Glen Hill Taking A Global Approach

Glen Hill Farm may be best known for campaigning Grade I winners like Marketing Mix (Medaglia d'Oro) and Chiropractor (Kitten's Joy) in the U.S., but the Florida-based operation's principal Craig Bernick has his sights firmly set on Europe.

Bernick, speaking at Keeneland this week during the September Yearling Sale, said he plans to concentrate his racing stable in the U.S. for the foreseeable future, but he admitted acquiring European and other international bloodlines has become an important aspect of his business plan. He has done so by buying a handful of racehorses, foals and yearlings privately and bringing them back to the U.S., as well as sending mares to Ireland to be covered by the likes of Galileo (Ire) and his Classic-winning son Gleneagles (Ire).

I think pedigrees are global and buyers are global now,” Bernick said. “Having been to Australia and to Europe, I think the only market that doesn't think internationally is probably the U.S. So many of the pedigrees work here, and sometimes being able to breed to horses like Galileo and Gleneagles, horses that have worked here–Gleneagles, at least, with his female family through Giant's Causeway–I think really adds an appeal to this market that maybe some other people don't necessarily have.”

Glen Hill was founded in 1966 by Bernick's grandfather, beauty product businessman Leonard Lavin, and has thrived on a business plan that includes breeding to race as well as selling and buying commercially, with a focus on building a world-class broodmare band. Glen Hill reached the pinnacle of the sport in 1994 when its homebred One Dreamer (Relaunch) won the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, and its modern-day flagbearer is the turf filly Marketing Mix, a yearling purchase who won the GI Rodeo Drive S. and GI Gamely S. and was second in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Marketing Mix, now a member of the Glen Hill broodmare band, has a yearling filly by Tapit that was bought by Shadwell for $1.1-million at Keeneland November last year and is in foal to War Front after slipping a foal by that sire last year.

Bernick noted that Glen Hill has three Galileo yearlings that it will race next year. One of those, a colt who is the first foal out of the Grade I-placed Emerald Gold (War Front), was a $725,000 buyback at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale. The others are a filly out of Eversmile (Theatrical), and thus a half-sister to Grade I winners Chiropractor (Kitten's Joy) and Coil (Point Given); and a colt out of Grade II producer Rich In Spirit (Repriced).

“To us it's a global business,” Bernick said. “It's expensive to send the horses back and forth, but if they're a higher level horse, as a percentage of what their value is, it's not that expensive to send them to Europe and cover them if you're talking about a north of $500,000 mare.”

Glen Hill has a pair of private purchases that look to be exciting future additions to its breeding ranks. Earring (Dansili {GB}) broke her maiden for trainer Aidan O'Brien and team Coolmore at Gowran Park in May and finished second in the G2 Kilboy Estate S. in July and made her stateside debut for trainer Tom Proctor on Wednesday, finishing second in an allowance race at Belmont Park. Earring will soon be joined in the Proctor stable by Take A Deep Breath (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}). The 2-year-old broke her maiden at second asking at Naas July 3 and was second in the G2 Silver Flash S. three weeks later. Behind her in third that day was Intricately (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who significantly boosted the race's form with a win in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. last weekend.

“I think we have to go over there and get as good of stock as we can, but Glen Hill Farm is more comfortable racing in this market than we are over there so far,” Bernick explained. “A lot of our best horses run against European-breds almost every race because a lot of them are turf horses, so we truly understand how good their horses are.”

While Bernick is not offering any yearlings at Keeneland, he will be active as a seller during Book 1 of the Tattersalls October yearling sale with lot 493, a colt by Galileo out of Better Not Cry (Street Cry {Ire}) consigned by Highclere Stud. Better Not Cry was bought by Glen Hill in conjunction with Hill 'N' Dale Farm for $800,000 from the Fasig-Tipton November sale in 2013. She is an unplaced daughter of Better Than Honour, whose dynasty includes the GI Belmont S. winners Rags To Riches (A.P. Indy) and Jazil (Seeking The Gold). It is also the immediate family of Group 1 winners Peeping Fawn and Thewayyouare. Better Not Cry produced a Galileo filly this spring and is returning to the U.S. in foal to Gleneagles.

“We're bringing her home this week and we'll breed her either to Curlin, War Front or Tapit,” Bernick noted. “She's by Street Cry out of an international family so she could go either continent.”

The aforementioned War Front is a horse Bernick has been outspoken in his admiration of, and considering Glen Hill's record with the sire, that isn't a surprise. In addition to the Grade I-placed Emerald Gold, Glen Hill has campaigned stakes winners Pontchatrain and Theatre Star by War Front. Glen Hill also enjoyed profitable pinhooks with subsequent stakes winners War Dancer (a $25,000 weanling turned $220,000 yearling) and Giovanni Boldini (a $190,000 weanling pinhooked for $600,000).

“Almost every War Front we've raced has been a really good horse,” Bernick said. “The five War Fronts I've personally had experience with all worked out. I'm sure that'll change now that I'm getting more, but that was my initial experience with the horse. Obviously he's done great internationally with Coolmore.”

Bernick said he thinks the selective nature of War Front's books will allow him to excel as a sire for years to come.

“He's not a stallion that's been bred to 250 mares a year,” he noted. “Once they have four or five crops with that many on the ground, a lot of times they drop off, but he's been at Claiborne Farm so he's been bred to around 100 mares every year. Their best horses, if you look at horses like Danzig and Mr. Prospector, they continued to sire great horses their whole life, and I think a lot of it is because they only covered as much as 100 mares each year. Some of these stallions that have 2500 foals, their percentages as they get older really drop off, even if the quality of the mares goes up.”

Europe isn't the only foreign frontier Glen Hill is testing out. Bernick made his first-ever visit to Australia in June of this year to visit the Magic Millions National Sale, where he bought one mare. Glen Hill is also a partner in a pair of mares purchased by John Sikura from the Teeley dispersal at the same sale two years ago.

“I think it's a great business because they're so excited about racing in Australia and they actually have lots of fans going to the races for all their main race meets,” Bernick said. “The racing being part of the national consciousness is a huge benefit to their market. I think that's what's most exciting to me. It's racing-based first, and the commercial side comes behind it. Here, the people that race and are involved in the business, their interests should be aligned, but I think a lot of times the racing people tell the sales people how the business will be and vice-versa. They seem to be much better aligned over there, so that's what I like about it.”

Bernick said he'd like to see the Glen Hill silks on Australian racetracks, but for now he is concentrating his racing efforts in the U.S.

“We don't rule any countries, but we're really trying to build the farm for the long term first in the U.S., and then a little bit in Europe, but I kind of consider that the same market, and Australia a different animal,” he explained. “So I'd love to [race in Australia], I'm just not sure how far our resources will go for our business until we really start doing as well as I want to here.”