Horse racing can be a euphoric and yet humbling experience.
What seems certain one day can change in the bat of an eye and lead someone down a much longer and difficult road than expected.
For both trainer Phil Serpe and owner Dr. Robert Vukovich, their forward trajectory in the sport looked much different in the 1990s than it turned out to be.
Back then, at the age of 34, Serpe registered a grade 1 victory when Birdonthewire won the 1993 Vosburgh Stakes (G1). It was Serpe's seventh graded stakes win—and second grade 1 win—in the course of two racing seasons and his future seemed exceedingly bright.
"I thought I was going places," Serpe recalled.
Meanwhile in the late 1990s, Vukovich, who owned a prosperous pharmaceutical company, tapped into a childhood interest in horse racing while growing up in New Jersey and entered into a partnership with a few business associates and friends.
One of his first horses was Raffie's Majesty, a New York-bred who was second in the 1998 Flamingo Stakes (G3), third in the Travers Stakes (G1), and fifth in the Belmont Stakes (G1). The experience encouraged him to become more involved in ownership and breeding his own horses.
"I thought I was going to breed the next Secretariat," Vukovich said.
As it turned out, those grandiose plans failed to materialize for either of them.
Traveling separate paths, it took them decades to savor success at the grade 1 level.
Serpe built a solid career in the New York/New Jersey region. He worked for stables and owners such as Fred Hooper and Flying Zee Stables and according to Equibase—working mostly with New York-breds, allowance horses, and claimers—he has won 1,063 races and amassed earnings of slightly more than $33 million. Yet throughout his career there have been gaps of 14 years and 11 years without a graded stakes win. From 1995 through 2021, he posted five grade 3 wins.
"When we get the right horse, we're as good as anyone out there," Serpe said. "But you have to be supplied with those good horses. I've worked for some good people who did a lot of breeding and racing and they can get you some nice horses, but not a stream of grade 1 caliber horses."
Vukovich bought a property in Colts Neck, N.J., that he named WellSpring Farm, and began racing as WellSpring Stables with his wife, Laura. In the course of the last 16 years, he accumulated 103 wins and earnings of $5.4 million from a modest string that now numbers 15 in racing stock, with eight yearlings and five weanlings.
Yet it wasn't until he began picking out weanlings and yearlings to buy privately or at sales and he teamed with Serpe about five years ago that those dusty grade 1 dreams became a reality for two small scale horsemen.
A year after Serpe and Vukovich teamed to win the 2021 Queen's Plate, Canada's most famous race, with Safe Conduct, it was Leave No Trace that brought owner and trainer into the grade 1 spotlight when she won the Sept. 4 Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. The fleet 2-year-old filly gave Vukovich his initial graded stakes win with WellSpring and Serpe his first grade 1 victory in 29 years.
"It's great to have a filly like her," Serpe said. "But mostly I am happy for the Vukovichs. They are very good, down-to-earth people and I'm happy for them."
Vukovich was equally happy to have a role in returning Serpe to the winner's circle after a grade 1 stakes.
"I'm excited for Phil. It's been a long drink of water for him. I'm very lucky to have Phil Serpe as my trainer. He provides a lot of counseling and transforms these horses into running machines. He's a good communicator and his whole team is great," the 79-year-old Florida resident said.
While the glow of the Spinaway is still burning bright, Leave No Trace will get her final dress rehearsal for a start in the $2 million NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Oct. 2 when the $40,000 purchase faces six rivals in the $400,000 Frizette Stakes (G1) at Belmont at Aqueduct Racetrack, a race that has produced three of the last four Juvenile Fillies winners.
"Leave No Trace is a grade 1 winner and heading to the Frizette," Vukovich said. "I told my wife the other day to pinch me. I have to be dreaming. It can't be true. After all this time, we have a grade 1 winner in her second start and we're looking at a 'Win and You're In' spot in the Breeders' Cup. It can't be any more exciting. If by some miracle she can somehow pull it off, and she has the speed to do it, I'll be in Seventh Heaven."
While a victory in the mile-long "Win and You're In" Frizette would assure the 2-year-old daughter of Outwork a free spot in the Juvenile Fillies, her victory in the Spinaway already earned her $30,000 in Breeders' Cup fees as it was a "Dirt Dozen" stakes. The Spinaway, which came on the heels of a July 20 debut win at the Spa, also showcased great promise as she captured the seven-furlong test by 1 1/2 lengths over favored Wonder Wheel.
