NEWS: breeding

New York Breeding Farm profile: The story of a new Edition

Tuesday, August 1st, 2023

Adam Gordon; Laura Resen photo.

By Teresa Genaro 

“I never thought I would sell the farm,” said Vivien Malloy recently. “My daughter Debby loved it, and we had a plan.”

Malloy recalled a 2006 email from her great friend Judy Richter.

“You have so much to look forward to,” read the message. “One of these days Deb will return and you two will have so much fun, you with your racehorses and Deb with her jumpers.”

An accomplished international equestrian, Debby Malloy Winkler lived in Germany, and in 2011 she died after fall from her horse.

Malloy and her late husband Henry had five children, but none inherited the love for horses that Debby had, and Malloy knew that none of them would be interested in taking over the farm. Aware, too, of all that is involved in the sale of a major piece of real estate, she decided to save her children the hassle and sell it herself.

The farm had several suitors, some of whom left Malloy feeling uneasy about its future; a valuable property in the Hudson Valley’s Dutchess County would be a lucrative prospect for development.

But one of them didn’t, despite a background in commercial real estate, and over the winter, Adam Gordon became the new owner of Edition Farm, one of New York’s storied breeding establishments.

“He wants to keep it the way it is,” said Malloy. “He’ll keep the boarding business going, my horses are going to stay here, and I have a house across the street. It’s pretty perfect.”

“Edition Farm is a continuation of my wife Kristina’s and my passion for preserving open space and connecting deeply with nature, while preserving ways of life,” said Gordon.

Gordon’s past projects include developing a “vertical village for film production” in New York City’s borough of Queens; co-founding Madison Development, which develops and operates urban infill self-storage facilities; building single-family town homes; and leasing a warehouse in the city for Amazon e-commerce and delivery.

About a decade, Gordon and his wife purchased a working cattle ranch in California’s Sonoma County on which cattle are humanely raised to produce Japanese Wagyu beef to high-end restaurants within a bicycle ride of the ranch.

Vivien Malloy; courtesy of Malloy.

“We’re raising animals in a humane way and paying attention to soil health and the environment,” he explained. “We’ll use all the same practices at Edition Farm. Forty years of Vivien’s dedication and standards brought the farm to where it is, and we’re keeping her team, including the fabulous farm manager Teri…. to focus on animal care, particularly foaling and boarding. We have no interest in dividing the property or converting it to hospitality or event spaces. We want to take what Vivien built and refine it.”

Which is not to say that he’s leaving the farm as-is. He’s added seven run-in sheds and fenced some pastures; almost all of the farm equipment has been upgraded, including a new truck that will enable foals to more comfortably enter a shipping van.

“We’re going to provide the farm staff with the tools they need to do their jobs at the highest level and empower them,” said Gordon. “Teri runs the farm, and Kristina and I check in, more as cheerleaders.

“We have a total focus on starting from the ground up, with soil health. Raising healthy animals means putting them out in the environment, letting them run around, and giving them healthy feed.

“That’s what we’re going to focus on. We’re not going to try to do too many things, because it’s easy to get distracted. We have a singular focus: boarding and foaling.”

A Michigan native, farm manager Teri Brown came to New York about 14 years ago, moving here from Santa Fe, NM. She worked first for Waldorf Farm, then for Sequel before landing at Edition Farm with her husband Buster three years ago.

“When I first heard that the farm was for sale, I was worried about what would happen to it,” she said. “The farm is absolutely beautiful, and Vivien did a great job by doing it right: the barns are beautiful, the fencing is high quality, and when you see that she made her dream come true, it’s hard to think that it’s possibly going to change.”

Her conversations with Gordon have eased those fears.

“It’s nice that he wants to preserve and carry on the legacy, that he won’t let the farm decline or get divided up. It’s a big relief, and it’s exciting that the farm will continue.”

Adam and Kristina Gordon; Laura Resen photo.

“Teri is attached by her emotional umbilical cord to these horses,” said Gordon. “I’m not going to second-guess her. Farming is not my business; real estate is, and I’m not trying to squeeze every dollar out of the farm. I’m trying to create the ultimate boarding and foaling facility on the East Coast. It’s the right size for total dedication to and focus on the animals.”

