Nine horses bred in the Mid-Atlantic became millionaires in 2024. Six earned at least $500,000. Eleven won graded stakes. One nearly captured the Belmont Stakes-G1. Two won nine races each to tie for third place in North America.
And that's just the basics.
Regional-bred horses shined on any number of stages big and small in 2024, leaving plenty of debate when it came to discussing the year's best. Who put together the year?
Maryland-bred Post Time won four races, captured two graded stakes and placed in three Grade 1 stakes. New Jersey-bred Book'em Danno did something Post Time couldn't do -- win a Grade 1. Pennsylvania-bred Neecie Marie won two Grade 3 stakes, placed in a Grade 1 and sold for $1 million at the end of the year. Though his wins came in a maiden race and an allowance, Maryland-bred Mindframe may have been the region's most interesting horse thanks to seconds in the Belmont and Haskell-G1 after looking like a winner in both. West Virginia-bred Coastal Mission took his act on the road, and didn't disappoint anyone.
Virginia-bred gelding Determined Kingdom won four races, and joined a new barn for 2025 after going through the sales ring for six figures. The success even touched the back roads as South Carolina-bred Stop the Cap won five races and North Carolina-bred Volleyballprincess made people look with a 2-year-old maiden win and a stakes-placing.
Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred writers checked in with some of the big names from a big year.
Coastal Mission
It would have been easy, and very likely profitable, to stay home with Coastal Mission and try to win a second consecutive Sam Huff West Virginia Breeders Classic Stakes, but that ship pretty much sailed when Jeff Runco took his homebred to Aqueduct for the Cigar Mile-G2 at the end of 2023.
With nothing left to prove in West Virginia, Coastal Mission deserved a chance to see how he consistently stacked up against open company. After he compiled a record of 9-3-2-0 with $535,000 earned in 2024, you can expect more of the same in 2025.
Coastal Mission, a 6-year-old son of Great Notion out of the Crowd Pleaser mare Smart Crowd, was one of nine reserve invitees to the $3 million Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 25. That didn't materialize, but other early-season options include the Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes at Aqueduct Feb. 1 and the General George at Laurel Feb. 15.
"We just want to make sure everything makes sense," said trainer Jeff Runco, also the co-owner and co-breeder with his wife Susan via their Coleswood Farm. "We're trying to map it out. It worked out pretty good last year, so we'll try to pick some good spots for the horse."
Coastal Mission's 2024 campaign included seconds in the Grade 2 John A. Nerud at Aqueduct and Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park. He ran fourth as the co-second choice in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic -- his only "home" start -- before winning the Parx Dirt Mile and the Grade 3 Forty Niner at Aqueduct, Runco's first graded stakes score with a homebred in a 40-year training career. A second consecutive try in the Cigar Mile yielded a fourth, one spot better than 2023.
"It was really special what happened last year," Runco said of 2024. "We got the win at Parx, and then we had a lot of discussion about where to go next, whether we go in the Breeders Classic, where he would have been a big favorite, or opt to skip that and go to the Forty Niner, which was a tougher race, but something that we wanted to keep doing. If you want to run against those horses, like in the Cigar Mile, and whatever we're going to do this year, you have to keep him with that company to keep the horse on top of his game."
-- Paul Halloran
Photo by Joe Labozetta/ Coglianese Photography
Determined Kingdom
Four wins, $285,988 earned, two wins at his favorite racetrack Colonial Downs, plus single tallies at Laurel Park and Keeneland made for a solid year for Virginia-bred Determined Kingdom in 2024.
Then he made more news.
Entered in the Keeneland November horses-of-racing-age sale by Determined Stud and Kingdom Bloodstock, the turf sprinter sold for $190,000 to Virginian Larry Johnson. Now 6, Determined Kingdom relocated from trainer Phil Schoenthal's care to the barn of Mike Trombetta at Fair Hill Training Center and points to a 2025 campaign that might look a lot like 2024.
"Just what I need, another turf sprinter," said Johnson, whose stable includes graded winner Future Is Now and others who seem to appreciate going short on the lawn; then he got serious. "He's such a cool racehorse and I watched him enough so to have a chance to buy him at what I thought was a fair price was a good opportunity. I'm optimistic about him."
Bred by Audley Farm, Determined Kingdom cost $47,000 as a yearling and put up 10 wins and $734,177 in earnings for Schoenthal and co-owner Matt Dorman. The bay son of Animal Kingdom has done his best work in Virginia, winning six of 10 lifetime starts at Colonial Downs including three scores in the Punch Line Stakes plus the Jamestown and Meadow Stable.
"He doesn't just need Colonial, but Colonial has two races that he has dominated and he got better this past year," Johnson said. "I thought he seemed like a horse that was worth the money just considering what's available in Virginia."
