The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association will honor top owners and breeders of 2023 at its awards dinner Sept. 7 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington. Following are profiles of the winning breeders by state as well as a pair of Canadian honors.
Arizona
Marvin Fleming
Fleming Thoroughbred Farm repeats as Arizona's leading breeder in 2023 as the full-service farm and stallion station continued to play a major role in the state's breeding, racing, and sales industries.
Brothers Marvin and Gerald Fleming own and operate the 320-acre facility in Willcox, Ariz., on land that has been in their family since 1947.
"My dad Gene Fleming purchased his first broodmare in 1947, and our farm has been in the family since then. It was the start of everything," said Marvin Fleming, who in addition to being a hands-on operator also serves as president of the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association.
Located about 80 miles east of Tucson, Ariz., Fleming Thoroughbred Farm features a five-eighths-mile training track, training barn, foaling barn, and a big covered barn for mares. The farm also stands five stallions, including Arizona's leading sire Lotsa Mischief—a stakes-winning son of five-time leading national sire Into Mischief.
Arkansas
McDowell Farm
"It never gets old" is a sentiment that Bill McDowell of McDowell Farm endorses.
McDowell Farm's excellence in 2023 was recognized with yet another Arkansas breeder of the year award, nothing new for McDowell and his family, but nonetheless very satisfying. With 17 state breeding awards in his pocket, McDowell, who breeds to sell, doesn't take the honor for granted.
"It is very gratifying to raise a nice horse to win in open company, especially if you're beating bigger and more expensive (breeding operations), with Kentucky-breds or what have you," said McDowell, who started raising horses at McDowell Farm in 1981 upon graduating high school. "It's a tough business to make a living doing it all."
McDowell and his wife, Mary, and children, Kirk and Leslie, continue the legacy of his father, Donald Dewitt McDowell, who died in 2020 after launching the family's Thoroughbred breeding and cattle operation in the early 1970s in Sparkman, Ark. Mary handles all the office work. Leslie is in charge of foaling, and Kirk manages day-to-day operations of the 950 acres. In addition to overseeing McDowell Farm, Bill is the president of the Arkansas Thoroughbred Breeders' and Horsemen's Association.
California
Richard Barton Enterprises
Family and teamwork have propelled Richard Barton Enterprises to the top of the breeder ranks in California. Those concepts imbue all facets of Barton, which was named the 2023 Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association's California breeder of the year for 2023.
Kate Barton Penner, as executive vice president, may head the organization. But whenever she speaks of Barton's accomplishments, she credits her parents, Richard and Beth, as well as the crew at Barton Thoroughbreds, the farm in Santa Ynez, Calif., with Kevin Dickson as the farm manager.
"Everyone on the farm are such team players—we couldn't be here without them," Penner said at this year's California Thoroughbred Breeders Association awards banquet.
Barton for the first time was the leading California breeder of the year, with total earnings of $4,166,591. It also was honored as the breeder of One in Vermillion, champion California-bred 3-year-old male and the leading Barton earner with $564,220.
Canada, large breeder
Adena Springs
Frank and Frieda Stronach's Adena Springs North, near Aurora, Ontario, led all Canadian breeders again in 2023.
At the Jockey Club of Canada's Sovereign Awards, Adena Springs was voted outstanding breeder for an unprecedented 14th time. It was a bittersweet moment for Stronach as he accepted the Sovereign just a few weeks after his wife, Frieda, matriarch of the farm, died at age 80.
"It's great to see so many people here, all of us who love horses," said Stronach in accepting that award. "I know Frieda would love this and I know she is watching this from heaven."
Frank, who bought his first horse in the mid 1960s and built his first farm, Beechwood, into a leading racing and breeding operation, opened Adena Springs North in the 1990s. It was followed by divisions in Kentucky and Florida. A member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, Frank was presented the Eclipse Award of Merit in 2018.
In 2023 wins by Adena Springs horses were frequent and the star of the season was Moira, Canada's 2022 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old filly who came back as a 4-year-old better than ever. The tough filly won the Canadian Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine, defeating eventual 2023 Canadian Horse of the Year Fev Rover.
