In this month's installment of TDN's series, 'The Road Back,' we introduce you to graduate William Jackson, now the house manager for Stable Recovery.

When crossing the threshold into Stable Recovery's house on Hummingbird Lane in Lexington, a true feeling of 'being home' washes over you. The sound of conversation and laughter fills the air as staff and residents make their way through the house while an assortment of dogs wag their way into the mix. And there in the front office on the right, seated at the desk across from me, is William Jackson.

The 46-year-old man with the kind eye and constant smile shares his life story with a calm that speaks to his character, spoken with a reverent tone of voice that reflects where he's been and how far he's come in his lifetime.

As he talks, the realization of how poignant this introduction and this conversation is settles in the room. Because less than two years ago, after decades of witnessing death and living on the brink of it, Jackson's heart stopped after an overdose.

“In September of 2022, I lost the house, the nice truck I had, we had all of the utilities turned off, and I was damn near about to go to jail. Then, I ended up getting hit by that car and later, overdosing in the room in that trailer,” recalled Jackson.

He had hit rock bottom. And it was the result of a life that revolved around one constant: drug use.

Born in Springfield, Mo., Jackson spent his early years primarily in the company of his mom, since his stepdad had been sent to prison early on and his five older siblings were much further ahead in their lives, all off on their own. By the time he was in fifth grade, they had relocated to Corbin, Ky., to live near the rest of his extended family.

“Most of my family, all my uncles and aunts and everyone, used a lot of drugs and drank. All the men drank beer all the time and most of my aunts were taking pills and smoked marijuana. I remember my cousins were doing it, too, they were a little older than me. And one of my cousins even grew some pot with his father. That was what they did,” said Jackson. “By the time I was 11, I was taking pills and smoking marijuana and drinking on the weekends. I started out just doing a little bit of everything.”

Growing up, the tragedy that Jackson experienced only perpetuated his dependence on using drugs as an escape.

“When I was 12, my sister committed suicide. That was pretty traumatic. And then, it was the next year I guess, I remember walking in the house and finding my grandmother dead. I was the one who found her.”

The loss of a close friend in high school, and later the loss of his girlfriend, only darkened his outlook on life.

“I had lots of little things that kept me angry, confused, and mad at the world. But I always felt like doing drugs was wrong. It was bad and I wanted to do the right thing. I always did good in school and I wanted to please people, but all this stuff kept always pushing me towards all of that other stuff,” said Jackson.

By the time he was 27, he'd already married and divorced his first wife, who sadly overdosed and passed away a year after their marriage ended. From there, Jackson went back home to live with his mom and eventually picked up drinking.

“I was an alcoholic for about 13 years. Pretty heavy. I could drink at least 3/5 of a bottle of hundred-proof a day by myself. That all led to me being diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. They gave me a year to live,” said Jackson. “It scared me, so I decided to quit drinking. By this time, I had already met my second wife, I was married again, and she went with me to Alcoholics Anonymous for a while. But I only went for about three months.”

William Jackson becomes a Legacy of Stable Recovery. Pictured: Tyler Harris, Josh Franks, Christian Countzler, Ashton Becker, Carrol McCromick, William Jackson, and Dan Pride | Stable Recovery

Though he'd saved his liver, Jackson continued to pursue other avenues in his drug use, turning to buying and using Suboxone before eventually caving to the enticement of heroin by the time he was 41.

There seemed to be no end to the lows in his life, the many holes that he couldn't pull himself out of, until he dug the deepest of all that fateful night in September of 2022. A deadly mix of a Xanax bar laced with Fentanyl and a small dose of heroin in the early hours of the morning led to him collapsing on the floor, the sound waking his wife in the other room. She called 911 and held Jackson as he laid there, foaming at the mouth, his body eerily still. And after minutes that felt like hours, first responders arrived on the scene and revived him.

From there, Jackson decided to redirect his breaking point into a turning point, as he went to the hospital for treatment and later went to a Stepworks Recovery Center.

“I had so much guilt, shame and remorse. I just wanted it to be over, I wanted it to be done. This was the first time I'd ever been in treatment or anything like this. It was the worst. There was just so much stuff happening. It was so bad and I was just crying, at wit's end, and I was just done. I was ready to die,” said Jackson.

But it was there in the recovery center that he found a pamphlet for Stable Recovery. In one of those moments where one might question how heavy the hand of God truly is, Jackson felt a dream had been fulfilled with the opportunity to get back out on a farm.

“My dream was to work on a farm again. It just so happens that when you're in Stable Recovery, you're on the farm taking care of horses, driving tractors and doing all this stuff. It's like God sent me this perfect place and completely changed my life,” said Jackson.

Despite his addiction to drugs and alcohol throughout most of his life, and the health issues that arose because of that, he never missed a day of work. He was a carpenter by trade and had spent over 20 years building houses. And though he'd been hesitant to enter the program due to his strong need to return home to his family, he knew that Stable Recovery was the best thing for him, for all of them.

“One of the best things my wife ever did for me was call and say, 'You're not coming home.' Once I got here, it just changed my life. It saved my life. I spent a year on the farm, taking care of the horses, taking care of babies. I helped foal out 80 babies last year. I found peace on the farm, just out in the fields, in the quiet with the horses,” said Jackson. “Then slowly, as I was making better decisions and doing the right thing, people [in my life] started talking to me again. My wife would talk to me a little bit and then she'd started coming to see me. And my daughter would always visit.”

Now 17 months sober, Jackson serves as the House Manager for Stable Recovery, a role he took on a few months ago. The job entails overseeing the houses that the men in the program live in, which can involve anything from handling paperwork to driving the men to the farm for work or staying up late with a program participant who just needs someone to listen. Though the horses and the tranquility on the farm soothed his soul, Jackson has realized that being a mentor and friend to those in the program is his true purpose.

“My wife and kids would call it an 'astronaut job,' because we were coming in here and you can't even imagine a place like this. Especially when we think of the shape that we're in as despicable addicts. We have the worst opinion of ourselves when we're out there, but to be able to come in here and have somebody trust you and to be a part of the farm, it's hard to believe. It gives you such an unfair advantage almost compared to other treatment centers because you come here and it's just like a dream, and then all you have to do is do things right,” said Jackson.

Though the drug use was detrimental from a health standpoint, the biggest burden to Jackson was the regret and guilt he lived with as a result of his addiction. It wasn't until he arrived at Taylor Made that he finally had the chance to process, reflect and heal.

“I just wanted do what was right and I was always doing something wrong. I always felt guilty for using and drinking. When you first come in, even though the guys are like you, you're so uncomfortable with yourself at first that you can't open up. You don't even trust them or yourself at first,” he said. “But when you can go out there in that field and be with the mommas and the babies, and all you have to be is genuine and care about them, it's amazing how they open up and love you.

“It's a growing experience between you and the horses. At first you go in there and it's just like it is with anybody else, you're uncomfortable, scared, and awkward for a while. But you spend time with them and before you know it, it's crazy how much you can fall in love with them and how much they depend on and trust you. It's unbelievable what it does for you. It brought me a peace that I hadn't had in years, a feeling that I remembered when I was a child, but barely. I never thought I'd see it for many years.”

William Jackson and family | Stable Recovery

Since taking on this position with Stable Recovery, Jackson has received certifications as a peer support specialist and a supported employment specialist, while continuing to take classes and participate in webinars on topics such as peer support. Though it comes with plenty of responsibility, Jackson truly believes that the job has fulfilled him in a way that he never thought possible.

It is the reason he chose a job in the house over one he'd been offered on the farm.