Additional success at Colonial Downs in 2025 could help Determined Kingdom make a little history, as his half-dozen wins are third on the track's all-time list. He trails only Enjoyable (eight wins), Fox's Flyjinsky (seven) and My Boy Kyle (seven).
-- Joe Clancy
Photos by Coady Photography
Future Is Now
Larry Johnson's career as an owner and breeder goes back far enough to include most every level of experience -- good, bad, success, failure, somewhere in between all of those -- which will make a man temper his enthusiasm. Or at least not get ahead of himself.
Johnson's runners won 25 races and piled up $1,675,720 in 2024, and that doesn't count the exploits of Johnson-bred Mindframe, who won twice and finished second in the Grade 1
Belmont Stakes and Haskell.
"In some respects, it's rewarding; in others it feels like good luck," Johnson said in January. "You plan a breeding, and you get lucky and the mare conceives and you get lucky if she has a live foal and you get lucky if the foal doesn't run through a fence. When it all comes together on the racetrack, and they compete successfully on a high level it's a remarkably good feeling. If you don't savor the moment, you sure as hell miss something."
Johnson didn't miss anything in 2024 when it came to Future Is Now, who won five races, added a second and a third, and put up $513,155 in nine starts. Bred in Maryland, the daughter of Maryland stallion Great Notion began 2024 on New Year's Day and started once a month through August. She won an allowance at Gulfstream Park in February, the The Very One Stakes at Pimlico in May, the Intercontinental-G2 at Saratoga in June and the Smart and Fancy at Saratoga in August. She didn't start in September, but capped the year with an upset of the world-traveling Star of Mystery (GB) and 10 others in the Franklin-G2 at Keeneland in October.
Her owner/breeder credited Future Is Now's newfound ability to ration her speed as a key to the success. In a December 2023 loss, she pressed a :20.89 first quarter and faded to fifth. In that New Year's Day start, she was on the engine through a quarter in :21.36 and a half in :43.64 and again finished fifth. She was up front again -- :21.69, :44.11 -- in March's Captiva Island Stakes and got caught late.
"I remember thinking, 'She's obviously fast but you can't win all these races by going to the front,' " Johnson said. "The race at Pimlico was kind of an eye-opener. She got away a little slow and she showed a different dimension, and that's what she did thereafter."
Third through a half-mile in the The Very One on Preakness Day, Future Is Now charged home late to win going away. She used similar tactics in her season-closing wins at Saratoga and Keeneland. Johnson and trainer Mike Trombetta bypassed the Breeders' Cup, where Star of Mystery finished fourth against males in the Turf Sprint-G1, for reasons mainly practical. For starters, Johnson didn't nominate her to the program as a foal so would have needed to pay a supplemental fee. Plus, the race was three weeks after the Franklin and would have been a 10th start on the year and included heavily favored Cogburn.
Rested over the winter, Future Is Now might make that trip to Del Mar in 2025. The 5-year-old aims for a 2025 debut at Keeneland, then important stops at Saratoga and beyond.
"I'd pretty much run her against any turf sprinter in the country after that year, and I told Mike I'd spend the $50,000 this year," said Johnson of the nomination fee. "I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. It's a long ways away and a long year. We'll do one step at a time -- which everybody says, but nobody really means. The Breeders' Cup is not something I would dismiss."
-- Joe Clancy
Coglianese Photography
Mindframe
Todd Pletcher and his team liked what they saw from Mindframe at Florida's Palm Beach Downs Training Center in early 2024. The Maryland-bred son of Constitution -- a $600,000 purchase by bloodstock agent Jacob West for Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale -- did things as right as an unraced 3-year-old can.
Then he flipped another switch.
"The horse trained really, really well prior to his debut," Pletcher said. "Then he had a gate work here at Palm Beach Downs prior to his first start that was probably as impressive a gate work we've seen since we've been training at Palm Beach Downs. So, we were anticipating a good debut. But like I've said before, you never really expect one to win by 13 and whatever that he did."
Mindframe won by 133⁄4 lengths March 30 at Gulfstream Park, blasting 10 others and sending signs that he'd be a 3-year-old the rest of the country needed to deal with in 2024. Another win followed, this one by only 71⁄2 lengths going 11⁄16 miles on the Kentucky Derby-G1 undercard at Churchill Downs.
That victory would be Mindframe's last of 2024, but his reputation continued to grow with seconds to Dornoch -- by a half-length in the Belmont Stakes-G1 at Saratoga Race Course and Haskell Stakes-G1 at Monmouth Park.
