Posts Tagged ‘mike pegram’

By Ray Paulick
Gulf Coast Farms, the Florida-based operation of veterinarian Jerry Bailey and Utah horseman Lance Robinson, is known more for its pinhooking of yearlings to 2-year-old sales than for breeding. However, 10 weeks into the 2010 racing season, Gulf Coast is one of two breeders in North America to be represented by a pair of American Graded Stakes winners (the other being the Overbrook Farm owned by the family of the late W.T. Young).

Both of Gulf Coast’s AGS winners are on the road to the Triple Crown. The first is Conveyance, a two-time AGS winner in 2010, having captured the San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita and the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park—both Grade 3 races. Conveyance, originally purchased by Legends Racing for $240,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale, is now owned by Zabeel Racing, an entity owned by a son of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. The Indian Charlie colt was produced from a mare by Holy Bull, who ran the worst race of his life in the Kentucky Derby but went on to be the 1994 3-year-old champion male and Horse of the Year.

The second, of course, is 2009 juvenile champion Lookin At Lucky, who made his season’s debut last week at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes—a race that attracted two other Grade 1 winners, runner-up Noble’s Promise and third-place finisher Dublin. Lookin At Lucky, a son of Smart Strike out of Private Feeling, by Belong to Me, races for the partnership of Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson. He was purchased by Baffert on their behalf for $475,000 at last year’s Keeneland April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Six months earlier, Bailey and Robinson entered Lookin At Lucky in the Keeneland September sale but bought him back for just $35,000 because the veterinary report on him showed several “minor” physical issues. (Click here <http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/american-graded-stakes-standings-brought-to-you-by-keeneland-lookin-at-a-bargain/> to learn more about those issues, which obviously have not prevented the colt from compiling an outstanding record of six wins in seven starts, including three Grade 1 wins, and earnings of $1,423,000.)

Though they may be known better for their pinhooking acumen, Bailey and Robinson have a large broodmare band in excess of 100, and it’s no surprise they are successful in this end of the business along with getting horses ready for 2-year-old sales. Both are consummate horseman, Bailey having years of experience running his own business along with a stint as farm veterinarian and manager of E.K. Gaylord’s Lazy E. Ranch in Oklahoma, and Robinson plying his trade as a professional rodeo cowboy for more than 15 years.

If you want to call someone an “accidental” breeder of an American Graded Stakes winner, that description might be more fitting for two trainers who have produced AGS winners of 2010: trainers Bob Baffert and Mike Machowsky.

Baffert is the breeder of Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap winner Misremembered, co-owned by his wife Jill and their good friend George Jacobs. Baffert probably didn’t envision winning the Big ‘Cap and more than $1 million with the offspring of the mare, Beyond Perfection (by Quack), when he bid $7,000 to buy her at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale in 2005—but that’s exactly what Misremembered has done. In this business, you can be good, but it also helps to be lucky.

Machowsky is the breeder, co-owner and trainer of Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes winner Caracortado. The 3-year-old gelded son of Cat Dreams was produced by Mons Venus, by Maria’s Mon. Machowsky bought Mons Venus for $45,000 on behalf of some clients at the Keeneland 2002 September yearling sale. After the filly kept having ankle problems, Machowsky told the owners she probably would never race and suggested they breed her. When they said they weren’t interested, the trainer contacted a friend in California who was standing the young Storm Cat stallion Cat Dreams and bred Mons Venus to him. Caracortado went on to win his first five races, including the Lewis, before losing for the first time in last Saturday’s Grade 2 San Felipe.

Mons Venus is the second mare Machowsky ever bred.

This only proves there are many ways to breed a winner of an American Graded Stakes race. You can cultivate the best bloodlines, do all the planning and research in the world, but sometimes the most important ingredient is good fortune.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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It could happen, judging from the results of Monday’s two Grade 1 races for 2-year-old colts, the Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga won by the Lukas-trained Dublin, and the Del Mar Futurity won by the Baffert-trained Lookin at Lucky. Both colts turned in strong performances to win their respective races, and they each have the pedigree to continue as the races get longer. It’s a long, long way, however, from the first Monday in September to the first Saturday in May, and a lot can happen. But Lukas and Baffert each are well stocked with well-bred and talented 2-year-olds, and history shows they know what it takes to win the Kentucky Derby.

