A decades-long breeding partnership between Ashview Farm in central Kentucky and Richard Santulli's Colts Neck Stables took them to a remarkable place June 11, when two horses they bred finished 1-2 in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).
The partners bred Belmont winner Mo Donegal , a son of Uncle Mo, who took command at the top of the Belmont Park stretch and rolled past pacesetter We the People to win by three lengths, and also bred the Curlin filly Nest, who overcame a stumble at the break to finish second.
"Deep down, you allow yourself the hope but then you realize it is never really going to happen—and then it did," said Bryan Lyster, who helps manage his family's Ashview Farm with his brother Gray. "I would have been ecstatic just to have one of them there.
"I thought they were both sitting in awesome spots throughout the race and coming out of the turn, I thought it was their race to lose," he continued. "I didn't know at that point if it would be Mo Donegal or Nest to win but I knew they would be right there. I was really impressed with the way Mo Donegal won it like he had something left."
Ashview Farm is owned by Wayne and Muffy Lyster, who bought the 350-acre farm near Versailles, Ky., in 1978. The farm was originally owned by General Marquis Calmes who was a great friend of French General Gilbert du Motier, known as Marquis de Lafayette, during the American Revolution.
Santulli is the former CEO and chairman of NetJets and is considered the father of fractional jet ownership. For more than 30 years he's been involved in all aspects of Thoroughbred breeding and racing and has been a close friend to Wayne Lyster.
The two friends began their partnership as breeders in 1997 after Wayne Lyster bought an Ogygian mare named Myth at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $350,000. Lyster and Jayeff "B" Stables (the nom de course of Santulli's partnership with George Prussin) co-bred multiple grade 1 winner Johannesburg, the first foal out of Myth. The colt by Hennessy sold for $200,000 as a yearling and went on to win the 2001 Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) on his way to earning Eclipse honors as champion 2-year-old male. He also took his owners—Michael Tabor and Susan Magnier—to the Kentucky Derby (G1), where he finished eighth.
Ashview and Colts Neck Stables have not been represented by another American classic starter that they bred together since Johannesburg, until this year. They have, however, produced their share of other elite runners, including grade 1 winner Sweet Loretta, grade 3 winners Market Rally and Lilah, and stakes winners The Missing Key, Watchyourownbobber, Whitewaterspritzer, and Wyatt's Town.
Breeding just under Colts Neck Stables, Santulli bred his first classic winner when Oxbow won the 2013 Preakness Stakes (G1) for owner Calumet Farm. Meanwhile, the Lysters have on their own bred grade 1 winner, champion sprinter, and sire Runhappy ; multiple graded stakes winners Lu Ravi and Bound for Nowhere; and, grade 3 winner At the Half, among other stakes winners.
Ashview and Colts Neck began ramping up their broodmare purchases about 12 years ago and the partnership now accounts for approximately 75% of the mares the Lysters buy each year.
Mo Donegal and Nest's paths to the Belmont Stakes both began with homebred mares acquired from Leonard Riggio's My Meadowview Farm.
Mo Donegal's dam, the winning Pulpit daughter Callingmissbrown, was bought privately from Riggio in 2017 after she had won two of four starts at 4. Without any black-type credentials as a racehorse, she was an affordable and attractive mare out of a good family. Callingmissbrown is out of grade 1 winner Island Sand and a half sister to multiple grade 1-placed winner Maya Malibu and stakes-placed winner Midnite Poppa.
"We put a premium on physicals, and she is a really nice physical. We've also had several Pulpit mares and done well with them, so that was certainly a factor," said Lyster.
Callingmissbrown was bred to Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo because the mare and sire were compatible physically, and the stallion had proven himself in spades by leading his sire class during their first-, second-, and third-crop years. The mating produced Mo Donegal.
Nest is out of A.P. Indy stakes winner Marion Ravenwood, who won four of her 10 career starts and earned black-type by winning the 2011 Capades Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack. My Meadowview entered her in the 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale as part of Denali Stud's consignment, and Ashview bought her for $400,000.
"She has a nice pedigree, but at the time she wasn't fully made as a broodmare. Still, we paid $400,000 for her. We have stretched beyond that on a handful of mares but that's generally the top end of where we're landing," Lyster said.
A strong selling point for the mare was her standout yearling colt by Curlin, who grew up to be grade 1 winner Idol . After the Lysters saw Idol as a yearling, they bred Marion Ravenwood back to Hill 'n' Dale Farms' Curlin and got Nest.
This year Callingmissbrown was bred back to and is in foal to Uncle Mo, and Marion Ravenwood has been confirmed in foal to Curlin.
"How does it get any better?" Lyster said. "Rich is my dad's best friend and his wife, Peggy, is my mom's best friend. Aside from the business relationship, is the friendship they've had that long. Also, we have a dozen or 15 mares every year, so to have this happen out of one crop is incredibly exciting."