"When we took him to the allowance race at Churchill, we expected him to handle the two turns, but you never know until you do it. Churchill can be a funny surface and all that, but he did that really well," Pletcher said. "But you know what? What you don't expect from one is in their third start to run that well in the Belmont. Tough beat in there. Tough beat in the Haskell."
Mindframe came out of the Haskell with bone bruising, and Pletcher started thinking about 2025 for the colt bred by Larry Johnson out of the Street Sense mare Walk of Stars.
The dark bay colt returned to Pletcher's main winter string at Palm Beach Downs in December and resumed a regular breezing schedule two days after Christmas. Short-term targets include something in early March at Gulfstream, possibly the $10 million Dubai World Cup-G1 April 5 with the Whitney-G1 at Saratoga and Breeders' Cup Classic-G1 at Del Mar pegged as long-term goals. Facing off with stablemate and champion Fierceness could come in those latter two.
"We've kind of had Dubai on the radar, but we'll see how things go before we get to something like that," Pletcher said. "If we go to Dubai, we go there and then have a little bit of a break. But I think we can keep the two of them separated until we hit Whitney time. We hope we have a decision to make that we're going to run the two of them against each other or try and separate them somehow.
"We're hoping that the first major target for Fierceness is the Met Mile. That'll keep them separated for a little while. If we are fortunate enough to have them running well and ready for the Breeders' Cup Classic by the end of the year, let's let them have at it in there."
-- Tom Law
Jaxon Traveler
Three days after the latest victory by Jaxon Traveler -- in the $75,000 Ft. Bliss Stakes to push his earnings further into seven figures -- Tom Bellhouse still couldn't help but chuckle about Sunland Park announcer Eric Alwan's call of the Jan. 17 race.
"Did you hear that call?" asked Bellhouse, executive vice president of owner West Point Thoroughbreds. "When he goes, 'He made a liar out of me,' that was too good."
Alwan figured Jaxon Traveler was beaten in the stretch, and said so just as Redline appeared to inch clear. The 7-year-old Maryland-bred son of Munnings battled back to win by a neck, picking up his third consecutive victory. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Jaxon Traveler also picked up $46,500 and padded his bankroll to $1,124,298 through January.
"Doing what we do, he's been a dream horse," Bellhouse said of the $140,000 purchase out the 2022 OBS April sale. "He'd be a dream horse for anybody."
Bellhouse called Jaxon Traveler, bred by Lenny and Pat Pineau, an "old war horse" and the results back it up. Jaxon Traver sports 13 victories in 35 starts and he's also finished second eight times and third five times. In addition to his late 2024 and early 2025 victories at Remington Park (David M. Vance Stakes), Zia Park (Zia Park Sprint Stakes) and Sunland, Jaxon Traveler won the 2020 Maryland Juvenile Futurity at Laurel Park, 2021 Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn Park, 2022 Maryland Sprint-G3 at Pimlico Race Course and the 2023 Zia Park Sprint. That's stakes wins at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
"It's been just a great ride," Bellhouse said. "We're always looking to have horses like him and run in Maryland. The Maryland program for us has been good over the years."
-- Tom Law
“It’s been just a great ride.
We’re always looking to have
horses like him and run
in Maryland. The Maryland
program for us has
been good over the years.”
– West Point Thoroughbreds’
Tom Bellhouse, about sprint veteran Jaxon Traveler
Morning Matcha
One of the nine new millionaires at year's end, Morning Matcha won two stakes in 2024 -- the Unique Bella in April and the Mrs. Penny in August -- for LC Racing, Cash is King and Gary Barber before going through the Fasig-Tipton November sales ring.
Barber bought her back for $300,000 and will send her to back to trainer Butch Reid for a 2025 campaign. Bred in Pennsylvania by Crane Thoroughbred Services, the daughter of Central Banker and the Iam the Iceman mare Home Ice cost $18,000 at Timonium as a yearling. Her 29 lifetime starts include eight wins and a second in the 2022 Cotillion-G1 but no graded stakes win.
Reid would like to fix that.
"That's missing from her resume," he said. "She's just been a stalwart, a pleasure to train, pleasure to have in the barn. We bought her for $18,000 and to go over $1 million is very good. You wouldn't have anticipated that."
-- Joe Clancy
Neecie Marie
Sometimes, racing can look like an easy game. Sometimes, you can buy a yearling for $25,000, win six races and $1 million with her and then sell her for $1 million. Sometimes, horses turn out like Neecie Marie.
"It's hard to imagine one going on to do what she did, but she was always a big, strong filly and the people at the farm told us she trained like a different horse on the turf, and it just mushroomed from there," trainer Butch Reid said. "For a $25,000 purchase, she was pretty special. It turned out better than you could have imagined."