“It just seemed like it would have been selfish of me to go [that route]. If I took that [job] for a house and a truck, I would have been sick again in my heart and soul. Not because of anything anybody said or thought, but in my heart, it would have made me sick because I want to give back and help the guys,” said Jackson. “It's a mutual respect [with the guys] where they love me and we love each other. It's a great house. The guys, even the hard ones that come in, they end up opening up and fall right into it, too. If you can last and you don't leave pretty quick, you end up being a part of the family and it's amazing. I get that same kind of love here as I did on the farm with the horses.

“This is my best medicine, to be right here helping the guys and interacting with them every day. It's the best thing that I can do. It's going to keep me alive and keep me sober.”

As Jackson speaks, you can feel the aura of selflessness that shimmers around him. He traveled the road not many make it back from and not only paved a new one for himself, but now does that for others every day.

Stable Recovery gave him the tools and the time, but Jackson dug the foundation and built his own house of healing.

“I'm truly blessed to be able to come in here and use the pain that I've felt to be able to help a man move on with his life and start over. I wake up thankful every day. It's crazy how wonderful that feels, right?”

To learn more, or to donate to Stable Recovery, visit stablerecovery.net/.

The post The Road Back: After 46 Years, William Jackson Finds Solace in Stable Recovery appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale opened Tuesday with a solid session, and while the 2-year-old sales are usually all about speed, the day was topped by a colt by Tapit who galloped during last week's under-tack show. From the Lothenbach dispersal, the youngster sold for $1.2 million to the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds and D. J. Stables. He was consigned by Tom McCrocklin.

“I think it points to the fact that the under-tack show is one metric,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “There are a lot of different metrics that people use to buy horses. The under-tack shows get talked about a lot, but it's not the only thing. There were obviously people here who felt like they could get a good read on the horse and liked what they saw at the barn and what they saw on the racetrack in the way he moved. Everybody focuses on the time because it's an easy touch point, but there are a lot of other variables and intangibles that go into that decision-making process.”

During the session, 152 horses sold for $20,844,000 for an average of $137,132 and a median of $73,500. The average was down 11% from a year ago and the median dipped 18.3%. The buy-back rate for Tuesday's session was 26.9%. It was 32.1% a year ago.

“It's hard to compare day to days after the first day, but I thought it was pretty on line with last year overall,” Wojciechowski said.

Showing the breadth of the buying bench, the top 10-priced lots were purchased by 10 different buyers.

“The buying bench was pretty varied,” Wojciechowski said. “There were a lot of different people buying horses. I felt like we have good horses spread out through the entire catalogue. We obviously had some highlights today and I think we will continue to have highlights over the next two days.”

Of the top 10 sellers Tuesday, two were from the first crop of Gainesway stallion McKinzie, with Bill Childs going to $750,000 for a colt from the Wavertree Stables consignment and Belmar Racing, R.A. Hill and Gargan going to $450,000 for a colt from the King's Equine consignment. Both colts shared bullet furlong work times of :9 4/5.

The OBS March sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 11 a.m.

West Point, DJ Stable Unite for Tapit Colt

Proving that value rarely goes unnoticed among the savvy juvenile market buyers, Hip 173, a colt by leading sire Tapit, realized $1.2 million on the OBS March Sale's opening day. With the tempo picking up noticeably as the session progressed, West Point Thoroughbreds and D J Stable teamed up to land the opening session's sole seven-figure offering. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, the Feb. 27 foal was a member of the Lothenbach Stables Dispersal.

Jonathan Green & Terry Finley | Photos by Z

“He's the kind that we look for. We figured he'd bring a lot of money, but I think he's got plenty of upside,” said West Point's Terry Finley. “The Tapits can be across the board in terms of their mental disposition, but he has a very cool mind and acted the right way. With these expensive horses, we tend to say the same things and just keep our fingers crossed. You just hope they live up to that expectation.”

Out of Distorted Music, herself a $190,000 Keeneland September purchase in 2011, the gray is a half-brother to Grade III winner She Can't Sing (Bernardini). The colt represents the family of GI CCA Oaks heroine Music Note, dam of G1 Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide, in addition to French Classic scorer Musical Chimes.

“Obviously, we have a soft spot for Tapit,” explained Finley. “We love the fact that this [colt] is big and raw.”

The dispersal came up after Bob Lothenbach died suddenly at the age of 64 last fall. All of the Lothenbach horses galloped during last week's breeze sessions.

“I didn't know [Lothenbach] but I know he had a beautiful breeding program and ran a great operation,” said Finley. “We knew we were buying something from a very effective program.”

D J Stable's Jon Green was equally enthused with Tuesday's purchase.

“You look at these dispersals, and it seems like every year one jumps out of that program. We hope it works out that way. But we really thought he was the best of that group. The fact that he was galloping and not breezing, for a big horse like that, it only added to his appeal because we felt it would be more beneficial to his development. The world is his oyster.”

Partnering on a handful of horses in the past, including Grade III winner Turned Aside (American Pharoah), longtime friends Len and Jon Green and Finley thought it seemed like the right time to take the relationship to the next level.

“We have had a couple of horses with the Greens in the past, but this is by far the best we've ever got our hands on together, so we're excited to go forward,” said Finley.

Green echoed the sentiment.

“The important thing about this horse are the people behind it. Terry and I have been talking and we were just waiting for the right horse and we felt this was absolutely the right athlete to go after. He looks like he has two-turn ability and we're going to take our time with him. This was just the right opportunity.” —@CBossTDN

Not This Time Colt Heads to Japan

A colt by Not This Time (hip 183) will be heading to Japan after selling for $850,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent Shingo Hashimoto, acting on behalf of Katsumi Yoshida. The dark bay colt was consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds on behalf of trainer Tom Durant. He worked a furlong last week in :10 flat.

“His workout was really good and his appearance was really nice,” Hashimoto said. “We really liked the colt and we are very excited about him. We will bring him back to Japan and see how he goes.”

The colt is out of Dos Vinos (Twirling Candy), a half-sister to stakes winner China Grove (City Zip) purchased by Durant for $230,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale.

Hashimoto, who purchased a $1.05-million son of Arrogate on behalf of Yoshida at last year's March sale, was making his second purchase of the 2024 auction with hip 183. He went to $310,000 for a filly by Take Charge Indy (hip 110) earlier in the session.

Of the March sale's appeal, Hashimoto said, “It's good to know how the horses change from what we saw at the yearling sale and how they train. I think the level of training that they do in the U.S. is very high.” @JessMartiniTDN

Colts Group Adds an Uncle Mo Juvenile

The BSW/Crow Colts Group and Spendthrift Farm partnership, which has been active at the yearling sales the last few years, supplemented its 2024 roster heading to the barn of trainer Brad Cox with the purchase of an Uncle Mo colt (hip 106) for $750,000 during Tuesday's first session of the OBS March sale. The bay colt, consigned by Pick View, is out of Canteen (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Hip 106 | Photos by Z

“Everybody on the team liked him,” Liz Crow said after signing the ticket on the juvenile. “Katelyn Jackson, Ned Toffey and his son Daniel and Seth [Semkin] and then Brad Cox, everybody on the whole team felt like he fit what we were looking for.”

The partners had success buying at OBS last year, purchasing Jimmy Winkfield S. winner Bergen (Liam's Map) for $375,000 at the OBS April sale.

“It was hard to buy yearlings last year,” Crow said. “We have a small number, we only have 10, and so this will be our 11th horse for the group.”

Stock Thoroughbreds purchased the colt for $270,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. He worked a furlong during last week's under-tack show in :10 2/5. @JessMartiniTDN

Childs Jumps into the Fray Early at OBS

Bill Childs sat chilly until the closing moments of last year's OBS March Sale to land a Justify colt for $700,000. This year, the Texas businessman reversed course and extended to $750,000 for Hip 89, a son of freshman sire McKinzie, early in the sale.

