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Trainer Dallas Keen Retires

Dallas Keen, the Texas-based conditioner who has been training since 1986, has reportedly retired and will work alongside his wife, Donna Keen, at Remember Me Racehorse Rescue, according to Daily Racing Form. Accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), Remember Me is a well-known and high-profile retraining and rehoming program that often features bridleless horses.

“I just want to make a difference with horses, especially off-track Thoroughbreds,” Keen told DRF. “They're a little different than other horses. They're high-spirited. It's amazing how well they adapt to their second career. It's like, 'I can do that!' It's a learning deal and it's rewarding to see that light turn on.”

Industry statistics with The Jockey Club (TJC) show Keen has made 6,044 starts as a trainer with 970 wins and earnings just shy of $16 million. His graded winners included Allen's Oop (Nines Wild), Inevitable Hour (Inevitable Leader), and Yessirgeneralsir (Patton). He also won the 1999 GII Arkansas Derby with Valhol (Diazo) and participated in that year's GI Kentucky Derby, but the horse was eventually disqualified from the Arkansas Derby when it was determined his rider had carried an electrical device during the race. Valhol did go on to win four other black-type races.

Keen's last winner came July 4 at Lone Star Park with Mr. Valentino (Revolving).

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Foley Family Teaching New Lessons at Old School Stable

It was a day Greg Foley will never forget when his stable got to the winner's circle for not just one, but two stakes wins last Saturday at Ellis Park. The barn's beloved Bango (Congrats) added to his already impressive resume when he took the Kelly's Landing S. Not long after, Stitched (Mizzen Mast) pulled a 46-1 upset in the GII Wise Dan S. to give Foley his second career Grade II victory.

“It was an exciting day for sure,” Foley said later the following week. “It was one of biggest days, if not the biggest day, of my career. The whole family was there–my wife Sheree, my sister Vickie, and my two sons.”

How did they celebrate?

“Well we went back to the barn to check the horses out. The crew had a couple of beers back at the barn. Sheree and I actually drove back to Louisville and I think we got a Big Mac on the way home.”

That last part was added with a grin and a wink as Foley sat in his office at Barn 11 at Churchill Downs, where the Greg Foley Racing Stable signage has been a constant presence for several decades. A second-generation horseman, Foley began training on his own in 1981. Since then, he has made his mark as one of the winningest trainers in the history of his home track at Churchill Downs, but now, as new members of the Foley family join the operation, it might be that their barn is just getting started.

Not only has his sister Vickie Foley, herself a Grade I-winning trainer, molded her barn in with her brother's and become his assistant, but now Greg's two sons Travis and Alex have joined the 60-horse stable as well.

Travis, 39, has an MBA and worked in the business world for a few years, but he soon found out that corporate life was not for him. When his father asked if he would be interested in setting up their stable for the winter at Fair Ground 11 years ago, he agreed and has stuck around ever since.

Alex, 31, earned a law degree but also found his way back to racing and now heads up the Foley base at Ellis Park.

A packed winner's circle for the GII Wise Dan | Coady

With an impish laugh, Travis Foley describes working for his father as both awesome and terrible. He explained that while he and his brother have the utmost respect for their father's abilities as a trainer, their goal has been to use their business backgrounds to help grow the operation.

“Horsemanship-wise, Dad is as good as there is,” he explained. “My brother and I, we're just more social than he is. He's more of a barn guy and we're kind of the social guys. So it's a full-service operation and we've developed a pretty good team. It comes down to trying to do everything you can to win races and do right by the horses, but also make sure owners feel connected and have fun.”

While their father does just fine with his flip phone, the brothers are making sure owners receive updates through training and workout videos and they've also established an online presence for the stable with a website and social media channels.

Perhaps the greatest contribution the sibling pair is making is through their drive to go out and find the next generation of clientele.

