Spiess, Klopp Earn Owners’ Title, Klopp Takes Training Race at Indiana

The partnership of Roger Spiess' Spiess Stable and Randy Klopp rounded out the 2022 season at Horseshoe Indianapolis with 31 wins, bringing their purse earnings to just shy of the $1 million mark to earn their second consecutive title for Leading Thoroughbred Owner at the Shelbyville oval. The earnings tally of $979,041 for 2022 sets a new record for most purse earnings recorded by an owner of either breed in track history.

“I'd have to say winning the $250,000 stakes [with Latigo] was the highlight of the year for us,” said Spiess, who is a graduate of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. “It's been a really great year and Randy and his crew do an outstanding job.”

Klopp also eked out a training title, earning the distinction after taking the sixth race with Surley. Heading into the final day of action, Klopp led Trainer Genaro Garcia by two wins with a count of 64 to 62. Garcia scored a win in the second race to tighten up the race, but the win by Surley put Klopp at 65 wins on the year for the title. Horses from Klopp's barn have earned more than $1.7 million this season and the stable maintained a 21% win rate and a 53% in-the-money record.

“I'm very thankful,” said Klopp. “I thank all the employees and our crew and the owners. If it weren't for the owners, we couldn't do this. Also, a special thanks to the jockeys and the agents that handle their rides. It's been a great year.”

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Tanquerray Another Timely Acquisition for Nicks

Indiana horseman William Austin Nicks, who improbably acquired the dam of Rich Strike just days before that colt won the GI Kentucky Derby in May, scored another dam of a future Grade I winner on a shoestring budget when he purchased Tanquerray (Good Journey), in foal to Outwork, for $2,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton February sale. The mare was followed into the sales ring at that auction by her yearling filly by Outwork, who sold for $8,000. Reoffered at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic in October, the yearling brought $40,000. Now named Leave No Trace, the filly won this year's GI Spinaway S. and was recently third in the GI Frizette S. With that major league update in tow, Nicks, along with partners Randy Klopp and Roger Speiss, will send the Grade I winner's yearling full-sister through the ring at next week's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale as hip 231 with the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

Nicks admits he deals in the lower-end of the mare market and was succinct about Tanquerray's appeal last February.

“She looked cheap,” Nicks said of the now 13-year-old mare. “I am not going to tell you I knew she was going to throw a Grade I winner, because nobody did. But she looked cheap. She had one foal to race, Unconquered Lea (Lea). He made $40,000 and had good speed index numbers, an allowance-type horse. She was a big, good-looking chestnut mare. And in foal to Outwork, he was standing for $10,000 or $7,500 or whatever, and I bought the mare for $2,000, so why wouldn't you buy her?”

Asked if he had seen the mare's future Grade I winner at the sale, Nicks said, “I didn't even look at her. I pretty much just mess with mares. I buy and sell and foal several out myself. I kind of do whatever I can do to make money in this business because it's hard. But I don't mess with a lot of yearlings.”

Nicks quickly added a partner on the mare.

“I texted Randy [Haffner] and I said, 'Man, I stole this mare,'” Nicks recalled. “And he looked at her and we made a deal on her. We both split her and that way we can split the Indiana breeders awards on the filly. That was part of our deal. So we both bred her. He had her and he bred the mare back to his stallion, Notional, and had a colt this spring and had her back to Notional on a pretty early cover.”

As Leave No Trace won her debut at Saratoga in July and with Notional's imminent departure for Ohio, Haffner was looking to downsize.

“After the filly won first time out at Saratoga is when we decided to buy her,” Nicks said. “[Haffner] was selling quite a few horses trying to downsize. I mentioned something to him about buying her and sticking her in this sale before the filly won the race and he just wanted to sell her privately. So Randy Klopp, who trains some horses for me, and Roger Speiss, who has a bunch of horses with Randy, and I ended up just buying five off of Randy to cheapen the average, so to speak.”

The partners originally intended to race the five yearlings, but Leave No Trace's victory in the Sept. 4 GI Spinaway S. changed those plans.

