With Scherzinger, Litt Keeps Streak Going

by Lucas Marquardt
   How hot a streak is bloodstock agent Jason Litt and his partner Alex Solis on? Two years ago, at the Fasig-Tipton February Winter Mixed Sale, Litt signed for the unbroken 2-year-old Scherzinger (Tiz Wonderful) for just $16,000, and two weeks ago watched as the upstart filly captured her stakes debut, the GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita, in re-rallying fashion. 
    “It was pretty tremendous,” said Litt, who with Solis operates Solis/Litt Bloodstock. 
As it turns out, though, Scherzinger isn't even the second-biggest storyline of the Litt and Solis's recent run. That's because the pair can also boast of the brilliant Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}), bought privately last year before he won the GI CashCall Futurity S. and named champion juvenile male at the Eclipse Awards. They were also responsible for the purchase of Eclipse finalist Mizdirection (Mizzen Mast), who successfully defended her title in last November's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint over the boys. (She sold for $2.7 million at Fasig-Tipton November.) 
   For the Kentucky-based Litt, it's been quite a journey from a kid growing up in Northern California who spent mornings at the track visiting the claiming horses his father owned. 
   In fact, it wasn't until one of those claiming horses broke out that Litt even really considered a career in racing. Back in 1997, his father, Howard Litt, joined with a rising trainer named Jerry Hollendorfer to claim King Slewie (Slewdledo) for $20,000. A few months later, King Slewie romped by over five lengths in the GIII California Juvenile S. 
“It was one of those awesome moments, that feeling you get when you're around a nice horse,” Litt said, remembering that day at Bay Meadows. 
   Two years on, Howard Litt, Hollendorfer and another partner, George Todaro, won the California Juvenile again, this time with the $80,000 yearling Globalize (Summer Squall), who later captured the GII Spiral S. and earned over $620,000. 
   In the meantime, Jason Litt got his B.A. from UC Berkeley and his M.S. from Wake Forest. But racing was never far from his mind. In 1998, he received a report from his father, who had just returned from the Kentucky yearling sales:    “It's a whole other world out there,” the elder Litt said. The following year, Litt made the trip himself. “I was like, 'Oh man, what is this?'” he said as he watched a Dubai to Dubai (Kris S.) top the sale at $3.9 million. “When you're used to claiming horses at Bay Meadows running for $15,000 pots, you recognize the magnitude, not just of the money, but of the whole process. It was awe inspiring.” 
   Drawing on that inspiration, Litt left a promising business gig in California for a slot in Taylor Made's groom program in 2000. It was a big leap of faith. “I was making minimum wage and living on a trailer on the farm,” said Litt. “I was 28 at the time, and everyone else was like 18. You get your first check and you're like, 'Whaaat?!'” 
   But Litt knew the program would give him an excellent foundation going forward. After the internship was through, he landed a spot with the popular veterinarian Doc Cheney at Gulfstream. During a memorable 30-minute stretch one morning, he helped examine the Classic winners Monarchos and Red Bullet, and the champion Macho Uno. 
   “Doc Cheney is amazing,” said Litt. “He's got this strong southern accent and plays the cards perfectly, like he's some hillbilly. But he is brilliant. He can do some surgical procedures right in the barn, and you're wondering what just happened. Some really phenomenal stuff.” 
   From there, Litt began a seven-year stint at Three Chimneys Farm in Lexington. He recruited fillies, recruited clients, sold seasons, and learned from a terrific but slightly eclectic stallion roster that good horses can come in all shapes and sizes. 
   “You had Rahy, who was 15.1 hands, you had Dynaformer, who was 17 hands, and you had Wild Again and Capote, both of whom sired very specific types,” said Litt. “They were horses who didn't always get the commercial world fired up, but you learned that good horses don't always need to be big and imposing and powerful. The good Rahys didn't need to be 16.2, but they did need to have certain qualities.” 
   Just as educational was the sales scene. “You'd go out to the November sales and see 200, 300 stakes-winning mares in the first few days,” he said. “Over time, you begin to learn what things you can accept, in terms of flaws. And that's really what it comes down to. It's often not hard to find the five best-looking horses in a sale. It's locating the ones after that, and deciding what you can live with and what you'll pay.” 
   The mix of his track and sales experience provided Litt an advantageous perspective. “There's sometimes a huge disconnect between the racing and sales world,” he said. “What people will accept as a sales horse, and what you need as a package to present to potential buyers, is often very different from what you need to be successful on the track. From the side view, you always need something that's very athletic. But as far as front-end conformation goes, if you're off a little bit in the sales world, they can crucify you, whereas if you go to the track, you see a lot of good horses who are offset through the knees, toe out or toe in, who are runners. Being on the track, and dealing with the vets and visiting a lot of barns, you realize what you can live with.” 