The Gordons have put together a multi-stage plan for the farm. They’ll work on some aesthetics, such as adding more stone walls to those that have been here for the last four decades, and they’re gut-renovating the main house and the guest house. They will continue to spend a good part of the year at their ranch in California, but they’re hoping to get to Saratoga this summer.

“I’ve never been to a horse race,” said Adam. “I’m excited about it. I met with some of the farm’s boarders, people who own and race horses, and their passion is really exciting. I’m thrilled to go with someone who is race-adjacent.”

Speaking of those clients…

“I want them to know that they’re not going to see a big change,” said Brown. “We’re just continuing what we’ve done at this great facility. Just because we have new owner doesn’t mean that we’re not going to continue to produce super babies out of super mares.”

And, she added, Malloy will continue to be a presence.

“She’ll be right across the street,” Brown said. “There’s a pasture right outside her window, and if I can, I put her horses there so she can look out and see them.”

 


A Shin Forward pensioned to Old Friends at Cabin Creek

Monday, July 3rd, 2023

Group 1 winner A Shin Forward, who stood in Japan and his native New York, will retire to Old Friends at Cabin Creek later this summer. Barbara Livingston Photo.

By Tom Law

New York-bred multimillionaire and Group 1 winner A Shin Forward, who returned to his native state in time for the 2018 breeding season, has been pensioned from stud duty with plans to retire at Old Friends at Cabin Creek in Greenfield Center later this summer.

Vivien Malloy, who bred, raised and sold the 18-year-old son of Forest Wildcat in the name of her Edition Farm, said the time was right to retire the sire of 26 winners and the earners of more than $2.6 million.

“He’s healthy, but he’s getting older,” Malloy said. “Although he was still very fertile and everything.”

A Shin Forward, who was recently gelded and is recuperating at Rockridge Stud in Hudson before his anticipated move to Old Friends at Cabin Creek, bred seven mares in 2022. He bred six in 2021, one in 2020, eight in 2019 and 12 in 2018, his first season back in the U.S. after siring five crops in Japan.

A Shin Forward stood for an advertised $2,500 at Rockridge.

“It was my decision to bring him home, to bring him back to the states and to New York,” Malloy said. “I thought once people saw him, knew about his stats in Japan, they’d come with mares. And it doesn’t happen at all. … I didn’t want to do it alone. It takes a lot to make a stallion.

“So, I thought I’d keep breeding, see how many mares I can get and those will be the ones to start off his career. He had winners. So far everything I’ve bred to him have won. But it’s that whole blacktype thing. … You’ve got to get that blacktype or forget about breeding a mare.”

A Shin Forward is the sire of 50 foals from nine crops. His leading runner, the Japanese-bred 8-year-old Lord Ace, remains in training this year and has won five of 30 starts and earned $645,465.

Edition Farm bred and races his leading U.S. runner, the 4-year-old filly Shinful, who is 2-4-0 in 13 starts with earnings of $159,220. Trained by David Donk, Shinfull won back-to-back starts at Aqueduct to end 2022 and start 2023 and last started in a Belmont Park allowance on the grass in late June.

Malloy bred A Shin Forward out of her multiple stakes winning New York-bred Cure the Blues mare Wake Up Kiss. She purchased Wake Up Kiss, the winner of the 2003 Yaddo Handicap at Saratoga and earner of $248,997, carrying A Shin Forward in utero for $380,000 at the 2004 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

A Shin Forward sold through the Denali Stud consignment for $125,000 at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings, a point of pride for Malloy and her team at Edition.

“Craig Bandoroff is my consignor and for years we’ve had this thing, where we go back and forth about where to sell,” Malloy said. “It’s an ego thing to get a horse in the select Saratoga sale. But he always said, ‘you’re not going to get the money. You’ll drown with all those wonderful horses. He would be a star in the New York-bred sale.’ ”

Malloy convinced Bandoroff that time, and put her then yearling in one of the world’s boutique markets.

“I just told him, ‘please, can’t we just this once have some fun?’ ” Malloy said. “He’d just laugh and tell me we might not get the money we deserve. Then he sold for $125,000, and to me that was great.”