Stitched is the first horse that the Foleys have trained for Nathan McCauley. When McCauley bought back his homebred as a yearling, he put together a partnership with friends and, having formed a relationship with Travis and Alex, sent the colt to the Foley barn.

Greg Foley and Grade II winner Stitched | Katie Petrunyak

A smart, good-moving 2-year-old, Stitched was a stable favorite from the start and the team had high hopes when he made his debut at Fair Grounds in December of 2021.

“He ran horrible,” Greg Foley recalled. “He was last, got beat like 25 lengths. You just sit there thinking, 'What the heck is this? No way this horse could have run that bad.' He's by Mizzen Mast and has a lot of turf breeding, so we put him on the grass next time and he wins at a big price. We actually ran him back in a one-other-than at Fair Grounds that same meet and he won again.”

Stitched went on to claim a pair of stakes wins as a 3-year-old, but got a knee chip later in his sophomore season that required surgery. He returned this spring at four, but was disappointing in his first three efforts. Even still, Foley believed that the bay's ability was much better than his recent performances indicated.

Foley debated between sending Stitched to the Wise Dan or the $100,000 Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial S. the following weekend at Horseshoe Indianapolis, but he decided to go with his gut and opt for the Grade II.

“Thank goodness we went in the race at Ellis,” Foley joked. “He ran huge. He was training great, like he would run a very good race, but we were jumping into the toughest race of his life. He's just a neat horse and is very smart. He's fun to be around.”

Foley said that their team is planning to head to the Kentucky Downs meet for Stitched to make his next start.

While the Foleys are enjoying early success with McCauley and his group, Bango's owners have been longtime supporters of the Foley stable.

Fred and Debbie Schwartz of Tamaroak Partners sent Bango's dam Josaka to Foley in 2009. The daughter of Smart Strike showed promise when she broke her maiden at three, but an injury forced her into an early retirement. Her first foal Eton Ridge (Stephen Got Even) launched his career with Foley and went on to become a stakes winner, but it was her fourth foal who would become a real star.

Now six years old, Bango is Foley's highest-earning trainee with eight stakes wins to his credit. The millionaire has won a stake every year since he was three, including the 2021 and 2023 editions of the Kelly's Landing.

“It takes a very special horse to just stay around that long,” said Foley. “I think he's as good right now as he's ever been. He looks amazing out of the race the other day. He's just dappled from head to toe and is a very sound horse to keep running up through a 6-year-old year.”

Optimistic that racing will return to Churchill Downs this fall, Foley said they are aiming Bango for a start in September in Louisville. Bango is one win away from tying the Churchill Downs all-time win mark, which is now held by Ready's Rocket (More Than Ready) from 2005 to 2012. While Bango came close to achieving the goal when he ran second to Gunite (Gun Runner) in the Aristides S. on June 3, Foley said their team has continued to eye the current record of 11 wins.

In the meantime, Bango's 2-year-old full-brother named Evan On Earth is approaching his debut.

Perhaps flying a bit under the radar amidst all the celebration last Saturday, Stitched's victory in the Wise Dan also provided Foley with his 1,500^th career win.

Greg, Travis and Alex Foley | courtesy Travis Foley

Travis Foley has watched firsthand as his father has remained steadfast through the many ups and downs of the sport and he believes his father's achievements can be accredited to a love of the game, but first and foremost, a love of the horse.

“Being a horse trainer is about discipline and doing it win, lose or draw, every day,” he said. “His ability to persevere through the tough times is really impressive. The way he is here regardless of what happened in the races, he just loves being with his horses. Kudos to him to be able to grind it out for his whole life, but to him it's not even a grind. He loves it. He lights up when he goes into the barn.”

Foley has been, and probably always will be, more interested in tending to his pupils back at the barn rather than going out and recruiting clients. Now, he has the next generation of Foleys helping to shine a light on what makes their father's expertise such a rarity.

“It's very deserved for him,” Travis said. “We're getting more clients and more money behind us and you're seeing some of the results stem from that.”