The bay recorded a :9.4 move for Wavertree Stables during last Wednesday's breeze session.

“I really liked everything about him,” said Childs. “I liked the way he worked–that was an obvious reason. But I also liked him because I thought he'd want to go two turns.”

Bill Childs | Photos by Z

Out of Breech Inlet (Holy Bull), the Ontario-bred is a half-brother to Canadian multiple stakes winner and graded placed Merveilleux (Paynter). The colt's 14-year-old dam, a granddaughter of GISW By Land By Sea, is a half-sister to GSW Bauble Queen (Arch). In foal to Olympiad, she brought $50,000 at Keeneland November last season.

“He doesn't look like a horse that should work that fast going that short,” added Childs. “But when they do, they'll often turn out to be good.”

According to Ciaran Dunne, the colt has flourished since his arrival in September.

“He's a beautiful horse and worked really well,” he said. “He is one of those rare things, he was well sold and well bought. I think it hurt him a little bit being so early in the sale. People might have been expecting him to bring a little bit more or they weren't quite ready. But I think it was a fair price for him.”

According to Childs, the colt will go to trainer Bob Baffert, who also trained the youngster's sire, McKinzie.

“It's his first crop, so we don't know how that'll go,” he added. “But based on the way they worked here, it looks like they will be good.”

Offered at last year's Keeneland September sale, the Feb. 26 foal was secured by Ron Fein's Superfine Farm for $205,000.

Asked about the feel of the market halfway through Tuesday's session, Childs said, “It was actually a little softer than I thought. I saw a few that I thought would have brought a little more money. However, I do think it will probably get stronger as the sale goes along.”–@CBossTDN

Mischief Returns to OBS

Rarely absent from the leaderboard at any sale in the country, Into Mischief was represented by Hip 202, a colt that realized a $700,000 final bid from Muir Hut Stables. Out of GSW Electric Forest (Curlin), the bay colt is a grandson of MGSW and MGISP Forest Music (Unbridled's Song), herself responsible for graded winner Uncle chuck (Uncle Mo). Spendthrift Farm was among the underbidders on the colt.

“Muir Hut Stables has put a lot into the game,” said Southern California-based trainer Mark Glatt, stationed alongside the Muir Hutt team during the bidding. “I have been trying to get them to buy an Into Mischief for some time now. We were able to get this one, so we're excited.”

The Mar. 19 foal breezed an eighth in :10.1 during the initial breeze session last week.

“We are high on the sire, of course, but also on [broodmare sire] Curlin. This colt is a very athletic horse and seems to have talent. We hope he stays sound so we can get him to the races.”

Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, the bay was consigned by Old South Farm on behalf of Bow River Ranch.

“I bought him for a new group of guys. That's their first pinhooking venture,” confirmed consignor Hoby Kight, who signed for the colt after the Oregon-based group paid $250,000 at last September's Keeneland sale.

When asked what drew him to the colt, Kight explained, “Everyone knows what I like–I like a horse with angles. I like a stretchy, big and fast horse with just enough pedigree. That's what it takes. If they can run, you're good. That's what I like to buy and this colt fit the bill.”

According to Kight, the fledgling partnership also sold Hip 19, a colt by Munnings, for $250,000, in addition to a Gun Runner colt (Hip 155) for $100,000.

“For me, the sale has been very fair so far,” Kight added. “The Munnings could have been anywhere from $250,000 to $400,000, depending on the breeze. He worked with a headwind [10.1], so that might have affected things a bit, but I thought it was fair overall.”–@CBossTDN

Munnings Filly Jump Starts March Sale

With the March sale less than half-an-hour old, a filly by Munnings (hip 26) kick started the action in Ocala Tuesday when selling for $700,000 to the bid of trainer Will Walden, acting on behalf of John Sykes's Woodford Thoroughbreds. The bay filly, consigned by Niall Brennan Stables, shared the :9 4/5 bullet on the first day of last week's under-tack show.

“I thought she had all of the parts,” Walden said. “She is a little bit on the smaller side, but with plenty of muscle. She had a great walk and temperament at the barn. I thought the breeze was outstanding. It was the best gallop out of the day and it was on the toughest day. She did it into a 10 mph headwind.”

Will Walden & Niall Brennan | Photos by Z

The filly is the first foal out of the unraced Ansaam (Bernardini), a half-sister to Grade I winner Denman's Call (Northern Afleet) and from the family of multiple Grade I winner Evening Jewel. She was a $95,000 Keeneland September purchase by Ryston Stables.

“She's probably a filly who is going to be early,” Walden said. “We will get her back to Turfway and then Keeneland and start looking for starts around Churchill. We are really excited to have her.”

Walden has been buying horses for Sykes across the globe over the last several months.

“He has been a great supporter of ours,” Walden said of Sykes. “He supported us when we went overseas when we bought some out of Tattersalls. We are just trying to buy runners and get in the winner's circle. He has a breeding operation, so with this filly's pedigree and hopefully with what she does on the track, she will hold some residual value as a broodmare.”

Walden agreed, with the juvenile sales season just minutes old, it could be difficult to anticipate prices.

“I had her between $600,000 and $800,000,” he said. “I would have liked to pay six instead of seven, but she is a quality filly and we are happy we got her. But you have to trust your gut. If you like the horse, the horse speaks to you and, on numbers and on paper it works out, you have to take a swing.”  @JessMartiniTDN

All Dreams Equine Absent from OBS

Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine consignment, which was pulled into controversy when a filly it sold at last year's OBS June sale broke down at Finger Lakes in November and subsequently tested positive for Clenbuterol, had six horses catalogued to the OBS March sale, but the entire group was scratched from the auction.

“There was some publicity about me and my consignment and I just felt like it wasn't going to be a fair judgement on the horses,” Centeno said of the decision to withdraw his horses from the auction. “I could feel the energy wasn't all there. So the best thing for the horses and for everybody else was to scratch them for now.”

Two of the horses from Centeno's March consignment were involved in incidents during last week's under-tack show, with a filly collapsing on the track following her breeze and a colt getting loose before breezing and galloping around the infield.

OBS sales officials confirmed that Centeno had voluntarily scratched his horses from that sale and that the All Dreams horses were all tested before the under-tack show, but that results of those tests were not yet available.

“Yes and he welcomed it,” OBS President Tom Ventura said when asked about testing the horses in the consignment. “We did hair samples and additional blood samples. We don't have the results to share back at this point, but whatever he had here, he welcomed any additional scrutiny that might show that they had nothing in their systems.”

Of the additional testing, Centeno said, “All of my horses were tested, I don't know the results because they have them. But I have nothing to hide. I have always been honest and I have a good record. My tests have always been clean. And anybody who has questions or wants to test the horses, they are available to be tested or inspected. Not a problem.”

He continued, “I was happy to be tested. I have nothing to hide. I treat my horses with the highest standards. I am very dedicated to my horses. I am attached to my horses. And I am very proud of what we do together.”

Trainer Jeffrey Englehart was facing a two-year suspension after the Classic Empire colt he purchased from the All Dreams consignment last summer tested positive for Clenbuterol after breaking down in November. The case against him was dropped when segmented test of the colt's hair sample revealed that the drug had been administered before Englehart had become the horse's trainer.

“I was surprised when I was accused about that,” Centeno said of speculation that he had given the colt the drug. “I never gave anything to my horses. I wanted to prove that. And for that reason, the horses are available to be tested, to show the buyers I am honest and I play by the rules.”

Of the filly that collapsed after breezing during last week's under-tack show, “The horse was fine and we asked him to keep it here so that everybody, including us, could go and inspect the horse,” Ventura said. “And we talked to the vet and we aren't sure exactly what caused it, but she came out of it fine.”

The horse that got loose on the track was also uninjured in the mishap.