Purchased by Rayzin the Bar, A Shin Forward showed up at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale of selected 2-year-olds in training in March 2007. He posted quarter-mile breezes of :22.1 and :21.1 during presale workouts before selling for $290,000 to Hirotsugo Hirai.

A Shin Forward wins the Group 1 Japan Autumn International Mile Championship at Kyoto racecourse in 2010. Photo courtesy of Japan Racing Association.

A Shin Forward raced for five seasons in Japan for Eishindo Co. Ltd., which prefixes many horse names with the “A Shin” or “Eishin.” He won six of 31 starts with three seconds and three thirds over five seasons, with a defining victory coming in the 2010 Group 1 Japan Autumn International Mile Championship.

A Shin Forward also won the Group 3 Hankyu Hai in 2010 and retired with earnings of $3,416,216. He stood at Lex Stud in Hokkaido, Japan, before returning to the U.S.

“The most enjoyable moments were when he was racing and I would get the videos from Japan,” Malloy said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a race called in Japanese, but it’s intense. I said to the children, ‘I’m going to send you a video of A Shin Forward winning this race, but I’ll send it also in English.’ They laughed and said, ‘Oh no, we like the Japanese one better.’ Over there it’s so exciting. They are crazed about horse racing and he was a star.

“I couldn’t be more excited for him to go to Old Friends at Cabin Creek. I love that place. The people are great, JoAnn and Mark (Pepper). I always thought if I brought him back I’d like him there and not in Kentucky, where I wouldn’t see him very much. It’s great that they have tours during Saratoga and hopefully he’ll be there by that time.”


Solomini sires first winner at Gulfstream

Sunday, July 2nd, 2023

My Shea D Lady, a $100,000 purchase at this year’s OBS April sale, becomes Solomini’s first winner with debut victory Saturday at Gulfstream. Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson)

My Shea D Lady, who played a key role in Solomini’s strong showing at this spring’s 2-year-olds in training sales, helped her freshman sire again Sunday with a debut victory in a 5-furlong maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park.

Owned by Shea D Boy’s Stable and trained by Carlos Davis, My Shea D Lady is Solomini’s first winner and one of four starters for the 8-year-old son of Curlin who stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs. Two of Solomini’s other starters – May Princess and Nicky Jolene – placed in Belmont Park maiden special weight events in their respective debuts this spring.

Sent off as the 9-5 favorite in the field of six, My Shea D Lady chased the leaders early before moving up around the far turn under Miguel Vasquez. My Shea D Lady took over in midstretch and drew off late to win by 3 1/4 lengths in :58.61 over the fast track.

Bred by and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, My Shea D Lady is the first foal out of the Teuflesberg mare Ladyberg. She sold for $100,000 out of the Omar Ramirez Bloodstock consignment at the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, after originally selling as a weanling for $25,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga October mixed sale.

My Shea D Lady, offered as Hip 605 at the OBS April sale, won her debut Saturday at Gulfstream. Photo provided by Omar Ramirez Bloodstock.

My Shea D Lady was one of three juveniles to sell for six figures at the OBS April sale. Solomini, who was multiple Grade 1-placed and stands for $6,500 at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, also sired six-figure juveniles at both the OBS March and OBS June sales, along with three at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale.

The most expensive 2-year-old by Solomini sold during the final session of the OBS April sale – a colt out of the Flatter mare Timberlea bred by Empire Equines LLC that brought $700,000 from agent Donato Lanni for Dr. Ed Allred and Jack Liebau. The $700,000 price was also the co-eighth highest for a colt at the sale.

Solomini, who has 51 foals in his first crop, ranks 13th on the North American freshman sire list through Saturday and first among all stallions who stand in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.


Weekend Hideaway sires first winner

Wednesday, May 10th, 2023

Itsallcomintogetha, a member of Weekend Hideaway’s first crop, gives former New York sire his first winner Saturday at Belmont Park. NYRA Photo.

Multiple stakes winner, $1,144,922-earning New York-bred and former New York-based stallion Weekend Hideaway sired his first winner last weekend at Belmont Park.

