacs [breeders of Artie Schiller]. A great celebration.”

But one of the Breeders' Cup wins that is most memorable to Bell is for an out-of-the-ordinary reason and ties in to the farm's involvement with Horse Country.

“I remember Spain was a classic [D. Wayne] Lukas move. Lukas put them to sleep. She got a phenomenal ride [from Victor Espinoza]. It was Lukas taking a shot and then he wins at 56-1.

“But what I really remember when I think of her now is on one of our tours there was a gentleman who was about my age. He loved Spain. He was in the hospital at the time she won, in a children's cancer ward, and he'd told all the nurses to bet her.

“Here's a horse that we both had great memories of for very different reasons. It was our first Breeders' Cup winner while he's a kid fighting cancer. It meant a lot to both of us, was an inspiration for both of us. Horses touch people in different ways and sometimes we don't even know it.”

A Horse Country tour sign at Mill Ridge | Sarah Andrew

Perhaps that is why Bell and Mill Ridge are so bullish on the non-profit Horse Country, which Bell was instrumental in co-founding and which also has Breeders' Cup roots. It's his way of giving back to the industry and connecting the wider public to our sport.

“We launched Horse Country tours the same year [2015] as the first Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. It coincided with American Pharoah and that was kind of what got us going. We had set a timeline of the Breeders' Cup date and it gave us a starting gate. We were committed. It has taken a lot of iterations between then and now, but we're big believers in it. We love doing it and sharing what we do.

“The tours have welcomed 200,000 people since then, 25,000 of those at Mill Ridge. We're the number two thing to do on Trip Advisor in Lexington. It feels like it's our part in trying to connect people to racing.

“We're all inspired by the horses and tours are people's best opportunity to meet a horse. Farms create a great opportunity for that. It's meaningful for people to share that, just like the gentleman who had a relationship with Spain from his hospital bed.”

One guest at a time, Mill Ridge and Horse Country are changing the wider public's perception of racing. If meeting a Breeders' Cup-winning stallion brings one more person over to the beauty of our sport, it's a win. If it shows another person how well we take care of our horses and how much they mean to us, it's a win. And if it gets one more person to watch the Breeders' Cup, feeling they have a connection because they've feed a carrot to the sire of one of the runners or have walked over the same land where one was raised, it's a win.

“The better we can show guests what we do, the better we all are,” said Bell. “It feels like the right thing to do. We get so much from the guests and the experience. It's a great reminder of how lucky we are.

“Mill Ridge is just one small piece in it, but we've jumped all the way in. It's very doable. And it's beautiful. At the end of the day, we get so much out of committing to it.

“I feel like we get more out of it than we give.”

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Ramon (R. J.) Rangel says he never would have had the opportunity he experienced Thursday–when Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) whom he co-bred with Spendthrift Farm won the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot–without the kind of breeders incentives advanced by Spendthrift Farm's founder, B. Wayne Hughes–incentives, he says, designed to help the little guy.

Hughes liked to call Spendthrift `the breeders' farm,' and when Valiant Force charged home a winner Thursday, it was because of the breeding initiatives that Hughes liked to preach–with a little kindness thrown in from across town at Mill Ridge, and a lot of hard work by Rangel himself.

Valiant Force's story starts when Mill Ridge's longtime clients John and Jerry Amerman had a homebred filly, Vigui's Heart (Quality Road), for whom they were looking for a home. “She was not going to make it to the races,” said Mill Ridge's Price Bell. Rangel, now 57, had shown horses at sales for years for Mill Ridge, and had been a breeder on a small scale. They knew he took good care of his horses, so they thought of him for the mare. “R. J. is a friend and he and his family are really good horse people, and so we decided to facilitate this for the Amermans, to find this mare a nice home. We reached out to R. J. and he and his family said they'd love to have her.”

The filly was young at the time, and Rangel cared for her until she was three, and decided to breed her.

Rangel realized that his investment of the work caring for her would be rewarded. “I got her when she was young,” he said. “She was a weanling, turning into a yearling, and when she was three, I decided to breed her to something with speed. She's a big, leggy mare, and I wanted to put some speed into her, so I went to Malibu Moon. Obviously, I couldn't afford the stud fee at that time. I think he was $50,000. I asked for a foal share, and thanks to Spendthrift, because Ned Toffey gave me the opportunity to do the foal share. And I got this nice baby. For the first baby, he was a good size, a lovely weanling, very correct. Anybody would love to have this mare. She's a nice mare and I was lucky to get this foal. I gave it to Mill Ridge to sell because they were the ones who gave me the mare.”

Bell recalled, “He was a beautiful weanling that R. J. raised and prepped, and he sold for $75,000,” said Bell. “It was a huge sale for him, and he said, `you know, when I worked here, there was always that one person who would give everyone $100 or $200 to say thank you. So, would you please tip everybody that?' I remember selling the horse and seeing the pride in his eyes, having sold a horse for that kind of money. And he just immediately wanted to take care of all the people in the barn.”

The economy hasn't always been kind to Rangel, who had worked his way up to owning a 70-acre farm in the early 2000s, only to lose it all in the economic downturn of 2008-'09.

“To make a long story short, I ended up losing everything, and I was homeless,” he said, after the bank repossessed his property. “I had to go live with my brother, and I started working at the sales, traveling around.” Finally, he wanted to settle down and stay in one place and Toffey gave him a job at Spendthrift, where he now serves as the assistant yearling manager.