“If he had gotten loose on Wednesday, he would have had the opportunity to come back and breeze on Saturday, but given that he got loose on the last day at the under-tack show, there was no opportunity for him to come back,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. @JessMartiniTDN

The post $1.2-Million Tapit Colt Paces OBS March Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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In this month's installment of TDN's series, 'The Road Back,' we introduce you to graduate Joshua Franks, now program coordinator for the School of Horsemanship.

When Joshua Franks speaks about horses and the impact they've had on his life, the passion reverberates through every spoken word.

But it was only a year and a half ago that Franks first laid a hand on a horse, a moment he remembers vividly.

“It was at Keeneland, in Barn 10, and the horse was Big Lake [American Pharoah]. It was like I touched a ghost. Walking up to that horse, it was just magical.”

It marked a turning point in Franks's life. A page was opening to the start of a new chapter, one driven by faith, purpose and passion, that would pave over a past marred by drug addiction and incarceration.

Taylor Made Stallion Complex sign | Sarah Andrew

“I was born in California, but my mom and dad separated at a young age and then my mom moved back to Kentucky, so I grew up in Boone County. I lived with a single mom and two younger brothers. We lived in poverty,” said Franks. “In my household, I didn't grow up with goals. My mom didn't know how to love, there wasn't a lot of love in the home, so growing up, I felt lost and alone. I got addicted to drugs at a young age and from there it spiraled out of control.”

His issues with drug use eventually led him to prison, where he served a 10-year sentence. After he was released in 2020, he entered Recovery Works, a comprehensive inpatient addiction treatment center in Georgetown, Ky. It was there that he heard about Stable Recovery and its partner, the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship.

At this point, according to Franks, God stepped in. Because though he'd fallen down a path that many don't come back from, the light that kept him going was a hope that one day he would end up working within the Thoroughbred industry in some capacity. And the inspiration behind that? It was none other than the queen herself, Zenyatta (Street Cry).

“I believe she kind of changed the whole direction of my life. I used to watch Zenyatta race and she was electric. She touched me in a way that I can't even describe. She would bring tears to my eyes. Every hair on my arm would stand up when I watched her, and when she lost her last race, it just captured my heart,” said Franks. “I always wondered how to get here, how to get to Lexington to work with horses, but I never had that outlet. I think God knew in the depths of my heart what I truly loved. He met me where I was.”

Franks came to Taylor Made to enter Stable Recovery and partake in the School of Horsemanship program in July of 2022, soaking up everything he could in the barn and on the farm, before graduating and heading out to join fellow School of Horsemanship graduate Will Walden at the track. He worked as the foreman of the young trainer's stable, a time highlighted by a first stakes victory for the Walden team when Kate's Kingdom (Animal Kingdom) took the 2022 My Charmer Stakes at Turfway Park.

Joshua Franks | Kelcey Loges/Taylor Made Farm

Though Franks did struggle with a two-day relapse while on the road, he returned to Taylor Made last December to continue to work on himself, his sobriety and his career as a horseman.

“I think God took my pain, with addiction and all of that, and gave me something that would really touch my heart. It's really special,” said Franks.

Things have come full circle for the 37-year-old, who now works full-time as the program coordinator for the School of Horsemanship.

“The biggest thing about this program is that we're trying to help people stay sober. It isn't necessarily about trying to change the horse industry, you know that comes with it along the way, but first and foremost we want to save lives,” said Franks. “The best advice I'd give people is to seek God and trust God. That's something I've done every day. I hit my knees, day and night, and throughout the day. He's developed something that's astronomical for a guy like me.”

Franks spends day in and day out with the men in the program that spans 90 days, teaching recovering individuals' life skills and employable skills through working with the horses on the farm, participating in support groups and attending 12-step meetings.

“When they come in, I try to lead them in recovery first and then into horses. I tell them all the time, 'This job will always be here.' When it comes down to it, I want them to stay sober and develop a good foundation,” said Franks.

One of the most crucial aspects of the program is instituting structure, something that a lot of the participants have never had in their lives. During the program they go to work daily, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., while also keeping up with a schedule throughout the week that includes Monday Motivation classes, School of Horsemanship meetings on Wednesdays, Community meetings on Thursdays and in-house meetings, called 'Off to the Races,' on Saturdays.

“A lot of us didn't grow up with that stuff, we didn't grow up with structure, so it's a really intense 90 days. This program is like no other. [CEO] Christian [Countzler] is very stern, he expects things to go a certain way, which I appreciate. I've been other places where as bad as it is, there's drugs filling these places, there's no accountability, while here, Christian demands that. All the outside issues, we don't have to deal with those. We're here to recover and to help each other recover,” said Franks. “It goes hand-in-hand with how detailed the horse industry is. From the way the blankets are folded, to bandages, to medical charts, to bringing your horses in in the morning and checking to make sure they're well, with no cuts or swelling. It all comes down to structure and accountability.”

As much as the program places an emphasis on the individual's well-being and progress in their journey to sobriety, it also helps them build comradery and a recovery network amongst their peers and the staff.

Joshua Franks | Kelcey Loges/Taylor Made Farm

“What I try to do in my barn is to gain momentum behind guys, find out what they're good at and team build around them, getting them pointed in the right direction. Getting them to work together, lean on each other, that's important. Sometimes throughout the day I might stop the barn, get them all together and rally them. I think momentum is key with recovery,” said Franks. “When they get out of treatment, most of them haven't seen the doctor, or maybe they have court stuff going on, so we try to get all of that taken care of in those 90 days. That way, when they gain full-time employment, they already have that foundation set.

“They come in here broken, they need to feel good about themselves, so I try to place them in good positions to help build themselves up.”

Franks, who is just days away from celebrating his one-year anniversary of sobriety on Dec. 24, admits that if he'd told his younger self that this is where he'd be at this point in his life, he would have never believed it. But when he looks back on the places he's been, a valley of lows and lower, Franks knows he has found renewed purpose and a true home in the presence of horses.

“I heard Will Walden say this and it's so true: the horse doesn't ask where I'm from or what I've done, they accept me as who I am. They are the heroes. They are the therapeutic value in this thing for guys like me,” he said. “What I've noticed is that most of your broken souls don't have any family support, just like myself when I came into this. My mother is deceased, my father is deceased, I never really had family growing up, that was nonexistent, so the horses became my friends. It was tough for me sitting here when they would have family days and I would have no one show or call, but the horses, they're the ones that were there for me.”

If you come out to Taylor Made and look around, you'll likely see someone working on the farm that is in recovery. But it's not until you've seen a man working with a horse, standing there with a glimmer of hope in his eye, that you understand the true impact of the program developed by Frank Taylor and Countzler.

A shining testament to that, Franks gives the utmost credit to the program, Taylor Made and the Thoroughbred industry as a whole for where he is today.

“Nobody could put this together but God. He takes our pain and he develops it into something magnificent,” he said. “I will say this. Though I loved her dearly, my mom and I weren't close and she didn't know how to express her love. But the only thing I knew about my mom was that her favorite animal was a horse. I'm not sure if that was passed on to me, but I do believe she looks over me every day on this farm.

“Everyone has been so supportive of Stable Recovery. This is a non-profit organization and to know that there are people around the world that care about us enough to help get us back on our feet and heading in the right direction, it's special. I'm very grateful.”

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Raise Cain had his first work since the Gotham when going four furlongs in :49.00 (1/3) at Keeneland Mar. 22.

“He's been training great and put on weight,” said Colebrook. “He'll breeze again [Thursday] at Keeneland. I think he really gets it now and now he's confident and feeling good. I think he's sitting on a big race wherever we go. It's exciting.”

Colebrook continued, “I don't think the Blue Grass will be a full field and it's one of those things where if we can run in our own backyard, it will take a strong reason for us to go to the Wood. But, it could still happen if something changes with defections and it's still on our radar. We're taking it day by day.”