Hilly Fields Stable homebred Itsallcomintogetha gave Weekend Hideaway his first winner in Saturday’s 11th race, a $75,000 maiden special weight for New York-breds going 1 mile on the turf.

Phil Serpe trained Weekend Hideaway and also conditions Itsallcomintogetha, out of the winning New York-bred Powerscourt mare Ladywell Court.

“That horse the other day, I trained the sire, the dam, the dam’s dam, maybe the dam’s dam’s dam,” Serpe said. “I trained the whole damn family.”

Serpe did train Ladywell Court, a winner of two of five starts and $83,940 for Mike Hill’s Hilly Fields, and her dam, the Deputy Commander mare Commander’s Lady, a winner of two of 15 starts and $112,043. Hill told the story how Itsallcomintogetha got his name during his Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour that appeared last summer in The Saratoga Special.

“Mike Hoffman, who owned Weekend Hideaway, that’s his expression, it’s all coming together, so when we needed a name I said, ‘that’s it,’ ” Hill said of the half-brother to New York-bred stakes winners Lady Joan and Goodbye Brockley.

Making his fifth start and second off a layoff under Jose Gomez, Itsallcomintogetha won by three-quarters of a length in 1:35.96 over the firm ground. He finished third after a troubled trip in his debut going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf last August at Saratoga before a fourth and a ninth (on the dirt) in maiden races downstate to end his juvenile campaign.

Prepped for his return with Serpe’s string at Gulfstream Park this winter, Itsallcomintogetha returned with a third in a 6-furlong turf maiden April 7 at Aqueduct.

“He’s good,” Serpe said. “I don’t know if you remember but he got totally wiped out in his first race at Saratoga. He was a little bit immature, needed to grow and grow he did. He’s really nice and filled out now. I think he has a future, so we’ll see what happens. I thought his race the other day was very encouraging.”

Weekend Hideaway, a son of Speightstown campaigned by Hoffman’s Red and Black Stable, won 13 of 49 starts with seven seconds and 10 thirds from 2012 to 2018. He was a two-time stakes winner and Grade 2-placed at 2 and a stakes winner in each of his following six seasons on the track. Weekend Hideaway won nine stakes overall, including the 2014 and 2018 John Morrissey at Saratoga and back-to-back renewals of the Commentator Stakes at Belmont Park in 2016 and 2017.

Weekend Hideaway stood four seasons at Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions in Stillwater. He bred 17 mares in his first season in 2019, and 10 in back-to-back seasons in 2020 and 2021, according to statistics from The Jockey Club. Serpe said Weekend Hideaway was pensioned following the 2022 season and that plans were in the works for a permanent retirement home.

Itsallcomintogetha is one of five starters for Weekend Hideaway, along with Northern Ballet, Woodside Warrior, Rock the Weekend and West Virginia Gal.


Spendarella named 2022 New York-bred Horse of the Year

Monday, May 8th, 2023

Gainesway Farm’s Spendarella was crowned 2022 New York-bred Horse of the Year – in addition to champion 3-year-old filly and champion female turf horse – at the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.’s annual awards ceremony, sponsored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund, at Saratoga National Golf Course Monday evening May 8.

Bred by the Kentucky-based Gainesway and foaled at Sequel New York in Hudson, Spendarella won four of five starts in 2022 – her first year at the races. She started in February with a maiden victory at Gulstream Park, added the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride Stakes in March and went another step forward with a Grade 2 victory in Keeneland’s Appalachian Stakes in April. That triumph earned her a trip to England for the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting in June. Against some of the world’s best 3-year-old turf fillies, the daughter of Karakontie (Jpn) finished second of 12 runners. Returned to the United States, she became a Grade 1 winner in the Del Mar Oaks at California’s Del Mar Race Course in August.

Navigated by trainer Graham Motion, the campaign produced $596,459 in earnings and the New York championships.

“It’s amazing having homebreds perform so well,” said Gainesway’s Antony Beck. “She’s a machine, an incredibly athletic, very well-balanced filly with an amazing hind leg. She has superb action and power and seems to be extremely intelligent and likes to win. That’s what you want.”

In her 2023 debut, Spendarella finished second in the Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs Saturday.

