Colic Claims Dam of Vequist

A fairytale, and an authentic story of “true love”, came to a heartbreaking end Thursday when Tom and Sue McGrath of Swilcan Stable lost Vero Amore (Mineshaft), the rags-to-riches dam of champion Vequist (Nyquist).

Her abrupt surrender to colic came as a terrible shock: Vero Amore was in her prime, having just turned 11, and was carrying a sister to the 2020 Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old filly.     Tom McGrath stressed his thanks to Brookdale Farm, where she was a long-term boarder, for their characteristically alert and prompt attention; and also huge sympathy for Glenn Bennet, a great friend who had bought into the mare only last summer.

That investment has obviously proved desperate luck, for Bennet, but equally there could be no deeper grief over Vero Amore than for McGrath, who raced her in the Swilcan silks after trainer Robert E. “Butch” Reid Jr. found her for just $15,000 at the Timonium 2-Year-Old Sale in 2013. She managed serial stakes placings, including second in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S.

McGrath believes that her third foal, from the first crop of Nyquist, was never even vetted when a $120,000 RNA at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Vero Amore herself, after all, was responsible for the only black-type under the first three dams. After her debut at Parx, however, there was a lot more interest and he accepted an approach from Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel while retaining a leg. McGrath duly enjoyed the ride as Vequist won the GI Spinaway S. by nearly 10 lengths and ran second in the GI Frizette S. before confirming herself class leader at the Breeders' Cup. Though confined to a single sophomore start, she joined the Spendthrift broodmare band at Fasig-Tipton in November for $3.4 million.

But just as the unpredictability of the Thoroughbred yielded this fantastic dividend, now McGrath has had to absorb this “gut punch” out of nowhere.

“Yes, it's a double-edged sword, isn't it?” he reflected Friday. “She was a blue-collar girl, picked up for $15,000, and yet she's got the moxie to do all that. I don't want for much in life, but I also grew up blue-collar–and this kind of thing just doesn't happen. People spend incredible amounts of money trying to duplicate what we did on a shoestring.”

He remembers Reid calling and saying: “Got a cheapie for you!”

“But he loved her,” McGrath recalls. “And with these horses, you start the dream machine on the first ticket. You punch the clock and start dreaming–and she never let us down. There could be no more perfect animal. She was a sweetheart, she did everything right, she was a great mom. She didn't know what she cost, she was an all-star. The places she took us, it was just crazy.”

Vero Amore was not very big, but she was a golden nugget: all heart.

“It was like a passion she had,” McGrath said. “That way she thrived with her racing, the way she would always just try. That was what made me want to carry on with her. You don't just go breed, without a notion. It's not cheap: you get your monthlies, your stud fees, and it's a two- or three-year commitment. But even setting Vequist aside, this has been a whole other side of the business that a lot of people don't get to experience, and it's been wonderful to see the way people put their lives and emotions into it all. And I'm very proud of what she achieved.”

Foremost among those dedicated horsemen have been Fred Seitz and his team at Brookdale, who had some tough calls to make this week.

“The first one was a shock, for sure,” McGrath said. “But it's typical of the way they operate that they were all over it before anyone would normally be concerned. She just wasn't regular, and he was like, 'I don't like this, mares have super immunity when they're carrying, I want to send her get to looked at.' And where better could she have been than Rood and Riddle? And it did look like she was getting better, she was on fluids, she seemed to be stabilizing. But then it suddenly went the other way.”

Happily Vero Amore's propensity to throw fillies has allowed McGrath to keep all bar one of her other daughters–including 'TDN Rising Star' Mainstay (Astern), who finished runner-up in the GIII Schuylerville S. on her second start last year, and is closing on a return to the track. So perhaps there may yet be a legacy beyond whatever Vequist can do for Spendthrift.

“Her foal was a filly, so a full sister to Vequist, and that would have been something,” McGrath said. “After you take a punch you've got to get up off the canvas, dust yourself off, and walk back to the corner. But we're taking a moment out to remember her, for sure, because she was absolutely special. Sometimes when you pass the mile marker, you have to just stop, realize the beauty that's been around you, and count your blessings. That's what today is all about.”

The post Colic Claims Dam of Vequist appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Salvaged Vequist Puts Swilcan on Fairway

It's remarkable what people can do nowadays. The company co-founded by Tom McGrath converts glass bottles into lightweight construction aggregate. This stuff starts out as curbside recycling, your emptied beers and so on, and ends up supporting you as you drive over a bridge. But then there's nothing like raising and racing Thoroughbreds to show the latent capacities lurking in refuse material.

