In Their Footsteps: The Taylor 'Nexters'

Brooks Taylor, Logan Payne, Marshall Taylor, Katie Taylor-Marshall, Joe Taylor and Alex Payne | Laura Donnell photo

by Carly Silver

Editor's Note: In Their Footsteps is an ongoing series on people who have followed their parents into the horse racing industry.

No one knows family better than family–the same goes when it comes to a family farm. In 1976, Joe Taylor and partner Mike Shannon founded Taylor Made Farm, located on a portion of land leased from Gainesway. More than 40 years later, Joe's children and grandchildren have turned a fledgling farm into one of the world's premier studs and sales operations. Leading the charge are the “Nexters,” as Joe's grandchildren and the sons of Taylor Made's vice president of sales Pat Payne call themselves, with cousins Marshall Taylor, Brooks Taylor, Joe Taylor and Katie Taylor-Marshall at the forefront.

Marshall is the son of farm president and CEO Duncan Taylor; Brooks is the son of Ben Taylor, vice president of the stallion operation; and siblings Joe and Katie are the children of Frank Taylor, vice president of boarding operations. And Uncle Mark, vice president of marketing and public sales operations, also has two youngsters of his own.

Just as Joe Sr. trained up his sons on the farm, he started the next generation at an early age.

“Me and my cousins would pick up rocks and take weeds, and that was our first job,” 30-year-old Marshall recalled, reflecting back to his childhood. “He implanted in us the togetherness of our generation.”

Joe, now 29, recalled that farm chores would come after Joe Sr. picked up his grandkids and dropped them off at church on Sundays. While Katie, 31, worked alongside her cousins, she was all about the horses from an early age.

“I got my first miniature horse when I was four,” she reflected. “From that point on, I was hooked. I'd always loved horses. The boys didn't take a whole lot of interest in the horses until they were somewhat older.”

As teens, all the Taylors pitched in at the yearling sales–Katie laughingly remembers taking her first horse, “a thousand-year-old mare,” into the ring at age eleven. By the time they grew to adulthood, their career paths diverged. Marshall loved racing, while Brooks, now 31, wanted to be a farm manager, but eventually realized his passion was in stallions. Joe found his calling with yearlings, while Katie excelled in operations.

Katie attended Kentucky's Midway College. After graduating, she worked for a mini-horse trainer, then at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital as a surgery technician and eventually at Farfellow Farm in Florida. Those wide-ranging experiences made her an ideal candidate to help improve Taylor Made's farm's internal operations in her current role of “really working in grinding the gears,” as she describes it. That includes facilitating communications and assisting the farm and its employees, themselves a family, to prosper.

“I just want to contribute to the bottom line internally,” she explained. “I don't need to be out there selling horses to do it. I can be helping us save.”

But Katie, who dubbed herself and her cousins the “Now-ers,” also brings in revenue. She manages the farm's bloodstock investment package; every year, she raises two to three million dollars and seeks out investors with the intent to buy horses for Taylor Made to sell the following year. She said that last year, this initiative yielded a 17% return for customers.

“If it weren't for our relationship and great clients, Taylor Made would be nowhere,” Katie continued. “It started with a pickup truck and a pitchfork.”

Katie has seen interest in the farm skyrocket since California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit)'s retirement. As of late February, weekend tours are booked through June.

“He's everyman's horse, and he's given us this excellent vehicle just to reach the people from all walks of life and all areas,” she said. “Chrome brings them together. [Visitors see] how well these horses are taken care of and how much they're treasured.”

The family is coming off a banner year with California Chrome's second Horse-of-the-Year campaign. Clients and distant Taylor family members alike showed up at Chrome's big races, which Marshall said he hoped would encourage more prospective owners to get involved.

“Every time, at one of those races–even the [GI] Pegasus [World Cup Invitational], even though it didn't turn out the way we wanted it–I'd say everybody there had a great time, despite the loss,” Marshall observed.

Joe agreed, adding, “It was surreal. We got a horse like this, and chances are there's not going to be a horse like this [that] comes around once in a lifetime, once in every five lifetimes.”

As fiercely passionate about her job as any of her family, Katie has carved out a role for herself in a male-dominated industry. “In our family, and I think in the industry as a whole, in the generations before me…the women didn't have the opportunity to work on the farm,” Katie asserted, citing examples of an increasing female presence in veterinary technician programs. “It's sort of a trend that will be forced, whether the industry is ready for it or not.”

Perhaps those numbers will include Katie's own daughter, 6-year-old Mary Emily (named for Joe Sr.'s wife).

Both Marshall and Joe attended the University of Arizona Racetrack Industry Program. Two years ago, after working for trainers including Todd Pletcher and two-year-old specialist Raul Reyes, Marshall returned to Taylor Made; last year, he spent five months in South America, learning about the best operations in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil. He brings his global connections to his current role as co-manager of Taylor Made's new venture, Medallion Racing, inspired by the farm's success in purchasing portions of already successful runners like California Chrome and 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss). Within the next month, Marshall and partner Phillip Shelton said they plan to acquire pieces of horses to race with their investors. Medallion will buy into racehorses already running at stakes or graded stakes levels, rather than purchasing untested youngsters.

Brooks also expanded his education overseas–he learned hands-on at prominent Australian farm Arrowfield Stud–but it's closer to home where he found his inspiration. He said he particularly admired Taylor Made stallion star Unbridled's Song, whose best son, 'TDN Rising Star' Arrogate, has set the racing world on fire.

“He was big and expensive and he knew it,” Brooks said with a laugh. “It's humbling. You just count the blessings every day and thank God [for] how lucky you've been. That doesn't happen all the time.”

Now a stallion sales assistant, Brooks nurtures bonds with clients; he enjoys not having to put the “hard sell” on Taylor Made's studs, instead getting to “advise people and build relationships more.” That involves checking in with breeders about their mares and foals, seeing which clients are looking to breed mares to a Taylor Made stallion (and advising which horse might suit their operation best), and talking up the farm's studs. He said he was especially excited about California Chrome.

Joe honed his skills as an intern at the Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Center. After working for several trainers and prepping Taylor Made sales horses, he served as WinStar Farm's assistant yearling manager from November 2011 to November 2013.

“I learned a lot about managing, just having to keep track of all that,” Joe noted. “I really got a great experience over there and it was a really big stepping stone, I think, for me as a horseman.”

By successfully merging their diversified interest and skill sets, the “Nexters” have made Taylor Made's future that much brighter.

“It's coming to work every day with people that you've known all your life and they still have the ability to surprise you,” Katie concluded. “Being in a working relationship with them, you get to see them in different facets.”

Consistent with the theme of family bonds, Marshall echoed Katie's sentiments.

“There's something special about being able to go to work every day and seeing your cousins and your family succeed, and I'm grateful to be able to work with them,” he said. “All of them have different special talents and at times it's challenging, but I don't think I'd trade working with them for anything.”

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