Deann Baer grew up showing Arabians and Half-Arabians nationally, purely in love with the horse and what it could do for his owner. She then met and married her husband, Greg Baer, DVM, raised three successful children, and was ready to fill her empty nest. A lunch date with a client of Dr. Baer sparked what is now an obsession with knowledge and a successful small-scale breeding endeavor that has produced two Breeders' Cup runners, a dream she never imagined as a young equestrian.
"I had always thought that Thoroughbred breeding was more of a 'blue blood' industry and something that was out of reach for me, financially," explained Deann, who along with her husband was named the 2020 Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association/Indiana Breed Development Breeder of the Year.
She started going to the Keeneland sales, watching each horse pass through the walking ring and talking with whomever she could to try to absorb as much information as possible.
"When I was riding Arabs, I was pretty much self-taught, and the same can be said with breeding—there's just so much information, and so much to learn, it intrigued me," Deann said.
One of her first experiences with ownership was thanks to a new friend met at a sale, who asked Deann to claim a horse at Turfway Park for $4,000. Just 30 days later, that horse, Why Fly, won at Keeneland's 2009 fall meet.
"That will put a hook in you real quick," said Deann.
Student of the Sales
Deann and her husband of 38 years started breeding racehorses in 2007, working with foaling farms in Indiana and Kentucky at first, swapping the Arabians for Thoroughbreds at their quaint farm in Columbus, Ind. Each breeding and each foaling was a new learning experience for Deann.
"At first, I was OK with selling our foals individually to break even, just to get them out there and see if we could raise a racehorse," she admitted. "We weren't thinking very grand…"
"She met so many people when she first started attending the sales," said Greg. "They took her under their wings, and the more she learned, the more she was hooked. Now I think she loves the Thoroughbreds more than me, so we just keep getting more!"
Inquisitive, Deann loves working with different consignors and selling at different sales, noting that each has a unique attribute that she loves. The Baer home is filled with sale catalogs that Deann collects to review and take notes of each horse going through the major sales.
"She'll get the Keeneland books and study every single horse listed, noting their sire and dam, race history … she just loves it," said Greg. "She absorbs all the information and it helps her make breeding decisions. Like anything else, you have to put the learning time in, in order to make it out on the other end."
Breeding to Sell
A student of numbers and a realist, Deann is aware of the total cost it takes to get a foal to the racetrack. It's because of this the couple takes a three-step approach to their business. The first is that they breed for the sales ring, mostly selling their foals as weanlings.
"It's never been our desire to race," said Deann. "It's more fun to stay home and watch our babies run."
The Baers enjoy watching their foals hit the sales ring as weanlings and then see how they develop. They're more than happy to see a foal of theirs sell for a reasonable price as a weanling, then come back as a yearling and at least double their original sale price.
"It's stuff like that that is just incredible to us," said Deann.
Second, the couple tries to breed to as many first- and second-year stallions as they can, in an effort to take advantage of lower starting prices and jump at the popularity of the new stallions. The Baers have had success breeding to freshman stallions such as Commissioner and Overanalyze.
"I usually breed two mares to every first-year stallion that I can," said Deann. "That's for marketability—the market will gamble on a first-year horse that not many know about. You never know what the new stallions will produce."
The Baers praise Kentucky farms such as WinStar, Spendthrift, Darby Dan, and Coolmore's Ashford Stud for working with them each breeding season.
"Looking back and thinking how much (those) farms have helped us has just been incredible," said Deann. "I feel very blessed that the people in this industry have shared their knowledge with me like they have. You couldn't tell me I'd be doing this 15 years ago."
And, finally, the couple looks at lucrative regional programs such as Indiana, Arkansas, and New York, and decides which mares will foal where. However, their biggest support tends to be in their home state.
"I think people can now look at an Indiana-bred and see value in them," stated Deann. "I can't say that has been the case until the last few years."
The couple tries to track their babies throughout their careers, eager to watch them race on the television, but three horses have captured their attention the most. Two of them are half siblings out of their Tactical Cat mare, Adore You, both of which have raced at the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
"It just wasn't in our thought process at all, raising a Breeders' Cup horse, let alone two of them. I don't think we would have thought that in a million years," said Deann.
Originally bought for $60,000 from the Bluewater Sales consignment at the 2015 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale by Roma Bloodstock, Piedi Bianchi (Overanalyze) made a big splash in California, breaking her maiden on her second start at Del Mar, then hitting the board in her next two starts in grade 1 stakes races. She ended up finishing fifth in the 2017 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
Since then, the filly, now owned by Jay Oringer, Jack Bick, Adam Bayroff, Mike Maturo, and Al Bianchi Racing, has placed in multiple graded stakes races, won the 2020 Correction Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, and is a two-time winner of the Frances Slocum Stakes at Indiana Grand. Recently named the 2020 Indiana Horse of the Year, she has amassed lifetime earnings of more than $650,000, placing her second among all-time Indiana-bred mares.
In 2020, Outadore (Outwork ) was just beaten by a neck for second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America (G1T). The colt, owned by Mike Hall and Sam Ross' Breeze Easy, has earned nearly $470,000 and won the Animal Kingdom Stakes at Turfway Park in March.
Outadore was sold to Ted Campion for $140,000 from the Wynnstay Sales consignment at the 2018 Keeneland November sale.
Finally, the Baers have celebrated the success of their Indiana-bred gelding, Two Last Words (Commissioner—My Peg, by Fusaichi Pegasus), a 4-year-old they race with trainer Tim Glyshaw. Two Last Words is a winner of more than $211,000 and two black-type stakes races so far.
"He's been fun to celebrate not only as his breeders, but his owners," said Greg.
Student Becomes the Teacher
As a way of paying it forward, the Baers have started to take new breeders under their wing, introducing them to the benefits of regional breeding programs. Taking an approach much like managed ownership groups, Deann enjoys sharing the fun of breeding with others by participating in partnerships on stallions and offering co-breedership to new breeders so they can learn more about the industry without a big commitment.
"We have had so many partnerships with people with show horse backgrounds as well as those who are just not sure how to work the market. It's really been fun to pay it forward and show people the way in Thoroughbred breeding," said Deann.
