It's been a long time coming and now that the moment is here, owner Lawrence Goichman couldn't be more thrilled about participating in his first Breeders' Cup as owner, with a homebred no less. His Scythian will go to battle in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) at Del Mar Nov. 1.
"A lot of years getting here, I will tell you that," Goichman said. "It is one of those things you try not to expect and when it happens, it's like, 'Wow.' It's one thing to watch it on television, it's another to be there. I've been to Breeders' Cups, but not with my own horse.
"This is a little bit of validation after feeling a bit like that Greek character, Sisyphus, who keeps pushing the ball to the top of the hill, getting closer, yet it always rolls down a little bit."
Goichman, 80, became involved in the late 1980s as an owner when he participated in a syndicate. He instantly was hooked and decided to take it to the next level by acquiring mares and breeding them. Over the years, the businessman, who quickly will tell you he's far from being retired from his finance and real estate businesses, has built a solid breeding operation focusing on New York-breds, many of whom he keeps to race.
Goichman has been represented as breeder of a Breeders' Cup starter once previously. New York-bred Run Curtis Run finished 12th in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) for Michael J. Caruso and Michael Dubb.
Among his homebreds is the recently pensioned broodmare, J'ray, who earned nearly $1 million during her four years on the racetrack from 2005-08 and was a multiple graded stakes winner trained by Todd Pletcher.
J'ray, a New York-bred turf filly, was named for Goichman's wife, Jennifer, who earned the nickname when she was younger. The daughter of Distant View, a Kentucky-bred who did the majority of his running in Europe, was produced by the Darshaan mare Bubbling Heights. J'ray's mettle was tested regularly in open company with positive results as evidenced by her four graded victories. She won at seven different racetracks and concluded her career with a record of 9-8-1 from 26 starts and earnings of $969,843. In the breeding shed, she was a stakes producer.
"J'ray was like a pro athlete. She had a way with her eyes that were very playful when you came to the barn to feed her carrots," Goichman shared. "But when she was in the paddock on race day, you're talking Muhammad Ali. She knew it was all business: 'Don't annoy me now; don't distract me.'"
So far in her young career, the Bill Mott-trained Scythian has also been all business. The daughter of hot first-crop sire Tiz the Law , the 2020 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner who stands at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, has won two of three starts, including the Oct. 6 Miss Grillo Stakes (G2T) which, as a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race, earned her an automatic fees-paid berth to the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The Miss Grillo was an eventful affair after Goichman's other homebred, the Chad Brown-trained Marvelous Madison, had the lead when she bolted at the quarter pole and eliminated the chances of two rivals. Scythian, ridden by Junior Alvarado, was unscathed by the event and found herself with the lead quite unexpectedly but knew precisely what to do with it as she barreled home a 2 1/2-length winner.
Scythian is the first stakes winner out of Goichman's homebred, the stakes-winning Dean Henry, a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner Read the Footnotes, who was sold by Goichman at auction as a 2-year-old. Dean Henry, a 19-year-old daughter of Empire Maker, has a yearling colt by Tacitus and was bred to Jack Christopher this year. Goichman plans on breeding her back to Tiz the Law in 2025.
Scythian's 3-year-old half sister by Constitution , Tiz the Law's sire, is also trained by Mott. Dancing Dean has won two of seven starts for Goichman, including her most recent one, an Oct. 17 allowance optional claimer on the turf at Aqueduct.
One of Goichman's biggest scores in the industry came in the sales ring with Star Devine. Goichman is a big fan of Fastnet Rock—a two-time champion Australian sire who retired from stud duties earlier this year—and was keen to acquire one of his daughters at the 2019 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. With Mike Ryan acting as agent, Goichman landed Star Devine for $258,109. She won three of 14 starts and was multiple graded stakes-placed. During her 5-year-old campaign in the summer of 2023, she was injured and retired. Rather than keeping the mare and having to wait until this year to breed her, Goichman saw an opportunity to make some money and entered Star Devine in the 2023 Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale where she was consigned by Indian Creek and bought by Kia-Ora Stud Australia for $650,000.
Goichman currently has 11 broodmares. They foal at Stone Bridge Farm near Gansevoort, N.Y., just 12 miles from Saratoga Springs. When his mares are in Kentucky to be bred, and before they head north to foal, they reside at Indian Creek near Paris, Ky.
"Occasionally, I will get someone's point of view (about matings), but I've been doing my own matings for a number of years now," Goichman said.
A 1966 graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Goichman had considered becoming a veterinarian and took pre-vet courses before settling on a business major. He said he always had a desire to become involved with horses.
"I said to my wife, 'We should (buy) a horse,'" he recalled. "She said, 'Let's buy a house first.' That dream went away. But we were at a wedding, I believe it was, and my wife met some guy who was syndicating horses and wanted to know if she wanted to be in a partnership and she pointed to me, and he came over. We ended up getting involved.
"I did the partnership thing for two years and said to myself, 'I think I like it.' So, I started studying. First book was (Federico) Tesio and I still keep it handy in case I want to learn something. Anyone who has a serious interest should try to pick up one of Tesio's books."
As the sole breeder of 15 stakes winners, three of them graded winners, and 105 winners overall, Goichman's studies began paying off long before Scythian arrived on the scene, but he can't help but feel he's gone to the next level with his first Breeders' Cup starter as owner.
"I got to tell you, this is so much fun," he said.
Imagine how he will feel if Scythian wins?