Bred in Pennsylvania by Jon Marshall, the daughter of Cross Traffic sold to Milam Racing Stable at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's fall yearling sale in 2021.
After early work at Lynn Ashby's Middletown Training Center in Delaware, Neecie Marie won four times as a 3-year-old in 2023. She leaped into the big time in 2024 with wins in the Beaugay Stakes-G3 at Aqueduct and the Light and Wonder Ladies Marathon-G3 at Kentucky Downs. In between, she placed in the New York-G1 and Beverly D.-G2. Sent to Fasig-Tipton November, she brought $1 million and joined the broodmare band at Japan's Lake Villa Farm. Farm representative Yoshihisa Iwasaki said via email that Neecie Marie would be sent to "one of Japan's top sires."
Reid was sorry to see her go, but saw an opportunity for the horse and her people.
"She gave us a lot of thrills for the year, she went to a great home, and they're going to breed her and treat her like a queen," Reid said. "That was the minimum we were taking for her. If they didn't come up with that kind of money, we would have been very happy to bring her back for another year."
-- Joe Clancy
Photos by: (Clockwise) Renee Torbit, Equi-Photo, Inc., Christine Hayden, Equi-Photo, Inc.
Smooth B
Halter and shank in hand, Butch Reid found a spot in the Pimlico grandstand to watch Smooth B run in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint on Preakness Day.
The 9-year-old Pennsylvania-bred followed the leaders through a half-mile, challenged for the lead in the stretch and just weakened late to finish third while looking for his first win since November 2022.
Low, leaning, snapping, shouting and blasting positive vibes at an outdated television above the mutuel windows, Reid looked like a wrung-out gambler at the finish. Mostly, he wanted something good for his horse.
"He's a hard-trier and he became the barn mascot," the trainer said. "I love horses like that."
Racing for Glen Bennett's LC Racing, Smooth B won the Marshall Jenney Handicap in August and the off-the-turf Turf Monster in September to get past $1 million in lifetime earnings and earn a winter break. Bred by St. Omer's Farm and WynOaks Farm, the son of Weigelia and the Disco Rico mare Katarica Disco was supposed to get back to work in Florida, but weather canceled a mid-January van ride.
"He did it the hard way, a little bit at a time," Reid said of reaching the seven-figure mark in career earnings. "Like always with him, we'll pick our spots. He's run in the Marshall Jenney six years in a row so that's one of our spots. He's been good to us so we'll be good to him."
-- Joe Clancy
Photo by Barrie Reightler
Post Time
The very definition of high energy, Post Time delighted witnesses local and national all year with morning antics and acrobatics that included walking to the track on two -- instead of four -- legs. While not nearly as dramatic, his afternoon performances spurred plenty of conversation too with four wins, three seconds and two thirds while racing from Maryland's Laurel Park to the Breeders' Cup in California.
The Maryland-bred's $975,000 in earnings led all regional-breds in 2024 and he claimed the top spot in the final Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz poll after winning the Jennings, General George-G3, Carter-G2 and Polynesian stakes and placing in three Grade 1 tries.
All that activity made what came next an easy decision as Ellen Charles of Hillwood Stable and trainer Brittany Russell sent the now 5-year-old to Foxhall Equine in Fallston, Md., for a vacation. There, the son of Frosted bred by Tom, Chris and Brooke Bowman and Milton Higgins III walked on a water treadmill, got turned out in an indoor round pen and otherwise tried to relax as much as his big personality would let him.
Russell communicated regularly with former trainer Dove Houghton, a rehab technician at Foxhall, and loved the updates.
"He's doing great," Russell said in mid-January. "Dove sends me pictures and gets me updates. He's still on a break, but he's full-on aqua-treading now so he's doing a little something. We plan on bringing him back the first part of February. There's no definite timeline. I want to get him back as long as the weather cooperates and when we can actually start riding him."
Over about 15 months, from September 2023 through Dec. 7, 2024, Post Time started a dozen times including trips to Kentucky, Aqueduct (three times), Saratoga (twice) and Del Mar. That schedule and competitive races would wear on anyone, and Russell thinks her stable star appreciated time away from training and racing.
"He did a lot of traveling, ran a lot of good races," the trainer said. "Dove knew him because he was there before for a layup, and she said when he came in he seemed like himself but after a couple weeks he turned into a different kind of beast. It makes you kind of wonder, was he actually tired at the end of last year? He shows up and does whatever we ask, everywhere we take him, but it was nice to hear somebody say that he's doing better since he's been there, that's he's improving and showing that."
Russell didn't pick out specific targets for her stable star, but start checking the entries in April. Major stops at Saratoga, where he was second in the Metropolitan Handicap-G1 and third in the Whitney Stakes-G1, and a return to the Breeders' Cup (second in the Dirt Mile-G1 last year) would be dream scenarios.
