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Spendthrift Attempting To ‘Repeat History’ With Champion Monomoy Girl

Mark Toothaker's first trip to Oaklawn was almost 35 years ago. But, he can still cite the details as if it happened yesterday and not March 6, 1982.

Toothaker was 15, too young in those days for legal admission, but he slipped through the gates with a group of family and friends and was immediately encouraged to make his first bet, which, in this case, was the daily double. Ditching any formal handicapping techniques like speed figures, class ratings or trip notes, Toothaker said he was advised to simply bet his age, meaning the numbers were 1 and 5.

“The very first race, I can remember it to this day,” Toothaker said. “Larry Snyder was on a huge favorite and wound up pulling up in the race and Don Von Hemel won it with a horse named Rimrod. He was the 1 horse. The very next race, Larry Snyder comes right back after having bad luck in the first race and rides Goldie's Son, the 5 horse, to win and it (daily double) paid $375. I've been ruined ever since.”

Toothaker will be returning to Oaklawn this weekend, not as a green handicapper, but still seeking another double of sorts. Toothaker is the stallion sales manager for Spendthrift Farm, Kentucky's famed racing and breeding operation that will be represented by Jackie's Warrior in Saturday's $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds and Monomoy Girl in Sunday's $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares.

Spendthrift owns the breeding rights to Jackie's Warrior, a multiple Grade 1 winner for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. The stakes are much higher for Monomoy Girl, a Brad Cox trainee who will be making her first start since Spendthrift purchased the multiple Eclipse Award winner for an eye-popping $9.5 million in November at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale.

“It'll be fun,” Toothaker said. “First start back. We'll see. But the way she's trained and everything Brad has said is she's sitting on go. It will be exciting to get her back to the races.”

Toothaker, 54, grew up in Van Buren, Ark., about 130 miles northwest of Oaklawn. After entering the game in 1986 walking hots for trainer Joe Cantey, Toothaker gradually climbed the industry ladder. He eventually owned a small breeding farm near Van Buren, migrated to Kentucky in 2004 to work for prominent breeder Allen Poindexter and has worked for Spendthrift since 2011.

Founded by B. Wayne Hughes, Spendthrift has campaigned, among others, four-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder and 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic solely or in partnership. Its breeding side features approximately 20 stallions, including Authentic, and 100 broodmares. One of those broodmares is Beholder, whose gaudy resume includes Eclipse Awards in 2012 (champion 2-year-old filly), 2013 (3-year-old filly), 2015 (older dirt female) and 2016 (older dirt female), 18 victories from 26 lifetime starts and earnings of $6,156,600. She won the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) in 2013 and 2016, the latter as a 6-year-old.

Monomoy Girl, who will join Spendthrift's broodmare band upon retirement, has similar credentials. She was an Eclipse Award winner in 2018 (3-year-old filly) and 2020 (older dirt female), cementing championships in both years with victories in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). Monomoy Girl is 13 of 15 overall and has lifetime earnings of $4,426,818. Spendthrift opted to keep Monomoy Girl in training with Cox after securing her for a price just short of the $10 million brought by Havre de Grace, a reported North American record for a broodmare sold at public auction, during the same sale in 2012.

“Eric did all the bidding,” Toothaker said, referring to Spendthrift owner Eric Gustavson. “We were just right there cheerleading with him as he was bidding. My heart was racing 90 miles an hour, hoping that we could get her because she's just a treasure. She's just one of those priceless fillies that you just dream about having a chance to be involved with.”

Monomoy Girl will be making her first start since a 1 ¾-length victory in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland. Spendthrift purchased the now-6-year-old daughter of Tapizar the following day.

“I just think Mr. Hughes, since everything was good with her and that she was sound and everything, he wanted to be able to bring her back to the races,” Toothaker said. “We had so much fun with Beholder, her 6-year-old year, and just felt like we wanted to try to recapture that moment. See if we couldn't repeat history and do what Beholder did – put her out on top as a Breeders' Cup champion, back to back. It would be just amazing.”

The 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa is a major local prep for the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 17, which is Monomoy Girl's major spring objective, Cox said.

“When I first saw that, the Bayakoa and the Apple Blossom, I was just thrilled to death,” Toothaker said. “I'm always rooting for everybody to make your path through Oaklawn, for sure.”