Rangel works until 4 p.m. every day, and then heads to the farm where he boards his horses, to give them the care they need. “I go there before work. I go there after work and I try to take care of them. I have been very lucky to work, and do well, and make the extra effort every day. It's been a great ride. I love the horses. I love the industry. I'm just a little guy who plays on the small side.”
Vigui's Heart failed to get in foal to Lord Nelson in 2021, so Rangel has no yearling to sell this year, but in November, he will be back at Keeneland with her weanling by Mitole. Naturally, he'll sell her with Mill Ridge. She is currently in foal to Vekoma.

A native of Guadalajara, Rangel came to the United States with his father, who was a groom in California for Jack Van Berg, and he got his own start as an exercise rider. But when he first came to a horse sale in Kentucky, he says, “I realized this was the place where I wanted to be, because this is where the best is.”

He watched the Norfolk on his phone, and had staked $2 to win and $2 to place on Valiant Force, “just to support him,” he explains. “I couldn't see him because the screen was so small,” he said.

“But with two furlongs to go, he was still on the lead. With one furlong to go…still on the lead. And finally, he started to pull away. And it really touched me.” He collected $300 on the bets.

At the end of the day, he said he's grateful for the help extended to him by others in the industry.

“The guys here at Spendthrift, they work with you, they give you little breaks here and there. I asked for the foal share and Ned was very nice and gave it to me. I'm very thankful for Mill Ridge, the people that gave me the mare. I'm thankful for Spendthrift. The reason I got back into breeding was that Wayne Hughes, he always tried to help the breeders and they've got all these deals going and I saw that opportunity to come back in at a small scale and be more careful. I've been blessed because everything has gone the right way. It's all about hard work, dedication and luck. But I'm very grateful for all the people who always try to help the little people.”

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With breeding shed doors opening soon, what has this newcomer's initial reception been like with breeders?

“A lot more positive than the Oscar Performance reception was,” said Price Bell with a laugh.

These days, Mill Ridge Farm's general manager is happy to joke about the challenge of launching an American turf horse's stud career if it means talking about Oscar Performance, who just received a fee bump from $12,500 to $20,000 after he wrapped up 2022 as the leading sire of all 2-year-olds on the turf by progeny earnings with his first crop.

As for Aloha West, the champion has drawn a steady stream of visitors at Mill Ridge after he retired to stud following this year's Breeders' Cup.

A son of Hard Spun, Aloha West is out of the Speightstown mare Island Bound, who won the 2012 GIII Winning Colors S. Bell said the new stallion has a physical that reflects both sides of his pedigree and will fit a variety of mares.

“Physically, he's a beautiful horse. Hard Spun is a son of Danzig, who is as influential of a sire line as there exists. Aloha West it from the family of Fappiano and then within that, you've got Speightstown, who is a son of Gone West out of a Storm Cat mare. I think the Speightstown side has really balanced him and polished him up. ”

Aloha West fulfills an important roll at Mill Ridge in carrying out the legacy of breed shaper Gone West, who joined Mill Ridge's first stallion Diesis at the farm in 1988 and went on to produce 98 stakes winners.

After the remarkable success of Gone West, whose sons and grandsons are influential on a global scale today, the farm added several more stallions that failed to follow in their predecessors' achievements.

“We were more active in the stallion business through the 1990s and the 2000s,” Bell explained. “We took on a strategy–and not a unique one–that we needed to retire a stallion every year. We stood Bien Bien, Valiant Nature, Binalong, and really a series of stallions that didn't work. I think at times we might have gotten over our skis in feeling like we had to stand a stallion and we got away from believing in a stallion. As the dust settled, our strategy changed because we couldn't afford to make mistakes. So we never felt like we were out of the stallion business, but rather that we were waiting for the right opportunity.”

That first opportunity came with Oscar Performance, who is the product of a Nicoma Bloodstock mating suggestion and was foaled and raised at Mill Ridge. Next came Gone West's descendant Aloha West.

“Our belief in him was the fundamental driver,” Bell said. “I think if we were to have learned anything after Gone West with the other stallions that we tried, it is that we have to get back to believing in the horse, his ability, his ability to become a stallion and the team around that horse.”

One chapter of Aloha West's story that Bell said they aim to impress upon breeders is that while the Maryland-bred did not race until he was four due to an injury that required surgery, he did have all the potential to be a top-class juvenile.

“Although he didn't race at two, you can look back at his works and see that he was putting in bullets at San Luis Rey and Santa Anita. So it would be easy to bypass that, but when you understand that he was a very good 2-year-old, and then he breaks his maiden at Oaklawn Park by making this big move passing horses around the turn, you think, 'Wow, that's a serious racehorse.'”

Purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners shortly after that debut win, Aloha West won five of his nine starts in 2021. He was the runner-up in the GII Phoenix S. at Keeneland and then got his signature win in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, where he defeated the likes of champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and MGISW Dr. Schivel (Violence). He furthered his success at five with a win in the Kelly's Landing S.

“He had a tremendous desire to win,” Bell said. “He was tough and fast and wanted to get to the finish line first. He ran speed figures comparable to Munnings and other great stallions, so that gives us the belief that he can pass that on to his offspring.”

Aloha West will stand for a fee of $10,000 in 2023. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners has stayed in on the stallion and recently signed tickets on several mares at the Keeneland January Sale.

“Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners are our friends and clients that we hold in the highest regard,” Bell said. “Their motto is to believe big and he certainly achieved the highest results for their partners. For me, he is as exciting a sire at this price point that has come out in the last few years and we've had a positive reception not only from previous clients, but also from new clients. We feel so blessed because this is a game of hopes and dreams and we want to share it with as many people as possible. We're all in this together and we hope that we can launch a successful stallion career.”

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