Two horses who finished behind Raise Cain with troubled trips in the Gotham are expected to line up fo rthe Apr. 8 GII Wood Memorial.

Victoria's Ranch's Mr. Swagger (Maclean's Music), sixth over a muddy and sealed main track in the Gotham, is expected to return to Aqueduct for the Wood.

A maiden winner in his 6 1/2-furlong debut at Aqueduct Jan. 28, the Juan Avila trainee was making just his second career start in the one-mile Gotham. He worked six furlongs in 1:19.47 (1/2) over a muddy Parx surface Saturday.

“He's perfect,” Avila said. “He went easy and strong and finished up very nice. We are ready for the Wood Memorial and I think he's ready for a nice race.”

Mr. Swagger, who added blinkers when exiting post three in the Gotham, was bumped at the break and prompted the pace from fourth position at the half-mile call, but failed to fire after saving ground through the turn.

“In the Gotham, I said to Carlos [Olivero] that I want to see Mr. Swagger be in last place, but he was much closer,” Avila said. “Hopefully, this time he can stay back.”

Avila said Mr. Swagger will keep the blinkers on for the Wood Memorial.

Also expected in the Wood Memorial line-up is Cypress Creek Equine's Clear the Air (Ransom the Moon), who maintained rail-skimming position from seventh in the Gotham before going four wide in upper stretch and checking around the three-sixteenths pole. He continued to find more down the lane and finished 10 3/4 lengths in arrears of the victorious Raise Cain.

“It wasn't really what we drew up on paper going into it,” trainer Will Walden admitted. “I know when you get a bunch of horses running around in the slop, it almost never goes according to plan. Raise Cain got some momentum. He went inside and we went outside. The hole we were going for closed at the three sixteenths. When you get fully stopped on a big horse, it can be hard to re-rally. But he started picking off horses and started to get going. But by that time, it was too late in the game. If he doesn't get stopped, I think he ends up second or third.”

A maiden winner going six furlongs at Turfway in January, Clear the Air was a troubled fourth in a one-mile optional claimer at Turfway Feb. 11 before his Gotham effort. He worked four furlongs in :48.00 (3/77) at Turfway Saturday.

“He's a big, long stretchy horse and he's very efficient,” Walden said. “The way he breezes and gallops out, he looks like a two-turn horse. He also did run two turns at Turfway going a mile. That was again a horrible trip. He never got out of cover until well inside the sixteenth pole. But the two turns that day never seemed to be an issue. He looked loaded the whole time.”

Walden said he expects to see continued improvement in his charge.

“He won't officially be a 3-year-old until May 5,” Walden said. “I've felt all along that this horse has all the talent in the world. I believe he has graded-stakes type of potential. I don't know exactly when the lightbulb will fully go off. He's still big and green, but if things go right for him, he can put it together. It wouldn't shock me if he went up there and ran really big.”

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After an inspirational video on Walden's story produced by the TDN's Katie Petrunyak ran, the team from the TDN Writer's Room podcast presented by Keeneland wanted to hear more. Walden was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“I was miserable and wanted to get clean and sober,” Walden said of some of his worst days. “And I didn't. I'd gotten kicked out of a house a few weeks prior, and I had basically resigned to the fact that I was going to die a heroin junkie one day. It's a pretty sad state to be in.”

But something finally clicked, and after working at Wendy's, where he proved to himself and others he could show up for work and be responsible, Walden, the son of WinStar President and CEO Elliott Walden, decided to fulfill his long-time dream of being a trainer.  He soon found out that being around horses on a daily basis was a powerful tool that helped both he and his employees stay on course.

“It's kind of difficult to put into words what these horses do for the inside,” Walden said. “I'll put it to you this way. When these guys started working with the horses, I told them, you're not going to be able to know the day or the time. It may happen in two weeks. It may happen in a day, it may happen in four months. But that horse is going to look you in the eye and you're going to get this feeling inside that animal accepts you for exactly who you are and exactly where you're at and doesn't care about your past, doesn't care about your future, but accepts you just for who you are. And that's something that in addiction and alcoholism is a feeling that is long lost.”

Walden's interviews with the TDN were not his first. From the time he opened up his stable he's been open about his past, never shying away from the ugliest details. Why?

“I don't really like drudging up the past all the time and talking about it, but if there's a chance that there's somebody out there listening that's going through it and doesn't think that anybody can relate, doesn't think there's anybody else who's been there, doesn't think that anybody else is eating out of dumpsters or went to prison too they can hear it from me or they can hear it from one of my guys,” he said. “We were in the same spot. You wouldn't think it because of how our life looks like now and what we get to do on a daily basis. But I can promise you, we were there and there were a million hands that reached out and grabbed me when I was in the depths of it. I want to give back and help as many people as I can, because there were so many people that took time out of their day, time away from their family, away from their kids, away from their jobs, lifestyles, what have you to help rescue me. And if I can do that for just one person, it's worth it.”

On the track, Walden's stable seems headed toward bigger and better things. He started his first horses on Sept. 5, 2022 and finished the year with nine wins from 41 starters. In December, he won his first stakes race when Kate's Kingdom won the My Charmer S. at Turfway Park.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Lane's End, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds,  Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley discussed the remarkable safety record Santa Anita achieved in 2022 and what could soon be the return of trainer Rick Dutrow. The team also took a look at the 3-year-old colt picture and the depth of the Brad Cox stable.

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“We've got to be very happy with the way the sale turned out,” said Keeneland's Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “It's been very busy in the barns.  A lot of sellers have been very pleased with how the hores have been received. I think everyone is coming out of this week feeling very positive. We feel like it's giving everyone a lot of confidence as we are heading into the breeding season. The demand for quality young mares and proven mares is as strong as ever.”

At the close of business Thursday, 962 horses had sold for $45,408,300. The average was $47,202–up 3.18% from a year ago, while the median was $19,000, down 5% from the record-equaling 2022 figure of $20,000.

“Last year was a record sale,” said Lacy. “So when you are on par with a record sale, it's incredibly healthy. I think that plateauing of certain parts of the market is absolutely very encouraging.”

Lacy continued, “Obviously, I think there is a little bit of an adjustment in the market, there is a little bit of a weaker spot in the middle to lower end, but I think that's not a bad thing. I think it shows a little bit of a stabilization. It's a mild correction or a little softening in spots. And I think that's very normal–that's to say, we're not seeing massive changes. With all of the economic headwinds globally, to see minor corrections, I think is actually in some ways a little comforting. When you look at the global markets, there is every reason why we should have a more challenging environment and we don't. I think there is a lot of positivity that we have to feed off and be encouraged by.”

Ancient Peace (War Front), a newly turned 3-year-old filly who broke her maiden in her second start in the final days of 2022, brought the auction's top price when selling Tuesday for $650,000 to Travis Boersma's Boardshorts Stables from the Indian Creek consignment. Boersma, the co-founder of the Oregon-based coffee chain Dutch Bros., made headlines at Keeneland in November when he purchased a share in Flightline for $4.6 million.

In addition to the sale topper, Boersma also purchased Empire Hope (Empire Maker) for $450,000, as well as a Mary of Bethany (Medaglia d'Oro) for $80,000 and Candy Jar (Candy Ride {Arg}) for $47,000.

“You see a lot of farms like Determined Stud and Boardshorts, Travis Boersma, these are all younger enterprises that are really starting to get established and firmed up,” Lacy said. “It's really good to see those newer operations load up.”

Matt Dorman's Determined Stud purchased a pair of mares at the January sale, going to $425,000 to acquire Dream Passage (Stormy Atlantic) and $290,000 to acquire Saucy Lady T (Tonalist).

