Saturday, I spent my day with Whitebeam, Mo Plex and a card full of Saratoga stars. Today, I spent it with Kissin Conquest, Just Blue, Apse and Eagle Poise. Two career maidens, a Saratoga hurdle winner and a Grade 3 flat winner. On a farm in Virginia.
Our Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.
Bred by John Franks, Kissin Conquest joined Niall Brennan’s consignment and fetched $35,000 from Peter Karches at OBS April in 2004. Two months later, Richard Migliore rode him in his debut for Lisa Lewis. They finished fourth in a maiden at Colonial Downs. By the following spring, the bay gelding became the first runner for Riverdee Stable. He picked up a couple of checks on the flat and was rushed (rookie owner) into three middling hurdle starts. Somewhere along the line, I turned down $15,000 for him. And the man who came to dinner never left.
We’ve had a lot of meals together.
Before teaching him another skill, my wife Annie asked if he was nervous. I said, “Oh, no, he’s not nervous. He’s enthusiastic.”
From that day on, Kiss has been enthusiastic. Showing. Fox hunting. Hacking. Baby sitting. Pensioning.
Today, in the summer heat, I caught him doing an animated/agitated yoga cobra move in the middle of the front field. If I hadn’t seen it before, I would have speed dialed Dr. John Nolan of Piedmont Equine. Instead, I went straight to the brush box and grabbed a jar of cocoa butter. He saw me coming, recognized the white jar. I glopped it on liberally, smearing it across his raw belly. He stretched with his head held high and groaned in appreciation.
Farm art.
Hilary Pridham called me about Linda’s Blueberry in 2007. The son of With Approval made two starts at Fair Grounds, beat two horses. Big, gray and pretty, he seemed like a good steeplechase prospect. We bought him cheaply from his owner/breeder. Rung out from a long trip to Pennsylvania and bouncing back and forth quicker than an Olympic table tennis match, he needed time. We gave him time. He put on weight, Annie started riding him, taught him to jump. Man, could he jump, like top-of-the-standard jump. That was the end of his steeplechase career. We changed his name to Just Blue. We took him to Culpeper, Upperville, Princeton and everywhere in between. He won blue ribbons and had us thinking big. He had fun. We had fun. He’s now 21, with a bum knee, and still weaves from time to time. In a strange way, it’s reassuring.
Farm art.
Apse cost $50,000 at Keeneland September Sale in 2010. The son of Arch finished 3 3/4 lengths behind Tiz Sardonic Joe, Dullahan and Patrice Merion in his debut, a Saratoga 2-year-old turf maiden. Seven winless starts later, he joined Riverdee and won two races over hurdles, including an allowance at Saratoga, our first. The win attracted everyone from trainer Richard Valentine to The Special’s Tom Law to TVG’s Peter Lurie to my nephew Nolan. What a day.
A few years and a bowed tendon later, Apse transitioned to showing and won big, long championship ribbons in the hunter division. Placid and polite, he’s 15 now and we’re still threatening to get him back in the show ring. Or at least hand him over to Miles.
This morning, he pulled me to his stall to beat the heat. This afternoon, he pulled me to his field to join his friends.
Farm art.
Bred and owned by Juddmonte, Eagle Poise joined Riverdee after a final bid of $65,000 at Keeneland November sale in 2010. It was the first time I bought a horse at an auction. I shook all the way home from Keeneland to Middleburg.
The stamina-laden son of Empire Maker, once trained by my heroes Bobby Frankel and Bill Mott, won twice for Riverdee and Graham Motion. In the Grade 3 Valedictory going 1 3/4 miles at Woodbine, Eagle Poise gradually closed on Harrods Creek. I yelled, “Get him. Get him. Get him.” At the wire, a neck in front, partner Mark Grier turned to me and said, “He got him.”
Retired at 8, Eagle Poise learned to jump, learned to show and even carted me around the Real Rider Cup in the Covid-isolation year. Now 18 and fully retired, you can still tell why he got Harrods Creek that day. He’s the field general in an army of four.
Maybe it takes a week away in Saratoga watching today’s stars to appreciate yesterday’s warriors, but I enjoyed their company today.
At the end of a long, hot day, juggling barn chores and writing assignments, Blue chased bribery carrots in the bottom of his feed tub as I spread Manuka Honey on his chafed, healing ears. Hearing the snap of the carrots, Eagle Poise bustled over, leaned into Blue, scratched his head across his flank and gazed across the front field to Apse and Kiss. They picked up their heads in recognition. I snapped a photo.
Four horses who got lucky. Or did we get lucky? Maybe both.
Farm art.
