University of Kentucky Fans Have Rooting Interest in Pegasus

The unranked Kentucky men's basketball team plays at No. 7 West Virginia Saturday night, so it may not be a good day for Big Blue Nation. That is unless Fear the Cowboy (Cowboy Cal) wins the GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park a few minutes before tip-off. He is a product of a school best known for its basketball team, but one that every so often produces a pretty good four-legged equine athlete.

Fear the Cowboy, who will be a longshot in The Pegasus, was bred by the university, in particular the UK Ag Equine Program. Students who enroll in the program basically run a small breeding farm, in which they learn all aspects of that side of the horse business.

“The students do everything at the farm, everything from the foaling to the halter breaking to helping with the vet work to sales prep,” said Animal Resource Manager Bryan Cassill. “They'll show at the sales. They do everything from getting the mare in foal, taking her to the breeding shed, all they way up to taking the yearling to the sales.”

And just as a history professor needs texts books and a chemistry class could not get by without test tubes, the equine program needs horses–mainly broodmares and yearlings. Before he was winning on the racetrack, Fear the Cowboy was a classroom tool.

“We have a lot of classes and labs out here at the farm,” Cassill said. “Our main challenge is teaching and research.”

Each year the UK equine team solicits the help of area farms who donate broodmares and stallion seasons. The UK program has 35 broodmares. While many area farms have been very helpful to the program, no one is giving away a graded stakes winning broodmare or letting UK breed to War Front for free. What they get, more or less, are some pretty modest pedigrees, but they're not looking to breed a GI Kentucky Derby winner. Rather, they're looking to breed a horse that can be used to help the students learn the business.

The mating that produced Fear the Cowboy is a good example. The sire, Cowboy Cal, now stands in South Korea, and Fear the Cowboy is his only U.S. graded stakes winner. The dam, Whom Shall I Fear (Soto), never started.

Yet, Fear the Cowboy is starting in a $16-million race, has earned $570,869 and is a two-time Grade III stakes winner. Good horses can in fact come from anywhere, and the Kentucky program has produced more than you might expect. Casiguapo (Sightseeing) finished second in both the GI Hopeful S. and the GIII Delta Jackpot in 2013. Honey's Ryan (Student Council) is a two-time stakes winner. Spectacular Me (Catienus) won a Claiming Crown race in 2016 and has career earnings of $489,234. Riddell's Creek (Exclusive Enough) was the 1998 2-year-old male champion in Canada, but might have lost his spot in the UK Equine Hall of Fame when he later reeled off 51 straight losses.

“What we've been able to do, it's a little bit of luck, but also a matter of really good support from the horse industry,” Provost's Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences Dr. Laurie Lawrence said. “Yes, we're not getting the best of all possible worlds but we're getting horses that I think have plausible pedigrees. If you look back at the dam of Fear the Cowboy, she's got a nice family. First Samurai is in the family as are some other nice horses. It's not like there are horses no one heard of back there. We've been able to capitalize on that.”

Cassill says the students tend to get attached to the horse, but come yearling sales season, it's time to say goodbye. The school does not keep any to race. Because of their modest pedigrees, most sell for very little. Fear the Cowboy sold for $1,500 at the 2013 Fasig Tipton February Mixed sale. Casiaguapo was a $4,700 yearling buy. Cassill says the program usually sells about 20 yearlings a year.

“I know what you're supposed to say, that from day he was born I knew Fear the Cowboy was going to be something special,” Cassill said with a laugh. “He was a big-framed colt and we liked that mare a lot. We liked the sire and we thought it was a good cross. We had hopes for him. When we sold him in February, he had quite a bit of frame and he hadn't grown into himself yet. He looked kind of immature and I think that's what [co-owner] Raffaele [Centofanti] liked about him. They could see the frame he had and they knew he needed time to grow into it.”

Whom Shall I Fear also produced a horse, Wait Your Turn (Warrior's Reward) who has earned $134,450 and pinhookers sold her 2015 foal Fear No One (Yes It's True) for $180,000 at the 2017 OBS April Sale. Her 2016 foal, an unnamed filly by Overanalyze, sold for $60,000. Should Fear The Cowboy continue to succeed on the racetrack, his future siblings figure to sell for healthy sums. Cassill said whatever money the UK program makes at the sales goes back into a pool to support all the school's agricultural programs.

“Just like every time the dairy program sells a tank of milk, when we sell a horse, the revenue goes to fund all the university's experiment stations,” he explained.

The equine program is a small one, with about eight to 10 students. They'll be rooting for Fear the Cowboy.

“It's been a nice ride and it's fun for the students to see the horses they foaled out and sold and then see them get to this kind of stage,” Lawrence said.

At 4-3 in the SEC and 14-5 overall and riding a two-game losing streak, it's been a rare down year for the Wildcats on the hardwood. Facing Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) and a bunch of other top horses, Fear the Cowboy probably won't win. But he could. Looks like Big Blue Nation could use the lift.