As for the seasoned horseman himself, Foley said he is grateful for the work his sons have put in to advance their stable, but also for the opportunity he has to work with his family on a daily basis.

“I don't think any of us planned for them to be doing this,” Foley admitted. “Whatever happened, they found their way back over here to the racetrack and I love it. That's what they want to do and they're doing a great job. I'm really proud of both of them.”

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Played Hard Carries the Rigney Motto to Ogden Phipps

One short elevator ride from the top of the Churchill Downs grandstand down to the ground floor was all the time it took for Phil Bauer to officially become a Grade I-winning trainer.

On Kentucky Oaks Friday, Bauer was watching from upstairs as his trainee Played Hard (Into Mischief) took the lead going into the stretch of the GI La Troienne S. and, with Johnny Velazquez aboard, fought off last year's Oaks victress Secret Oath (Arrogate) to win by a neck. When Bauer and an elated crew of Rigney Racing supporters raced to the elevator to get their picture taken, they unknowingly avoided the hair-raising anxiety of sitting through an objection raised by Secret Oath's rider Tyler Gaffalione. By the time the group made it to the winner's circle, it had been determined that there would be no change. Richard and Tammy Rigney's Rigney Racing and their trainer Phil Bauer had just earned their first Grade I win.

“It was such a special day, I guess a dream come true,” reflected Bauer, who grew up in Louisville. “You obviously strive to reach that level and to finally do it was just, I don't want to say a relief because relief is almost expecting something. You dream about it and then once it's real, it's something you can reflect on and be proud of. It all boils down to the team and how everybody came together. You think back to when we first bought the filly and then to get there, it's so satisfying and you're very happy for the Rigneys for what they've put into the game. It's long overdue and hopefully many more to come.”

Much of Played Hard's success, and the rise of Rigney Racing in the past few years, Bauer credits to a change in game plan.

Bauer was working as an assistant for Kenny McPeek when Richard Rigney–owner of the Louisville-based beverage company Clarendon Flavor Engineering–offered him the opportunity to become the private trainer for Rigney Racing. The operation launched in 2013 and, despite winning their very first race, saw very little success in their early years together. After earning only 27 wins from 250 starts in their first five years, they decided to enlist the help of bloodstock agent John Moynihan.

Played Hard, a $280,000 Keeneland September purchase, was part of one of the first Rigney Racing crops put together with Moynihan's assistance.

“John Moynihan was a big piece of the puzzle and made a world of difference in the last five years with bringing in quality racehorses,” explained Bauer. “The proof is in the pudding. You can see in the last five years for us, we've really started to excel and it boils down to the horse. [Richard and I] go to the sales, look at the short list and pick the ones that we like the most, but John is driving the boat and it has helped a lot.”

Bauer had high hopes for Played Hard when they took her home after the Keeneland sale and his faith in the daughter of Into Mischief grew after each trip to Ocala to visit the youngster. The filly didn't make the races at two and was unsuccessful in her first three starts at six furlongs, but once she stretched out, she stepped up to a new level. She ran second in the GIII Comely S. as a sophomore and at four, she bookended a third-place finish in the GI Spinster S. with two Grade III wins at Churchill Downs. Her victory in the La Troienne, where she went off at close to 9-1, was her first start since winning the GIII Falls City S. last November.

“I was a little nervous that she wasn't tight enough, but I think she has matured into a racehorse that knows the game now,” Bauer explained. “Just in daily training, she hates horses in front of her and she'll want to get to them. With her overall demeanor as an athlete, she's a competitor. It's something that some horses lack, but she's got plenty of it.”

Bauer is hoping that the 5-year-old's winning ways will continue on into this weekend, when she'll have another matchup with Secret Oath in the GI Ogden Phipps S. Played Hard will once again team up with John Velazquez to face a six-horse field that also includes last year's Ogden Phipps winner Clairiere (Curlin), plus GISW Search Results (Flatter).