The 2022 New York-bred Horse of the Year and divisional champions were chosen by a vote of New York turf writers, handicappers, photographers and television and radio hosts and analysts conducted by the NYTB. A commemorative awards magazine, written and produced by ST Publishing (the team behind The Saratoga Special and thisishorseracing.com), was distributed at the awards dinner and is available online.

Spendarella’s success also earned her dam, Spanish Bunny, the honor of New York Broodmare of the Year. The 17-year-old foaled a full-brother to Spendarella in late April. The daughter of Unusual Heat was sent to Sequel New York to be bred to Destin, a stallion co-owned by Gainesway, and foaled New York-breds Spendarella in 2019 and a Destin filly Spanish Destiny in 2020.

“We were supporting Destin’s early stallion career, that’s how Spendarella became a New York-bred,” said Beck. “New York is an important market and state for racing and we’re very excited to have horses on the farm who performed well in New York.”

“On behalf of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. and our Board of Directors, it’s a privilege to honor each of the 2022 New York-bred Divisional Champions and their connections including New York-bred Horse of the Year Spendarella at annual marquee event,” said NYTB Executive Director Najja Thompson. “Everyone who participates in the New York-bred program should feel proud of the accomplishments each of our nominees and award winners have garnered in the past year. Showcasing the depth and quality of the New York-bred program nationally and worldwide.”

CLICK HERE for a commemorative magazine produced by ST Publishing for the NYTB celebrating the 2022 champions.

The New York-bred champions for 2022:

Horse of the Year, champion 3-year-old filly, champion female turf horse: Spendarella. Karakontie (Jpn)-Spanish Bunny, Unusual Heat. Breeder/owner: Gainesway Stable. Trainer: Graham Motion.

2-year-old filly: Les Bon Temps. Laoban-Winsanity, Tapizar. Breeder: Southern Equine Stable. Owner: Deuce Greathouse, Cindy Hutson, Brett Setzer. Trainer: Mike Maker and Norm Casse.

2-year-old male: Acoustic Ave. Maclean’s Music-Rock Ave. Road, Street Boss. Breeder: Chester and Mary Broman. Owner: Reeves Thoroughbred Racing. Trainer: Christophe Clement.

3-year-old male: Rotknee. Runhappy-In Spite Of Mama, Speightstown. Breeder/owner: William “Buck” Butler. Trainer: Mike Maker.

Older dirt female and female sprinter: Bank Sting. Central Banker-Bee In A Bonnet, Precise End. Breeder: McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. Owner: Hidden Brook Farm and Joe and Anne McMahon. Trainer: John Terranova.

Older dirt male: Americanrevolution. Constitution-Polly Freeze, Super Saver. Breeder: Fred Hertrich III and John Fielding. Owner: CHC and WinStar Farm. Trainer: Todd Pletcher.

Male sprinter: Wudda U Think Now. Fast Anna-Unbridled Grace, Unbridled Jet. Breeder: Mina Equivest. Owner: The Elkstone Group. Trainer: Rudy Rodriguez.

Male turf horse: City Man. Mucho Macho Man-City Scamper, City Zip. Breeder: Moonstar Farm. Owner: Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Peter and Patty Searles. Trainer: Christophe Clement.

Steeplechase horse: Down Royal. Alphabet Soup-Miss Crown, High Yield. Breeder: Bernie and Katie Dalton. Owner: Joe Fowler and Kate Dalton. Trainer: Kate Dalton.

Broodmare of the Year: Spanish Bunny.

Breeder of the Year: Chester and Mary Broman.

Trainer of the Year: Christophe Clement.

Jockey of the Year: Manny Franco.


First mare in foal to Sequel’s Fire At Will

Friday, March 10th, 2023

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Fire At Will, standing his initial season at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson, has his first mare in foal. Breeders’ Cup/Eclipse Sportswire Photo.

Sequel Stallions New York’s first-year sire Fire At Will has his first mare bred reported in foal.

Day Dayenu, a winning 6-year-old daughter of Into Mischief out of the graded stakes-winning Not For Love mare Blind Date, checked in foal to the multiple graded stakes-winning son of Declaration of War. Fire At Will is standing his first season for $6,000 at Sequel in Hudson.