Canada, small breeder
Sean Fitzhenry
Sean Fitzhenry and wife Dorothy have been breeding, selling, and racing Thoroughbreds in Ontario for about 20 years and have put together a very successful boutique broodmare band.
The Toronto couple got into owning shares in a couple of racehorses through friends before setting off on their own to try breeding. They foal out mares at some top Ontario breeding establishments as they don't have their own farm but they do most of the research in purchasing mares and planning matings.
In their first few years they sold a filly by Medaglia d'Oro , later named Marketing Mix, for $150,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She went on to earn more than $2 million behind multiple grade 1 wins in the United States.
The Fitzhenrys breed to sell, but occasionally will keep a homebred that doesn't realize a preferred auction. One of those was Dixie Moon, a Curlin filly who won the 2018 Woodbine Oaks over subsequent Queen's Plate Stakes winner Wonder Gadot.
The year 2023 was another big one for horses bred by the Fitzhenrys as Millie Girl, a daughter of Hard Spun —Mendocino Beano, by Smart Strike, was voted Canada's champion older dirt mare at the Jockey Club of Canada's Sovereign Awards. Purchased for $67,000 from the 2021 Keeneland November
Breeding Stock Sale by trainer Catherine Day Phillips as agent, Millie Girl won the Maple Leaf (G3) and Ontario Matron (G3) stakes at Woodbine for owners Kingfield Racing, Braconcrest, and Apricot Valley Thoroughbreds in a breakout season for the stretch-running mare.
Florida
Marilyn Campbell
A three-time Florida breeder of the year, Marilyn Campbell—under Stonehedge—topped all Florida breeders by earnings in 2023 with $3,338,867.
In 1988, Marilyn, alongside her late husband Gilbert, purchased Stonehedge Farm South near Williston, Fla. Formerly Waldemar Farms, the birthplace of 1975 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Foolish Pleasure, the Campbells had history on their side.
The Campbells raised dozens of stakes winners. Their most notable homebreds include 2011 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Watch Me Go, multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Blazing Sword, and graded stakes winner Ivanavinalot—best known as the dam of two-time Eclipse Award champion Songbird.
In 2023 Dean Delivers, a gelding by Stonehedge's Cajun Breeze, won the Smile Sprint Stakes (G3) and the Big Drama Stakes, both at Gulfstream Park. Me and Mr. C, a gelding by Khozan , was Stonehedge's other stakes winner of 2023. He put together a trio of stakes wins—the Soldier's Dancer Stakes, the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial Stakes, and the KY Downs Preview Turf Cup Stakes at Ellis Park.
"It's not an easy business. I've got good people working for me, we use our own stallions, and we have been very successful doing that," said Campbell.
Indiana
Greg Justice
Greg Justice has been the owner and operator of Justice Farm for 40 years. While working at a Kentucky water company, he decided to go to a Keeneland sale and purchase a mare in foal to Woodman. A few years later when that foal won some money on the track, the Justice Farm breeding program was launched.
Justice has had quite a few successful years as a Thoroughbred racehorse breeder in Indiana—winning the Indiana breeder of the year award in 2015, 2021, 2022, and 2023, and the Indiana stallion owner of the year award for 2022 and 2023.
Justice says the key to his success is his numbers.
"It's a numbers game," Justice said. "The more horses you have in a race the better chance you have of winning a race."
Currently, Justice has 110 horses in his program. As for 2023, Justice Farm saw great success with a "Justice Sweep" in the ITOBA Stallion Season Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Macho Justice and Doubledogjustice went 1-2 in the $100,000 race. Macho Justice, a bay gelding by Lantana Mob, fought for the win in the mile-and-70-yard race. Doubledogjustice, another Lantana Mob offspring, was a neck back in second.
The most important race won for Justice Farm in 2023 was the Unreachable Star Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Doubledogjustice, owned and trained by Raymond J. Paquette III, took the $250,000 race easily.
Iowa
H. Allen Poindexter
No matter where they run, horses bred by H. Allen Poindexter win with precision regularity, making him one of the top breeders in the Midwest as well as throughout North America.