Because Vequist (Nyquist), the champion juvenile filly homebred by McGrath's Swilcan Stable, was rejected in the ring twice over. The first time, she was in utero when her dam Vero Amore (Mineshaft) was offered at the Keeneland November Sale of 2017. Still only six, and having run a neck second in the GII Black Eyed Susan S., Vero Amore was valued higher by her owner than by the market and was led away unsold at $135,000. Then McGrath offered Vequist herself back in the same ring, as a September yearling, but again couldn't drum up adequate interest and took her home at $120,000.

“I don't think she even got vetted,” McGrath remembers. “But I'll take good luck any day, you know? The vast majority of people that do this, breeding on a smaller scale, have to be able to turn over in order to have the cash flow. And we're no different. So we just got really fortunate that they both RNA'd when they went through. And then when we sent Vequist down to Barry Eisaman's, he loved her. I was just trying to figure out what other people didn't see that we saw.”

But then Vero Amore had herself confounded the market, found by trainer Robert E. “Butch” Reid, Jr. as a Timonium 2-year-old for just $15,000.

“Butch liked her, it seemed like she was going to be a steal, so he picked her up for me,” McGrath says. “She was only a little peanut, but she has a heart of gold. Small but mighty. She was such a tough competitor, always put a solid effort in.”

Vero Amore made nearly half her career starts at Parx, and it was at McGrath's hometown track that Vequist started out, too.

“Butch always tries to temper my expectations,” says McGrath with a laugh. “So I'm not sure he was giving me the full story the whole time! But I could tell he was excited about her.”

Sure enough, Vequist was beaten only a nose on debut while pulling a city block clear of the third. Promising though that effort was, McGrath was amazed how alertly even Parx maidens are dredged by the sharpest prospectors. After the speed figures came out, Reid called and told McGrath he had been approached about the filly by Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel.

“I have friends that are heavy into those Ragozins, and all the rest of it, but I'd be lost trying to figure them out,” confesses McGrath. “Anyway I guess she put up a really good number in that race, and that got the attention of Adam and Gary. They were really fair, with the offer they made, and it was an easy negotiation. I was thrilled: just based on everything that was happening beyond the racetrack in 2020, it made a lot of sense for us to lay off and open up some of the value. But it was fantastic also to be able to maintain 25% ownership. I really am appreciative of that, and it's been a great partnership with Gary and Adam. It's been a win across the board.”

Tom McGrath with Butch Reid | Courtesy of Tom McGrath

McGrath's one condition was that the filly stay in Reid's barn. His new partners were wise enough to be agreeable to that, too. After all, here was a guy who has been training for 35 years, closing on 800 wins from nearly 5,000 starts. There won't be many mornings when Reid meets a challenge in the shedrow that he won't have seen before. And when he has had the chance, he has seized it. He knows what a good juvenile looks like–he won the GII Remsen S. with Spendthrift's rookie Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief)–but can also reel out the spool to win a GII Breeders' Cup Marathon with a mature stayer like Afleet Again (Afleet Alex).

Actually it had been the sire of that horse that hooked McGrath into the sport. His Bucks County neighbor at the time, Joe Lerro, was an owner of Afleet Alex and after following the spectacular ups and downs of his Triple Crown campaign (or, more literally, the downs and ups), McGrath asked to be told next time there might be an opportunity to get involved.

Poseidon's Warrior | Coglianese

Among the first horses in which he partnered was a $90,000 Speightstown colt, purchased by Chuck Zacney at the same Timonium sale that would produce Vero Amore three years later. In Reid's care, Poseidon's Warrior matured into one of the top sprinters in the land, winning the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. in 2012.

Needless to say, he had started out winning at what was then still known as Philadelphia Park. With Vequist, however, Reid has taken McGrath to another level.

“Butch gets a lot of credit for all of this,” he says. “He's doing the day to day, him and [wife and assistant] Ginny and their crew, they do all the heavy lifting. I get the fun job, pop in once in a while and only have to nod and agree. So I'm absolutely thrilled for them. With Butch, what you see is what you get. He will always give you an honest answer. And he cares for the horses, always puts them first. He and Ginny have been lifelong in this, and deserve all the accolades.”

One thing is for sure: without his new partners, McGrath would never have been pressing to fast-track Vequist to Grade I company for her second start. “Gary and Adam had been looking at those numbers, and knew better than I did what the potential was,” McGrath says. “It was a good move.”

It most certainly was. Vequist won the Spinaway S. at Saratoga by a jaw-dropping 9 1/2 lengths and, while just given the slip in the GI Frizette S., she confirmed herself class leader on the day that mattered. Clinging to the rail as a gap obligingly opened into the stretch, she became the third Breeders' Cup winner out of Parx in three years–following Jaywalk (Cross Traffic) and Spun to Run (Hard Spun)–when scoring decisively in the GI Juvenile Fillies.

