Arrogate's Dam, a Strange Trip to Stardom

She is now the dam of one of the most famous racehorses on the planet and worth many millions of dollars. That's a long way from being a horse who was languishing on a farm in Ocala, unraced because her owners had more or less forgotten about her.

Bubbler (Distorted Humor) is the dam of Arrogate (Unbridled's Song). Well-bred herself and, as it later turned out, a talented race horse, she should have been on the fast track to the racetrack. Instead, she was caught in limbo as a partnership was dissolving and one of her owners was so focused on his legal problems that he lost track of the horse.

The one who caught the mistake was Jerry Szczepanski. He owned a small group of horses with another individual who got caught up in a serious jam involving legal and financial problems. Explaining that he wants to distance himself from the individual as much as possible, Szczepanski will not divulge the partner's name, but it was his job to handle their horses' affairs until they were ready for the racetrack. Then, Szczepanski would take over, managing their racing careers.

Because of the ongoing situation with the one partner, it was decided that the two would get out of the business and all their horses would be sold. That's what Szczepanski assumed had happened when he realized there was a horse who was unaccounted for, Bubbler.

“We decided to end the business and we sold all the horses we had, or at least I thought,” Szczepanski said. “I got an email from my partner and he said they had all been sold. Then one day, I was going through my books and thought something was missing. Bubbler had been put on a training farm in Ocala (Jeanne Mayberry's Mayberry Farm) and he had forgot all about her. It was a mess. When we finally figured out we still owned a horse she had already turned three.”

Szczepanski doesn't believe the partner was trying to cheat him. Rather, he says the person was so caught up in his own legal troubles that he had stopped paying any attention to the comings and goings of his horses.

“I have no doubt in my mind what happened,” Szczepanski said. “He was a very wealthy man who lost a lot of money in the Florida real estate bust. He stopped paying all attention to what we were doing. Because of my role in the partnership, I pretty much waited until he said horses were ready to go to track and I would take it from there. He wasn't paying attention and his bookkeeper, who knew nothing about racing, just kept paying the bills to the farm, and no one asked any questions. He let it slip. It wasn't important to him. It was important to me.”'

Once Szczepanski figured out what was going on he rescued the filly and sent her to trainer Bret Calhoun.

She wound up winning six of nine starts, including four stakes races while campaigning in the Southwest. In her final start, Bubbler ran a close third behind multiple graded stakes winner Wasted Tears (Najran) in the G3 Ouija Board Distaff Handicap on the turf.

“She had a heart like crazy,” Szczepanski said. “She would run until there no was no tomorrow.”

At the conclusion of her 4-year-old career, Szczepanski decided to sell her as a broodmare prospect and turned to the team at Taylor Made.

“She was a pretty mare; there was nothing bad about her,” said Leif Aaron, stakes filly recruiter for Taylor Made Sales. “She came to us in good shape and was a nice, solid mare that had some quality on the racetrack.”

At least one other “expert” had a different take on Bubbler.

“One good friend of mine was into breeding and pinhooking and he went out to Lone Star Park to look at Bubbler and told me she didn't have much value as a broodmare because she was so small,” Szczepanski said. “He said if I ever told a reporter his name he would kill me.”

Bubbler was sold for $170,000 at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton November Sale to Clearksy Farm. They bred her to Unbridled's Song and the result was Arrogate. It's hard to say what Bubbler is now worth but Clearsky put her through the ring at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton November Sale where she was bid up to $4.7 million, but came back home after not meeting her reserve.

“I have no regrets that I sold her for $170,000,” Szczepanski said. “That's not at all bad for a horse we had lost.”

Bubbler wasn't Szczepanski's only brush with a good horse or his only strange story in a business where strange can be the norm. In 1993, he and his partner were at the Keeneland September sale just to socialize. They owned no horses at the time but were captivated by what was going on around them. They knew almost nothing about yearlings, had consulted with no one and had done no homework. Suddenly, an idea hit them–let's buy a horse. Sight unseen and pretty much at random, they picked out a yearling colt and paid $150,000 for him. The horse turned out to be Gadzook (Meadowlake) and he won the 1995 Tampa Bay Derby.

“After Gadzook, we thought this was really easy,” he said. “So we went out and bought a bunch more horses. Most of them never even got to the track.”

After selling Bubbler, Szczepanski wasn't quite done. Calhoun let him know that Bubbler's first foal was in the catalogue at the 2014 Keeneland September Sale. He was interested in purchasing the colt, who was, of course, Arrogate, and had him inspected and scoped. He told Calhoun to bid no more than $250,000. Arrogate was purchased for $560,000 by Juddmonte Farms.

Had Szczepanski played his hand differently, he might still own Bubbler and had he been more aggressive at the sales he could have bought Arrogate. He says his golfing buddies tease him unmercifully about his poor decisions. But he's fine with the way things turn out.

“I don't believe in second guessing myself,” he said. “I'm out of the sport now but I still really enjoy it. And I'm thrilled to death that Arrogate has become such a big star. Every race, I root for him as much and as hard as anyone. Arrogate is a great story and he represents the dream that keeps so many people going in this sport. You go to the yearling sales and you never know what is going to happen. These people went to Keeneland and they came home with one of the greatest horses that ever lived.”