Often this time of year we're wrapping up from the spring, taking a little vacation, and gearing up for summer racing at the flat tracks. This year? We'll just carry on entertaining you weekly - this time focusing on some folks new to steeplechase ownership.
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They come in all colors
(and chevrons, and blocks, and diamonds, and ....)
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Meet some of the new, and returning, steeplechase owners
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Good riddance, people say, to the old-fashioned way of treating racehorse owners like mushrooms (“keep them in the dark and feed them lots of s**t”). Welcome to the 21st century: texted videos of schooling sessions, real-time internet chats to map the season and open days at the barn for family and friends to meet and greet the equine stars of the show. Some owners want to be hands-on – leading up, walking hots, polishing brass; others prefer to sign the check and – with luck – reap the rewards.
From the one-horse operation to the owner-breeder empire, racehorse owners are the ones footing the bill to keep American steeplechasing afloat.
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Other than the loose horse on course, the most dangerous participant in steeplechasing may be an owner with a condition book.
That’s the edict from a new member of the jump racing tribe, and, though she’s half-kidding, by all accounts, that’s how the trainers feel.
Heather Gregorek isn’t new to horses, or new to racing. She’s new to racehorse ownership, though, and new to navigating the sometimes wild ride of having a stake in the results.
(
Tod Marks
photo)
“Trainers sometimes don’t want an owner to be involved,” says the 32-year-old Kennett Square, Pennsylvania resident. “They want to be the one to choose the races, choose the schedule. Sure, they’re probably right, but I like being part of it.
“I’m doing this for fun.”
Gregorek’s very first foray into steeplechase ownership was one of the more compelling success stories of 2019. Giveaway Lead Investor turned out to be one the circuit’s most consistent runners, one of just three horses winning three races over hurdles last term. He was second in his other jump start, and twice placed on the turf at Penn, bankrolling nearly $45,000 and keeping the new owner in the black.
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Lead Investor, with jockey Tom Garner up, splashed home to the win in the Rose Tree Cup at the cold and wet 2019 Willowdale Steeplechase
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Still, Gregorek – who works three jobs part of the year to fund what she calls her “horse habit” – was nervous when she got the monthly invoice from trainer Jonathan Sheppard.
“I mean, this was a flat track-washout that was given to me. I’m not a rich racehorse owner,” she says, adding that she doesn’t feel like she fits the typical profile. “I work year-round, and work 90 hours a week all spring to pay for this. I love it. I love horses, and I love racing.
“We had a blast last year.”
Kentucky-bred by Spendthrift Farm, Lead Investor is a son of millionaire Tizway, out of the group 1 winning Argentine mare Leading The Way. The flashy dapple-gray sold at Keeneland September yearling for $15,000, wheeled back in at Ocala 2-year-olds for $32,000. He ran 10 times for buyer Robb Levinsky’s Kenwood Racing, showing a little spark as a 2-year-old – second and third at the $40,000 maiden claiming level, but he was in a freefall throughout a protracted 3-year-old campaign, dropping in class but showing less and less heart with each start.
“I got a call from his trainer,” Gregorek says. “He said the horse just wasn’t happy” at the racetrack. Something stirred from her childhood: afternoons at the Saratoga racecourse, dreaming of someday owning her own racehorse. She asked if she could have the papers. “They said ‘fine.’ I think they thought he was totally done on the track.”
Getting Lead Investor’s Jockey Club registration papers was key, Gregorek explains – horses cannot race without them. Many racehorses are retired to competition or foxhunting homes, mostly sold or given away without their papers to prevent future racing. But some, like Lead Investor, are not so much retired as repurposed. Gregorek says she gambled on the fact what the horse needed was time off and a new outlook. She hoped he’d return to the 2-year-old promise.
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Gregorek brought Lead Investor home to Pennsylvania, after a few months off bringing him back to jogging and cantering before petitioning former employer Jonathan Sheppard – American steeplechasing’s all-time leader – for assistance.
“I just don’t have the facilities to bring a horse along, so I asked Jonathan to help,” Gregorek says. “I went to him – he can be very intimidating, you know, and I was nervous.
“He said ‘OK, I’ll take him for a little while, and I’ll tell you if you’ve got something’.”
About the third week, Sheppard told her that though he was initially “dubious,” once Lead Investor started schooling and working, the horse began to flourish. “That’s when I started to get a little excited,” Gregorek says.
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Lead Investor, with Bethany Baumgardner in the irons, warming up before the Athenian Idol flat race at the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup Races in November 2018.
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Lead Investor ran once over hurdles in the late fall of 2018 with Sheppard listed as owner – “to save me having to register as an owner and register my colors for just one race,” Gregorek explains, fifth at Charleston. He returned last spring under Gregorek’s brand new orange and purple silks, second at the Orange County point-to-point then winning under rules at Foxfield Spring. He won at Willowdale, was fourth and second on the flat at Penn National, and closed the season with a ratings win and a second at Colonial Downs.
He got some time off for some filling in an ankle but returned in time to train for 2020. He was third at the Warrenton point-to-point, but just as the season was scrapped due to COVID-19, the ankle swelling returned, and Gregorek decided to stop on him.
“There was a slight possibility that the horse could have come back, given the time and money, but to what end? He could have continued and won again, but after (the 115 ratings level) it probably would have been difficult for him. I couldn’t do that to him.”
Gregorek gave Lead Investor to a sporthorse trainer in Kentucky who she trusts will find the best fit as a show horse, foxhunter or maybe an eventer after more time off. “The decision to stop on him was super emotional,” she says. “It was like giving up my dream, but I know I did right by the horse.
She jumped right back in, buying into a syndicate horse with some friends. They hope Irish-bred Hyperlapse gets to run soon. “It’s fun to be part of it,” Gregorek says.
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Lead Investor, Gerard Galligan up, in the final race of his career, in March at the Warrenton Point to Point. He finished third in the Open Hurdle.
©Douglas Lees
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Another one that outstripped all expectations
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Augustin Stables’ homebred Just As Well, a son of champion AP Indy out of the grade 1-winning Nureyev mare No Matter What, was part of a 2007 downsizing of George Strawbridge’s string.
Like he helped Lead Investor and Heather Gregorek, the girl that believed in him, trainer Jonathan Sheppard took a chance on a horse that he liked. Sheppard assumed ownership of Just As Well, gave him time to heal, and won some of the nation’s top handicaps with him.
“He had a lot of soundness issues,” Sheppard told the Chicago Tribune after Just As Well won the 2009 grade 3 Arlington Handicap. The colt had failed to win in four starts for owner-breeder Strawbridge and trainer Sheppard as a 3-year-old.
“When we were stabled at Saratoga, two veterinarians looked at him,” Sheppard said. “We sent him to Cornell University, and the people there talked of a condylar fracture in his hind leg and a high suspensory injury in his front leg. They never did determine what it was. After I got him, I turned him out in the back field for five months, and he cured himself.”
Just As Well spent 2007 in the pasture, coming back in 2008 to win his first two starts for the owner-trainer who believed in him at Delaware Park, winning a Keeneland allowance and just missing in the grade 1
Gulfstream Turf Handicap in February, 2009. Sheppard took aim at the graded turf circuit, placed in the Maker’s Mark Mile (Keeneland) and Dixie Stakes (Pimlico) before the giant win in Chicago.
Just As Well was beat a length by Gio Ponti in the grade 1
Arlington Million a month later, returning in 2010 to be second, beaten favorite in the
Handicap, and eighth in the Million.
Just As Well retired to stud at Spring Valley Stud in South Africa, siring dozens of major winners.
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We’ve got the Qs; they’ve got the As
Quick takes from some of the circuit’s new owners
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Taking The Lead Stable – Heather Gregorek:
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Q: How did you get involved?
A: My father took me to Saratoga on a Sunday afternoon at age 15. My mom managed
McMahon Thoroughbreds in Saratoga, (and) I got a job walking hots for Glenn DiSanto.
I was in the equine studies program at
SUNY Cobleskill, and (came to) Jonathan Sheppard’s Ashwell Stable as an intern in 2011. I was supposed to be there three months, but stayed three years.
In 2014, I was a patient care tech at New Bolton, then I worked for Lilith Boucher, and for Leslie Young, and foal watch at
Walnut Green. Now I work for the
Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission in the licensing office which keeps me “in” racing, but I’m warm in the winter, cool in the summer. You do still get to deal with the characters, and that’s the fun part.
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Q: Story behind the silks?
A: Orange and purple came about because I wanted to be able to see them from (across a racecourse), and because purple is my favorite color. It’s a nod to
Spendthrift Farm – they bred Lead Investor, and their colors are purple and orange.
I dress to match on race days. I like to tell people that I stay “on brand.”
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Gregorek's silks needed a thorough laundering after Lead Investor's win at Willowdale in 2019.
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Q: What about your barn name?
A: Working for a racing commission, I preferred a stable name over my own name. It was supposed to be Taking The Lead Racing, but it was put in the program as “Stable.” After winning as “Stable” and being somewhat superstitious, I couldn't change it back!
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Q: Who would you most like to be quarantined with?
A: (Trainer) Bobby Frankel. He was one of the greatest of all time. I never got to meet him, but I heard the best stories about him.
(Bobby Frankel – 1941-2009, was a five-time Eclipse Award champion trainer, winning 3,654 races. Among his best horses were Medaglia D’Oro and Ghostzapper.)
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Q: Favorite racehorse of all time?
A: Citation
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Q: The race I’d most like to win?
A: The American Grand National
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Q: Secret superpower?
A: I’ve always really loved to bake. I could put an Amish woman to shame!
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Leiper's Fork Steeplechasers - Brothers-in-law Mark McMillan and Mark George (ownership of Querry Horse includes Dana Nichols Burke)
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Q: How did you get involved?
A:
Mark McMillan – My father, Brown McMillan, was a professional bull rider back in the 50s. We always had horses around. When I was 15, I started galloping horses for Dr. John Youmans (one of the founding members of the old Harpeth Hills Hunt and Hillsboro Hounds, and a former owner-trainer on the old Midwest Hunt Race circuit.) I rode for (the late, leading amateur rider and creator of the Sport of Kings series) George Sloan, and started riding a few amateur races. I rode a lot of bad horses and a few good ones.
Mark George – I rode backyard ponies as a child, but when I met (Mark McMillan’s sister) Melinda when I was 17, I got indoctrinated into the steeplechase world. I cleaned stalls, took horses to the paddock, eventually started exercising horses, and even rode a point-to-point (Legal Jargon on the flat at the old Mells Foxhounds Point-to-point in middle Tennessee.)
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Q: Horses? Professional life? Both?
A:
Mark McMillan – I’m president of
McMillan Construction. We contract build highways, roads and bridges. I hunt with
Hillsboro, but I hadn’t had racehorses for a while.
(My wife) Ladonna owned a nice horse back in the ’80s,
Big Becth, that we won some races and had some fun with, but I’d taken off 20 years to raise my family and make money.
I live in Leiper's Fork, near Franklin, Tennessee.
Mark George – I work in logistics in the international (cargo) supply chain. I told Mark I was tired of going to the Iroquois (Steeplechase in Nashville, the biggest spring meet on the NSA circuit) and watching everybody else’s horses run. Melinda and I hadn’t missed an Iroquois since I became a member of the McMillan family way back in the ’70s.
We decided to go all-in, and commit to horses that could win at the top level.
It was (fellow Hillsboro Hounds subscriber and former amateur jockey Dana Nichols Burke) that hooked us up with Leslie Young. Before we knew it, we had four imported horses, and we were on our way. We didn't have any winners last year, but none of our horses finished out of the money.
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Querry Horse, with Irish jock Rachael Blackmore onboard, in the paddock at Far Hills in 2019. Querry Horse finished second in the Appleton Hurdle Stakes.
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Q: Story behind the silks?
A:
Mark McMillan – Ladonna designed those, green and blue diamonds. She’s creative like that.
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Q: Who would you most like to be quarantined with?
A:
Mark George – Before this (COVID crisis), I was pretty much already quarantined. We live on a beautiful, thousand-acre farm southeast of Memphis, cattle and crop land. My kids and grandkids live on the farm with us already. Our lives didn’t change at all, except for the (lack of) racing.
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Q: Favorite horse?
A:
Mark George – I’ll tell you, the horse that fired me up was the one that dominated when I first came into (steeplechasing.) Uncle Edwin won the Iroquois three times (1982, 1985 and 1986; he was second in 1984, and fourth in 1987.) That makes such an impression on a 20-year-old that wants to be in the sport.
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Tomgarrow, with Brian Linehan up, early in the ratings handicap hurdle at the International Gold Cup Races in October 2019. Tomgarrow finished fourth.
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Q: Secret superpower?
A:
Mark George – It’s not really a secret, or a superpower, but I’m pretty impressed I convinced my brother-in-law to get back into racing, and here we are with four really nice imports that are ready to run.
(Leiper’s Fork Steeplechasers owns French-bred Thomas Cubitt – fourth in the 3-year-old stake at Far Hills; Irish-bred Tomgarrow – fourth in the ratings handicap at International Gold Cup; French-bred Querry Horse – second in the Appleton at Far Hills, and three other times last year; and Irish-bred Court Ruler.)
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The Leiper's Fork Steeplechasers with their new purchase, Tomgarrow, in June of 2019 at Leslie Young's farm in Pennsylvania.
Photo courtesy of Mark George
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John and Lexie Greene, and partner Patrick Worrall
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Q: How did you get involved in racing?
A:
John Greene – We live in Owings Mills, Maryland, but I grew up in Butler, Lexie in Baltimore. My family has always owned horses – although not racehorses. I rode every day of my life from before I can remember until I was a teenager, trail (riding) with my dad and younger sister Molly. Dad still foxhunts at age 78!
I carpooled to
Calvert School (K-8) with (my syndicate co-owner) Patrick Worrall. He was sort of like an older brother to me. We both went to
St. Paul’s School, and I watched him win the Maryland Hunt Cup on Von Csadek. I always thought that was one of the coolest things I had seen in sports.
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The 1992 Maryland Hunt Cup. Von Csadek and Patrick Worrall lead Cabral (Blythe Miller, up) over the 13th fence. 20 year old Worrall rode Von Csadek to the win that year, for father and trainer Douglas Worrall. Von Csadek was owned by the Worrall family and was billed "
the greatest timber horse never to have won the Maryland Hunt Cup
" before his 1992 win.
©Douglas Lees
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Q: Story behind the silks?
A:
John Greene – Patrick’s family already has their own silks, and he told me to design my own. It was fun, and I’d like to thank Celest Probt for helping me.
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Since Patrick and I both went to the same high school (St. Paul’s School in Baltimore), I used those colors – blue and gold and white.
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Q: Who’s the horse?
A:
Patrick Worrall – The horse’s name is Mr. Haire. He will be running in Lexi and John’s name. Our goal is to start him over hurdles, switch to timber and win the 2022 Maryland Hunt Cup.
He would have started in a point-to-point this spring (over hurdles) and maybe a sanctioned race.
He’s very sturdy, high head carriage, jumps over his fences. (Our trainer) thinks he would break his maiden over hurdles. I think his highest and best use is as a timber horse.
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Mr. Haire is a 2013 Kentucky-bred son of Einstein. He made 41 starts on the dirt over five seasons, winning three races and $43,773.
Photo of Mr. Haire courtesy of Patrick Worrall.
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Q: Horses? Professional life? Both?
A:
Patrick Worrall – I’m 6’2”, look normal but I weigh 140 lbs and I (still) bounce, so I could ride more races. I work in renewable energy finance and live in Austin, Texas now with my wife, Kristen and two boys - 9 and 12.
John Greene – I’m 6’3” and 190, and do not bounce…not close to a jockey.
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Q: Favorite horse?
A:
John Greene – Duh, Von Csadek.
Patrick Worrall – Duh, Von Csadek.
(Patrick Worrall became the youngest jockey to win the Maryland Hunt Cup when he won in 1992 aboard the family-owned Von Csadek.)
(Fun fact: John Greene’s Calvert School carpool included steeplechase standouts Patrick Worrall, Charlie Fenwick III and Danielle Brewster Oster.)
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Q: How did you get involved in racing?
A: Through Mark and Rebecca Beecher. I’ve been a blacksmith for 20 years, and do work for Rebecca’s father (a trainer.) I’m the seventh farrier in my family.
I never rode but my wife Holly has her whole life. After I got into racing, my daughter started to pony race followed by my son.
Hannah won her first timber start on my horse Carnival Carl. She works for Mark.
Mark found Carnival Carl for me off the flat track, and he and my daughter taught him to jump.
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Q: Story behind the silks?
A: Mark told me not to make them to bright and not a lot of white. So I made them orange and white. And told him to keep ’em clean!
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Foxhunter Timber winner Carnival Carl (Hannah Belt, up) - 1st at the 2019 Warrenton Pt. to Pt. Races at Airlie Racecourse, near Warrenton, Va.
Hannah was a 2018 TGSF Domestic Trip participant, and rode in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania for various trainers for a week.
©Douglas Lees
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Q: What is (was) the plan for 2020?
A: Looking back, I made a good decision to give all my horses a break this winter and spring. I didn’t see this coming, I just felt that they all had a great year last year and deserved a break.
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Q: Who would you like to be quarantined with?
A: I’d have to say Bob Kinsley. He is the most successful, self-made man that I know. It would be great to learn as much as I could from him.
I’ve been shoeing for him for years, and he is just a great guy that does a lot for the horse community.
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Q: Favorite horse?
A: I don’t think I really have a favorite racehorse of all time, (though) my horse Carnival Carl comes to mind. Not only because he’s our first, but that he is just so good across the board. He’s gone over hurdles, to timber and my daughter has evented him and takes him foxhunting, all in under two years.
Now I’ve started riding him, so it has become a problem for my daughter. Haha.
He’s just a great all-around horse that I couldn’t replace. Mark said if he finds another like him, he won’t be the same price!
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Carnival Carl in his first NSA sanctioned race over hurdles - in a maiden special weight race at the International Gold Cup Races in October of 2017. Sean McDermott had the ride.
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Q: Horses? Professional life? Both?
A: Yeah, both. Other than being a farrier, I have a side business with my brother in law, STH Stormwater.
I stay very busy between the two but always make time for the races. We have not missed a meet that we had a runner in, whether it be pony race for the kids or one of our horses.
I drove my son to Kentucky just for the pony race and my daughter to Aiken so I’d say we’re somewhat devoted.
My advice if you’re looking to get into the sport, talk to a few different trainers and maybe get into a syndicate at first. This way it’s cheaper, and you can see if it’s for you.
As for us, it’s been fun and I look forward to getting back out there.
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Austin Belt (far right) with fellow pony riders Parker Hendriks, Teddy Davies, and Will Slater at the 2019 Junior Grand National. Belt won the large pony Field Master's Chase on Mint Meadows Farm LLC's Class Day.
©Douglas Lees
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Q: Secret superpower?
A: I think I’m always surprising my friends and family. My wife didn’t like it much when I decided to start flying lessons at age 30.
But eight years and four planes later, she’s gotten over it a little.
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David Belt's other steeplechaser, Arctic North, missed Belt's "keep the silks clean" memo at the 2019 Willowdale Steeplechase. Arctic North and jockey Sean McDermott splashed to the win in a maiden claiming hurdle.
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NSA Official Notices for May 29, 2019
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NSA Spring Race Schedule
Please see the attached conditions for the Middleburg Spring Races and the Virginia
Gold Cup. Both the Middleburg Spring Races and the Virginia Gold Cup will be run
under NSA Rules. An NSA license is the only requirement to participate at these race
meets.
The specific protocols for participants at both the Middleburg Spring Races and
the Virginia Gold Cup will be forthcoming.
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