"The question for this year is, 'Are we going to try him a little farther?' " Russell said. "We'll probably prep him somewhere local and get him started the right way and then look on from there. In a perfect world he takes us back to Saratoga. Those are goals we want to look on for him, but he's going to tell us. If we do something similar to what we did last year, hopefully we're one step closer in at least one of them."
-- Joe Clancy
Photos by Equi-Photo Inc.
Foxy Junior
Bernie Houghton had to fight the urge. Foxy Junior had just won three stakes in a row, culminating with a win in the Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park Nov. 9. The Pennsylvania-based trainer knew it was time for a break for the Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Cuba.
"I just stopped her for no reason. She had a hard campaign, and I wanted to give her a little break," Houghton said in January. "It was hard after her win; you want to keep going. I told the owners, we're doing the best thing and if she comes back as good or better, we'll have a lot of fun with her."
Owned and bred by Dianne Stern, the dark bay filly won once as a 2-year-old and twice as a 3-year-old. Houghton freshened her up for her 4-year-old season and expected her to improve. Improve to six wins from seven starts and three straight stakes?
"Well . . . no, not really," Houghton said. "We did the same thing [in 2023]. I always liked her, I thought she was a pretty nice filly but this year, she just got good. Every time she ran, she came out of them better and better. Just maturing, a little break. Hence why I did it again this winter."
Foxy Junior began 2024 with an 111⁄2-length romp against allowance rivals at Penn National in May. She tacked on two more allowance wins before finishing fourth in the Princess of Sylmar Stakes at Presque Isle Downs in July. It would be her only loss of the season. She took the Plum Pretty against Pennsylvania-breds at Parx in September, the Maryland Million Distaff against Maryland-sired foes in October and the Thirty Eight Go Go against open fillies and mares in November. With nine wins from 19 starts for $332,669, Foxy Junior deserved a break.
"She's right here on the farm. She loves the break. She enjoys it," Houghton said from his family's Sylmar Farm in Christiana, Pa. "She'll start back on the first of February. We might jump her up a little higher, but I like the Maryland Million and the Pennsylvania-bred stakes. I could see her doing what she did last year and then some."
Houghton splits his time between 150 horses on the farm and 30 at Penn National, knowing that you never know. Stern sent Foxy Junior to Sylmar to break, needed a trainer, asked Houghton's mother Betsy for advice and the rest is Pennsylvania-bred history.
"She's been in the game a long time," Houghton said of the owner. "She sent her to us to break and she asked Mom if I would train her. She naturally said yes. With the babies you always have hopes."
-- Sean Clancy
“She’ll start back on the first of February. We might jump her up a little higher, but I like the Maryland Million and the Pennsylvania-bred stakes.
I could see her doing what she did last year and then some.”
– Trainer Bernie Houghton, about Foxy Junior
He'spuregold
Kelly Breen makes a lot of trips to The Home Depot.
The trainer's youngest son, Declan, is a member of a rocket club. The sixth grader names all his rockets after He'spuregold, the nine-time winning New Jersey-bred who has won four consecutive editions of the Irish War Cry Stakes at Monmouth Park.
"I've always got to go get gold spray paint for his rockets," Breen said in January. "He's been coming to the barn during the summers, and I don't know why he's taken a liking to him, but he's his favorite horse.
Declan has good taste. Bred and owned by John Bowers Jr., He'spuregold has earned $631,170 in 30 starts. Last year, he won his fourth Irish War Cry, a New Jersey-bred turf stakes, in July and tacked on the Red Bank Stakes in September.
As usual, the bay gelding freshened up in Ocala, Fla. for the winter before aiming to rejoin Breen in March.
"Mr. Bowers gives him what horses used to always get -- time off. He's a throwback," said Breen, who could have been talking about the horse and the owner. "He's just a warrior. He's so nice to be around. It's funny to say it, because you say it a lot about horses who are nice horses -- and he is a nice horse -- but he is just a pleasure to be around."
He'spuregold finished second and third in two starts as a 2-year-old and has won at least two races while running at least six times in every season since.
"He's always been honest. He's a warrior," Breen said. "He tries in the morning, he likes training, he's a competitor. If he was a regular athlete, he would be an Olympian or an all-star or a Hall of Famer. That's him. They're just a little different."
A fifth-generation homebred for Bowers, 7-year-old He'spuregold is out of Smart N Classy, winner of the Grade 3 Eatontown in 2005.
"He's had some program. This horse and one other horse are his last two horses, he's stopped his breeding program. This is it," Breen said. "It's tough to see because he's taken such good care of all his horses, even ones who might have been claimed from him. He's had me claim them to retire them. He's got a little farm not far from where I grew up. Route 34. His bloodlines have been around, he's had some really nice horses."