“What a day,” McGrath says. “It was my daughter's 16th birthday, and there was the traveling back and forth with the COVID going on, but my wife was just like, 'This doesn't happen often. You have to go.' And even though it had to be a little quieter than other years, Keeneland did a fantastic job and there was still a good atmosphere. The whole experience was tremendous. It's hard to describe the feeling of being there at the finish line in the Breeders' Cup, watching the horse that you bred go across the line like that. I had two fists high in the air. It was one of those moments you'll remember forever.”

The newly anointed champion put in a bullet :59.65 workout at Palm Meadows last weekend as she prepares for her resumption, and hopefully a crack at the GI Kentucky Oaks, in the GII Davona Dale S. next Saturday. In the meantime, however, a no less important appointment looms: any day now, Vero Amore is due to deliver an Accelerate foal at Brookdale Farm, Versailles.

Vero Amore at two | Equi-Photo

All going well, she will then be bred back to Nyquist–not a hard choice, in the circumstances. Since her last visit to the Darley sire she has produced two daughters, a Daredevil yearling and an Astern (Aus) juvenile, offering flexibility to Swilcan's breeding operation whatever the future may hold for Vequist and indeed her dam, who is still only 10.

“We've had some interest, for sure,” McGrath admits. “But if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that while things are exciting, you don't want to make quick decisions. So we're just settling back and seeing how this year starts to play out. The Astern filly will be coming up from Florida to start training with Butch in late March or April: I made a deal with a friend of mine, Glenn Bennett from LC Racing, so he and I are partners on her. We've been fortunate that Vero Amore has had these fillies, that gives us lots of options and we can just figure it out as we go along.”

Indeed, Swilcan Stable has pretty much been a story of one thing leading to another. Once that little nugget Vero Amore had run as well as she did on Preakness eve, for instance, it just looked like it could only be fun to develop her second career, too. And then there was the decision to buy out the other partners in Poseidon's Warrior, and support him at stud with a few homebreds.

Poseidon's Warrior scored a Grade I success from his debut crop in Firenze Fire, homebred by Mr. Amore Stable and still as tough and classy as ever in his fourth campaign last year. After stints in Florida and Kentucky, however, Poseidon's Warrior has now come “home” to Equistar Training and Breeding at Annville, Pennsylvania.

“Unfortunately, we got the deal done pretty late last year, so he came up here pretty much at the last minute,” McGrath says. “And then COVID hit. So hopefully this year will be easier to organize. He was champion freshman in Florida, and has done a lot without a ton of support. We had him at Darby Dan, and I love those guys, but Kentucky just wasn't the spot for him. So now we're just trying to get some awareness about him up here. With the loss of Jump Start, I think he's a good option for folks looking for stallions that have bred Grade I winners. Pennsylvania has fantastic program and, living here like we do, it'll be great to go to the races and see his state-bred runners.”

Vequist dominated the Spinaway | Sarah Andrew

McGrath is also doing his bit for the local economy as President of the expanding AeroAggregates, based at a former locomotive works in Eddystone and now recycling the equivalent of over 140 million glass bottles per annum. The resulting low-density product is around 85% lighter than most quarried equivalents, and also serves the growing imperatives of the environment.

“We take 100% curbside recycled glass, clean it, mill it into a fine powder, put it through a process, and it comes out about 15 pound a cubic foot,” McGrath explains. “So it's a fraction of the weight of stone and perfect for bridge approaches, tunnels, foundations, a multitude of infrastructure applications. Actually we never pitched it as being green. In construction, when you talk about having this great new recycled material, people just say, 'You know what? It's going to be more expensive and it's not going to work as well.' So we just pitched it on its merits the first five years, and only after getting jobs would we say, 'By the way, if you're interested, this is extremely green.' So it's really starting to ramp up now.”

Exciting times, then, whether he's going into work Monday morning or to the races at the weekend–a more fulfilling pastime, by the sound of it, than the one that gave his stable its name.

McGrath remembers his attorney calling to press him for a name, so that he could finalize the LLC before going on vacation. He looked at the office wall, where he had hung a picture of the famous stone bridge linking the first and final fairways at St. Andrews, and blurted: “Swilcan Stable.”

Strictly as a golfer, however, he disowns any eligibility for that august connection. “I have a wife and five kids, and everybody's a golfer, and I'm the worst in the family,” he confides. “If the dog could play golf, too, I'd be worse than the dog.”