"She was showing us a lot before we left Belmont Park and headed to Saratoga. She was turning in impressive works," said Serpe, who has a string of 20 horses in New York. "We saw some speed in her but I've had some fast horses in the morning who retire as maidens. You just don't know how they will do. We didn't know what to expect in the Spinaway but she showed she has something special and we're very grateful. Looking at her pedigree all of the horses have run long, so we're welcoming the additional distance.
"It's exciting to think about the Breeders' Cup," said the 63-year-old Serpe, whose third and most recent Breeders' Cup starter was Pure Gossip, who was seventh in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G2T). Birdonthewire was sixth and 11th in two Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) starts. "But let's get through Sunday first. I know you have to keep your feet on the ground in this game, especially with a 2-year-old."
How Leave No Trace came into Serpe and Vukovich's life was the fruit of some savvy moves by the owner, who kept refining his business model until it became a winning one.
"I treaded a lot of water to get where I am now," Vukovich said. "I tried claiming horses and then breeding them and I didn't have a lot of success. I was in the breeding business for about 15 years and had some success and won the Empire Classic (for New York-breds) a few times (with Organizer and Dr. V's Majesty Stud partnership and the late trainer Dominic Galluscio). But I had far more failures than success and I decided I would change the business plan. Instead of breeding, now I buy all my bloodstock either at a sale or privately. Basically I try to find some nice little nuggets."
Vukovich's method includes buying and raising weanlings through private purchases. He has a few farms he scouts for babies and also works with consignors he knows and trusts such as Derek MacKenzie at Vinery Sales and Pat Costello at Paramount Sales.
Beyond that he has excelled at doing his homework and finding stakes winners for bargain prices at sales, a method that produced Leave Me No Trace and Safe Conduct.
"The prices at auctions don't always reflect success at the racetrack," Vukovich said. "I've never been impressed by people being willing to pay outrageous sums of money for horses that literally cannot run very well. I believe I have a much better chance of success by selecting my own horses."
Leave No Trace, who was bred by Red Cloak Farm out of the Good Journey mare Tanquerray, was bought for $40,000 from the Vinery Sales consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale. The $210,650 earner was originally sold to Djuric Sporthorses for just $8,000 from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February Mixed Sale.
"When I buy a horse, I start with the pedigree. In my experience the dam has more to do with a horse's success on the racetrack than the sire. I'm convinced that about 60% of the success comes from the dam. So I do a lot of work researching the dam, her history, and pedigree," said Vukovich, who relies heavily on nicking. "With Leave No Trace the dam sire is Good Journey who is now (overseas). He was extraordinary on the racetrack. He was in the money 15 of 16 times. I looked at the dam's speed figures and the stallion's speed figure and Good Journey was really fast. So when I looked at Leave No Trace's pedigree and family history, I took notice. Physically she looked great and her dam sire was a grade 1 and 2 winner, a great horse."
Safe Conduct, an Ontario-bred son of Bodemeister out of the Congrats mare Duchess Dancer, was bought for just $45,000 from the consignment of Cara Bloodstock at Keeneland's 2018 November Breeding Stock Sale. The grade 3 stakes-placed runner has earned $735,864 in 14 career starts, largely through the Queen's Plate victory.
Vukovich also picked out the New York-bred Bank On Anna and acquired her through a private sale after she failed to sell for $46,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. Winner of the Union Avenue Handicap at Saratoga, she has earned $256,200.
"(Dr. Vukovich) should think about becoming a bloodstock agent," Serpe said. "He's that good at it."
Sunday's stakes will determine if another grade 1 win is added to the ledger for Vukovich and Serpe. Yet regardless of what happens, the 2022 Spinaway will always serve as an example of how even for the smaller stables, hopes and dreams can come true—if you are willing to wait long enough.
"I get so much satisfaction from this," Vukovich said. "You pick out a baby and watch him grow and then he starts to train and you hope and pray everything goes well. Then you are in the winner's circle. No one understands how hard that is. It's so difficult. So when you get there, you have to enjoy the moment. As much as the sport is dominated by the big owners and trainers, there's always room for the little guys, and I enjoy being a Jack the Giant Killer."