Ancient Peace was supplemented to the January sale just days before the start of the auction. Also supplemented to the sale was Ack Naughty (Afleet Alex), whose son Practical Move (Practical Joke) won the GII Los Alamitos Futurity in December. That mare sold for $500,000 to Chester and Mary Broman, good for fifth highest price at the sale.

A colt by Vekoma, another supplement to the auction, was the top-priced short yearling of Wednesday's session when selling for $180,000 from the St George Sales consignment and Wentru (Tourist), at $200,000, was the top seller during Thursday's final session of the auction after being supplemented following a graded score at Woodbine in December.

“We try to be more flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, I think that's paramount to our future vision of where we need to be,” Lacy said. “The supplementary aspect is really helpful to our clients, both buyers and sellers. So I think the more we can lean into that and find ways of working and making this more of a user-friendly environment, I think that's only going to help everybody.”

A filly by Quality Road was the January sale's top-priced short yearling, selling for $450,000 to bloodstock agent Jacob West, bidding on behalf of Robert and Lawana Low. The filly sold directly after her dam, Evocative (Pioneerof the Nile), who brought a final bid of $550,000–third-highest price at the sale–from bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe.

Through the four-day sale, 417 weanlings sold for $18,361,300 and an average of $44,032.

In 2022, 493 short yearlings sold at the January sale for a total of $18,140,800 and an average of $36,797. The top-priced yearling was a colt by Gun Runner who sold for $375,000.

“I think the quality short yearlings sold extremely well,” Lacy said. “The buyers were finding it difficult to buy. And I think when you hear that, it just means the quality is what they are looking for. You've only got to be pleased with that.”

Wentru Tops at Keeneland Finale

Wentru (Tourist) (hip 1571), a 5-year-old gelding coming off a win in the GIII Valedictory S. at Woodbine in December, will be joining the barn of trainer Will Walden after selling for a session-topping $200,000. Frank Taylor made the winning bid on the dark bay, who was supplemented to the auction as part of the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment, and signed the ticket as Will Walden Racing Stable.

“It's for a bunch of guys I talked into buying him,” said Taylor. “I was trying to get another good horse in Will's barn. So we put together a group and bought him. There is a $125,000 stakes up there [at Turfway] Feb. 18 and hopefully he will be ready for it. And then there is another one in March for $300,000.”

Wentru won his fourth straight race in the Valedictory, all at Woodbine, in the colors of Elliott Logan's TEC Racing and trainer Martin Drexler.

“He's a cool horse and he's on a roll. Hopefully we can keep him on a roll,” Taylor said.

Walden also trains Kate's Kingdom (Animal Kingdom), who Taylor and partners purchased for $400,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Digital Flash sale. The 5-year-old mare won the Dec. 11 My Charmer S.

“We bought her for $400,000 and we've had luck with her so far,” Taylor said of the mare. “She won that $125,000 stakes a month ago and she's favored in another $125,000 stakes on Saturday.”

Repole, Taylor Made Team Up to Support Idol

When Mike Repole and Taylor Made Farm teamed up to acquire Grade I winner Idol (Curlin–Marion Ravenwood, by A.P. Indy) for stallion duties, the plan was always to support the 6-year-old with mares purchased in partnership. That plan was put into practice this week at the Keeneland January sale, with Repole/Taylor Made Idol Mare Partners signing for 10 mares for a total of $925,000.

“When we bought the horse with Mike Repole, one of the things that we talked about was, as a group, to get the best possible support to get Idol going early on with the right kind of mares,” said Taylor Made's stallion nomination manager Travis White. “We did a similar thing with the Albaugh family for Not This Time and some of those mares that we bought ended up being his best horses. We just thought we would use a similar play book.”

Leading the partnership's purchases was Lagoon Falls (Uncle Mo) (hip 66), who was acquired for $170,000. Showtime Sis (Euroears) (hip 637) was a $160,000 purchase and Euphoric (Frosted) (hip 417) cost the group $140,000.

“We were trying to buy the right kind of physicals that we thought would fit Idol,” White said. “Mares that looked early, fast and precocious, whether it was the mare herself or if she had produced something early. That was the game plan; to buy quality mares that we thought would fit and help him get off to a good start. So we could get some good foals on the grounds that we could place accordingly, next November, or to sell as yearlings, that would catalogue well enough to be in good books and get him off to a good start.”

Idol won the 2021 GI Santa Anita H. and was second in the 2020 GII San Antonio S. and third in the 2021 GII San Pasqual S., but perhaps more important to Repole, the stallion is a full-brother to Nest, the likely champion 3-year-old filly of 2022 who he co-owns with Michael House and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.

“We all heard that Idol was available to be purchased to be a stallion,” Repole advisor Eddie Rosen said. “And obviously that appealed to Mike because of his success with Nest.”

Rosen continued, “We wanted to do our best to continue to support the stallion. So we agreed to partner on these 10 mares. With the Taylor Made team and, from our side, Jacob West and Alex Solis doing the physicals, we swapped notes with their team and these were the ones that we agreed upon. We bid on others, but these were the ones that we were able to acquire given the strategy that we were trying to implement.”

Partnering with major owners is a strategy that has worked for Taylor Made with the successful young stallion Not This Time. According to White, the partnerships just make sense.

“The way the stallion business is today, I think it's very important to have partners that will support the horses,” White said. “They will breed the right kind of mares to the stallion and they have advisors that give them good advice. Mike has Jacob West, Eddie Rosen and Alex Solis. Those guys can steer him towards the right kind of mares, physically and pedigree-wise, as well. We've had horses in the past that didn't have the ownership groups that might help support them. I think it's vital in this day and age.”

Idol will stand his first season at stud at Taylor Made this year at a fee of $10,000 fee. White has been happy with the response the stallion has already gotten from the market.

“He will breed a good-sized book,” he said. “And we did some breeding rights in the horse and we have people who will be on board to support the horse for the first three years. Mike is going to breed a lot of other mares on his own, as well.  And Calvin Nguyen, who owned Idol as a racehorse, stayed in for part as a stallion and he is breeding five or six mares to him himself that he bought back in November. Overall, it's been very good and we are very pleased with the way things are going.”

In addition to the 10 mares purchased at Keeneland January, the Taylor Made/Repole partnership could add a few more mares before the breeding season start.

“We might continue to look if there are any private acquisitions we could make or at the Fasig-Tipton February sale,” Rosen said.

White added, “It was a very good experience. All of the mares will come back here to Taylor Made. We might send one or two to New York to foal out possibly.”

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“It's just a title, but it's pretty cool,” Berryman said after wrapping up a busy morning at Turfway Park. “I only have maybe five months of experience working with horses right now, so I'm still brand new and still learning a lot.”

He may shrug off those recent achievements, but Berryman's long days at Turfway this winter are worlds away from the life he was living when the calendar turned over last year.

Berryman is a member of the improbable team that makes up Will Walden Racing. The group consists of six men recovering from substance addiction. They all have their eyes on the winner's circle, but the overarching goal of the team is to encourage each other in remaining sober.

“There is no shedrow if this group of guys makes a decision to go do what they used to do,” Berryman explained. “There would be no Will Walden Racing. Sobriety is our number one thing and the care of these horses is number two. They wouldn't get the care they needed if we weren't sober.”

Will Walden, the 32-year-old son of former Grade I-winning trainer and WinStar's President and CEO Elliott Walden, went through his own painful battle with drug addiction and alcohol abuse. After spending nearly a year at the Shepherd's House, a drug treatment facility in Lexington, Walden began laying out the plans for a substance recovery-based racing barn.

The stable launched in April last year and has steadily added new members–both human and equine–since. Taylor Made's School of Horsemanship, a program designed to work with people recovering from substance abuse and teach them a new vocation in the Thoroughbred business, has sent several graduates interested in furthering their career in racing on to Walden.

