A native Brooklynite, owner/breeder Marty Zaretsky has sent out many New York-breds over the years. This year, he reached new heights. In the name of his Pine Ridge Stables, he scored his first grade 1 win as a breeder: with an Empire State-bred, naturally. Iron Orchard won the historic Frizette Stakes (G1) for KatieRich Stables. She then headed west to Del Mar for the 1 1/16-mile NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), where she finished ninth in the Oct. 31 contest.
Zaretsky was born in Brooklyn but lived for years in Manhattan. He worked in the high-end packaging business with cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. “I moved to New Jersey,” he said, “and then I moved back to Manhattan. I’ve been living, and I live, upstate in Old Chatham, New York now, full-time. I am 82 years old now, in very good stead; thank God, knock on wood.”
How did Pine Ridge come about? He said, “I moved upstate 40 years ago to ski after a divorce with my two children.” Zaretsky got involved in horseback riding and participated in fox hunting for 25 years. He fixed up the old barn on his property and began breeding horses.
Dr. Jerry Bilinski, owner of Waldorf Farm, has been a key collaborator. “Jerry and I are friends,” recalled Zaretsky. “We used to hunt together and he suggested early on… We were partners for a while and I went on my own and he suggested instead buying horses that have value, that have a future. So that’s how I got into the breeding of Thoroughbreds.”
He added, “I had the love for the horses and while I had the room, I started buying mares to breed […] So I bought a mare for $5,000, the first mare in foal, sold the foal for $22,000. It was very exciting, and I kept on going.” Zaretsky often works with Spendthrift Farm—where Iron Orchard’s sire Authentic stands—as well as Paramount Sales and Taylor Made Sales Agency.
His top runners have included homebred Curlin's Wisdom, a stakes-placed earner of $455,853.
Zaretsky-breds have also succeeded at auction. For example, a Pine Ridge-bred Into Mischief colt out of Indian Rush sold for $750,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling sale; her half-sister, a Shanghai Bobby mare out of Indian Rush named March X Press, went through the sales ring four times, most recently selling, in foal to Quality Road , for $560,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale. At the 2015 Keeneland November sale, Pine Ridge acquired a Pioneerof the Nile filly named Lady of the Nile for $100,000. Lady of the Nile’s Ghostzapper filly hammered for $400,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale.
As for Iron Orchard, her first few months of life were more than a little dramatic. When the youngster was around four months old, her dam, stakes-placed Onebrethatatime, died. She was put on a nurse mare at Waldorf, and she has been a standout ever since. Iron Orchard has been through the sales ring five times. At the 2023 Keeneland November sale, the weanling filly sold for $140,000. At the following summer’s Saratoga Preferred New York-Bred Yearling Sale, she RNA’ed for $97,000, then sold for $78,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling sale. On these three occasions, she was consigned by Taylor Made.
This past year, she sold twice more; at the OBS Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training, Iron Orchard, consigned by Grassroots Training and Sales, fetched $500,000 from Bill Childs and Mark Stanton. Consigned by trainer Danny Gargan, she sold for $2.5 million to KatieRich Farms at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-October Digital sale after the Frizette.
Iron Orchard’s first start came July 3 at Saratoga at 5 ½ furlongs. Favored at odds of 0.60-1, Iron Orchard romped home first by 5 ½ lengths. Her second race was also at the Spa, against other New York-bred two-year-old fillies in the Aug. 22 Seeking the Ante Stakes. Favored at 0.75-1, Iron Orchard was even more impressive this time. Second at the break, the dark bay/brown filly had seized the lead by the quarter pole and never relinquished it. By the time she hit the wire in the 6-furlong race, she’d drawn clear by 6 ¾ lengths.
The competition was a bit stiffer in the Frizette, which took place Oct. 4 at Belmont at The Big A. Racing a mile on the dirt, Iron Orchard was mid-pack for most of the race. In the stretch, she surged forward to third place, and she battled it out fiercely for the lead. At the wire, Iron Orchard was first by a game nose. Zaretsky said of Iron Orchard in the Frizette, “I didn’t own it but it was amazing anyway.” He added, “The horse is phenomenal.”