Day Dayenu, purchased by the Fire At Will Syndicate for $20,000 at the OBS January mixed sale, is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner and $133,803-earner Paulita. This will be her first foal.

Campaigned by Three Diamonds Farm and trained by Mike Maker, Fire At Will won three of six starts and earned $675,932. He won the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland Race Course and the off-the-turf With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga Race Course and Grade 3 Pilgrim on the turf at Belmont Park that same season.

Fire At Will is out of the Kitten’s Joy mare Flirt, who sold in foal to Lemon Drop Kid for $500,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale. He’s the first foal out of Flirt, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Decorated Invader (by Declaration of War), stakes winner Jubliant Girl and stakes-placed Cabral.

 


First winner for Rockridge’s Frank Conversation

Monday, March 6th, 2023

Ascendant Farms’ homebred Incantation gives Frank Conversation his first winner last week at Aqueduct. NYRA Photo.

New York-based multiple graded stakes-winning stallion Frank Conversation sired his first winner last week when Don Manuchia’s Ascendant Farms’ homebred Incantation won the first race Friday at Aqueduct.

The 3-year-old colt out of the unraced Lawyer Ron mare Strange Magic graduated in the 1-mile maiden claiming event in his third start for trainer Jim Bond and jockey Jaime Torres. Foaled and raised at Rockridge, Incantation is a half-sister to Ascendant Farms homebred and multiple stakes winner Galaxina. A daughter of Giant Surprise, Galaxina won the Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct and the New York Oaks at Finger Lakes during her 3-year-old season in 2022.

Frank Conversation, a 10-year-old son of Quality Road, stands for a private fee at Rockridge Stud in Hudson. Out of the stakes-placed Unusual Heat mare Rushen Heat, Frank Conversation retired to Rockridge with a 4-2-4 record in 19 starts, earnings of $520,000 and victories in the Grade 2 Twlight Derby and Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby in 2016.

Frank Conversation also won the 2016 California Derby and placed in that season’s Grade 1 Hollywood Derby and in back to back editions of the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes in 2017 and 2018.

Represented by 63 foals of racing age, Frank Conversation is also the sire of multiple placed runner Four Eyes.


Message From NYTB President Tom Gallo – March 13 Rally at State Capitol

Thursday, February 16th, 2023

NYTB logo On Monday, March 13, New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. (NYTB) along with workers representing the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NYTHA) and the New York Racing Association, (NYRA), will hold a press conference and rally at the State Capitol to raise awareness and support for horse racing as part of our We Are NY Horse Racing coalition.

The purpose of this rally is to make our collective voices heard in support of the Belmont Park modernization project.

As you may be aware, Governor Kathy Hochul included the Belmont Park modernization project in her state budget proposal, however the next step is to ensure the project is included in the final budget.

It is our sport, industry and breeder awards that are at stake!

NYTB will be providing bus transportation, box lunch, and refreshments to everyone who intends to travel to the rally. We are looking for at least 55 farm workers, blacksmiths, veterinarians, and individuals in all service-related sectors who work in horse racing to attend. The bus will depart from Saratoga Race Course at 9 a.m. and return approximately 3 p.m. Additionally details will be sent to all who register below.

NYTB has been at the forefront of the fight to protect horse racing in New York and ensure its long-term viability against extremist groups including PETA, NYCLASS, and others who have made it their mission to end our livelihood and the care we provide to our equine athletes by making notable contributions to members of the Senate and Assembly.

It is imperative that we have farm workers and all persons who support and make a living with horses and equine athletes on hand to show legislators the jobs and individuals who directly benefit from having a robust thoroughbred breeding industry in New York. Our lives will be severely impacted if the Belmont Park modernization plan is not included in the state budget by April 1.

Click here to RSVP to the rally and please share among your fellow farm owners, breeders, and supporters of horse racing.

If you cannot attend our rally on March 13, please also consider donating to the NYTB PAC which supports our fight to help protect and grow the New York-bred program.

