By Ben Massam
With nearly 350 horses in the stable at any given moment, it is rare to find a date on the calendar when Richard and Karen Papiese's Midwest Thoroughbreds does not have a runner competing or set to compete.
On opening weekend at Keeneland, the focus of the successful owners will be on the two homebred stars of their stable. Last year's champion sprinter and reigning GI Breeders' Cup Sprint hero Work All Week (City Zip) will attempt to defend his title in the GIII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. Friday, while recent GI Arlington Million winner The Pizza Man (English Channel) is set to run in Saturday's GI Shadwell Turf Mile. Both events are ostensibly final preps for the Breeders' Cup championships to be held at Keeneland Oct. 30 and 31.
“It's hard to describe,” reflected Richard Papiese when asked about the opportunity to showcase his pair of Illinois-breds at the highest level. “It's great. I don't know if I have words to describe winning races like the Arlington Million and the Breeders' Cup last year, and to have a shot to do it again this year. It's all good, and I'm just tickled.”
Although this weekend's events stand alone as desirable races to win, Papiese has an eye for the future–particularly with The Pizza Man, who is slated to complete in the Nov. 29 G1 Japan Cup after his engagement in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf.
“You go into every race trying to win the race, but you want to do what's best for the horse,” remarked the owner. “The biggest thing is for the horse to come out of the race good.”
With that in mind, Papiese said he consulted with trainer Roger Brueggemann following The Pizza Man's score in the 10-furlong Million and ultimately decided that a cut-back to one mile made the Shadwell an ideal final prep for the World Championships. The shorter race was deemed preferable to a likely more taxing contest such as Belmont's GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.
“The Pizza Man is already in the Breeders' Cup,” Papiese asserted. “It would be nice to win the Shadwell and we think we fit, even though it's a cut-back and people are going to think, 'Gee, why do they want to go a mile?' He holds the track record at Arlington for a mile. People forget that when he was a young horse, that's what he ran. He can go anywhere from a mile to forever, so it really doesn't matter. He'll be fine.”
If Work All Week's 2015 campaign has been workmanlike compared to the three-for-three record of The Pizza Man, Papiese said he is thankful to have the opportunity to campaign a defending champion in the Phoenix and possibly the Breeders' Cup.
“Obviously there will be more emphasis for Work all Week [this weekend],” said Papiese, acknowledging that the gelding has won once [Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial S. at Mountaineer Aug. 1] from three starts in 2015. “He's in a position where he may need this race to qualify for the Breeders' Cup. We're not sure how it's going to shake out. You control your own destiny here. If you win the race, you're in the Breeders' Cup.”
In many ways, The Pizza Man and Work All Week are embodiments of Midwest Thoroughbreds' increasing emphasis on quality over quantity. Papiese quipped that he is not an “action junkie,” unlike what some might expect from someone who heads an operation that has sent out nearly 2,300 winners since 2003.
“I love the business and I love the industry,” he explained. “It just gets to the point where you're responsible for everything that goes through your barn. When it's time to retire all these horses and find other jobs for them, it's a full-time commitment and we want to do everything the right way. It got to the point where it was just overwhelming.”
As such, the once claiming-centric stable is in the process of refining its breeding stock and becoming more active at the sales with an eye for higher-level runners.
“We had a pretty good Keeneland sale,” Papiese continued. “We're down to a handful of mares–they're in Kentucky right now. We have about three solid mares out of a broodmare band of about 40 something when we started.”
Papiese concluded, “The emphasis has been on quality for a little bit. As I told everybody over the last year and change, it's going to take a little while. We're not turning around a jet ski, we're turning around a barge.”
While Papiese is understandably thrilled at the immediate prospect of running homebreds in the Breeders' Cup or Japan Cup, the results of Monday's racing further illustrated why the owner has reason to be optimistic about the future beyond the championship season. Midwest Thoroughbreds and trainer Jamie Ness sent out three juveniles to victory at three different tracks. Jay's Way (Gone Astray) and homebred She's Lethal (Mass Media) each earned their second career victory in optional claiming events at Delaware and Presque Isle, respectively, while Rolin With Olin (Talent Search), owned in partnership with Jagger Inc., won impressively on debut at Parx.
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