As for the 2025 Irish War Cry . . .
"I would assume so. I would assume so," Breen said. "We'll try to get him a race in Florida before we leave here and get him ready to go back and all systems go for Monmouth Park again this year."
Order the gold paint.
-- Sean Clancy
Simply Joking
Debut in a stakes?
Whit Beckman wasn't worried.
The fifth-year trainer unleashed Simply Joking in the Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds Dec. 21. The Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Practical Joke backed up Beckman's confidence with a neck win in the 6-furlong stakes.
"I didn't have to do much thinking, she's just so talented," Beckman said. "There were a lot of little things that went into it, but she came in with Her Laugh and they've been workmates from day one. They've always shown they were talented, but we didn't have a gauge on things. When Her Laugh won her debut so easily and then came back and won the Untapable, that gave me a lot of confidence that Simply Joking was going to be a next step up. A stake. Short field. It just made sense."
Bred in Pennsylvania by Larry Karp's Barlar operation, Simply Joking made it 2-for-2 with a win in the Fasig-Tipton Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds Jan. 18. Owned by Grantley Acres, Ryan Conner and Berkels0813, the bay filly has earned $153,000, more than double her $65,000 sale price.
Barlar purchased Allude in foal to Divine Park for $17,000 in November 2011. Three years later, the Orientate mare sold, in foal to Shackleford, for $100,000. In between, Allude produced two stakes winners, including Imply. Born in 2013, the Pennsylvania-bred daughter of E Dubai won 12 races, including seven stakes, and earned $772,728 for Karp and trainer Bernie Houghton. Her first two foals are Drum Roll Please, in 2021, and Simply Joking in 2022. Drum Roll Please won the Jerome in 2024. Simply Joking could be even better.
"My confidence was pretty high," Beckman said. "With this filly, the way she had prepared herself, there has been no stress about it. She just confirmed it. I knew what she was going to do. She's been that good."
Geoff Nixon of Grantley Acres, a 127-acre farm in Midway, Ky., purchased Simply Joking at Keeneland September. She went to Travis Durr in South Carolina and then Matt Hogan in Lexington before Beckman.
"Sometimes when a horse wins you get way too far into plans and futures, but the Cotillion would be an absolute target," Beckman said. "I know she's that good. It's a matter of keeping her safe and sound and letting her do the rest. When you see her, she's a specimen, she's got much more than talent."
A former assistant to Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher, Beckman knows a good horse when he sees one, going back to Simply Joking's sire, Practical Joke. Trained by Brown, the son of Into Mischief won the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens in 2017.
"I was lucky to have had the experience of working for Todd and Chad. I was able to see what exceptional talents look like. You got to see how they behave in the barn, you got to see everything. You put it together and you recognize it," Beckman said. "I was in Saratoga in 2016 when Practical Joke came in as a 2-year-old. Just one of those absolute professional racehorses. He didn't do anything wrong, mind on running all the time, easy to train."
Daughter like father?
"She's got a little bit of him in her," Beckman said. "She's a filly so there's a little more anticipation in her but still a really, really solid way of handling things and obviously talented."
-- Sean Clancy
Photos by Hodges Photography (Left) and Equi-Photo, Inc. (Right)
Smithwick's Spice
Douglas Nunn made a deal, mostly with himself, a few years ago while training New Spice Stable's Smithwick's Spice.
"I've thought about slowing down and retiring, and I keep saying, 'When he retires, I'll retire,' " Nunn said in late January. "Yeah, well, he doesn't want to retire. He's that horse that just wants to keep pounding along."
So, maybe much like the Carolina Panthers and their loyal fans, Nunn figures he'll keep pounding along, too.
"I've had the whole family, so it's been pretty neat," Nunn said. "I had the mother and everything, so it's been a long journey. And these owners have been just wonderful people."
Smithwick's Spice, the pride of Robert Matthies' New Spice breeding program out of New Jersey, enjoyed his best season at age 8 in 2024 with five wins in 14 starts and earnings of $273,775. The five wins included the Leinster Turf Dash in February at Tampa Bay Downs and the Select Stakes in August at Monmouth Park.
The son of Frost Giant will look to add to his resume in 2025 as part of Nunn's six-horse stable, based in Florida at Palm Meadows Training Center in the winter and at Monmouth Park the rest of the year.
Nunn said the gelding out of the winning Good and Tough mare Spicy McHaggis acts more like a 2-year-old and credits his longtime client for Smithwick's Spice's longtime development.
"He's been a big backer of mine and is always supportive," Nunn said. "He lets me do what I need to do, whether the horses need time or not."