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MyRacehorse To Offer Shares Of Champion Monomoy Girl; Kumin Re-Joins Ownership

When two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl makes her 2021 debut this Sunday at Oaklawn in the G3 Bayakoa Stakes, both MyRacehorse and Sol Kumin will have been added the champion mare's ownership group, reports bloodhorse.com.

Spendthrift Farm bought the 6-year-old daughter of Tapizar for $9.5 million at the end of 2020, following her win in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, and decided to return the mare to trainer Brad Cox for a final racing season. Spendthrift has since leased out a portion of her racing rights to both MyRacehorse and Kumin.

MyRacehorse will control 51 percent of Monomoy Girl's racing rights, and expects to sell 10,200 shares at $46, each constituting a .005 share of purse money she earns in 2021.

Kumin was originally involved in Monomoy Girl's ownership under his Monomoy Stables partnership, and has now leased a share of her racing rights under the Madaket Stable banner.

“It was hard to let Monomoy Girl go at the end of the year, but it seemed like the right thing to do for our stable and partnership,” Kumin told bloodhorse.com. “Once I saw Spendthrift bought her, I asked if I could stay involved in some way and they were able to make it happen so we can complete the ride. We have been lucky with Spendthrift in the past, and they are great partners, so we are extremely appreciative they let us back.”

Got Stormy ‘Good And Ready’ To Debut For Spendthrift In Honey Fox

Seeing the price go up as multiple Grade 1-winning mare Got Stormy went through the sales ring last fall, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse got a sinking feeling.

“I knew that there was a reserve on her. My wife and I watched from our office that night, and when she went well over the reserve, I said, 'Well …'” Casse recalled. “There was a sad moment.”

The feeling didn't last long. Shortly after the hammer fell, Casse's phone rang. At the other end was Ned Toffey, general manager since 2004 of Spendthrift Farm, which spent $2.75 million to acquire the multi-millionaire daughter of Get Stormy.

“I got a call about 15 minutes later from Ned Toffey and he said, 'I'm going to ask you a real dumb question. We bought her and we're going to run her another year, do you want to train her?'” Casse said. “I just laughed and I said, 'Yeah, that is a dumb question.'”

Got Stormy won 10 of 26 starts and more than $2 million in purses for Casse and previous owner Gary Barber. Eight of those wins came in stakes, five of them graded, including the Fourstardave (G1) over males and Matriarch (G1) in 2019.

“I had a conversation with Mark really right after we signed the ticket,” Toffey said. “Mark was really happy to have her rejoin his stable and he assured me that he felt like she would be more than ready to move forward and have a good year this year. Of course, we won't put her in a spot to do anything she can't do, and Mark's a great caretaker. Certainly the way she's worked has only heightened our excitement for what we'll see from her this year.”

Got Stormy will begin her fifth and final season of racing Saturday in the $125,000 Honey Fox (G3) at Gulfstream Park. The 36th running of the one-mile Honey Fox for fillies and mares 4 and up is among nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.475 million on a spectacular 14-race program.

Headlining the card is the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, and the $200,000 Davona Dale (G2) for 3-year-old fillies, featuring the season debut of 2020 juvenile filly champion Vequist.

First race post time is 11:30 a.m.

Got Stormy will be returning to Gulfstream for the first time since winning an optional claiming allowance in March 2019. It is where the daughter of Grade 3 turf-winning mare Malabar Gold broke her maiden in her third lifetime start in February 2018.

“We're very pleased with her. Last year I felt like maybe I didn't have her quite as ready for her first start when we ran her, and the one thing I did was I tried to get her ready on the dirt,” Casse said. “So, this year I changed my mind and I sent her down and she's been breezing over the turf. She loves to breeze on the turf. She should be a good and ready.”

Given a freshening following her fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) Nov. 7, and a pair of dirt workouts at Casse's training center in Ocala, Get Stormy joined his string at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training center in Palm Beach County, where she has breezed five times since mid-January. Two of them were bullets, a five-furlong move in 57.35 seconds Feb. 5 and a half-mile work in 47.45 Feb. 12.