“We originally thought, 'Well, let's just come back in the Fleur de Lis at the end of the Churchill meet,'” said Bauer. “We kept an eye on the Ogden Phipps and while it's not coming up light, it's just coming up with a reduced field. The fact that she's got the grade one, we felt like in the big picture if we can win or be extremely competitive in it, it's only going to help her credentials as the year comes to an end and hopefully keep her name in the conversation for an Eclipse Award or hopefully the Breeders' Cup.”

The Rigney Racing operation comes into Belmont weekend riding a hot streak at Churchill Downs.

GISP Xigera returns a winner in her 3-year-old debut on June 2 at Churchill Downs | Coady

Xigera (Nyquist) got the ball rolling last Friday when she took an allowance contest going a mile on the turf in her 3-year-old debut. A maiden winner last summer in Saratoga, the filly was third in the GI Darley Alcibiades but then finished last in a field of 14 when she took her connections to their first Breeders' Cup for the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“We felt so confident going into the Breeders' Cup and to run as bad as she did was just a hard pill to swallow,” Bauer admitted. “She never grabbed the bit that day and there was no major excuse that we could point at, so we decided to give her the winter and let her develop. She came back much more mature physically and mentally. We were anxious to get a start in her and hoping she would return to form so when she did, it was just like a sigh of relief. We're hopeful that she can continue to climb the ladder and hopefully produce some stakes wins for us this year.”

Bauer said that everything, quite literally, is on the table for the filly's next start. While Xigera has always shown an affinity for turf, she trains well on the main track in the morning and performed well in the Alcibiades on dirt last fall.

Xigera's efforts were followed up with a win on Sunday from Warrior Johny (Cairo Prince). The 4-year-old gelding came in off a seven-month layoff to take an allowance optional claimer by four lengths.

Also last weekend, Bauer had two second-place finishes with Anna's Arabesque (Munnings), who was third last month in an overnight stake at Churchill Downs, and Little Prankster (Practical Joke), a $425,000 yearling purchase who has now finished second in her first two career starts.

“I think she's one to definitely keep an eye on,” reported Bauer. “She actually works in company with a lot of the horses we've already covered, so you know her ability is there.”

Phil Bauer and Richard Rigney | Keeneland

With 27 horses currently stabled at Churchill Downs and more trainees returning off layoffs or joining the barn as 2-year-olds this summer, Bauer said they have high hopes for Rigney Racing this year. They'll have to work hard to meet last year's achievements, when they were the leading owner at the Churchill Downs spring meet, took home six of their 13 starts at Saratoga and finished the year with a record 21 wins.

“It's something that we felt was coming,” Bauer said as he reflected on their recent achievements. “You don't always anticipate extreme success in this game, but you have a general idea that you can at least be competitive in certain areas based on what horses you have in the barn and how they're training. That has been the case the last couple of years. The whole program has finally gotten legs and taken off. It's what we were striving for and for it to be here, it's been a lot of fun.”

Bauer's connection with the Rigneys runs much deeper than a trainer-owner relationship.

“[Richard] is one of my best friends,” he shared. “We golf together all the time. I'm very fortunate and blessed that [the Rigneys] stuck with me and continued to build around what we started out together. That means a lot to me. They're great people and they care about everybody and want to have a family atmosphere here at the barn. It's a pleasure to train for them and it's even sweeter when we're able to be victorious.”

Played Hard's name originated from what has come to be a meaningful adage for the Rigneys.

“The name came from their motto of life of if you lived well, you played hard,” Bauer explained. “And they enjoy life. I think when their time is gone, people will be able to look back and say, 'Well they did about all you can do.' At the same time, they make everyone's lives around them better.”

While there was a host of over 60 of the Rigneys' closest friends and family present at their home track in Louisville for the La Troienne victory, come this weekend it will be a much different experience as Bauer and Richard Rigney take on Belmont together for Played Hard's bid in the Ogden Phipps.

