New York-breds set for Oaks-Derby weekend

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Early On, a daughter of Union Rags bred by John Lauriello, leads the New York-bred contingent this weekend at Churchill Downs and starts in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks. Churchill Downs/Coady Media.

A trio of runners will fly the flag for the New York Thoroughbred breeding program at Churchill Downs in Grade 1 events on this weekend’s Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby cards.

The group includes Early On in Friday’s headlining $1.5 million Longines Kentucky Oaks, which lost a New York-bred Thursday morning following the scratch of potential contender Five G.

Early On, a 3-year-old daughter of Union Rags bred by John Lauriello, will start from post one in the 9-furlong Oaks for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and owners C2 Racing Stable, Ken Reimer and Paul Braverman, Timothy Pinch and Bradley Kent. She finished second by a nose behind Ballerina d’Oro last time out in the Grade 3 Gazelle April 5 at Aqueduct and is listed at 30-1 on the morning line for the Oaks.

“This is unbelievable. She’s going to be in the Kentucky Oaks,” Lauriello said last month. “I’m 77. I’ve been in and out of the horse business in a small way for 50 years. This is just a miracle. That filly has really done well. Sometimes you get lucky, not often.”

Lauriello lives in Alabama and keeps a small band of broodmares as a hobby. He purchased the winning Distorted Humor mare Sally O’Brien, carrying Early On in utero, for $75,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Sally O’Brien later sold in foal to Corniche for $55,000 to Fortune Farm at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale.

Early On, who also finished second behind fellow Oaks entrant Fondly in the Virginia Oaks March 15 at Colonial Downs, was foaled at Hickory Hill Farm Thoroughbreds in Fort Edward and sold for $20,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale.

“I love the New York program,” Lauriello said. “The New York breeding program is second to none in my opinion. I’ve been involved in horse racing with some folks from Birmingham and upstate New York, but the breeding was as much or more fun. The people from Birmingham got old and stopped their horse racing business, still fans, but didn’t want to breed or race, so I started about 15 years ago buying broodmares.

“I grew up in Amsterdam. The Sanford family had a farm there. When the season started at Saratoga, we used to hitchhike, and when kids couldn’t get in, we’d stand on the hoods of cars and look over the bushes to see the track. From the time I was a kid in Amsterdam going to the Sanford farm, I got bit early. Long story short, I got the bug.”

The New York program lost its other Oaks entrant, Grade 1 Gulfstream Parks Oaks winner Five G, when trainer George Weaver scratched the daughter of Vekoma after she reportedly backed off her feed and didn’t train to his satisfaction. The Gatsas Stables’ homebred figured to be one of the potential threats to favorites Good Cheer, Quietside, La Cara and Ballerina d’Oro.

“This is the type of race where you’ve got to be 110 percent and we don’t feel like she is,” Weaver told Daily Racing Form’s David Grening Thursday morning.

The Kentucky Oaks goes as the 11th of 13 races Friday with post time set for 5:51 p.m. ET.

The other two Grade 1-bound New York-breds run on Saturday’s Kentucky Derby Day card.

• Gary Barber’s Mi Bago, the winner of three straight stakes to end 2024 and start this season, leads things off when he takes on a full field of 13 other 3-year-olds in the newly upgraded $1 million American Turf presented by Ford. Bred by Highclere Inc., the son of Vekoma drew post four in the full field for the 1 1/16-mile turf event that goes as the ninth race at 4:06 p.m.

Mi Bago won the Pulpit Stakes on the turf in late November, Dania Beach on synthetic on New Year’s Day and Colonel Liam back on the grass in early March, all at Gulfstream for trainer Mark Casse. Foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham and out of the Indian Charlie mare Wabanaki, Mi Bago is 10-1 on the morning line for jockey Jose Ortiz.

• Spirit of St Louis, winner of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf two starts back, could give the Empire State its best chance of the weekend in the $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes. Campaigned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Richard Schermerhorn, the 6-year-old Medaglia d’Oro gelding is the 9-2 second choice in the field of 12 entered in the 9-furlong stakes.

Bred by Chester and Mary Broman, foaled at their Chestertown Farm in Chestertown and out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Khancord Kid, Spirit of St Louis reunites with Manny Franco for the Turf Classic. Franco rode the gelding to six stakes victories in 2023 and 2024, including back-to-back editions of the Mohawk on Empire Showcase Day. Trained by Chad Brown, Spirit of St Louis drew post 10. The Turf Classic goes at 5:39 p.m., leading in as usual to the headlining Kentucky Derby at 6:57 p.m.