“We bought her to race,” Nicks said. “The only reason we entertained the idea of selling her was because of Leave No Trace. Since she won, we figured it would be a good time to stick her in the sale and if we can get her sold, we'd love to, and if she doesn't bring what we are hoping for, we will bring her back and run her.”

Nicks is optimistic heading into the October sale with a yearling with an impeccable update.

“She is doing really good,” he said of the yearling. “We scoped her and we did her X-rays and everything was perfect. She is a really tall filly. So she's kind of in the middle of a growth spurt right now and growing up rather than growing out like we'd like to see her. So she's a real tall filly with a lot of range. But I think she'll be just fine. She'll fit in with everything else down there, I think.”

Speaking of one Grade I-producing mare naturally leads to Gold Strike (Smart Strike), a mare Nicks acquired just five days before her son won the Kentucky Derby.

“That was just kind of a crazy deal,” Nicks admitted with a laugh. “I deal with the bottom-tier Thoroughbred mares and M.C. Roberts had that mare and he tried getting her in foal for a couple of years and he didn't have any luck. He called me one day the week before the Derby and he told me, 'This mare had a 2-year-old who won by a huge margin for $30,000 last year at Churchill.' And that's all he said. The horse was Grade III-placed at Turfway, so he had some black-type, but all [Roberts] told me was that this horse had won by a bunch at Churchill last year.”

He continued, “I deal with a lot of those older mares that are hard to get in foal. I've got people who will pasture breed them or they will cross them on Quarter Horses where they can do AI. So your older Thoroughbred mares that people don't really want to mess with because they are hard to get in foal, there are Quarter Horse people who can AI and race out of them. They will try them. That's why I got her. Then I found out who he was talking about. It was a shock.”

Rich Strike famously drew into the Derby field the day before the race and Nicks recalled, “He was 21 or 22 and I said, 'He'll never get in.' And then he wins the damn thing. It was just crazy.”

The 20-year-old Gold Strike has not produced a foal since Rich Strike, but Nicks is hopeful next year will be the charm.

“We bred her to Munnings May 25 and we checked her in foal day 16 and everything looked good,” Nicks said. “We checked her back day 21 and it was gone. I think it was just too hot–the first two weeks of June this year, there was a heat index of 120. We are going to try again, hopefully in February. We will get her under lights early next year. The vet who looked at her was very hopeful.”

The 27-year-old Nicks, who followed his father into the horse business, leases a farm in Sellersburg, Indiana and has been breeding horses since he was in high school.

“[Dad] trained for 10 years,” Nicks said. “And then he quit training and we started leasing a big farm and I started foaling mares out for people. I went through some stallions and breeding my own. Then I'd go to Keeneland and buy cheap mares for $1,000 or $2,000, bring them home, take pictures of them and stick them on my Facebook page and sell them for a profit. And whatever I didn't sell, I'd keep and foal out and make registered Indiana-breds. My dad started leasing the farm when I was a sophomore in high school. I would leave school early when I was a junior and take a mare to Lexington to get bred. That's all I've done. I've never had a job.”

Nicks and partners will offer Leave No Trace's full-sister during next Monday's first session of the Fasig-Tipton October sale. The auction continues through Thursday with bidding beginning each day at 10 a.m.

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Indiana Grand Meet Wraps Up

Indiana Grand's 2021 meet concluded Thursday. Randy Klopp, frequently towards the top of the standings, took home his first Thoroughbred trainer's title this year with 59 victories–12 more than the next conditioner–and earnings over $1.2 million. Klopp also teamed up to earn the owner's title with Roger Spiess's Spiess Stable. They partnered for 31 victories at the stand, finishing in the money 59% of the time and racking up more than $621,000 in purse earnings. Marcelino Pedroza Jr. took home his third Indiana leading Thoroughbred rider title with 105 victories, 20 ahead of second, with purse earnings in excess of $3.2 million. Andrea Rodriguez was the Juan Saez Leading Apprentice Jockey with 28 wins. Seven-year-old Wildcard Prado (Fort Prado) was won the Leading Thoroughbred Horse Award after taking six trips to the Indiana Grand winner's circle this season.