“She's doing well. She got a little break after the Breeders' Cup and Mark's just gradually brought her back along,” Toffey said. “In all of our conversations he's just been thrilled with how she's been working, so we're as excited as everybody else is to see what she does.”

Got Stormy raced eight times in 2020 with two wins and two seconds, finishing fourth in the Endeavour (G3) in her debut. She continued to race between a mile and a mile and a sixteenth without success, including a runner-up finish in defense of her Fourstardave title, before Casse cut her back to sprinting.

She responded by winning the 6 ½-furlong Ladies Sprint (G3) over a soft course at Kentucky Downs and the 5 ½-furlong Franklin County (G3) at Keeneland leading up to the Breeders' Cup, where she raced in mid-pack and wound up fifth, beaten two lengths.

“I'm anxious to see what the year brings for her [because] 2020 was a crazy year for a lot of reasons,” Casse said, “but for her, it was about weather, bad weather, and so many times running her on a track that she didn't care for. And she now has a new dimension; she can sprint, as well. So it opens up some options.

“The biggest thing for her is, I don't want to run her over a mile,” he added. “If she is going to run a mile, it has to be very fast.”

Got Stormy was not the only big-ticket purchase for Spendthrift last fall. They also went to $9.5 million for Monomoy Girl, the champion older mare of 2020 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2018 who is also back in training for one more year.

“We just thought it was a great opportunity for us to acquire some really good mares that eventually will wind up in our broodmare band. [Got Stormy] was one of a group that we bought that we felt could really upgrade our broodmare band and that we'd have a little fun with running for one more year before they come to Spendthrift. These kind don't come around very often,” Toffey said. “She's a pretty exciting type of mare, that's for sure.”

Regular rider Tyler Gaffalione will be aboard from Post 2 in a field of nine that includes main-track-only entrant Nomizar.

Casse also entered D. J. Stable's three-time graded-stakes placed Art of Almost. The Dansili mare will be opening her 5-year-old season after capping 2020 running second in the 1 ¼-mile Maple Leaf (G3) Nov. 7 at Woodbine and third in the 1 1/16-mile My Charmer Dec. 12 at Gulfstream. Hall of Famer John Velazquez rides from outside Post 9.

Heider Family Stables' Zofelle returned from 211 days between races to be a popular winner of the one-mile Marshua's River (G3) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream. It was the 5-year-old mare's first start since finishing fifth on the Just a Game (G1) last June at Belmont Park, after which she was given a break. Second in the one-mile Sand Springs last winter in her only other Gulfstream race, she will be ridden from Post 6 by Irad Ortiz Jr.

Three Diamonds Farm's Jakarta will be stretching out to a mile for the first time since winning the Powder Break last May at Gulfstream. Third to Got Stormy in the Franklin County, the 6-year-old Bustin Stones mare won the Claiming Crown Distaff Dash Dec. 3 and was fourth in the Abundantia Jan. 1, both five furlongs over Gulfstream's turf.

“She's stretching out a little bit, but she's doing well so we're looking forward to it,” Nolan Ramsey, assistant to trainer Mike Maker, said. “She's one of those horses where she always finds herself on the front end. I don't know that she's necessarily quick enough to go five-eighths down here. Speed seems to hold down here, so we're kind of hoping we might get things our way. We'd like to try her at least going a mile down here.”

Kendrick Carmouche, in from New York to ride Fire At Will in the Fountain of Youth, has the assignment on Jakarta from Post 8.

Completing the field are multiple stakes winner Feel Glorious; Bienville Street, neck winner of the 1 1/16-mile Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf Jan. 16 at Gulfstream; Secret Time, runner-up in the Cellars Shiraz Nov. 7 at Gulfstream Park West last out; and Ricetta, Group 3-placed in England last summer.

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Spendthrift Welcomes A Third Met Mile Winner

While there’s never one fool-proof indicator for determining stallion potential, Spendthrift Farm has found one race that they feel consistently produces winners who draw their attention.

In the past four years, they’ve welcomed a trio of GI Metropolitan H. victors to their stud barn.

First was Mor Spirit (Eskendereya), the first Grade I-winning two-year-old to later win the Met Mile since Holy Bull in 1994. Then came Mitole, another son of Eskendereya who would go on to be named the 2019 Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter. This year, they welcome a third winner in five-time stakes-winning millionaire Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}).