“It's about giving guys a second chance,” said Walden. “It's for guys who were in the system, who served prison time, who came from sordid backgrounds and have had their tails kicked in by life. When I got sober, [racing] was all I knew and is what I've always loved. I couldn't think of anything better than to be able to give this to guys I met through something so ugly and so heinous.

“Most of these guys have never touched a horse before, but because of where they came from, they have a hunger for a purpose and a drive for life, and these horses give that to them.”

Eight months after saddling his first starter, Walden closed out the year with promising statistics for 2022. From 41 starts, the stable maintained a 21% winning percentage and ran in the money in nearly half its starts. In December, they brought home a major victory when Kate's Kingdom (Animal Kingdom) gave them their first stakes win in the My Charmer S. at Turfway Park.

While the win was a significant personal achievement for Walden, it meant even more to be able to watch the celebration unfold amongst his team.

“These guys were homeless, they were in jails–myself included,” Walden said. “We've been in some really hopeless places, some really tough spots. But the day that Kate's Kingdom won, they were on top. That day they had the victory. That day they were the champions.”

Walden said that Kate's Kingdom, who was purchased for $400,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Digital Flash Sale in November by Stephen Screnci, remains in training and is pointing for an upcoming stakes at Turfway on January 14.

Kate's Kingdom's success is doubly special because the 5-year-old is owned by a partnership that includes Frank Taylor. To help Walden get his stable off its feet last year, Taylor formed Ready Made Racing–a pinhook-to-race venture that provided Walden with his 10 original trainees.

Walden's stable has grown so rapidly since it first launched that they are now transitioning away from relying on Ready Made Racing as its sole client and officially transferring into Will Walden Racing. With 15 horses currently stabled at Turfway, they're steadily adding in new owners like Cypress Creek Equine, Elliott Logan's TEC Racing and Three Diamonds Farm.

“These [owners] are willing to put in their time and money to back us when not a lot of people would,” Walden explained. “But our goals are big in this game. We're not out here for any participation trophies. We want to be the best. We hope to accrue more horses, but we're not really worried about that now. We're grateful for the 15 we have.”

Tyler Maxwell is an integral member of Walden's team. Maxwell grew up out West riding cutting and sorting horses and now serves as Walden's assistant and exercise rider. The pair met at the Shepherd's House and after they both completed the program, Walden invited his friend to join him in starting up a stable.

“Never in a million years did I think that I'd be riding for living,” said Maxwell, who has been sober for two years. “I had never ridden Thoroughbreds before and I really didn't know anything, but I have come a long way and it's because of Will. I never would have done this if I didn't trust him.”

Maxwell added that he considers Walden to be a brother first and an employer second.

“Some days that gets a little quirky,” he said with a wry grin. “But God has put me in his life and him in mine for a reason.”

Walden's team is more than just a collection of co-workers. The group is working and living together during the Turfway meet, but the bond they share runs much deeper than their admiration for the horses they care for. Along with Will, Tyler and Kyle, the team includes Scott, who has been with them for almost two months, as well as Mike and Nate, who both joined the group two weeks ago.

“These guys are coming to us from addiction or alcoholism and they see all these different walks of life and all these different lengths of sobriety that come together to form our team,” Walden explained. “We enjoy each other's company. We enjoy each other's mentorship. We enjoy this journey that life is. Where I used to be addicted to how I felt every single minute of the day, now I can walk into the barn and take a deep breath, let the slack out of my shoulders and just enjoy what is in front of us today.”

There's an unmistakably light atmosphere in Walden's barn at Turfway and the conditioner said that the horses have responded to it.

“What you think, they feel,” he explained. “So if you're walking around with a low head worried about yourself and how miserable your life is, you're going to pass that on to these horses. If you keep things light and positive and jubilant, that energy passes on to them. If you walk down our shedrow at any given time, these horses aren't sitting in the back of their stalls with their ears pinned back. They're out there bobbing their heads and looking for attention.”

“The energy and love that we have for these horses is contagious,” added Maxwell. “And they carry it out there on the track.”

Last week, the Will Walden Racing team got its first win of the year with Clear the Air (Ransom the Moon), who broke his maiden at second asking on Friday while carrying the Cypress Creek Equine silks.

When they're not busy at the barn, Walden places an emphasis on furthering the education of each member of his team. Recently, the group began taking off-track field trips to learn about various aspects of the industry. Their first outing was to Jonabell Farm, where they visited the Darley stallions.

“We don't want to bring them onto the racetrack and say, 'This is it for you,'” Walden explained. “We want to encourage these guys to pursue their dreams in whatever facet of the industry, if it even is this industry, that they want to be involved in.”

While Walden aims to maintain a recovery-based stable even as his list of employees grows, his goals for the operation go beyond just the members of his team. He hopes that their barn can be a safe haven for people on the backside who carry struggles similar to the ones he and his team have gone through.

“Nobody wants to go around and talk about their alcoholism and addiction,” he said. “But if people know we're here and they know we're open and willing to talk about it, maybe they come in and voice what they're going through.”

During his first year in the industry, Maxwell has found a lifelong passion for the sport and for sitting on the back of a Thoroughbred.

“Horses have definitely played a big part in my recovery,” he said. “On the days that it was hard for me to find God, horses were there to talk to. Some people probably think I'm crazy because I'm sitting there talking to a horse, but these horses are intuitional.”

While he could easily further his career by finding another job, Maxwell said that Walden's barn is where he belongs.

“It's not about me anymore,” he said. “It's about these guys coming in and watching that spark come inside.”

Maxwell stays with Walden's team for people like Kyle Berryman, who made a commitment to living and working alongside people who are also recovering from substance addiction during the first year of his sobriety.

“Experience is the greatest teacher,” Berryman explained. “Chances are that Will and Tyler have been through what I'm going through. We all share this common bond.”

While the encouragement of his teammates has been key to Berryman's sobriety over the past six months, so too has been the connection he has formed with the horses.

“The bond I share with them is like no other,” he said. “If you really don't feel like dealing with humans that day, you go in and start grooming a horse and I know they're listening. I can feel it. I can see it in their eyes. These horses, they rely on us. I take pride in that. When you take one up to the paddock, there's that minute where I'm thinking of nothing but what is going on right in that moment. That's not how my past has been. It's been ten miles in the future or ten miles in the past. But I feel like with this, I can finally feel like I can be in the moment, and that's precious to me.”

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Instead, she will be sold Thursday by Fasig-Tipton in a one-horse digital, “flash sale,” a new means of selling horses that promises to make it easier for those looking to move horses fast.

“This seems like a good way to do it,” said Taylor Made's Frank Taylor, who heads the Ready Made Racing LLC ownership group. “It's a good way to get people focused on a horse and sell them when they're marketable and hot. Everyone wants to buy something that just won and everybody wants to buy a Kentucky bred. Hopefully, we can get people focused on this.”

Dazzlingdominika is trained by Will Walden, the son of WinStar CEO and President Elliott Walden. Will Walden got off to a late start to his training career because he had been dealing with substance abuse issues. When his life started to turn a corner last summer and he felt it was time for him to begin training, he felt like he needed something to distinguish himself at the start.

He came up with the idea of buying relatively inexpensive yearlings and running them in maiden races restricted to horses that sold for less than a certain amount at the sales. Dazzlingdominika was bought at Keeneland September for $30,000. The race she won at Churchill, which was her second career start, was restricted to horses that sold or RNA'd for $45,000 or less in the their most recent auction. Should they win one of those maiden races or show signs of promise they would be sold. It was a new take on pinhooking, selling yearling buys not at the 2-year-old sales but after they had distinguished themselves in races for 2-year-olds. Taylor came on board as his principal owner and formed Ready Made Racing.