Personal donations to the NYTB PAC can be made online here or personal checks can be made payable to the NYTB PAC and mailed to

NYTB PAC
P.O. BOX 5120
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. 12866

No donation is too small. Thank you for your consideration and support in this fight.

gallo signature
Tom Gallo
NYTB President & Chairman of NYTB PAC


First foal for late New York stallion Combatant

Monday, January 23rd, 2023

The late Grade 1 winner Combatant’s first foal, a filly out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Sadie’s Song, was born Saturday at Waldorf Farm. Photo courtesy of Rockridge Stud.

The late Grade 1 winner Combatant, a popular New York stallion in his first season, sired his first foal over the weekend.

Sadie’s Song, a 15-year-old daughter of Unbridled’s Song, delivered the filly by Combatant Saturday at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham. Bred by McConnell Racing, the newborn filly is the ninth foal out of Sadie’s Song, who is out of the Storm Cat mare Sharp Eyes.

Combatant, a son of Scat Daddy out of the Boundary mare Border Dispute, bred 85 mares in his first season at Rockridge Stud in Hudson. He died suddenly from colic in Chile in August, just after starting Southern Hemisphere duty at Haras Porta Pia.

The former Hronis Racing-owned Combatant was sold to Brian Levings of Levings Racing to stand at Rockridge in a deal brokered by Matt Bowling of Bowling Bloodstock, Colt Pike and David Ingordo.

Winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in 2020, Combatant retired to Rockridge with a record of 4-5-6 in 30 starts and earnings of $1,062,915. He stood his only season in New York for $7,500 LFSN.


Foal Adventure offers entry into breeding world

Wednesday, January 18th, 2023

Magic Happens, a winning daughter of Awesome Patriot, is one of two mares involved in Foal Adventure. Emily O’Neil-Hopkins Photo.

By Tom Law

Iain Holmes and Sean Feld were enjoying lunch in Boston one day last summer, discussing a myriad of topics when the conversation weaved its way to investing in the breeding industry on a budget.

“Someone really needs to make an opportunity for people to experience breeding racehorses on a small scale,” Holmes said that day.

That idea was the start of what became Foal Adventure, what Holmes and Feld call “America’s original foal club” and a way for the public to experience breeding and raising a racehorse.

“What you’ll notice, it doesn’t matter if you’re Mike Repole, or the Queen, or a hotwalker, trainer or groom, if you own one-tenth of 1 percent of a horse, when you’re cheering one on that you have a connection with there’s something special about it,” Holmes said last month. “It feels different than when you’re just holding a ticket.”

Foal Adventure offers the chance, for a one-time investment of $75, to purchase a one-year membership in a foal club. The membership features regular email newsletter updates, starting monthly in the winter months with candid photos of the expectant broodmares before coming weekly with pictures showing the foal’s development.

Members will have the chance to meet the foals over the summer and hopefully develop an interest in following them on the path to being raised, sold at public auction and into their racing careers.

“We settled on $75; that’s basically the price of a meal,” Holmes said. “Come join us for a year, cheer the foal on as it runs down and hopefully wins, and you’ll get an experience that you just can’t get anywhere else. So far everyone seems thrilled with the idea and getting a lot of interest and a lot of traction.

“That’s great because broodmares in October and November are pretty boring. There’s not a whole lot to report. They’re eating hay and growing, right? When we start getting foals and making breeding plans, it’s going to get a whole lot more exciting.”

The two mares involved – the 8-year-old Posse mare Lulu’s Partner and 7-year-old Awesome Patriot mare Magic Happens – are both in foal to New York-based sire Mr. Monomoy and expected to deliver foals in March. Feld is the managing partner of Climax Stallions, which owns and stands Mr. Monomoy at Pellinor Lane in West Virginia after starting his career at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, New York.

“Last year when I had my mare, I sent newsletters to my friends and family,”  Holmes said. “It started being just mine, then suddenly your friends’ mom is on the list, your mom’s friend is on the list. The list got bigger and bigger. And what we were doing was sending cute pictures of foals. So we put some of those ideas together and came up with Foal Adventure.

“It’s a new concept and it’s a bit disruptive, but as people really learn about what you’ll get out of being part of a breeding operation I think people will really enjoy it and have a good time.”

Learn more about Foal Adventure.