Keeneland's Inside the Winner's Circle: John and Debby Oxley

La Coronel | Coady photo

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“Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland” is a new series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale that have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages.

Owner John C. Oxley and his wife, Debby, celebrated two important graded stakes wins this past week that have them looking ahead to the future. But they were also recognized for past accomplishments at Keeneland Race Course, as the Apr. 13 score by La Coronel (Colonel John) in the GIII Appalachian S. earned the couple a Keeneland Tray for eight lifetime graded stakes wins at the Lexington track.

There was also a Keeneland connection to Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile)'s win in the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 15 [video], as the juvenile champion sold for $475,000 at the association's September 2015 yearling sale.

La Coronel was bottled up behind fillies at the top of the stretch in the Appalachian before punching through assertively and extending her stride to win by 3 1/4 empathic lengths.

“She's just really a wonderful filly,” Oxley said via phone Monday. “She has a tremendous turn of foot. So being in traffic and behind horses wasn't so much of a problem so long as she can find a seam to run through. She just really opened up when she was clear, and she won rather easily.”

Oxley said he and trainer Mark Casse are keeping open minds about the filly's next start.

“We're looking seriously at racing against the boys, against 3-year-old colts on [GI Kentucky] Derby weekend [in the GII American Turf S.],” Oxley said. “That's under consideration. It might be a stretch, but we're looking at all options. I might say further that we've been invited to Royal Ascot in June. We'd love to go over there to race against 3-year-old fillies on the turf.”

Oxley expressed both relief and optimism that Classic Empire seems to have pushed past his physical and psychological setbacks that caused missed training and races earlier in the season as the Casse-trained colt heads to Louisville for the GI Kentucky Derby May 6. He, too, had to wait for racing room before being fully unleashed in the Arkansas Derby, which he won by a determined half-length.

“Going into the Arkansas Derby, we didn't know if he would be fit enough, really,” Oxley said. “We hoped he would be. But he proved that he's a great horse. I don't know if he's peaked yet. I hope not–I hope he peaks on Derby Day. But I think he's really coming along well because he's lightly raced, and he's going into the Derby relatively fresh–and yet coming off a mile-and-an-eighth win–so I like our position right now.

“At Oaklawn, he was just a model of confidence with a perfect demeanor, a real gentleman,” Oxley continued. “When he's right, I think he has great confidence in himself. He likes the race itself, he doesn't particularly think he needs to take time to train. But in the afternoons, he's ready to run at any time. I'm not concerned about him at Churchill, really. I think he'll be well-mannered, and he's going in with a win, which is a confidence builder.”

Oxley is just the 20th owner to win eight graded stakes and receive a sterling silver and gold-dipped Tray. As part of Keeneland's Milestone Trophy program, graded-stakes winning owners receive an engraved Trophy Cup. After the eighth graded stakes win, the Tray–which holds the eight Trophy Cups–is awarded.

Another eight Trophy Cups earns the owner a Keeneland Pitcher. Eight more graded stakes wins equates to a Keeneland Bowl. Yet another eight graded stakes victories means the owner will receive the newest Milestone piece, the Keeneland Vase, unveiled last October. All of the pieces are hand-crafted by Tiffany & Co.

Keeneland's all-time leading stakes-winning owner is Claiborne Farm, the first to receive a Pitcher during the 1968 fall meet, and the first (and only, to date) recipient of the Bowl during the 2003 Fall Meet. Claiborne, singly and in partnership, has won 26 stakes.

The other two owners to receive a Pitcher are Milliard Waldheim's Bwamazon Farm (1983 spring meet) and William S. Farish (2003 spring meet).

From the 1952 fall meet, when the program was inaugurated, through 1993, Keeneland presented a Trophy Cup to the winning owner of almost every major stakes race. A Tray was then awarded with the sixth stakes victory, and a Pitcher with the 12th win. The number of Cups required to win each Milestone Trophy has increased from six to eight to reflect the increased number of graded stakes races.

“I began to buy yearlings in the 1970s at Keeneland. It's been so long that I don't even remember all of my horses from back then,” Oxley said with a laugh. “But what does stand out in my mind is that Keeneland has always been old-world. It's class, and the way all racing should be, if it could. In some ways other tracks have not kept up. They have with money, but not with the courtesies and traditions. I know that many owners, as well as Debby and me, appreciate these considerations and the quality of the presentations at the track.”

As for the next Keeneland stakes milestone–the Pitcher–Oxley said, “That's eight stakes wins away. Hopefully we'll stay healthy and need to find a spot for that one.”

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