“We came up with a game plan six, seven months ago,” Walden said. “In order for Ready Made to do this again next year we have to sell these horses in order to raise money to go the sales again. This has been the plan all along. We aren't selling the ones we don't like and keeping the ones we like. Everything in my stable is for sale. That was target goal when I came up with this idea back in August and we mean to see it through.

“Hopefully, I'd like to get to a place some day where the stable gets to recruit 2-year-olds we can race through their careers. Starting out training, we have to take an edge where we can get one. And this was an idea that sounded appetizing to the guys. We wanted to try something new, a different way of pinhooking horses.”

Before pop-up or flash sales came to be, selling Dazzlingdominika would have been a lot harder to pull off. The best way to do so may have been a private sale. That would have required Walden and Taylor to get the word out that the filly was for sale and then field phone calls from prospective buyers.

“Why just take individual phone calls and bat a number back and forth when you can let all the potential buyers bat it out in the ring?” Walden said.

It is not Taylor's first experience with a flash sale. In Fasig-Tipton's first ever flash sale, Taylor sold Sweet Tea (Into Mischief) for $320,000. The broodmare prospect had been owned by late Rick Porter.

“When we sold Sweet Tea it was a big success,” Taylor said. “We're trying it again with this filly. She won impressively and came back well. She's ready to move forward.”

In the case of  Dazzlingdominika, prospective buyers will not only have to look at her race record, but project what she might do going forward. Walden believes that her future is bright.

“Personally, I don't train super aggressively,” he said. “I want to sell these horses with their best days in front of them and not behind them. Just like any seller would want, I want these horses to go on and have careers outside of this barn and go on win more races. We've done the bare minimum with her, without running them too unfit or running them unprepared or run in place where they could get injured. We had her ready but haven't tapped into the real meat of the horse.”

The bidding on Dazzlingdominika began Monday. At deadline for this story, the bidding was up to $70,000. The sale closes 2 p.m. (EDT) Thursday.

Taylor said that his team has been working behind the scenes to let as many people as possible know that a nice prospect is about to be sold through the digital sales ring.

“Some people think in a sale like this you don't need an agent,” he said. “Actually, you need an agent more than you would in a normal sale. You can't just throw it out there and say here it is. We have a team calling trainers and buyers, calling people who like to buy these kinds of horses. We've been dialing for dollars all day. We're getting a lot of responses and there's already been a lot of active bidding.”

It's anyone's guess so far as what she will sell for, but whatever it is, it will no doubt represent a healthy profit for her original investors. She cost just $30,000 at the sales, has earned $53,720 on the racetrack and will no doubt sell for six figures.

“This gives you a chance to market a horse when the timing is at the very best,” Taylor said.

With this filly, Walden's plan has worked perfectly, thanks, in large part, to a new way of selling horses.

The post ‘Flash Sale’ a Perfect Opportunity for Ready Made Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Young Will Walden, son of Elliott, saddled his first career win in his 4th start as a trainer in Friday's second race with 2yo filly Dazzlingdominika ($17.60). Now 287 wins back of his father, who ranks 23rd all-time at CD.

— Churchill Downs PR (@DerbyMedia) May 13, 2022

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“I got to a place that I'm not proud of. I was at the end of my rope. I was broken,” Walden said.

But his time at Wendy's, as humbling as it may have been, was an important step. He needed a job because a job was part of the process, one that he hoped would lead him away from years of substance abuse to a career as a Thoroughbred trainer.

Now sober, that goal is about to become a reality. Walden has 10 horses and is ready to begin his training career at the upcoming Keeneland spring meet.

He is the 31-year-old son of Elliott Walden, the former trainer who is the President and CEO of WinStar Farm. The younger Walden grew up around the barn, was always interested in horses and his father is a leading figure in the industry. He grew up watching his father win races like the GI Haskell with Menifee (Harlan), the GI Belmont S. with Victory Gallop (Cryptoclearance) and the GI Super Derby with Ecton Park (Forty Niner). He said if he wasn't in school he was around the barn. When his father left training in 2005 to go to work at WinStar, he put his equipment in storage, believing that some day his then teenage son would put them to good use.

“I remember when my dad first handed me shank. It was when I was 8 or 9-years-old,” Walden said. “I wanted a pair of Jordans. I couldn't afford them and he wasn't going to pay for them. So, he handed me a shank and had me hot walk to earn the money to buy them. I always had a connection with the horse. When I wasn't in school, every Saturday and Sunday, I was at the barn.”

Considering his upbringing and his family connection, Walden's path into the training profession should have been a smooth one. But nothing is smooth when you are an addict. Around the time he turned 18, the drugs took control of Walden's life. It was no longer a matter of becoming a trainer but figuring out a way to stay alive.

“It's pretty much been a 12-year run,” Walden said. “Started going to treatment centers and jail. I was pretty much an equal opportunity drug user. It wasn't anything specific. It was mainly heroin and crack cocaine and alcohol. Those were my things. It took me to a place where I about lost my life several times. I kept waking up in hospitals or jail cells or with a defibrillators on my chest or Narcan in my nose.”

It's not that he didn't try to get better. It's just that nothing worked. That was until he met Christian Countzler, who worked at Shepherds House, a drug treatment program in Lexington. He convinced Walden to give the facility a try.

“He kind of saved my life,” Walden said. “He was running a treatment facility in Lexington and was a sergeant in the military. He did two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I knew his passion and his heart was in it. There was no agenda with him. He just wanted to help people.”

Walden entered Shepherds House in November, 2020. It was at a time that he had hit bottom and was, he said, finally ready to make some changes in his life.

“When I got there, it was at a point where I was going to wake up or I wasn't,” he said. “I called Christian and asked him to take me to detox. I was in such a bad place that a willingness to change had been produced. I have been clean ever since I went into Shepherds House.”

Those going in for treatment at Shepherds House usually stay from 12 to 18 months, but Walden did so well that he was let out early. His 10-month stay ended in September. Next up was the job at Wendy's.

Showing that he was sober and could hold down a job, Walden was ready to start training and his father was there to lend his support.

“He's always been supportive,” Walden said. “He just wanted the personal issues that I had to be in the rear view before this jump was made. Something that he's always told me was 'it's never been your professional life that's been in question. It's been your personal life.' Once those two got on the same page, he didn't see why I couldn't have a successful career doing this.”

In rehab, he made two close friends, Tyler Maxwell and Michael Lowrey. Walden said their support was an important factor in his recovery and he wanted to stay close to them. So, he convinced them, upon their release, to sign up for the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship. The school, created by Taylor Made's Frank Taylor, was created to teach horsemanship skills to people recovering from substance issues and provide them with the skills needed to get a job on the racetrack.

“I'm off at Wendy's or wherever I am at and I get texts during the day from Tyler and Michael,” Walden said. “There were all these questions, like how do I get this foal to walk into the paddock? It had been two years since I had been on the track but I recognized that spark. They had the passion.”

So Walden hired the two as part of his training team.

He expects his first starter will be the 2-year-old Sergeant Countzler (Bolt d'Oro), who was named for Christian Countzler. The colt was bought at Keeneland September for $45,000. It's a modest price, but was part of an overall strategy. Walden wants to focus on young horses who are eligible for maiden races that are restricted to horses that sold for less than a certain price.

“These horses run for $90,000 in Kentucky and for $85,000 in New York,” he said. “If you win or run second in one of those races the odds are you've covered the purchase price or gotten pretty close. Everything after that is profit.”

He will not have any horses for WinStar.

“I haven't earned something like that,” Walden said.

Ten horses isn't going to guarantee success, especially when many of them were inexpensive yearling buys. For Walden, it could be tough at first, but he's not complaining. It beats the life he had been living.

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