Keeneland's Inside the Winner's Circle: Game Winner

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

Labor Day may have been closing day of the 2018 Del Mar summer meet, but for owners Gary and Mary West, it would be difficult to view the day as anything other than a gateway to bigger and better things, from start to finish. Not only did their champion 4-year-old colt West Coast (Flatter) register his second timed workout towards a return to action in the early morning hours Monday, but later that afternoon their promising 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) remained undefeated with a comfortable score in the GI Del Mar Futurity– a race which has yielded Classic winners such as American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and Nyquist (Uncle Mo) in recent years.

Taking it all in from the sidelines was Ben Glass, long-time racing manager and bloodstock agent for the Wests. Glass said it was gratifying to see Game Winner follow up a romping 5 3/4-length debut score traveling six furlongs at Del Mar Aug. 18 with a wide-rallying Grade I win in the meet's premier event for juveniles. Just less than one year earlier, Glass signed the ticket to acquire Game Winner on behalf of the Wests for $110,000 at the Keeneland September Sale (video).

Glass recalled that Game Winner was a standout from the moment he saw him at the Lane's End consignment.

“My wife asked me the same thing,” Glass joked when asked what he liked most about Game Winner at Keeneland September. “I said, 'I love them all, or I wouldn't buy them. I don't buy anything I don't love…You know, I loved him. He was an athlete–he looked beautiful. When they walk out like he did and present themselves that well and have that big walk, you have to try to buy them if they pass the vet.”

In retrospect, Game Winner's purchase price seems like a bargain given his lofty accomplishments at a young age–something that Glass partially attributes to the fact his dam, Indyan Giving (A.P. Indy), never made it to the races.

“Jack Werk used to always tell me to never be afraid to buy a horse out of an unraced mare,” Glass said. “I'd take his advice and go to the bank. I've never been afraid to buy a horse out of an unraced mare. As a matter of fact, a lot of the big breeders actually say that mares have more in them if they're unraced. The Aga Khan wouldn't breed a mare after age three…And you can get them a little cheaper, usually.”

Game Winner is the latest success story bred by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Farm (click here for a TDN Weekend feature), which has also bred the likes of top-level scorers Moonshine Memories (Malibu Moon) and McKinzie (Street Sense). As part of Keeneland's September Seller Bonus program, Summer Wind will be awarded $10,000 for Game Winner's Grade I victory at Del Mar.

And what has impressed Glass most about Game Winner's performances on the track?

“We had [GSW & MGISP] Dollar Bill, who I absolutely loved,” Glass said. “But he had one gear, and if something happened, he couldn't get back into that gear. I like horses that you can strategically place–you get them out of there and if they get into trouble, they can still move a little bit…I love this horse's tactical speed. They can push him when they want to, and he can still accelerate from there. Obviously I know sometimes the hole is moving faster than the horse, but that goes with the game. I like what I see so far.”

If tactical speed is a coveted asset, Glass and the Wests know they have it in droves in last year's champion sophomore colt West Coast. A $425,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland September 2015 (video), West Coast paired up Grade I wins in the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby last year and finished a good second in both the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational

Jan. 27 and the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 31 to kick off his 2018 campaign. Unraced since the latter effort, the 4-year-old returned to the worktab at Del Mar Aug. 28 before traveling five furlongs in 1:02.40 Monday.

“He's doing very good,” Glass said. “Bob [Baffert] is really happy. I'm going to knock on wood, but Bob being happy is what counts. We're very happy, but we have a long way to go. He didn't have a major issue, it was just more of a rest we gave him. He didn't have surgery or anything like that, so we're just hoping he comes back with the same mindset quick enough to do something fast before we went to the breeding shed.”

Although Glass understands the suggestion that West Coast has accomplished enough and could easily go straight to the breeding shed, he said he believes the horse has unfinished business on the racetrack.

“We'd like to win another race or two with him and put a few more dollars behind his name,” Glass said. “But we don't try to say we know the stallion business.”

As far as the scope of the Wests' operation goes, Glass said they have consolidated their stock in the hands of four primary trainers. While Baffert trains many of their high-profile runners, East Coast-based Jason Servis trained Actress (Tapit) to a pair of graded stakes victories last year, contributing to a seemingly well-rounded stable.

“We've got four trainers right now, we kind of backed off a bit,” Glass said. “We have Jason Servis on the East Coast and Bob Baffert on the West Coast, and Boyd Caster and Steve Asmussen. We're very happy with the way things are going.”