First Grade I Winner… 
    Litt made his first major yearling purchase for a client in 2006, a daughter of Street Cry (Ire) from the mare Please Sign In (Doc's Leader) who cost $150,000. 
   “It was huge money for me,” he said. “But I saw this filly in Book 2, and I thought she was just amazing. I remember telling my dad, 'Listen, if this filly can't run, then I probably don't need to be doing what I'm doing.'” 
   The filly was Cry and Catch Me, who ran second on debut for Litt's client, was sold privately and transferred to Bob Baffert, and won the GI Oak Leaf S. two starts later. 
   “It was a really defining moment, in my mind,” said Litt. 
   Not all was rosy, however. In 2009, Litt's father fell seriously ill. Litt began making extended trips to California to spend time with him. Ultimately, he decided it was time to strike out on his own. 
   “The people at Three Chimneys were amazingly supportive, but it got to the point where I was gone so often that I didn't want to put them in a bad spot,” he said. “I didn't really have any aspirations to go out on my own, but the timing was right, as far as being able to spend time with my dad.” 
   Around that time, Litt met a college student named Alex Solis II at a party at Del Mar. Solis, the son of respected rider Alex Solis, looked even younger than he was, but Litt had learned to take everybody seriously in the business, and he was impressed by Solis's drive and smarts. The two began doing some work together, with Solis, based in California, focusing on the West Coast and Litt the East. 
   Success came quickly…but in a somewhat circuitous fashion. Litt bought Mizdirection at the 2009 Keeneland September Sale in 2009, but the client for whom her purchased her ran into financial difficulties, and early in her 2-year-old year it was decided to prep her for the juvenile sales. “We gave her to Justin Casse to get her ready for the sale, and he did a great job, because she was waaay behind the eight ball,” said Litt. “He only had her for two months before she went to Fasig-Tipton [May Midlantic Sale].” 
   The filly, unrefined, sold with no reserve. Uninspired bidding prompted Litt and Solis, aware of her raw talent, to jump in and buy her for themselves for $50,000. 
   Mizdirection was a Murphy's Law-type of horse initially, suffering a frustrating series of minor setbacks. But when, in May of her 3-year-old year, she won her turf debut by 11 1/2 lengths, Litt and Solis knew they had a good one on their hands. Not long after, they sold their share to a group of partners led by Jungle Racing's Jim Rome, the popular TV and radio personality. Trained throughout her career by Mike Puype, Mizdirection won 11 of 17 starts and earned over $1.7 million. She was bought at FTKNOV by Al Shaqab Racing. 

Sharing Is Good… 
   Litt and Solis have maintained a strong relationship with Rome, now the majority owner in Shared Belief. That one arrived too late on the scene last fall to himself be a Breeders' Cup player, but nonetheless put together a championship campaign with some late-season heroics. Litt and Solis purchased Shared Belief privately after the gelding won off by seven lengths in his first start at Golden Gate in October. Bought for a partnership including themselves, Jungle Racing, Kevin Nish, Hollendorfer and his longtime partner George Todaro, Shared Belief took the GIII Hollywood Prevue S. by 7 3/4 lengths, then aired by 5 3/4 lengths in the GI CashCall Futurity to remain unbeaten. 
   “He's got such a good mind,” said Litt. “In the CashCall, when Gary Stevens and Candy Boy [Candy Ride {Arg}] made that move before the 3/8th pole and went right past us, a lot of young horses want to go with the horse. But he just sat chilly and waited for Corey [Nakatani, jockey] to tell him to go. It's a testament to the horse's mental state in his third career start.” 
   Plans for this weekend's GII Robert B. Lewis S. were derailed when Shared Belief popped an abscess following his last official work, a five-furlong breeze at Santa Anita Jan. 3. Showing no signs of Derby fever, Litt says he's unsure where Shared Belief will reappear next. 
   “Honestly, I have no idea,” he said. “Like Jerry said, you don't take a horse to the Kentucky Derby, he takes you. Everyone's very realistic and recognizes we're fortunate to have a champion 2-year-old in our possession. That alone is an amazing feat. Now, we'll just sit back and let Jerry do his thing.” 
   While they wait for Shared Belief to make his sophomore bow, and with Mizdirection now retired, Litt and Solis still have a rooting interest at present in the form of Scherzinger, who emerged from Darby Dan's draft at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton February Sale. 
   “Robert Hammond at Darby Dan called me two weeks before the sale and said they had three unraced 2-year-olds in their consignment, and that one of them was really nice,” said Litt. “I went over to the barn, and she was just beautiful. The other two were nothing like her, but she was really powerful and just a specimen. But it was one of those things where not many people where going there looking for racing prospects, especially a 2-year-old that hadn't been broken.” 
Litt, in partnership with Solis, bought Scherzinger for $16,000 and sent her to Rick Lopez in Ocala to be broken. Lopez liked her. The filly moved on to Juan Arias at Calder, and he liked her, too. Scherzinger ran a nice closing second in her debut, and Solis called Hollendorfer and said that they had a filly with some talent. Hollendorfer bought her with Dr. Mark Dedomenico, and Scherzinger has now won four of her last five, including the Jan. 25 Santa Monica. 
   The 4-year-old, out of Dancinandsingin (A.P. Indy), is named after the comely lead singer of the girl group Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger. “I said to Alex when we were naming her, 'Listen, what if she can run? Maybe we'd get a chance to meet Nicole Scherzinger,'” Litt laughed. 
   It hasn't happened yet, but Litt is optimistic his and Solis's good luck could continue. Meanwhile, they'll be back shopping for their next star on Sunday and Monday at Fasig-Tipton.