Megan Jones' Passion for Horses Continues to Blossom

Following eight years with Team Valor, Megan Jones is growing her imprint on the Thoroughbred industry. As the CEO and owner of Arnmore Thoroughbreds, Jones continues to develop turf horses such as Galway Stakes winner Poppy Flower. But recently, Jones joined another syndicate as vice president—Flying Partners—which seeks to bring new owners into the sport and make sure that they have an educational and positive experience. Growing up in the rural South Carolina town of Gresham, Jones began reading BloodHorse at an early age, hiding it in her spelling homework and diving into it once her work was complete. Her passion for horses continued through middle and high school as she showed hunters and jumpers, an experience she believes gave a useful foundation for racehorses. A lover of turf racing, Jones' dream would be to bring a horse to Royal Ascot. But she added American grass racing doesn't get the credit that it should. MarketWatch: Congratulations on Poppy Flower's win in the Galway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. What's next for her? Megan Jones: That was not unbelievable because she's a really neat horse, but from the perspective of having bred her all the way through. It was beyond anything I could have hoped for. I think she'll go to Kentucky Downs Sept. 11 if she's well, which she seems to be. MW: When did your love of horses begin? MJ: I grew up in a place called Gresham, S.C., which is very rural. There was not a lot out there so horses were my best friend. We just had a working farm. Out there it was horses and books. By the time I was seven, I was taking the BloodHorse and reading everything I could get my hands on. I just thought that the racetrack was the most magical place in the world. And I still do. There was no real rhyme or reason for it as to where it came from. I just loved horses and I loved reading and once I got into that world, even through that, I was hooked. MW: How did you get your start in the racing industry? MJ: I went to Clemson and did my undergrad and Master's in marketing. I actually graduated with my Master's in 2008 when the economy wasn't great. I was at the time happy to have any job and I was just sending my resume around basically telling people when you get back to hiring, I'm here. … Team Valor's administrative assistant was pregnant and they would need some help in the office. So I started as a fill-in for the administrative assistant and worked my way up to vice president, which is very useful now at the two syndicates because I've actually done every single job related to managing partnerships. And while I was there, I started Valor Ladies, which was the first all-lady syndicate in horse racing at that time, at least that I knew of here in America. MW: What can you tell me about your breeding program, Arnmore? MJ: I've kept a couple of those mares to breed. That group is like the same group of people owning across almost all the horses. So they have a lot of continuity and experience; it's a nice tight group. We've all been together for so long and they allow me a lot of creative liberties whether we're breeding or racing or buying, they'll blind commit before I buy a horse, which I'm very grateful for. And I think breeding is such a long-term exercise in patience. It's well-suited to partners who have been together for a while and have already been through all the ups and downs at the track. I would like to keep building the stable. We're adding fillies at the yearling sales and then we'll keep adding broodmares but I like to breed mares that we've raced because I think it's easier to know what you wish to reinforce and what you may wish to adjust or strengthen when you've had that experience with the mare at the track all those years. So, when I'm adding brood mares, I'm adding them as yearlings ahead of their racing careers. Fillies like Poppy Flower we'll obviously keep to breed which is very exciting. So I'm just trying to slowly build that foundation that we have. I love breeding. I think there's nothing like when you've raised a horse since it was 10 days old and it goes out. … There's so many different aspects of the industry that are rewarding. And I think breeding is one. I love the sales just as much, too, but it's certainly special when you have a homebred go out there and do something like the way the Poppy Flower's done. MW: Isn't that really how the sport gets to continue to grow when you bring in new owners? MJ: Exactly. It's one thing to tell them what time their horses are racing or training but it's another to try to actually bring them in and educate them and make them feel like they're part of the family. Horse racing has a space for them. Over the course of years, there are a lot of ups and downs in owning racehorses. So when you're new to it, I think partners need to understand the process. One of my favorite times of year is actually Saratoga because you get to share the experience with everyone. It's like Christmas with your horse family. But my other is Ocala because I like the yearlings, 2-year-olds and I go down there and video horses and their lessons about every two or three weeks and actually explain to partners how the horses are being developed, because anytime a horse actually walks in a starting gate for the first time, there's so much going into that. I think as an owner, and especially a new owner in this sport, if they're able to appreciate everything that goes into the horse and all the hands that have been on that horse before their first start, you have a lot greater shot at keeping owners in the game throughout the ups and downs. MW: What is your philosophy on running a successful partnership? MJ: With Arnmore, we've been together for so long and had so much success on the grass and that group has become so aligned. We're just on the same page as far as where we're going and where we're coming from. With Flying Partners, when you get a new partner coming in, inquiring about horses, I try to balance maybe what their dreams are with also a practical way to start though. Maybe we go buy an equal number of dirt and turf horses. And then I also encourage people coming in to balance their colts with fillies of residual value. Some people just like to go and pick their own horses from your offerings. But if people will take advice from me, I'll try to offer it so that they do it in a way that can provide longevity to them as a partner. MW: It sounds like your approach is not that dissimilar from a financial planner. MJ: Exactly. I would try to treat each partner as if I were handling a portfolio for them of their horses in the same way that I would treat my own. From there they can take their ambitions and go in one direction or the other but at least we've had the discussion. MW: How did Flying Partners come to be? MJ: I did really miss introducing new people into the game because I've been in those shoes myself at one point. It wasn't like I was raised in horse racing. I love bringing new people into the sport and showing them around and trying to ensure they have a really thorough educational experience. So this past fall, I got together with Danny Gargan and Jay Provenzano, we decided to put together a partnership where basically I would put in the work of the syndicate since I know how that works now from front to back. And then Jay would put in the marketing so that it was not tied into the cost of the horses. We would aim to bring new people in the sport and make sure that they had a really positive experience. Especially in New York racing, which we all love. And I just find that's really rewarding to me. People have varying levels of time available but when they can I like to take them to the backside for morning training. I think as with any endeavor the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. So I like to bring people in hold their hands a little bit as they get started and try to ensure that we have owners in this sport. If we have a new partner who comes in and we're their first experience in horse racing and then they go on to end up owning horses on their own, I am always so immensely proud of that. Because it means I did my job correctly. MW: What are some of your favorite tracks to race at? MJ: Saratoga is really important to us, we actually have a lot of people with both partnerships who reside for summer in Saratoga. … I get excited to go to Kentucky Downs. I think that that track lends itself to a more European type course, and my homebreds are out of European mares and they tend to be more agile types that can handle that course. I will also buy a horse like that at value when I can because I already have the prototype in place where I like that and that works for me. Poppy Flower actually ran her 2-year-old speed figure there last year (in the Ainsworth Stakes). So I'm hoping she can go back there and do that again as a 3-year-old. MW: She's in pretty good hands with trainer Bill Mott. MJ: (Mott) has done a tremendous job with her. She found her new style with him. She takes her races very well. I'm just so proud of her. She's such a happy horse. I think you have a little bit of an advantage, too, when you breed them. They tend to stay the same a little bit, so I go visit them at the farms a lot when they're young and out in the pasture and the herd and see what they're like as an individual and what they do in a group of horses and she really stayed true to who she was from the beginning. She's a happy horse; she's never had a bad day. She just loves the game.