Hopeful Winner Follows Owner's Scary Diagnosis, Cure

A terrifying diagnosis may ultimately help owner Sean Flanagan of Flanagan Racing reach the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) with Chancer McPatrick, winner of the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Flanagan was sicker than he realized during the summer of 2019 when doctors discovered a malignant tumor in his abdomen. He does not remember the precise description of his condition. "It was one of those terrible cancer words that you'd like to forget," said Flanagan, 58. He will never forget the fear gripping him that July as he was presented with the prognosis with his wife, Karen, and his older brother, Dave, at his side. He was given two years to live. Two years? Life had been so good since he married Karen at the Big Red Spring at his beloved Saratoga. They had two teenage children, Grace and Patrick. Sean and Karen had established CyberGrants in 1998 primarily to help Fortune 500 companies manage strategic grant making and employee giving, among other endeavors. When they sold a majority interest in CyberGrants in 2015, their client roster included almost half of the Fortune 500. Flanagan had worked tirelessly to build CyberGrants into an incredibly successful venture. The time had come for the Flanagans to enjoy life to the fullest—and now time was running out. "My biggest fear was talking to the kids about it," Flanagan said. "I didn't know how to handle that." He refused to give up and threw himself into finding the best medical help possible. The native of Lowell, Mass., settled on Dr. Michael Blute, chief of urology at The Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Surgery was performed Aug. 7, in which a tumor the size of a grapefruit was removed. When Flanagan met with Dr. Blute two weeks after surgery, still fearing the worst, he received incredible news. Dr. Blute draped his arm around him and said, "You're going to be fine. We're just going to keep an eye on you." The operation succeeded beyond the patient's wildest dreams. Tests determined that the type of cancer was not as aggressive as first feared. Secondly, there was every indication that all of the cancer cells had been removed. Flanagan could not believe what he was hearing. "I was speechless," he recalled. "No words to be said. I had spent the previous month preparing for a short two years." Flanagan had contemplated horse ownership for a long time. His stern reminder of how short life can be convinced him to do more than talk about it. He entered the game with gusto. Flanagan Racing went to $1.25 million and was the underbidder when eventual Hopeful runner-up Ferocious sold for $1.3 million at the Ocala Breeders' March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. That colt went to some of the connections associated with last year's Kentucky Derby (G1) winner, Mage. John Kimmel and Nick Sallusto, working as bloodstock agents on behalf of Flanagan, identified another top prospect at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training the following month. The son of two-time grade 1-winning freshman sire McKinzie, out of the Bernardini mare Bernadreamy set himself apart from the crowd by breezing a quarter-mile in :21 seconds. "Most horses don't do that doing a quarter," said Kimmel. "It was a phenomenal breeze." The bay colt pressed on, completing five furlongs in :59 seconds. When Kimmel saw the prospect up close, he was equally impressed. "He had a tremendous look to him, athleticism and class," he said. Part of Kimmel's notes read, "Athletic. Racy. Good walk. Strong hip. Strides well." Kimmel and Sallusto warned Flanagan that the bidding was likely to climb on this one, too. He was undeterred. Despite being under the influence of some painkillers following shoulder surgery, he monitored the action by phone. The bidding moved past half a million. Flanagan instructed them to keep going. Past $600,000. He pressed on. Then $700,000. Flanagan authorized a bid of $725,000. The colt that would later be named Chancer McPatrick, to honor his son, was his. Kimmel laughed as he remembered how it all came about. "He was probably taking some medication that made him feel a little comfortable," he said. "The long and short of it is we got the horse, and it looks like a good deal at this point." A good deal, indeed. Trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Flavien Prat, Chancer McPatrick has created a buzz early in his career by producing two eye-opening races in as many starts at Saratoga, Flanagan's childhood playground. After languishing in ninth in a field of 10 through the opening half of his 6 1/2-furlong debut July 27, the colt launched a seven-wide bid in upper stretch to win by a length. In the Hopeful he overcame extreme adversity, striking the starting gate and bouncing off another horse as Prat briefly lost his left iron. They were left with a seemingly impossible amount to do. "He took a tremendous amount of kickback. If you look at the video, he is covered pretty much—head, shoulders, neck," Kimmel said. "It didn't dissuade him from making his run. He just continued to make this great outside move and had enough horse to get up in time when it looked desperate down the backside. You don't see 2-year-olds do that." He bested Ferocious by half a length. Entering the Hopeful, Brown had confided to Flanagan, "I think we've got something special here." Chancer McPatrick's next step is expected to be either the 1 1/16-mile, $600,000 Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland or the one-mile, $500,000 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont at the Big A (Aqueduct Racetrack). Both races are Oct. 5 and offer automatic, fees-paid berths into the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. Flanagan would welcome an opportunity to have a prime contender in the Juvenile. "Those are potentially the best horses in the world. I was told by a few trainers over the years to never run away from a race," he said. "I'm ready to go." The experience would all be part of treasuring life as never before.