Michael Matz

Joss Saville has joined Jim and Dana Bernhard's Pin Oak Stud team as farm trainer. Saville, who will be responsible for the breaking and pre-training of Pin Oak's young horses, has served as an assistant to GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Michael Matz for the last 12 years. "It was a really hard decision to leave Michael. He is a true horseman and I am grateful for all the knowledge he passed along to me," Saville said. "I consider myself very lucky to have spent so long working alongside him, his...

Longtime owner and breeder Helen Groves passed away last Friday at her home in San Antonio, Texas. She was 94. Groves's love of horses began while she was growing up on the historic King Ranch founded by her great-grandfather, Captain Richard King. A skilled rider, she raised and campaigned many champion cutting horses. Known as the "First Lady of Cutting," Groves was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1998. She also owned Grand Prix jumpers ridden by Olympian Michael Matz. Groves's passion for breeding and racing on her...

A Christmas Eve fire completely destroyed a barn at Fair Hill Training Center. The barn houses an outpatient veterinary clinic operated by Dr. Kathleen Anderson and is used part of the year by trainer Michael Matz, but was empty at the time of the fire. "We appear to have lost everything, but fortunately no horses or people were involved," Anderson told Paulick Report. "There was a lot of diagnostic equipment: X-rays, ultrasound, the pharmacy, plus medical records." Also suffering a barn fire over the holiday weekend was Glencrest Farm. The...

The concept of the super trainer is by no means a new phenomenon in horse racing, but the huge stables run by super trainers have undoubtedly changed the landscape of the sport in many ways, from the backside to the racing entries. Are super trainers bad for the sport?  Are there any benefits for an owner in using a "smaller" trainer? We asked these questions and more to a few trainers who may not be considered super trainers in terms of their stall numbers, but they have made the most...

A filly by Bernardini out of Mystic Love (Not For Love) was selected as grand champion of the 86th annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association's Yearling Show, held Sunday in Timonium.  Bred by GreenMount Farm in partnership with Godolphin, the champion filly was the winner of Class IV (for fillies foaled in Maryland, by out-of-state sires). She was shown by Sabrina Moore, manager and co-owner of GreenMount. A total of 67 yearlings in four classes were judged by two-time Classic-winning trainer and Hall of Fame Show Jumping rider Michael Matz. "I...

Two-time classic-winning trainer Michael Matz will judge the 86th annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association Yearling Show. Open to all yearlings eligible for Maryland-bred registration, the show has been rescheduled for 2020 and will be held Sunday, July 19 at the Maryland State Fairgounds' Horse Show Ring in Timonium. Entries are due by June 20. Based at Fair Hill Training Center, Matz is responsible for undefeated 2006 GI Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and GI Belmont S. hero Union Rags. Matz also trained multiple Grade I-winning turf runner Kicken Kris, GI Breeders'...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/8mT, 2:34 p.m. ET The well-bred Follow the Flag (Tapit) makes her debut here for Skara Glen Stables and trainer Michael Matz. The $675,000 KEENOV weanling is out of Grade I winner Mushka (Empire), herself a $1.6-million FTSAUG yearling; $2.4-million KEENOV '08 seller; and $650,000 KEENOV '16 graduate while carrying Follow the Flag. Mushka is a granddaughter of MGISW Lakeway (Seattle Slew). Follow the Flag shows an ubeat series of drills, mostly of late over the Palm Meadows sod--click...

One week from tomorrow Fasig-Tipton kicks off the 2015 North American yearling market with the Kentucky July yearling sale, in which 40 years ago this year, Seattle Slew sold as a yearling for $17,500 to Karen and Mickey Taylor, and it's been producing good horses ever since. This year 332 yearlings are catalogued--a 25% increase on last year's 265--to be followed by around 100 horses of racing age, minus withdrawals, plus 'wild cards'. Fasig catalogued 258 yearlings in 2013, significantly down from the 338 catalogued in 2012. That year 189...