Poindexter's home track is Iowa's Prairie Meadows, into whose Hall of Fame he was inducted in 2022. To drive that point home, the Poindexter-bred Giant Game brought home the trophy for the 2023 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) as the 4-year-old banked better than $378,000 for that season.
Giant Game is also indicative of Poindexter's knack for turning bargain-basement broodmare purchases into stakes producers. He landed Game for More, dam of Giant Game, for $8,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Heiligbrodt Dispersal sale in 2011. Game for More has produced not only Giant Game, but additional stakes performers Isotherm and Gio Game.
Poindexter maintains a large Thoroughbred operation on his farm near Springfield, Mo. He also boards mares with Tim and Nancy Hamlin at their Wynnstay Farm near Winchester, Ky. But he is a regular at Prairie Meadows, attending the races there three weekends every month during its season. He can also be found at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., during its meet.
Kentucky
Godolphin
Sheikh Mohammed's mighty international Godolphin breeding and racing program continues to ride a wave of success that has delivered two consecutive titles as National Breeder of the Year from the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
In 2023 Godolphin became the fourth breeder since 1998 to top the standings maintained by The Jockey Club for three consecutive years and earned the additional distinction of being the first individual breeder with more than $20 million in purses from the United States and Canada during a calendar year.
As with many breeders, partnerships have yielded good results for Godolphin. So much so that Godolphin actually crossed the $20 million earnings threshold in 2021 when horses it co-bred with others are considered. Horses bred by Godolphin and partners earned more than $20.7 million in 2021, more than $22.1 million in 2022, and more than $24.3 million in 2023.
Godolphin's superstars for the year were multiple grade 1 winners Cody's Wish , Pretty Mischievous, and Master of The Seas. Cody's Wish owned the limelight, as the namesake of the late Cody Dorman, a young man afflicted with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a genetic condition that left him unable to walk or talk. He made a connection with the colt during a trip to Gainsborough Farm arranged by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and together they inspired the racing community. Cody's Wish won four of five starts in 2023, capping the year with a second consecutive win in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1)—his third grade 1 win for the year—that locked down honors as Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male.
Louisiana
Thomas Galvin
When he was a teenager, Omaha, Neb., native Thomas Galvin would sneak into Ak-Sar-Ben Race Track to watch the horses run. "Watching those horses race inspired me to get into horse racing. I loved watching them run."
As an adult in Dallas, he would find a path into racing through a partnership when he was introduced to Coast to Coast Racing.
"They were looking for investors, and I was looking for a way into the industry," Galvin said of that first step which would lead to a life in racing.
At a 2005 sale in Texas, Galvin purchased three Thoroughbreds to officially start his breeding venture. Currently Galvin has two mares, one foal, and one yearling, and five horses in training. He typically races his horses and John Caulfield comes in as a partner.
One of the most important races in Galvin's career came early. It was not with a horse he bred, but with a horse he purchased and campaigned—Su Casa G Casa, a gelding by During—Seda Fina, by Known Fact. Paced by seven wins from 19 starts, Su Casa G Casa earned $473,473. In 2010 that big moment arrived when Su Casa G Casa posted a front-end score in the Kip Deville Stakes at Remington Park, giving Galvin his first black-type score.
Success with one of his homebreds would arrive through A G's Charlotte, a 2019 daughter of Mo Tom—Adrianne G, by Indygo Shiner. In her 3-year-old season of 2022 A G's Charlotte would win a pair of stakes including the Louisiana Champions Day
Ladies Distaff Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
In 2023 A G's Charlotte would power Galvin to this award. While she failed to win a stakes race, A G's Charlotte placed in seven stakes races at three different Louisiana tracks.
Maryland
Dr. Thomas and Chris Bowman
Dr. Thomas and Chris Bowman have plenty of accolades in their distinguished careers as Thoroughbred breeders in Maryland. The latest, the record-tying 11th time being honored by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association as their home state's top breeder.
Dating back to 1992, the Bowmans have won 11 times, Robert Meyerhoff 10 times (Meyerhoff also won in 1986), and the other remaining 11 honors being split among five other winners. That he's tied with Meyerhoff is special.