Nunn trained Spicy McHaggis, also a New Jersey-bred, to three victories in 17 starts and earnings of $67,355 exclusively in the Mid-Atlantic. She retired after finishing next-to-last in a $5,000 claiming race in mid-August 2009 at Monmouth and Nunn wasn't so sure what should be next for the ornery mare.
"She was a crazy horse; she was bad from Day 1 and after she retired I told my owner they should probably find her a home," Nunn said. "They said they'd planned to breed her . . .
I kind of second-guessed that, but looking back now all the foals have shown some talent, one made over $100,000 but they always had issues." Smithwick's Spice is by far her best of three foals, with $729,042 in career earnings.
"Thankfully we have the option to run Jersey-breds on the grass. They didn't used to write those races. He can run on the dirt but the turf is easier on them, a softer landing so to speak."
-- Tom Law
Coady Photography
Overnight Pow Wow
Bittersweet.
For Cyndy McKee, an eight-win campaign by Beau Ridge Farm homebred Overnight Pow Wow was simply that. Born in 2021, the daughter of Beau Ridge stallion star Fiber Sonde and the Indian Charlie mare Holy Pow Wow was meant to be for McKee's husband, John, to train.
The West Virginia stalwart died Feb. 25, 2023.
Less than a year later, Overnight Pow Wow won her debut, the start of an eight-win campaign that included the Its Binn Too Long, Sylvia Bishop Memorial and Cavada on West Virginia Breeders' Classics night. The latter completed a four-stakes haul for McKee on West Virginia's biggest night at the races.
"I didn't want to sell her," McKee said in January. "I wanted John to keep one of them and have a really nice horse to train instead of selling them all the time. Unfortunately, he didn't get to train her. And then I was afraid I would mess her up."
No chance.
Overnight Pow Wow joined a star-studded list of full-siblings produced by Fiber Sonde, a $8,000 purchase in 2007, and Holy Pow Wow, a $5,000 purchase in 2013.
Late Night Pow Wow won 12 of 15 starts, including two Grade 3 stakes, for $700,400. Duncan Idaho has won 10 races, including two stakes, for $245,793. Five-time stakes winner and 17-time winner Muad'dib surpassed $1 million in career earnings in 2024. Brilliant but they weren't for Beau Ridge.
"I wanted to keep one," McKee said. "It ended up I didn't have to sell her."
McKee backed off her stable star after winning an allowance race Nov. 1. Sent to the farm for some controlled turnout and some sessions on the walker, the gray filly cut that short.
"She is just wonderful. She was on the farm for a while, but we haven't had the greatest of weather, so I decided to take her back to the track because she was getting crazy," McKee said in January. "She gave everything she had. The only disappointment and I wasn't disappointed in her, but I wished she could have hung on for third in the Charles Town Oaks-G3 to get graded stakes-placed. That's all I was hoping for.
At 44-1, Overnight Pow Wow led for a long way in the $750,000 stakes and missed second by a neck and a half-length. McKee expects Overnight Pow Wow to be back for the Original Gold Stakes at Charles Town in April. Like everyone in racing -- in life -- McKee will be balancing the bitter and the sweet.
"It was hard right after the Classic," she said. "Somebody said, 'You have to give yourself some credit.' I give myself a little credit, but you've got to give him credit for getting this thing going, for making my life easier where I didn't have the bills and all the things he had to deal with. He did so much of the hard work and didn't get to enjoy the spoils of it. It's not easy but I know he would be proud of us."
Holy Pow Wow died in December.
"It was horrible. I was hard hit," McKee said. "We've been given some incredible gifts. Fiber Sonde, Pow Wow . . . they built this farm."
-- Sean Clancy
“As you go through it, you start to take it for granted. But over Christmas
I sat back and thought about it
and I can’t believe it. He got us to Saudi. The first horse we ever ran
at Saratoga, we won a Grade 1.
He took us on a ride we never
thought we would be on.”
– Atlantic Six Racing’s Jay Briscione,
about Book’em Danno
Photo by Joe Labozzetta/Coglianese Photography
Book'em Danno
The connections of Book'em Danno enjoyed their two trips to Saratoga last year so much, they'd like to go back two more times in 2025.
After a grueling 2024 campaign that ended with a fifth in the Cigar Mile-G2, millionaire New Jersey-bred Book'em Danno earned a well-deserved break in Ocala, Fla. He arrived at trainer Derek Ryan's barn at Tampa Bay Downs Jan. 17 to start preparing for a 2025 campaign.
Jay Briscione, who runs the Atlantic Six Syndicate which bought the now 4-year-old privately as a yearling, said the target list includes about a dozen potential races, most likely starting in March. Two major goals are the True North Stakes-G2, at Saratoga over Belmont Stakes weekend in June, and the Forego Stakes-G1, a staple of the Travers Day undercard in late August.