Notes: Buck Butler’s homebred My Mane Squeeze was entered in Saturday’s $1 million Derby City Distaff Stakes presented by Kendall-Jackson Winery but reportedly will scratch in favor of next Saturday’s Grade 2 Ruffian at Aqueduct. The 4-year-old daughter of Audible is trained by Mike Maker and co-owned by WinStar Farm.

Endnotes:

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Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2025/05/01/new-york-breds-set-for-oaks-derby-weekend/

NYTB to honor Barry K. Schwartz with Lifetime Achievement Award

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Leading owner and breeder Barry K. Schwartz. Coglianese Photo.

The New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. (NYTB) is pleased to announce Thoroughbred breeder and owner Barry K. Schwartz will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in the New York-bred program.

Schwartz, who owns and operates Stonewall Farm in Granite Springs with his wife Sheryl, will be recognized at the NYTB’s Awards Dinner sponsored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund from 6:30-9 p.m. Monday, May 19 at Sacred Saratoga on the property of GMP Farm in Schuylerville.

“Barry has been an integral and influential person in the development of New York breeding and racing,” said NYTB President Dr. Scott Ahlschwede. “He has achieved success in every facet of our industry, and we are proud to honor and recognize his contributions to New York breeding and racing at our marquee event.”

Schwartz, the former CEO of Calvin Klein Inc., grew up a racing fan and purchased his first horse in 1978. He has consistently been one of the Empire State’s leading owners and breeders for nearly four decades since.

“What a great honor,” Schwartz said. “When I got the call, everything was out of the blue and kind of shocking. Yes, I was shocked. Shocked. I guess it tells you you’re getting up in years when they use that lifetime word.”

A member of The Jockey Club and former Chairman and CEO of the New York Racing Association, Schwartz bred and campaigned New York-bred Grade 1 winners Voodoo Song, The Lumber Guy and Princess Violet, along with New York-bred graded stakes winners Lovely Lil and Sharp Starr in his signature black and white colors. Other leading runners campaigned by Schwartz include Boom Towner, David, Degenerate Jon, Great Intentions, Jacaranda, Killer Diller, Lovely Lil, Nothing But Fun, Papa Shot, Papua, Rodman, Star Dabbler, Thepromonroe, Three Ring, Turnofthecentury and Whatlovelookslike.

Boom Towner won 29 of 82 starts with 30 other placings and earned $962,391. Claimed for $50,000 in September 1993 at Belmont Park, he won the Grade 3 Boojum Handicap three starts later at Aqueduct for trainer Mike Hushion. The popular gelding known for his tendency to lug in won three more stakes carrying Schwartz’s colors. Boom Towner continued to run competitively in the claiming ranks at 7, 8 and 9 before being claimed for $25,000 in late June 1997. Schwartz and Hushion claimed him back for $18,000 in December 1997 and retired the gelding in early 1998.

“He certainly wasn’t the best horse that I’ve had, but he was my favorite,” Schwartz said. “We claimed him for $50,000. He went up the ladder. He was a stake horse for a long, long time. He came back down the ladder, as he aged, and got claimed a few times. Eventually I retired him and he lived until he was 31.

“Every year when I’d go out to California, I’d see him and take a picture with him because I didn’t know if I was going to see him again. But he hung in there. He lived until he was at 31, which is a real ripe old age. He definitely recognized me. He’d know my car when I came up the road to the paddock he was in. He’d come over to the fence and look for some sort of a treat. He’d stick his head right into my chest, you know, and nuzzle me. We had a very personal relationship.”

Schwartz takes a hands-on approach to building and sustaining his broodmare band that runs between 15 and 20 mares every year. He’s assisted by his longtime farm manager Peter Moore and enjoys the challenges with breeding his own racing prospects.

“Most of the years, believe it or not, I did it all myself,” Schwartz said of his approach to mating mares. “I did a lot of reading. I go back in the days reading the Racing Form when (Leon) Rasmussen would write the ‘Bloodlines’ column. I read Tesio’s books. I read most everything I could get my hands on relating to breeding over the years.

“Now I do it all with my farm manager. He’ll go down to Kentucky to visit the stallions, look at them physically and make recommendations. He’s truly a horseman. We’ve become very close and have really worked very well together for a number of years now.”

Stonewall Farm was honored as Breeder of the Year by the NYTB in 2023 and 2012 and by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association as New York Breeder of the Year in 2023. Schwartz also received the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Award as “the person who did the most for racing” in 2001 by the New York Turf Writers Association.

“We look forward to celebrating Barry’s lifetime achievements as an owner, breeder and racing executive at this year’s New York-bred Divisional Champions Awards dinner,” said NYTB Executive Director Najja Thompson. “In addition to celebrating each of our divisional program nominees it will be a wonderful evening.”

Endnotes:

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Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2025/05/01/nytb-to-honor-barry-k-schwartz-with-lifetime-achievement-award/