“The Met Mile, every year, seems to be one of the most competitive races that is run,” said Spendthrift’s Stallion Sales Manager Mark Toothaker. “Everybody seems to point to that race. It just is a race that everybody has circled on their calendars. To have three Met Mile winners here at Spendthrift, they’ve all be supported very well and all have gotten really big books of mares, so now they just have to go do the deal on the racetrack.”

This most recent Met Mile hero was a 2017 $135,000 Keeneland September purchase for R.A. Hill Stable. The late-May foal made his winning debut in September of his 2-year-old year before taking the GIII Nashua S. at Aqueduct for an undefeated juvenile season.

Campaigned by R.A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables, Vekoma ran third in his sophomore debut in the GII Fountain of Youth S. behind eventual dual Grade I winner Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}). He became a top consideration on the Derby Trail after taking the GII Blue Grass S. in his next start.

After failing to fire in the GI Kentucky Derby and staying on the sidelines for the remainder of his sophomore year, Vekoma returned for his best season yet in 2020.

The George Weaver trainee first took the Sir Shackleton S. in March, then followed that effort with an overwhelming 7 1/4-length victory in the GI Runhappy Cater H. to register a 110 Beyer in the Belmont slop. One month later, he faced off with fellow Grade I winners Code of Honor, McKinzie (Street Sense) and Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze) in the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H.

“He broke well and just sat right there and waited until it was his time,” Toothaker said, recalling the race. “He got his cue in the stretch and opened up and drew off in what was a very, very dominating performance. [The Metropolitan H.] is always a very difficult race to win and this year was no different. It was a very talented field that he was able to beat that day, and he beat them pretty soundly.”

Although Vekoma was set to be a top choice in the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a fever days before the raced forced him to scratch.

“It was very unfortunate that Vekoma didn’t get to run in the Sprint,” Toothaker said. “He was going to be the heavy favorite against that field. No knock against anyone, but I feel like Vekoma would have had that bunch over a barrel.”

Over his three-year career, the speedy chestnut was well known for his unique way of going. Toothaker admitted that this delayed Spendthrift’s consideration of the stallion prospect.

“I’ve known George Weaver for a long time and he called me one day and he said ‘Tooth, you’ve got to come see this horse.’ I said, ‘George, he’s got to be really crooked’ but he replied, ‘How many crooked horses do you know that I buy? Listen, he walks really well. We had no idea he did that until we breezed him.'”

Toothaker made the trip to New York to see the prospect and sure enough, he was sold at first sight.

“George picked me up at the airport and we went and looked at him and I loved him,” he recalled. “I thought he looked like a rocket ship. I’m thrilled to death to be able to have him here at Spendthrift.”

Vekoma will be the first son of Candy Ride (Arg) to join the Spendthrift stallion roster.

“Spendthrift has been looking for a son of Candy Ride for a while and we had not been able to land one that we really liked,” Toothaker said. “This horse, when we had a chance to see him, we felt like he was the one we had been looking for. Candy Ride’s sons are doing extremely well and we were very happy to land Vekoma.”

The dual Grade I winner is out of the Speightstown mare Mona de Momma, winner of the 2010 GI Humana Distaff S. and GIII Las Flores H. and a $1.55 million Keeneland November purchase for Vekoma’s breeder, Alpha Delta Stables. While Mona de Momma died soon after foaling Vekoma, his half-sister Bloody Point (War Front) earned over $100,000 and is now a producer. Big names under his third dam include influential sire Mr. Greeley (Gone West), champion juvenile and sire Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}) and dual Grade I winner Paradise Woods (Union Rags).

Toothaker said that Vekoma’s physical trends strongly towards his female side.

“Vekoma really looks a lot like Speightstown,” he said. “I mean, I’ve had people come out and say they see Candy Ride in him as well, but to me, he looks very much like a lot of the Speightstowns you see out there. He’s got good bone, he’s got a really strong body and a good hip.”

Already, Toothaker is imagining the first foals from Vekoma.

“I can foresee him having just absolutely beautiful, rocket ship-like weanlings down the road. I think he’ll be a very precocious sire- his body looks very precocious. He was so fast and hated to loose. So we’re looking forward to getting mares to him this year and then seeing what the foals look like in 2022.”

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