“I don't know if I'll ever be able to top the feeling of our first grade one being at home with the cast that Richard had present at the races, but obviously winning a grade one at Belmont on Belmont Day would be surreal as well,” Baur said. “Richard and I are the only ones going up Saturday, that was just the way it kind of worked out, so maybe it would be even sweeter if we can celebrate together and focus how we started and where we've gotten to be.”

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Norm Casse Enjoying the Ride with First Oaks Filly

Norm Casse lived in Louisville throughout most of his childhood, but one spring, he spent a few months in Ocala with his father. Norm was responsible for getting himself up and out the door for school each morning while his dad was busy at the training center.

One morning, as Kentucky Oaks day dawned, Norm's alarm never rang.

It was well into the morning before Mark Casse burst into his son's room in a panic. “Norman, why aren't you at school?” he cried.

“Dad, chill out,” retorted a teenaged Norm. “It's Kentucky Oaks day.”

That was the day that Norm Casse learned that the country's entire school system does not, in fact, shut down for Oaks day.

As a kid, the Kentucky Oaks marked a special occasion for Casse because it meant a Friday away from school in Louisville. Years later, after discovering his own passion for racing, working for his father for a decade, and now having trained on his own for six years, the Kentucky Oaks–and Derby week–has all come to mean so much more.

“I've been coming to the Oaks and Derby every year since 1995,” Casse reflected. “Even when I moved to Canada and worked for Dad up in Woodbine, the only weekend I ever took off was Derby weekend because I didn't want to break that streak. Being born and raised here is the reason why I do it. It's not because my family is involved. It's more because I love the Derby, the Oaks, and the whole week leading up to it.”

This year, Casse will saddle his first starter in one of those famed 3-year-old races with GI Kentucky Oaks contender Southlawn (Pioneerof the Nile). For Casse, who is a third-generation trainer and has already earned multiple graded stakes victories and just under 150 career wins, claiming his first Grade I on Friday would be a pinnacle moment.

“I can't really describe what it would mean to win the Kentucky Oaks,” he said. “All my friends and family are from here. They may not know what the Breeders' Cup Classic or the Pacific Class is, but they know what the Kentucky Oaks is. If we were able to win that, they'd look at me like a rock star.”

Casse comes to the Oaks with a filly that he and his team have always had high hopes for. Southlawn, a $290,000 yearling purchase for Robert Masterson, showed potential early on as a juvenile, but drawing out her true ability in the afternoons proved to be a puzzling task for Casse.

Southlawn takes to the main track at Churchill Downs | Sara Gordon

Southlawn was unplaced in her debut last June, finishing fifth behind none other than Mark Casse's future champion and Oaks contender Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief). After breaking her maiden by five lengths in her second start at Ellis Park, the filly from the final crop of Pioneerof the Nile was never a contender in the GIII Pocahontas S. and she came up empty in two tries on turf in the fall.

“After her last start on the grass here in the fall, we knew she was going to get the winter off,” Casse explained. “Tyler Gaffalione came back and said that she was having a lot of issues with her breathing. We sent her down to the Fair Grounds and we performed a myectomy on her. She's been undefeated ever since.”

The procedure seems to have solved any displacement issues the filly was dealing with as she has returned to the main track this year and has taken her first two sophomore starts by storm. She claimed an allowance at Fair Grounds by eight lengths in February and stamped her domination of the 3-year-old filly ranks in New Orleans with a win in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks.

Casse said that what has impressed him most about Southlawn's sophomore campaign is her developing running style.

“She doesn't have that early speed she had before,” he explained. “Now she makes a big, sustained run, which I think is going to be very beneficial in the Oaks. It just seems to me that she's better off breaking and trying to get a decent position, but then letting her get into her own rhythm and not forcing things too much. I like that she's so kind and professional now that no matter where we are in a race, we're still going to feel comfortable that she is going to run when Reylu asks her to run.”

