Keeneland Breeder Spotlight

His grandfather gave him an allowance, a dollar a week. But he wanted to know how the boy planned to spend it, and didn't like it when he put a nickel into a pinball machine--even though you could win free games if you were any good. "You don't get anything for your nickel," his grandfather complained. "Well, I get a free game," the boy replied. "If you bet on a dog or a horse, at least you have the opportunity to make some money if you're a good handicapper." So...

"Phil," he told his son. "No Tackett ever gave $95,000 for a horse. We're in pretty precarious territory here." Partly, of course, that was simply a matter of inflation. By the 2014 Keeneland January Sale, Paul Tackett had already been selling horses for half a century. From his first Keeneland consignment, in 1961, he sold six yearlings for $6,100 and imagined himself rich. Even so, the bid felt uncomfortably steep-albeit Morrow Cove (Yes It's True), carrying a first foal by Big Brown, was a big young mare with two stakes...

Not too many graded stakes winners are raised in the same paddocks as Arabian horses; even fewer can have done so in East Texas. But if it's the horse that makes the horsemen, then perhaps dealing with more than one breed teaches us that there may also be more than one way to get things done. Besides raising stock of both breeds at Centurion Stud, Eric and Randi Moreau-Sipiere also operate an international export service, principally to the Middle East and Europe. Their charges tend to fly in bays of...

A good ranch horse was worth its weight in gold. They needed to be able to withstand long hours navigating rocky, unforgiving terrain beneath the blazing Arizona sun. With six to eight cowboys riding out daily at H and E Ranch, there never seemed to be enough horses to meet demand. So Elena Crim set out to breed her own stock. She focused on producing sound, sturdy Quarter Horses that could not only tolerate the harsh conditions, but thrive in them. As it turned out, Crim's lifelong passion for horses...

Their first real introduction was at the 1997 Keeneland September Sale. Naoya was working with Dr. Dave Fishback at Hagyard and Marie was scouting yearlings for her fledgling Hong Kong-based bloodstock agency. Things got off to a rather awkward start when Marie approached the Hagyard team to hand off her vet's list and Naoya asked to take a look at the hip numbers. Not knowing Naoya worked for the veterinary practice, Marie guessed he was a rival buyer fishing for intel. "I was not very nice to him," Marie admitted...

Precocious kid, streaks ahead of his peers, brought crashing to earth? Hang in there, boy. Because if that's pretty much where the champion juvenile finds himself, heading into the GI Kentucky Derby off a disappointing run at Santa Anita, he need not seek far for inspiration. Robert Low bred Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) with his wife Lawana from their mare No Joke (Distorted Humor), who had cost them $750,000 as a yearling at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale--just days after her half-sister Moonshine Memories (Malibu Moon) had won the GI...

Adam Corndorf isn't afraid to admit that he has never been to the Kentucky Derby, but the reason behind his skipping the iconic event--even after living in Kentucky for the past 15 years--offers some insight into the tenacious drive and determined strategy that define his leadership of Blue Heaven Farm. "I've always said I'm not going until we have something connected to a horse that is running," explained Corndorf. "We've never had a horse run at Churchill on the Friday or Saturday of Derby weekend, but I'm hoping that we...

Three Grade I winners off the farm in 2024, out of a broodmare band of no more than 28--with dams respectively by Giant Gizmo, Majestic Warrior and Silent Name (Jpn). How do you pull off something like that? Well, Kiki Courtelis makes the customary acknowledgement of luck, and further professes a trust in divine dispensation. She also enthuses about her team at Town and Country. But just as the farm's name reconciles polarities, so its success reflects an inherited ability to turn a question inside out until it becomes an...

Richard Rigney says that nothing in life gives him a bigger kick than his horses. To understand just what that means, it might help to know his idea of a vacation. A few years ago, for instance, he went on a shooting range in Russia. Not that startling, perhaps: this was obviously before the war in Ukraine. It's just the caliber of the ordnance that was a little unusual. "Shooting a bazooka is so fun," Rigney says. "My wife Tammy was like, 'You know what? I think it's okay that...

They call it "nominative determinism." Your name suggests your path in life: like the world's fastest man being a Bolt. On that basis, you would say that being born a Goodman raises expectation enough--without then going ahead and buying yourself a farm named Mt. Brilliant. The last year or so, however, suggests that things are playing out much as they should. Last September, TOBA presented Greg Goodman with the Robert N. Clay Award for his work in preserving horse country around Lexington from development. In April, the KTA/KTOB honored him...