"I've never stopped to count. ... But he still is a close friend and one of my idols. So that stuck with me because of that," Thomas Bowman said.
Among the 2023 runners bred by the Bowmans is Double Crown, then a 6-year-old Bourbon Courage gelding. He was heavily raced with 18 starts, going 3-2-4 and earning $266,620. Another starter was Alwaysinahurry who finished in the top four in each of his six starts.
New Jersey
Christine Connelly and Gregory Kilka
Book'em Danno is a jewel in the crown of New Jersey Thoroughbred racing. And rarely has this gem shone more brightly than in the June 8 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. In the June 8 edition, Book'em Danno—bred by Christine Connelly of Bright View Farm in Chesterfield, N.J., and Gregory Kilka—did his Jersey roots proud, winning the top-tier stakes by a half-length.
Kilka was part of Ironhorse Racing Stable, which campaigned multiple graded stakes winner Bucchero . Bright View has produced multiple state-bred champions, including Exit Stage Left and Silent Appeal. Aiming to buy prospective mates for Bucchero, Kilka spent $14,000 for Adorabella, in foal to Fast Anna, at the 2020 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. The resultant foal was Girl Trouble—co-bred by Kilka and Connelly—a two-time stakes winner and New Jersey's top juvenile filly of 2022. Sold for $15,000 as a yearling, Girl Trouble recently commanded $235,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale. The day she sold was July 8—one month to the day after her half brother became a grade 1 winner.
In April 2021, Adorabella foaled a colt by Bucchero at Bright View, later named Book'em Danno. For eventual owner Atlantic Six Racing, comprised of six pals, Book'em Danno became nothing short of a sensation. After romping in a maiden special weight at Monmouth Park in August 2023, Book'em Danno won the Sept. 9 Smoke Glacken Stakes, also at Monmouth, before heading to Aqueduct Racetrack, where he captured the historic Futurity Stakes Oct. 8. Book'em Danno then finished second in Aqueduct's Nov. 5 Nashua Stakes.
New Mexico
Fred Alexander
Fred and Linda Alexander's A & A Ranch stands some of the state's top sires at the Anthony, N.M., farm, including 2023 New Mexico leading stallion Marking as well as the state's 2023 leading first-crop sire Sporting Chance.
"We've been here 25 years and we're proud to achieve this," Fred Alexander said. "It's been a lot of hard work but I owe most of it to my staff and my clients that have been with us over the years. We've been fortunate enough to have five of the state's leading stallions over the last 20 years."
Besides standing their three stallions, the Alexanders' operation focuses primarily on breeding and selling their yearlings through their own consignment each year at the Ruidoso Select New Mexico-Bred Yearling Sale.
A & A Ranch was the leading consignor the past two years at the New Mexico-Bred Yearling Sale and was responsible for the 2022 and 2023 sales toppers. In both years, the sale topper sold for six figures, a significant accomplishment in the Land of Enchantment.
Marking, a grade 1-placed son of Bernardini, won New Mexico's leading sires race by a landslide. The stallion boasted progeny earnings of $2,580,008 for 2023.
New York
Barry Schwartz
Over the past 46 years owner/breeder Barry Schwartz has developed a thriving racing and breeding operation in New York that has provided him several grade 1 winners and now acclaim as the state's leading breeder.
Schwartz has been named the top New York breeder for 2023 after a year in which horses bred at his Stonewall Farm earned nearly $2 million. Led by homebred El Grande O, Stonewall-bred runners had 237 starts in 2023 that produced 40 wins, 36 seconds, and 49 thirds and earnings of $1,933,286.
A homebred son of Take Charge Indy , El Grande O was a multiple stakes winner for Schwartz as a 2-year-old in 2023. He won the Sleepy Hollow and Bertram F. Bongard stakes, both at Aqueduct Racetrack. Trained by Linda Rice, in eight 2023 starts El Grande O had three wins, three seconds, and a third and earnings of $319,000.
In 2024 El Grande O hit the Triple Crown trail and posted a pair of seconds in the Withers (G3) and Jerome stakes and a third in the Gotham Stakes (G3) to lift his career earnings to $435,000.