It would be great for this sport if these two Hall of Famers and now-fast friends do show up at Churchill Downs with the leading Derby contenders next spring. Lukas and Baffert have been the two most recognizable faces and best spokesmen for the game when the media and general public are paying attention—during the Triple Crown.

Seven Derbies have passed since Baffert last stood in the infield winner’s circle and it’s been 10 years for Lukas. They were synonymous with the race in the 1990s, when the sport and the industry at its foundation were going through better times. Neither Lukas nor Baffert is big enough or strong enough to save the sport on their own, but their success can help move it back into the spotlight.

It was hard to believe when reading David Grening’s Daily Racing Form recap of the Hopeful that Lukas has gone nearly four years without a Grade 1 victory—his last one coming with Folklore in the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park. That’s a huge drop from the 1980s and early ‘90s when “D. Wayne off the plane” was winning Grade 1 races in bunches, from coast to coast. There were the 10 consecutive North American training titles by money won, from 1983-92, and four more from 1994-97. In 2008, Lukas finished 93rd by money won. Lukas also started a horse in 20 consecutive Kentucky Derbies, from 1981-2000, a total of 38 in all (and, yes, I know, and Wayne probably would admit that some of those horses didn’t belong). But he’s been without a starter in five of the last nine Derbies, a race he won four times between 1988 and 1999.

Some of Lukas’ most important owners, like Bob Lewis and W.T. Young, died, and some others moved on to different trainers.

Baffert hasn’t experienced quite as severe a drought, but he, too, has weathered some storms in recent years. Prince Ahmed Salman and Bob Lewis were important patrons of Baffert, and his stable suffered from their deaths. Like Lukas, Baffert also lost some owners to other trainers, but he’s had some loyal ones, too, like Lookin for Lucky’s owner Mike Pegram, who convinced Baffert to make the transition to Thoroughbreds. 

Baffert won the North American money title four consecutive years, from 1998-2001, but in three of the last four years (2005-08), he slipped out of the top 10. In six years, from 1996 (when Cavonnier fell a nose short of the Lukas-trained Grindstone, almost giving Baffert a Derby win as a rookie) to 2001, Baffert started 11 horses in the Derby. In the eight years since, he’s had just seven Derby starters. He’s won the Derby three times, with two seconds and two thirds.

While both came from the Quarter horse ranks, they were more rivals than friends in the 1990s when Baffert appeared on the Thoroughbred scene and threatened Lukas’ dominance over the sport. But as the years have passed and both men have mellowed, they’ve become good friends. Baffert even asked Lukas to introduce him at this year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, something Lukas did with his usual flair.

Both are enjoying a revival in 2009. Baffert surged to third in the trainer money-won standings following an unforgettable Labor Day weekend at Del Mar that included three Grade 1 victories (Zensational in the Pat O’Brien, Richard’s Kid in the Pacific Classic, and Lookin at Lucky in the Del Mar Futurity—all for different owners). Lukas, though ranked 42nd by money won, is just getting his 2-year-olds going, and he has said he’s loaded, thanks to some new owners, including Legends Racing (which also has horses with Baffert and Nick Zito) and Scott Ford of Westrock Stable, along with some mainstays, including Dublin’s owners, William Mack and Robert Baker.

“This was my No. 1 pick in the sales,” Lukas said of Dublin (who was one of two Grade 1 winners at Saratoga over the weekend sold as yearlings by Gerry Dilger’s Dromoland, the other being Spinaway winner Hot Dixie Chick). “I still haven’t lost my eye in that part. I like to play in the main arena – these 2-year-olds, when they turn 3, that’s the name of the game.”

The boys—Lukas and Baffert–are back, and I think the game is better off because of it.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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