Reylu Gutierrez, who competed in his first Kentucky Oaks last year, just claimed his first leading rider title at Fair Grounds earlier this year. The up-and-coming jockey has gained even more recognition while riding a hot streak at Keeneland.

“I think one of the storylines that shouldn't go unsaid is that Reylu gets along with her really well,” Casse noted. “He's riding really well right now and he's so confident in her and in how she's training that it gives me a lot of confidence.”

Another essential character in Southlawn's storyline is of course her owner Robert Masterson.

The California-based owner had horses in training with Mark Casse for many years, highlighted by the outstanding two-time champion grass mare Tepin (Bernstein). Tepin was in the Casse barn at the same time that Norm was overseeing much of the stable.

Casse said that working with the talented filly and playing a role in her success at the top of the game, from the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Mile to the 2016 G1 Queen Anne S., gave him the confidence he needed to go out on his own. When Casse first set up his stable, Masterson was his first–and for a short time, his only–client.

Masterson has been involved in racing for over 40 years and explained why he wanted to support the fledgling trainer back in 2018.

“Norm was the one that really took care of Tepin the whole time she was there,” he said. “When he decided to go out on his own, I just felt an obligation. Everybody needs a shot and I felt like I could be the person to give him a shot. I'm not the guy who is going to have a 40-horse stable, and his father already had all these big owners, so I thought that I could give him four or five horses and that would help him out.”

Picked out by Deuce Greathouse, Southlawn was a $290,000 yearling purchase for Robert Masterson | Sara Gordon

While Casse's success quickly grew in those first few years, Masterson's horses ran through a streak of bad luck. But Masterson stuck with his trainer and was eventually rewarded for his faith with the success of Southlawn.

“We didn't have much luck in the beginning, but it wasn't because of Norm,” Masterson said. “I think he's a really good trainer and a good caretaker of the horse. You're going to look at him five years from now and people are going to go, 'Where'd he come from?'”

Other than horses he owns in partnership, Masterson sends all of his horses to Casse. His stable is off to a fast start in 2023 and Friday could set up to be a monumental day. On top of Southlawn's Oaks bid, Masterson's Grove (Munnings) and New Beat (Not This Time), both 3-year-old fillies coming off maiden wins, are aiming to get into the entries. He also has a juvenile filly named Loveland (Munnings) looking to make her debut.

Masterson, a graduate of the University of Maryland, said that Southlawn is named after a neighborhood in Maryland outside of Washington D.C. He explained that his mother moved to South Lawn to be close to him when he was in college and years later, his first son was born there.

While Masterson hinted at his excitement ahead of Oaks day, noting that this is his first starter in the historic contest, he added that he is hoping for a happy outcome because of the positive implications it would have for Casse, his longtime bloodstock agent Deuce Greathouse, and the filly's many other connections who are making a name for themselves in the industry.

“I've been in the business since 1980 and I've had a lot of great horses so I'm not nervous,” he said. “I just hope she gets all the right chances. We always thought she was really going to be good and when she came back as a 3-year-old, she was a monster.”

Southlawn will face her toughest competition yet on Friday. The rematch of Southlawn with GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Wonder Wheel might be the start of a friendly father-son rivalry at the highest levels of the sport.

“When I went out on my own, my dad kept talking about how he couldn't wait until the day where we starting running against each other in these marquee races,” Casse explained. “So here's our first opportunity and it's a very cool opportunity. I'm just proud of my entire team. I feel like one of the things that we've done right since I went on my own is that I've built a really nice team that I'm confident in. I think they make a big, big difference in the stable and how well we're doing.”

Derby Week brings an unparalleled kind of excitement to the Churchill Downs backside, but Casse said he plans to embrace the hubbub and take in every moment. After all, it's an opportunity he's been dreaming about for years.

“I think the filly is training so incredibly well,” he said. “She looks great and her coat is great. She seems happier than ever and I know we're ready. I'm sure I'm going to be extremely nervous the morning of, but right now I'm just trying to enjoy the ride.”

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