Stonewall also produced Stonewall Star, a 3-year-old filly who was a multiple stakes winner in 2023. She won the open Wine Country Stakes at Laurel Park and the Franklin Square Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct.
North Carolina
Art Bauer
The pride and joy of Bauer Farm, located near Waxhaw, N.C., is current 4-year-old mare Hartful Hope by Central Banker —She's Stylish, by Posse. Before she raced, she was sold privately to a close friend of Bauer's, Gerard Eckhardt, for the price of $1.50—Bauer still has the quarters!
In earning the 2023 North Carolina Breeder of the Year award, Bauer now credits this filly he sold for less than the typical minimum win bet.
In 2023 the then 3-year-old had four wins for Eckhardt. She broke her maiden May 22 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The next two victories were registered at Belterra Park in Cincinnati. On Sept. 7, the daughter of Central Banker won a five-furlong allowance race at Belterra to earn $10,680. Later that same month at Belterra, she fought her way to the wire to win in a six-furlong allowance and earn $11,700.
Moving to Mahoning Valley Race Course, Hartful Hope secured her biggest win yet Dec. 18 and became the shining star of Bauer's breeding program. The filly won a $27,500 allowance race. Bauer marks this race where Hartful Hope earned $16,500 as the highlight of his career.
Oregon
Connie Erickson
Many have segued from riding show horses to owning racehorses. But Connie Erickson took it a step further. She originally bred and rode Lipizzans, the gorgeous white horses made famous by the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.
"I bred Lipizzans for 20 years," Erickson said. "We used to have the director of the Spanish Riding School come and evaluate the breeding stock in America. I bred the highest-scoring mare and stallion in North America."
Erickson came in contact with racehorses only because a friend of Connie's had one. During the economic downturn of 2008, a client of her friend's trainer encountered financial problems, which led to Erickson taking one of that person's in-foal mares "because I'm a sucker for baby horses."
The Ericksons soon became enthralled with the excitement of racing, and they moved from Lipizzans to Thoroughbreds. They first stood the stallion Klinsman, a graded stakes-placed son of Danehill, and later acquired Rise Up through bloodstock agent George Adams. That millionaire son of Rockport Harbor had won several stakes, including the 2013 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (G3).
Connie also serves as president of the Oregon Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
Pennsylvania
Christian Black
Denmark native Christian Black has had an interest in horses since his childhood. After moving to America, he built up his first breeding business, Blackstone Farm, from scratch with just a few mares.
Now Black owns and operates the entity with 18 broodmares in his barn. Black has several breeder awards under his belt. Blackstone Farm has been the state's leading overall breeder of Pennsylvania-breds for the past five years. Both Blackstone Farm and Forgotten Land Investment regularly rank among the top breeders in Pennsylvania. In 2023, Blackstone had $2,150,065 in earnings.
Black has produced a string of successful competitors in recent years. Most notable is Angel of Empire (Classic Empire—Armony's Angel, by To Honor and Serve) in partnership with Black Diamond Equine. "He kind of came out of nowhere; he ended up being a really special horse," said Black.
In 2023, the colt had outstanding performances in major graded races. He won the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) and the Risen Star Stakes (G2). Angel of Empire was the favorite going into the Kentucky Derby (G1). The colt placed third and earned $300,000. He also finished second in the Smarty Jones Stakes and third in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2).
Angel of Empire was honored as the 2023 Pennsylvania Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association. In addition, he was awarded the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Top Midlantic-bred of 2023.
South Carolina
Franklin G. Smith Sr.
The longtime owner of the Elloree Training Center in Elloree, S.C., Franklin G. Smith Sr. got his first horse in 1972 and his work encompasses virtually all elements of the Thoroughbred racing industry, from foals, to horses in training, to breeding stock. A multiple winner of awards for South Carolina owners and breeders, Smith was represented in the winner's circle in 2023 by 13 horses he bred.
Topping the list by earnings is Swayin to and Fro, a South Carolina-bred daughter of Straight Talking who stood at Smith's Elloree Training Center. Smith campaigned the mare for her first three starts before Baxter Racing Stable claimed her in May 2022. Swayin to and Fro placed in the What A Summer Stakes in January 2023 before winning the Barbara Fritchie Stakes (G3) in her only other start of the year, amassing earnings of $170,000 for the season and career earnings of $476,537.
