Volleyballprincess Caps Strong Week for North Carolina

The sophomore division took center stage across the country Feb. 1 with a trio of Kentucky Derby (G1) prep races highlighting 3-year-old stakes action. Not to be lost in the shuffle was a dominant 10-length romp by the up-and-coming Volleyballprincess in the Aqueduct Racetrack's Ruthless Stakes. Despite being the longest shot in the five-horse field, the bay filly looked like a 1-9 favorite every step of the seven furlongs as she established the lead and drew off with ease despite jockey Eliseo Ruiz dropping his crop with three-sixteenths remaining. The domination capped a sensational week for North Carolina-based breeders. One week earlier on Jan. 25, Speed King established himself as a leading contender on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with a frontrunning score in the Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park. The colt was bred by North Carolina's Nancy Shuford, and although he is a Kentucky-bred, Speed King had spent some time on her Hickory, N.C., farm as a foal. COLLINS: Speed King Puts the "Little Guys" on Center Stage Volleyballprincess carries the "NC" next to her name as a registered North Carolina-bred, one of only four from the 2022 crop according to The Jockey Club records. She was bred and raised on Dr. Frank Batten's farm near Wilson, about 35 miles east of Raleigh. "From the day she was born, I loved her," Batten said. "She was a very nice, very well-built filly. Great manners. I liked everything about her." The filly is a daughter of Coolmore stallion Mo Town, who stands at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky., for a $5,000 fee in 2025. Batten says he's been a fan of Mo Town's sire, Uncle Mo, since he first saw him and that Mo Town has the same qualities. Volleyballprincess' dam, Prom Dress (Stephen Got Even), was bred back to Mo Town the following season. "I've always loved the way (Uncle Mo) looked and the performances that he had," Batten said. "I've always been an Uncle Mo fan, so I looked at Mo Town. He also has a great physical presentation. I fell in love with Mo Town and bred four or five times to him." A small animal veterinarian since 1972, Batten has had a lifelong passion for horses since he was a child. When his daughter started riding around age 10, Batten decided it was time he got involved with horses, too. He purchased his first mare around 1985. Keeping his horses at home in North Carolina is key for Batten, who was named the state's leading breeder at the 2019 Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association awards. "That's my thing with horses, I like dealing with them myself from breeding to finish," Batten said. "My love is doing it all myself: breeding, raising, I even had a little training center for five or six years. I've done a little bit of it all." Over the years, Batten has developed several family lines. One of the first mares he bought was Pokanne, Volleballprincess' great-granddam. However, the family nearly stopped at Volleyballprincess' granddam, Family Effort, a horse who received a sentimental name for the role Batten's family played in her survival. Three days after Family Effort was born in 1991, Batten did his daily check-in with the horses before driving into town for work. Hearing a commotion when he entered, he found the filly convulsing. "I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her," Batten said. "I gave her some medication to sedate her and stop the convulsions, but I had to go to work to serve my clients." While at work, Batten researched and called a veterinary school to figure out what to do, but still did not have a complete conclusion as to what had happened to the filly. When Batten returned home, he rallied his daughters and wife to the barn to help him treat the filly with fluids that were recommended by his research. Batten was unsure whether it would work and warned his family not to get attached to the filly as she was probably going to die. With his daughters holding down the filly on the ground and his wife tending to the dam, Pokanne, Batten was able to run the fluids through her. "Thirty minutes later, that foal got up and never looked backward," Batten said. "Therefore the name, Family Effort." Family Effort went on to be two-time stakes placed in a career that brought 13 wins from 69 starts for earnings of $252,855. Now her granddaughter is a stakes-winning filly on the rise. Batten made the tough financial decision to enter both Prom Dress and Volleyballprincess in the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale with the dam going to Blue Sky Racing for $5,000 and the weanling being sold to Natalie Moreau for $14,000. Volleyballprincess would later be purchased by her trainer, Louis Linder Jr., for $17,000 at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She has now earned $106,050 through three starts for owners Bran Jam Stable and David Clark. Batten admitted that trying to sell a North Carolina-bred at the sales is not the most attractive offering to buyers. In recent years, he has started foaling his more expensive breedings in Kentucky while continuing to deliver his less expensive ones in North Carolina. "If they're somewhere else, it's like they're not mine almost," Batten said. "I understand why people do it that way. I happen to be fortunate enough to keep as much as possible right here." Another of the top fillies he bred in the 2022 crop, Ruth, was foaled and registered as a Kentucky-bred but was still raised by Batten in North Carolina. By Uncle Mo, Ruth races as a homebred for Batten and was a debut winner at Gulfstream Park in December. In her first try against stakes company in Aqueduct's Busanda Stakes Jan. 18, she finished sixth following a bad stumble at the break that left her several lengths last early. Nevertheless, Batten is confident in the filly's ability moving forward. She is trained by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who has been Batten's go-to trainer for nearly two decades. Ruth is out of the Bernardini mare Peppy Rafaela, who Batten purchased in foal to Uncle Mo for $100,000 at the 2014 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. The resulting filly raised by Batten was Ruth's full sister Mopotism, winner of the 2018 La Canada Stakes (G2) and four-time grade 1 placed. Mopotism herself is off to a successful start in her breeding career for Don Alberto, which purchased her for $1,050,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale. Her first foal to race, Journalism, won the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) in December and is now considered a leading contender for the May 3 Kentucky Derby. That makes it three promising 3-year-olds entering the spring with Batten's fingerprints on their pedigrees. "It just seems to be a lucky year so far," Batten said. "I hope for it to continue." Batten only has two mares on the farm now following the death of Peppy Rafaela last year and the sale of Prom Dress, but his love for horses continues to burn deep in the 78-year-old's heart. "I love being around them, I love doing everything you have to do from the time they're born 'til they race," Batten said. "Just being on my farm watching them develop, that's my love."