McGrath and connections celebrate | Breeders' Cup/Eclipse Sportswire

As it happens, despite having supported Poseidon's Warrior with a handful mares, Swilcan was pretty well down to Vero Amore and her daughters when Vequist started to soar. “We'd only ever been making a claim here, going to a sale there, and we had reduced,” McGrath says. “It was a very uncertain time, and unfortunately we lost a mare over the winter. Now we'll see what the future holds. We've been lucky the way we've done it so far, mostly breeding to race, so I think we're going to continue along and see how that all plays out. After this great experience with Gary and Adam, I think I'll be more open to having partners than in the past. But we're excited. Vequist just seems to find another gear. And if you can run long and run fast, the world's your oyster, right?”

Like everyone who understands this business, McGrath knows you have to work to improve the odds but that you will always still need the breaks.

“While I'd love to pretend that all this makes me smart, actually I've just had to be smart enough to say 'yes' a lot of the time,” he reflects. “The bits of luck, though, like those RNAs: they're incredible, part of the mystery of the sport. No question about it, we've been blessed. We've always been competitive, small as we are, we had the Grade I early on. But then the last year has been just unbelievable. To make it through 2020, such a tough year on everybody, and walk away in the way we did… it's not lost on me how big that is. I'm just very grateful for how it all transpired.”

The post Salvaged Vequist Puts Swilcan on Fairway appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Vequist To Get Time Off After ‘Spectacular’ Breeders’ Cup Win, Then Aim For 2021 Kentucky Oaks

There were good vibes all around the far end of Barn 66 at Keeneland Saturday morning as the connections of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist basked in the achievements of the dark bay daughter of Nyquist.

Trainer Butch Reid reported that all was well with his charge in the aftermath of her 2-length triumph over budding rival Dayoutoftheoffice in the Juvenile Fillies, an effort that now puts Vequist in position to take home an Eclipse Award for divisional honors. While horses can sometimes fool their caretakers by flaunting one kind of form in the morning only to give off an entirely different impression in the afternoons, Vequist more than backed up the serious tout she had made for herself this week as one of the best looking horses during training hours.

“When I saw her in the morning jogging and stuff, I thought she looked really good but then when she got over there into the paddock in the afternoon, I thought she looked spectacular,” said Reid, who previously won the 2011 Breeders' Cup Marathon with Afleet Again. “In my mind, I thought she won the paddock show. She looked good, calm, relaxed. We felt pretty good.”

Vequist now has two wins from four career starts with both of her triumphs coming in top-level races. She broke her maiden by a jaw-dropping 9 ½ lengths in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 6 but was beaten in the Grade 1 Frizette by Dayoutoftheoffice.

Under heady handling from Joel Rosario Friday, Vequist used an inside trip to turn the tables on her rival and make her sire Nyquist one of now 24 stallions to win a Breeders' Cup race and sire a Breeders' Cup winner.

“We figured she would be laying close and it seemed like the inside was good all day,” Reid said. “And we had Joel in the irons. We had full confidence in the horse and the rider. This is my second Breeders' Cup win but this was really a special one because she's a homebred and I was able to do it for Tom McGrath and Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel. It makes it extra special.”

Vequist was bred by McGrath's Swilcan Stables with McGrath selling an interest in the filly to Barber and Wachtel after she finished second in her career debut at Parx on July 29. To Reid's delight, the new addition to the ownership had no intention of taking the filly out of his care.

“That's something rare in this business that something like that happens. Normally that's it and the horse is gone,” Reid said. “I didn't know them (Barber and Wachtel) until I talked to them on the phone. In fact I met Gary Barber for the first time yesterday.”

Reid added that Vequist will now head to Barry Eisman's farm in Florida for a freshening to prepare for what he hopes is a successful trip down the Kentucky Oaks trail in 2021.

“Four starts as a 2-year-old is plenty for me and we got her stretched around two turns, which is what I wanted,” Reid said. “She'll soak up some sun and pick on some grass.”

Trainer and co-owner Tim Hamm reported all was good with Dayoutoftheoffice the morning after her gutsy runner-up finish in the Juvenile Fillies.

Dayoutoftheoffice set a quick pace in the 1 1/16m Juvenile Fillies, throwing down the first quarter in 23.30 and an opening half mile in 47.12 before being caught by race-winner Vequist in the late stages. That loss marked the first defeat in four starts for Dayoutoftheoffice, but the daughter of Into Mischief figures to be in play for Eclipse Award honors with her prior wins in the Grade 1 Frizette — in which she bested Vequist — and Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes.

“She'll take a little break and get ready for a 3-year-old campaign,” Hamm said.

The post Vequist To Get Time Off After ‘Spectacular’ Breeders’ Cup Win, Then Aim For 2021 Kentucky Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights