Articles
Tales from the Crib: Audible
By Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com
Born in an historic New York neighborhood, Audible hopes to become only the second horse bred in the Empire State to win the Kentucky Derby (G1) after Funny Cide (2003). But there’s also a lot of Kentucky in this colt who was raised in the Bluegrass.
Audible was bred by Richard Leahy’s Oak Bluff Stables and foaled at Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, New York. As the historical page on the farm’s website explains, this area of the Hudson Valley has been prime real estate for both horses and cattle for centuries. Imported stallion Messenger, the Standardbreds’ patriarch as well as a significant influence on the early American Thoroughbred, called Pine Plains home for a few years in the late 1790s. The town even had a racetrack in the 19th century.
After an uneventful birth at Berkshire Stud, the three-week-old Audible moved to Winter Quarter Farm in Kentucky with his dam, Blue Devil Bel. That was because the mare was due to be bred back to a Kentucky stallion, so Blue Devil Bel and her foal would spend time in the Bluegrass as she was covered and began her new pregnancy.
Thus baby Audible went from one historic location to another, for Winter Quarter is the birthplace and childhood home of Hall of Famer Zenyatta. The Lexington nursery also has a connection to a Hall of Famer of an older vintage, 1960s superstar Kelso. His dam, Maid of Flight, was herself foaled and raised on the farm.
Winter Quarter was founded in 1948 by World War II veteran Burnett Robinson and named after a Coast Guard lightship. His son, Don, took over at the helm in the late 1970s. Recently honored with the Hardboot Breeders’ Award in recognition for his career achievements, Don runs Winter Quarter in tandem with his own son, Ferran Robinson.
Ferran spoke of the teamwork between Winter Quarter and Berkshire Stud, owned and operated by veterinarian Douglas Koch, to care for the Leahy mares and their babies.
“Doug does the scary stuff,” Ferran said of Dr. Koch’s presiding over the foaling and newborn stages in New York. [Read More]
TOBA September Member of the Month
Don Robinson races standout turf mare Cambodia
By Carly Silver
Don Robinson has deep roots in the Kentucky soil. His grandmother owned 1933 Preakness winner Head Play, second in that year’s so-called “Fighting Finish Derby,” while his father boarded excellent runners at the family’s Winter Quarter Farm in Lexington. Robinson has reared many an excellent runner at Winter Quarter, but is now branching out. Along with boyhood friend Alan Schubert, Robinson races standout turf mare Cambodia, whom he co-bred with late partner Eric Kronfeld of Maverick Productions.
Five-year-old Cambodia has registered three graded stakes wins this year. She captured her last two races, the August 5 Yellow Ribbon Handicap (G2T) and September 2 John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T), back to back at Del Mar. “It’s kind of an amazing stroke of manna from heaven, what can I say?” Robinson said enthusiastically. “It was never really a goal; this just happened. I mean, it happened so deliberately and patiently, but I just can’t believe it’s happened. It’s wonderful.” [Read More]
Time and Patience Rewarded
MarketWatch Interview: Don Robinson
By Eric Mitchell
September 7, 2017
Don Robinson, owner of Winter Quarter Farm, has been a lifelong participant in the Thoroughbred game. The farm founded by his father has nurtured top runners such as Golden Pheasant, Star of Cozzene, Balance, Matty G., and 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta. Despite his long tenure, Robinson is experiencing this year as an entirely new thrill as the owner/breeder of his first graded stakes winner. His star, Cambodia, won three graded stakes this year, with her most recent victory in the Sept. 2 John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T) at Del Mar. She has won three of seven starts in 2017 and never finished off the board. Robinson talked with BloodHorse MarketWatch editor Eric Mitchell about Cambodia’s family and his experience as an owner.
BloodHorse MarketWatch: You have a long connection with Cambodia’s family. How did that begin?
Don Robinson: This family and I go way back. My good friend Mike Bell brought a client to me from Arizona named Gayle C.C. Stable, and they owned Lonely Beach. She was my first touch with the family, the great-grandmother. The husband died and I dispersed the horses, but I always remembered this family.
I got back to it, strangely, when Boogie Beach Blues (out of Lonely Beach) came back in the January sale as an unraced 2-year-old, having just sold for good money as a weanling ($80,000 at the 1999 Keeneland November breeding stock sale). Due to the misfortunes of the game, she had had minor surgery and ended up fracturing her pelvis while recovering from the anesthesia. Her racing career was over. So I bred her to Storm Bootand got Storm Treasure, who won over $700,000 and was an incredibly good horse.
At the same time, I always loved Lonely Fact, who was a daughter of Lonely Beach by Known Fact, who I also loved. I found out she was running for a tag, and I bought her privately for the claiming price. Lonely Fact was the mare of a lot of good stuff.
Everything out of this family runs. They are attractive though it is not a big commercial family. If it were then they would be unaffordable. The family just seemed to have ability, and I wasn’t aggressively pursuing them, but they just seemed to fall out in front of me.
BH: Do you often race your homebreds?
DR: I don’t usually but then I’ve never had a good one. I try not to waste time on a horse just because I got stuck with it. If the market really tells you it doesn’t like one, the market is not stupid and usually the first loss is the best loss, so I sell them. Over the years, I have kept some fillies and had some good ones, but I have never had one work out like this. I raced Sassifaction, Cambodia’s mother. She broke her maiden at River Downs and then won another condition at Indiana Grand (and another allowance at Ellis Park). We really liked her. She was by Smart Strike, who I bred to a lot before he got discovered, and so I had a nice mare.
Cambodia is my best, by far. I’ve never had a graded stakes winner in my own name. I’ve bred great horses for clients because that is my first order of business. I manage horses year-round and raise them for other people and dabble on the side.
BH: So how did you end up keeping Cambodia?
DR: The original plan was for her to go through a sale, and she probably would have brought good money as a yearling, but she would not have vetted. She had an OCD (osteochondritis dissecans lesion) in her stifle and in the early spring it looked compromising enough that we were concerned she might not make it off the farm. War Front (her sire) was worth keeping. The family was worth keeping, and I liked her so I gave her time and broke her in the fall with all the others. She never had any soundness issues; never made a misstep.
After she broke her maiden on the grass at Tampa Bay Downs, I called Tom Proctor, who I had always known and had done well with Temeraine (a graded stakes winner by Arch out of Lonely Fact). He said, “I’ll take her. She’s by a pretty good sire.” He also told me don’t underestimate a maiden win on the grass at Tampa Bay. He felt she was a pretty decent horse because he and (Christophe) Clement and (Graham) Motion all take good horses over to that grass track in the winter because they like that surface.
BH: Why has Cambodia’s 5-year-old year been so strong? Any insights?
DR: If there is any secret to her, it’s that every time she had a little bit of heat or any other 2-year-old stuff we stopped and sent her back to the farm to rest. We did that repeatedly. Most horses don’t get enough time and when you look at this family, they run for a long time. I gave her at least three long spells. And I credit my friend Geoff Mulcahy at the Thoroughbred Training Center who put in long, careful miles into her and always gave her time and the right foundation. Now she’s just exploded at 5.
BH: So what’s it like racing a homebred graded stakes winner?
DR: I have not missed a race since she was with Tom Proctor, and I just have to pinch myself. It is so satisfying and amazing. It is like a dream. I have been at this for so long, and this is so unusual and respected. I am amazed.