Another daughter of Straight Talking bred by Smith, Performanceanxiety, notched four wins for earnings of $81,540 in 2023 while her half sister, Haint Blue, won twice and earned $77,320. Smith has bred four winners from five starters out of their dam Theatricality, all by Smith's stallions Straight Talking and Done Talking.
Texas
Carolyn Barnett
It all started in 1977, when Carolyn Barnett picked out a chestnut filly with a blaze face. Her friend, an attorney, had just bought a group of horses. He talked her into buying one and told her to pick the one she liked from a pasture of five yearlings. She picked the "pretty" one, who turned out to be stakes-placed and stakes-producing My Sunlit.
Sunlit Song, 2023 Horse of the Year and champion older male in Texas, is the fifth generation of a line that started with My Sunlit.
Barnett's Sunlit Song had a banner year in 2023. The then 8-year-old gelding, by My Golden Song, earned $227,192 to mark his best year to date. He won five of his six starts; three of those wins came in black-type stakes races. His lifetime earnings record is 18-13-6 from 45 starts with earnings of $757,520 through July 12.
"I've had a lot of horses, 20-30 at some point. I ran My Sunlit, I ran all of her fillies, four generations, and just kept keeping the mares. Many of them were just really nice. And then here comes this boy (Sunlit Song). Six years we have been on a cloud," she said.
Virginia
Ann Mudge Backer
When the Secretariat Stakes (G2T) moved to Colonial Downs in Virginia last summer, it was appropriate that a Virginia-bred, Gigante, would prove successful. Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner and remembered as one of the best racehorses of modern Thoroughbred racing, was himself a Virginia-bred.
So it is also fitting that 91-year-old Ann Mudge Backer, who bred Gigante at Smitten Farm in The Plains, Va., now receives an honor—named by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association as its Virginia breeder of the year. For 2023 Ann Mudge Backer and Smitten Farm took third place among Virginia breeder bonus earners with $122,027. Among their 15 awards were six wins, with Gigante responsible for four of those.
A $120,000 purchase from the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Gigante is by Not This Time out of the Empire Maker mare Summertime Green. He hails from a Backer family that goes back three generations to 1992, when Backer's late husband, William Backer, acquired Gigante's third dam, Deep Enough.
Gigante has "been a really special horse for us because he's out of one of our last remaining homebreds," said Hunter Lee Marek, equine manager at Smitten Farm.
Washington
Ken Miles and Sheridan Jones
Driven by a passion for seeing their horses run, Ken Miles and Sheridan Jones have carved a name for themselves on the West Coast as Thoroughbred breeders.
Partnering on the breeding of horses such as Old Pal, the partners put an emphasis on every horse being special.
"I'm a little guy, I don't have a big stable of broodmares and horses. To me, every one of them is special and it means a lot watching them run," Miles said.
Miles' first significant step was racing a filly named Time for Magic, who later became the cornerstone of his breeding program. From Time for Magic, Miles bred Athina Lee, a daughter of English Channel. "I fell in love with her the minute she was born, she was so beautiful."
In 2010 Athina Lee was the sale topper at the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association Yearling and Mixed sale. With a winning bid of $80,000, the filly remained the poster horse for the sale for seven years. The Washington-bred saw some success on the track, but her real value has been back as a broodmare for Miles and Jones' operation.
Sheridan Jones was introduced to Miles through the purchase of a filly named Starrian. This partnership would prove pivotal as the two worked together to repurchase Athina Lee and make her the operation's main broodmare.
Athina Lee has produced two stakes performers for the partnership, stakes-placed Ferrariano (by Mshawish) and 2023 stakes winner Old Pal. Named in honor of Miles' parents, Old Pal was a $160,000 yearling at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton California Yearling Sale. The Grazen colt won the 2023 Snow Chief Stakes at Santa Anita Park to cap a 2-1-1 record from four starts and earnings of $151,160 in 2023.
