Bowling Green winner Cross Border (right) was part of magical weekend for Bluewater’s Meg Levy. Joe Labozzetta/NYRA Photo.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
What do a weanling, a lay-up and a $500 mare have to with a top weekend at the races? For Meg Levy they led to an unforgettable 72-hour stretch at Saratoga last weekend with New York-breds.
The biggest personal win came Sunday when Levy-bred Simply Ravishing won on debut for trainer Ken McPeek and owners Harold Lerner, Magdalena Racing and Nehoc Stables. Bred on a stallion right her husband owns in Laoban, the New York-bred filly was also sold by Bluewater Sales for $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale.
The victory was a fitting next chapter in the story of Simply Ravishing’s dam Four Wishes, who had been abandoned at a boarding facility and purchased for just $500 by Levy on her birthday in 2017.
“It was on my birthday in February and we were driving over to the Fasig-Tipton February sale,” Levy said. “Someone called me and said ‘there’s a mare by More Than Ready that is in a bad place, she’s been abandoned and the boarding farm is just trying to sell her for whatever they can get.’ I asked what her name was and they said ‘Four Wishes’ and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, how can I resist stopping by to see a mare named Four Wishes on my birthday?’ I arrived and she was pretty thin and something just told me that she deserved a better place so I gave the guy $500 and we picked her up.”
Feeling that being in the New York-bred program would help both the mare and her foal, Four Wishes was shipped up to New York to foal out a Revolutionary colt and be bred to Laoban.
“I have felt that the weanlings and the yearlings in the last few years being New York-bred has made them 20 percent more valuable so that was the decision,” she said. “She came out with a great looking baby that we got lucky with. (Simply Ravishing) was supposed to go to the New York-bred sale in Saratoga and when the staff went to load her on the van, she kicked the wall so hard she cracked her foot so she couldn’t ship and had to go to the October sale.
“It was great that Kenny was around to buy her because where they go is obviously very important. We were pleasantly surprised. Kenny had been sending us some videos over the last couple of the days before the race and I thought to myself ‘he isn’t sending videos because he doesn’t like her.’ ”
Simply Ravishing’s victory was the final touch on a strong weekend of racing in Saratoga for Levy connected horses.
The winning started Friday when New York-bred Jewel of Arabia won her second straight start impressively. Sold by Levy’s Bluewater Sales for $140,000 as a weanling on behalf of breeder SF Bloodstock at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, Levy still remembers the filly handling everything beautifully.
“We sold her as a foal and she was awesome,” Levy said. “SF Bloodstock bred her and the market was strong, it was Daredevil’s first year. She was so attractive and strong, we sold her for $180,000. She was such a strong filly, great, very intelligent. She was pretty special, it was fun to see her win.”
Only 24 hours later, another horse connected to Levy visited the winner’s circle when New York-bred Cross Border won the Grade 2 Bowling Green for his second victory in 10 days. Owned by Bluewater client Three Diamonds Farm, Cross Border spent time laying up at the Levys’ Kentucky farm and eased some of the pain of having to watch the races from home.
“It’s at those moments that you feel so amazingly grateful,” she said. “We were sitting here watching the races here in Kentucky on the television and we had our friends win with Cross Border and he was a lay-up here as well. It’s just fun to be rooting for horses that you’ve been around. Whoever they’re owned or bred by, when you can claim to have touched a hair on that body it’s really, really exciting and that’s kind of what we do it for.”
Based in Lexington, Ky. Levy admits she hasn’t had many New York-bred foals but that hasn’t kept her from admiring the program from afar. Simply Ravishing also provided her an exciting first as the first she’s bred by a New York stallion. Levy was even more impressed by the program once she saw the additional awards given to New York-sired horses.
“Every time I have bred a New York-bred, we’ve had some great luck,” she said. “I’ve never had a New York-sired New York-bred before and when I read what the breeders’ reward is, I was like ‘holy moly.’
“You actually get 30 percent of what they win! The first time I had a New York-bred I couldn’t believe I got a check in the mail immediately. She was a mare called Pronto Pronto that had several babies and I just couldn’t believe it. You go to the mailbox and there’s a check for like $5,000. It’s unbelievable, truly. We’ve had great luck in New York and we love New York and our people there.”
