Explora's Test Win a 'Huge Success' for Mesingw Farm

Denise Smith, who owns Mesingw Farm near Midway, Ky., with her husband Steve, admits it was "a little bittersweet" to watch Explora, whom they raised and sold, win the Aug. 8 Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course in someone else's silks. But at the end of the day, it was also a massive success for Mesingw, which notched its first grade 1 winner after marking just its fifth anniversary last December. "It's easy to think of it as 'Explora is the one that got away,' but I don't see it that way, necessarily," Denise Smith said. "As breeders, this is a huge success. We want to not only race good horses, we want to breed and sell stakes winners. So to me, it's a huge win for our farm to have her out there doing what she's been doing, and we couldn't be more proud of her." "For us, it's a milestone that doesn't get much better than to breed a grade 1 winner," Steve Smith added. "So we're completely proud of her. I'm not proud of myself for selling her." While Explora's victory might have been bittersweet, there is plenty more pure sweetness and pride to go around for the Smiths. Racing as Elements Racing, they have homebred Meringue, who last year won twice from three starts, including the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies. And one race before Explora won the Test, the Smiths were also on hand to see homebred Oscar, Meringue's half brother, win his debut, which could propel him straight to stakes company. The recent success stems from the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, when Steve Smith zeroed in on two mares. One was the winning Collections Choice, by Bernardini, who has exploded as an outstanding broodmare sire. Mesingw purchased her in foal to Blame for $75,000. The other was the Street Sense mare Catbrier, winless but from a select group of Godolphin offerings. He purchased her, with a Frosted foal in utero, for $32,000. "We specifically targeted two mares," Steve said. "They were bought for who they were in foal to, and two stallions that are not commercial—Blame and Frosted. But if it's the right nick, it tells you everything you need to know from the genetic side. … It's not completely predictable, but boy, it tilts the scales to a direction that you stand up and take notice." Catbrier delivered her gray Frosted filly, who became Meringue, in February 2020. Collections Choice gave birth to Explora—known as 'Blame Kate' on the farm before her current connections renamed her—in April 2023. She was actually delivered by Steve, as the farm manager didn't arrive in time. Growing up in the same field, the two fillies showed strong personalities. "One thing that I have learned to really pay attention to, the mentality of these horses when we're watching them as yearlings in the field," Denise said. "It's one thing to watch the physical, like who's got a good stride, but the mental (side) cannot be emphasized enough. Who is the boss in the field? Who's got that attitude. And in the yearlings that year, Meringue was the boss, and Kate was the number two. They were the top two fillies in that field, and at the time I didn't really understand how important that was, and now I do." The business plan for Mesingw, which started with a broodmare band of just six, was originally to sell colts and retain fillies to race and add to the broodmare band. But with their number of mares growing to 37, the Smiths will offer fillies as needed. And thus, the young Explora wound up in the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where she was purchased for $22,000 by Rusty Roberts. "I will tell you at that point, she wasn't the most athletic-looking filly that we had," Steve said. "I think she was just slower maturing... I mean, nobody saw that potential in her because she obviously didn't show it till she matured, as a 2-year-old." Explora went to on to the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where she was purchased for $350,000 by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni on behalf of the "Three Amigos"— better known as Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, longtime clients of trainer Bob Baffert. "Bob and I work that sale pretty hard, and she did everything right," Lanni said. Explora was either first or second in her first seven starts, including wins in the Oak Leaf Stakes (G2) last year and the Honeybee Stakes (G3) this year, and a runner-up effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). A poorly timed temperature caused her to miss her final prep for the Kentucky Oaks (G1), but nevertheless, she was a gallant fourth in the filly classic. Cutting back in distance since then, she won the Leslie's Lady Stakes, and then the Test by a dominant five lengths. Meanwhile, while Meringue is on the comeback trail—Denise says, "she's had a couple injuries, a little time off, but she'll be back soon hopefully"—her half brother Oscar gave the Smiths another reason to celebrate in Saratoga. They ultimately withdrew the son of Oscar Performance from last year's Keeneland September sale to race themselves after he didn't draw much interest, joining their Elements stable of about a dozen. The homebred rallied up the hedge for a debut win by a nose. "He was unbelievably professional... probably the most professional 2-year-old I've run in a long time," said trainer Miguel Clement, who named stakes at Kentucky Downs or Woodbine as potential next targets for Oscar. "Not many horses would split through that gap he went for. That wasn't much of a gap." While the potential excitement of their homebreds and sales graduates targeting the Breeders' Cup World Championships in their backyard at Keeneland looms, the commercial business for the Smiths at Mesingw continues on. Their nine yearlings at Keeneland September include a Volatile half sister to Meringue and Oscar. The farm also plans to sell some mares in November to make room for fillies eventually coming off the track. Unfortunately, "one got away," as Steve put it, as Mesingw sold Collections Choice to Korean interests in the fall of 2024. However, Catbrier, current star at the farm, has a Tiz the Law filly at her side and is in foal to Nyquist.