The track's Vice President and General Manager of Racing Eric Halstrom was surprised with the “HBPA Excellence of Service Award” from the Indiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. Halstrom is in his second year at the helm of racing operations at Indiana Grand. This year saw record-setting handle, and Halstrom has implemented a number of changes on the wagering front, including lowered take-out and seeding $50,000 on the closing day Pick 5 as a thank you to horseplayers.

“We've had a tremendous year in racing and it's thanks in part to the cooperation and support of the horsemen,” said Halstrom. “I am very honored to receive this award, and it has special meaning since it comes from the horsemen's organization. We work very hard to put on a great show for them and are constantly looking for ways to create a fun and exciting backdrop to showcase our racing product.”

The 20th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing at Indiana Grand will commence next Apr. 19 and run through Nov. 23.

Record Season…

The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino ended Thursday, Nov. 11, completing 123 days of racing. Both breeds brought in record numbers for the year, showing a 47% increase in overall handle compared to similar dates in 2019.

With the shortened season in 2020 due to COVID-19, handle figures are compared to 2019 when a full schedule was conducted at Indiana Grand. Total handle for 2021 came in at $223,204,265 compared to handle in 2019 at $151,791,334. The highlight of the meet was another record-setting day for Indiana Derby with total handle reaching $6,292,388.

“Coming off a strong, but abbreviated 2020 season, we entered the 2021 meet with high expectations in terms of handle,” said Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing. “We are very pleased that we were able to exceed all of our goals. We have so much to celebrate on the business end of our racing program, but more importantly, we were able to offer a strong racing program thanks to the support of both our Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred horsemen. Our partnership with both breeds allows us to provide promotions and events to complement our racing program. We are really looking forward to the 2022 racing season to continue the momentum.”

Purse money also set new records. Both breeds combined included purses of $36,439,755 over the 123-day meet. A new record for daily purse distribution was also set offering an average of $298,686 per day.

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Indiana Grand: Apron Strings Leads Trio Of Wins For Randy Klopp In Season Opener

The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind. got underway Tuesday, April 13, with Apron Strings and Tommy Pompell winning the season opener. The Indiana-bred mare was one of three winners on the card for Trainer Randy Klopp, longtime Indiana horseman and Rushville, Ind. Resident.

Apron Strings got out of the gate well and tracked Long Legged Linda and Sant Sanjur through the early stages of the five furlong sprint before pressing forward and getting the lead midway through the stretch, holding on gamely through the wire. Archie's Girl and Manny Esquivel closed well for second followed by Bold Concept and Joe Ramos, who moved up the inside through traffic to finish third.

Owned by Spiess Stable and Klopp, Apron Strings was making her first start of 2021 since taking the winter off from racing in Indiana. The Kodiak Kowboy six-year-old mare now has five wins in 12 starts.

Klopp also greeted Tale of Fame and Jockey Joe Ramos in the winner's circle for the third race and Tapit's Spirit, also ridden by Ramos, for the eighth race, giving Ramos a riding double on the card.

Newcomer Jose Batista also scored two wins on the season opener. The Panamanian native recently finished 10th in the jockey standings at Tampa Bay Downs and moved his tack to Indiana for the 2021 racing season. Batista connected with Gran Rojo in the second race followed by Day in the Country in the fifth race.

One Quarter Horse race was carded on the first program of 2021 with L.D. Martinez and Anthony Cunningham winning with Beach Shakin. The Indiana bred son of Escondido Beach scored his first career win in the race, his first of 2021.

A sizeable crowd was trackside for the season opener. Wagering for the nine-race card topped $1.7 million, outperforming opening day in April 2019 by nearly $400,000.

Live racing extends through Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Racing will be conducted at 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. In addition, six all-Quarter Horse racing dates are set on select Saturdays starting June 5 at 10 a.m. A special Indiana Champions Day highlighting the state's top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will be held Saturday, Oct. 30 beginning at 12 p.m. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.indianagrand.com.

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