BH Interview: Richard Barry

After 40 years at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky., stallion manager Richard Barry is retiring at the end of June. Born in Clondalkin, Ireland, Barry, 67, sat down with BloodHorse to reflect on the four decades he has spent managing some of the most important stallions in the world and talk about what it is like to get to know these incredible equine athletes. BloodHorse: When did you come to America? Richard Barry: October 28, 1978. I got offered a job at Murty Farm. I was there for seven years, Gerry Dilger and I. Gerry was managing the place, and I was assistant manager. BH: How did you end up at Ashford? RB: They needed someone to handle Storm Bird, he was a bit of a boy, and they landed on me, and I've been here ever since. Storm Bird was a bit of a character of a horse. Of course our big horse today, Justify, is a direct descendant of his, and I've taken care of every one of them—well I didn't take care of Storm Cat—but I've taken care of the rest of them: Storm Bird, Hennessy, Johannesburg, Scat Daddy, and now Justify. I always seemed to have ended up with the stallions from the beginning. When I went to the National Stud, I spent more time with the stallions than I did anywhere else. I just seemed to get along with them. BH: What kind of behavioral traits have been carried down in that line? RB: Storm Bird was a bad boy when he wanted to be. Justify, he doesn't have any patience. He doesn't want to be shown too much. If he's been out there too long, he'll let you know, that sort of way; but he's not a bad horse. His sire Scat Daddy was a bit the same. But it's not been consistent. Johannesburg was a pet. Hennessy was an idiot. He'd mess around a lot. He was always jumping around and having a good time, but if he hurt you, it was by accident. BH: What are some of the techniques you have learned for dealing with a horse who could be a little dangerous? RB: Well, Storm Bird we put a muzzle on him. Mr. (John) Magnier himself actually told me to put a bit in his mouth and leave it in all day and put the chain under his jaw. We used to do that, and it worked a treat. Storm Bird used to graze through it. We literally went in there in the morning after he'd been fed, put the bridle on him, and leave it on him all day. The last thing we'd do, we'd take it off. But they're all individuals. They're all different. It's not a cookie cutter situation. What works with one horse may not work with another. BH: Do you ever think about what they were like on the track compared with what they are like at stud? RB: I've had warnings about racehorses, but once you get them into a routine on the farm, they start to relax. Unless they're really truly bad, generally they quiet down at the farm. Giant's Causeway was a very good example of that. He was a beast on the racetrack. That's why he was so good. The fitter you got him, the harder he was. We lunge horses here. We don't get them racing fit or anything close to that, but the fitter we got Giant, the harder he got to handle. There was a bit of a balancing act there. He was a tremendous horse. I never got to the bottom of that lad. He was one serious animal. He was that sort. The harder you pushed him, the tougher he got. He was called the Iron Horse for a reason. BH: How much do you think about your own emotions, particularly when handling the tougher horses? RB: I see the young lads when they go into the stallions for the first time, and they draw a big breath and they forget to breathe. The horse will pick up on that sort of thing real quick. I tell them, "relax." When you walk into a stallion's stall, you should know what you're going to do. You shouldn't be thinking about it. You should do it! You have to be positive the whole time with the stallions. They pick up on that. If you're like that with them all the time, generally things level off and quiet down. There are exceptions to the rule, but with most horses, if you relax with them, they start relaxing around you. They generally come around to your way of thinking. There's been a few cases where we've had to have a "Come to Jesus" meeting as the fellas say, but fairly rare. We get very close to them. We know them. When you lose them, it kind of hits you. I spend more time with these horses than I do with my wife. BH: When a new stallion comes in, generally how long does that getting-to-know-them process take? RB: Generally you treat them all the same at first. You let them come to you. There are very few horses that are not going to try to please you. As long as you let them start doing that—coming to you—everything normally works out. BH: Are there any horses that you can recall where it didn't go so smoothly at first? RB: Black Minnaloushe, who was a grandson of Storm Bird, was a bit of a tough character. He broke my nose. Putting a bridle on him and I got the back of his head on my face. Cigar was a bit tough too. When he came in, it took a couple people to even put the blankets on him. But he came around to my way of thinking after about a week. He was grand. BH: What kind of characters and personalities do you have standing here now? RB: Personality-wise... Tiz the Law is a quiet, easy-going, uncomplicated animal. He is easy to handle. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body really. He's never given me a day's worry, knock on wood. American Pharoah hasn't changed one iota since he got here. He is a pet. You raise your voice to him, you'd hurt his feelings. He'd do anything for a carrot. Absolute gent of a horse. My two original horses here were El Gran Senor and Storm Bird. Both of those horses are in his pedigree, but he didn't get it from Storm Bird. El Gran Senor was an absolute pet, and I think that's where Pharoah gets it. El Gran Senor was probably my favorite. He was with me the longest. He was a gent of a horse. He had fertility problems. We used to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning and breed the mares right on top of ovulation. He was a tremendous sire for the mares he got in foal. Mo Town is a strong horse. When you take Mo Town to the breeding shed, you don't get a chance to close the doors. He walks in ready, up he gets, and walks out. I'd love to have 50 like him. He's an easy horse to groom or muck out. He's uncomplicated when it comes to that type of stuff, or turning him out in the paddock. Munnings was a sprinter. You'd think he'd be all fire and brimstone and want to go, but he's the most laid back, laziest sucker you ever came across. He's turned into a tremendous sire. He's always been completely relaxed. He came in like that. Fusaichi Pegasus won the Derby, but he was always jumping around and messing around. He could be a total idiot. BH: Define a good breeding, and what things do you have to pay attention to in the shed? RB: Well when you get two animals in the breeding shed, you want everything to go smooth. Especially when you get into May and June. The guys are getting tired, and that's when stuff happens. You have to keep them on their toes. Generally if the mares are right, things go well. We only see the mare for 10 minutes. We don't know one mare from another. I size up the mare from the time she walks in the breeding shed. We jump every mare here. We have three teasers, and we use one per session. The teaser is a very important part of the crew. I've got two Triple Crown winners, but I've only got one really top class teaser—Eoin. And I've got two sons of Eoin, and they're kind of cut from the same cloth. I'm hoping they'll be as good as their old man. Apart from stallions, they're the most important part of the team. Eoin himself is by an old teaser that I had here. I hate to be blunt about it, but if a teaser goes down, he can stay down for six months while we nurse him back to health. If a stallion goes down for six months, he's missed the season, and that's our bread and butter. BH: How does this job change with the seasons? RB: In the offseason, it's a whole lot more relaxed. The horses are turned out. Now is the time things start picking up. We'll be exercising the stallions, lunging them, getting them ready for breeding season. We'll have them ready by the time the 15th shows up. We start breeding in February and we don't slow til the second or third week of June. BH: As you approach your last breeding season, what is on your mind? RB: Get through one more breeding season! Hopefully everybody comes out on the other side safe. Things happen in there. I have young lads coming in here all the time. Most of the crew that I have here is either taught by me or taught by somebody that I taught. I don't mind teaching guys, but it's getting harder and harder. When I came into the business, it was rough and ready. They would tell me something once, and that was it! Now you have to be very gentle. "Come on now, I told you this last week..." If I treated the kids today like the old gruff guys treated me, they'd be out of the business. They're a little softer today, maybe better. But that's not the way I was brought along. BH: Do you have any other stallion stories you want to share? RB: I'll tell you a funny one. We had a paint mare named Blue at the same time we got Thunder Gulch. Blue was the perfect size for Thunder Gulch. He was only 15 1 1/2 when I saw him first, if he was that. And we were test-breeding him to Blue to show him the ropes before the breeding season started. I bred him to Blue, and I bred him to Blue again and it was fine. First Thoroughbred mare showed up, and Thunder Gulch has got nothing. I'm like, "What is going on here?" He just refused to drop down. He wouldn't do anything. So the mare left, and I was totally taken aback. I brought in Blue, and he was ready to go again. He had fallen in love with Blue! Thunder Gulch's entire first season we had to have Blue in the breeding shed when he was breeding. And she was in foal. The teaser got her in foal during the breeding season, but it didn't matter to Thunder Gulch. As long as she was standing there, he'd breed away. He'd be looking at her and breeding them. We tried to use a blanket with a paint pattern on it—didn't work. When they sent him down to Australia, I thought we might have to send Blue with him. BH: Do you have any plans for your retirement? RB: My wife and I own a house on Battlefield Golf Course in Richmond, Ky. We're retiring there. I'll do a bit of hunting and fishing. That's what I do for a pastime. I may still come back over here and help out at the sales and stuff like that, but very little probably. I'll miss the horses obviously. I'll still probably drop in every now and again. I'm sure I'll get a fix.