From his family farm in Ocala, Fla., Peter Vegso and his wife Anne watched their homebred, Lord Miles, capture the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) April 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack. The 3-year-old Curlin colt won in a nail-biting finish over 8-5 favorite Hit Show by a nose in the final moments. Sent off at 59-1 odds, the win catapulted the Saffie Joseph Jr. pupil onto the Road to the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard with 105 points to be ranked sixth. Vegso and his son-in-law Christian Blonshine took time on Easter Sunday to speak with BloodHorse about the exciting Derby prospect.
MarketWatch: You are a successful entrepreneur and pioneer of the self-help publishing famed Chicken Soup for the Soul series. How did you get into horses?
Peter Vegso: Oh boy, it happened a long time ago. It was around 1988; a friend of mine was actually one of my lawyers at the time; he was into horses and racing. He asked if we were interested in getting involved. So my other partner and I bought 5% of a horse at the time. There were actually three horses and one of them was called Express Star (she became a seven-time stakes winner of $450,147), I liked her, and we had a good time with her—she turned into a good horse.
After that, we bought a more significant percentage, and then an even larger share. In 1993 i got sucked into buying a farm. We've been adding to the farm ever since; we have about 270 acres here in Ocala with several houses and farms. It's where we are today, spending Easter with the family, watching the broodmares and yearlings in the field.
Christian Blonshine: I got involved just over the last few years and have gotten more involved; it's fascinating, and I'm trying to continue the farm that Peter has built. It makes it fun when we have days like yesterday.
We have a few entities; Racing Edge is where we do all the breaking and the training. The whole farm is under Vegso Family Stables, and most of the racehorses are under Vegso Racing Stables.
MW: What do you have on the farm, and what is your goal with the farm?
PV: We have about 20-some-odd broodmares; this year, so far, we've had eight babies. We sell a handful of them yearly because maintaining the farm is expensive, so we need to keep that in mind. Mainly we sell some as yearlings, and now and then, a 2-year-old in training. We sold Caledonia Road, who ended up winning the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
MW: Tell us about Lord Miles; he's a homebred for you guys out of your Majestic Warrior mare, Lady Esme (half sibling to Caledonia Road). You have been along for the ride from the beginning.
PV: The mare Lady Esme was named for my wife's aunt, who lived in England and passed away a few years ago at 95. We decided to name a horse after her because she loved horses and racing. In her last few years, that is what she loved, watching horse racing all the time. Lady Esme is a really big, good-looking horse, so we decided to give it a go. We went with Curlin and got lucky; the mare has been doing well. We named him Lord Miles because my wife's aunt was married to a man named Miles, and we think it's a great name.
Now my wife is totally excited about racing; she even lost her voice yelling for Lord Miles (Saturday). He was Lady Esme's first baby.
CB: We sold her second foal by Twirling Candy —Jason Litt and Alex Solis bought him during the Keeneland September Sale last year for $170,000. She has a yearling by Connect and is due any day now with a Quality Road . We're going to bring her back to Curlin this year. Lady Esme's dam, Come a Callin produced grade 1 winner Caledonia Road; she has been our top mare for the last few years. We will be sending Come a Callin to Flightline this year. Hopefully, Lady Esme can pick up the torch and be a great broodmare.
MW: How has Lord Miles progressed since he was a foal? He won on debut at 2 in his only start last year.
PV: That's actually when we got excited in his younger days. We didn't put him in a sale; he was one of those chunky guys with a bigger belly, so the sale didn't really work. Folks here on the farm, the broodmare manager at the time, didn't think much of him other than he was a little bit on the chunky side, but he's grown out of it and has the right mindset.
That first race, he just did it. He came at the end and blew it away. We started to think we might have a horse. Then in his second race (the Mucho Macho Man Stakes, where he finished third), he had some problems, and it didn't work out. Next, we went to the Holy Bull Stakes where he ran sixth) and put blinkers on for some reason or another, and maybe that messed him up a little bit, plus maybe being in the one hole. After that, we took the blinkers off, and it was in Tampa (the Tampa Bay Derby, G3) that he started looking like he wanted to start doing it again (he finished fifth).
He did it coming on and didn't quit yesterday in the Wood Memorial (G2); it was so damn exciting. We keep watching the race over and over again. My wife woke me up with it this morning, saying, 'Look at this!'
Video: Wood Memorial S. Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2)
MW: How exciting is having a horse on the Derby Trail for the first time?
PV: There is a bit of a thing with the Derby; back in 1994, we had a horse called Bay Street Star who was looking good. We entered him in the Wood Memorial and when we shipped him up there getting off the van, he had an accident and hurt himself, and we had to scratch him out of the race. We were pretty excited about him being a potential Derby horse, and it was around that time I made that little promise to myself that I wouldn't go to the Derby unless a horse took me. So, I think a horse may be taking me.
MW: What are the plans for Lord Miles leading up to the Derby?
PV: Saffie said he would bring him back down to Florida. I haven't heard yet today in terms of how he came out of the race, how he's feeling today. We'll see how he is. Saffie will take good care of him, It's also important for him in terms of getting to the Derby and doing well.