"I'm not sure we will go three-quarters [6 furlongs] with him," Briscione said. "We will look at 61⁄2 to a mile. He's an April 27 foal so he could progress in his 4-year-old year."
If the son of Bucchero can duplicate his 2024 performance, Atlantic Six is in for another exciting and profitable experience. From a head loss to Japanese star Forever Young in the Saudi Derby-G3, to a Grade 1 score in the Woody Stephens on the Belmont Day undercard, Book'em Danno gave his owners a year they will never forget.
"As you go through it, you start to take it for granted," Briscione said. "But over Christmas I sat back and thought about it and I can't believe it. He got us to Saudi. The first horse we ever ran at Saratoga, we won a Grade 1. He took us on a ride we never thought we would be on."
While Book'em Danno ended 2024 with three losses -- third in the H. Allen Jerkens-G1, second in the Perryville-G3 and that Cigar Mile -- you could argue that he didn't get a clean trip in any of those races. Book'em Danno underwent a nuclear scan after the Cigar Mile and his connections were pleased with the results.
"All the physical stuff came back good," Briscione said. "It was a tough campaign. He danced every dance and showed up every time."
Bred by Greg Kilka and Bright View Farm, the gelding finished the year with a line of 3-2-1 from seven starts and $807,500 in earnings, third behind Post Time and Neecie Marie among regional-breds. For his career Book'em Danno is 6-3-1 and $1,038,125 in 11 starts. Atlantic Six offered a 25-percent interest at the Keeneland Championship Sale at Del Mar during Breeders' Cup Week, but it was a $475,000 RNA.
-- Paul Halloran
Around the Horn
Inside Stunt, bred in Maryland by John Davison, won nine races while making starts in January, February, March, April, May, June, September, October, November and December. The Greenpointcrusader gelding opened the year with two wins at Mahoning Valley for trainer Anthony Farrior, got claimed for $8,000 from the second and then won seven times for Nestor Rivera while never starting for a claiming price again . . .
Uptown Amanda, bred in Pennsylvania by Uptowncharlybrown Stud, put together a nine-win season at Puerto Rico's Camarero Racetrack. The daughter of Uptowncharlybrown ran her winning streak to eight Jan. 4. She's 15-for-24 lifetime including three starts at Parx Racing in 2022. Only two horses in North America -- Tennessee Moon (13) and Spikezone (11) won more races in 2024. Little Bit of That, a Maryland-bred by Great Notion, won eight (and finished second twice) in 10 starts -- all at Charles Town -- for trainer Ronney Brown and wife Nicole. West Virginia-bred Jazz With Denis, also won eight -- six at Charles Town and two at Mountaineer. The Denis of Cork gelding started 17 times in 2024 . . .
Pennsylvania-bred filly Caprice nearly ran the table in her 2-year-old season for owner/breeder Runnymoore Racing and trainer Cal Lynch, winning six of seven (with a second). The daughter of Golden Lad closed the year with three stakes wins at Laurel Park . . .
Old pro Clubman went out a winner with a starter allowance score Dec. 22 -- his 20th lifetime win from 86 starts. The Maryland-bred son of Not For Love earned $751,007 for a variety of connections capped by owner/trainer Joanne Shankle . . .
Pascaline, who won a Colonial Downs maiden race in August and the Laurel Futurity in September, missed another stakes start in November when he needed surgery to remove an ankle chip. Bred in West Virginia by Jim Miller, the 3-year-old was back in training with Arnaud Delacour at Tampa Bay Downs, and looking for a return race. "If all goes well we'll probably look for a race in March," said Tom Bellhouse of West Point Thoroughbreds. "The Tampa Bay Derby might come up too soon, but I think the Virginia Derby on the new schedule at Colonial could work if we can make it." That race is part of a three-day meet at the Virginia track March 15 . . .
Virginia-bred Gigante began 2024 with starts in two early graded stakes, then missed more than six months before winning a stakes in December. One of the new millionaires in 2024, the now 5-year-old bred by Ann Mudge Backer and Smitten Farm opened 2025 with an off-the-turf stakes win at Fair Grounds for trainer Steve Asmussen in January . . .
Another new millionaire, West Virginia-bred Muad'dib, extended his career with three more wins in 2024 to get to 17 for his career. Overnight Pow Wow's full-brother won his first two starts of 2024 and his last. In between, he placed in three stakes including his fourth consecutive try in the West Virginia Breeders Classic (two wins, a second and a third) in October for owner David Raim and trainer Jeff Runco . . .
Pennsylvania-bred Maximus Meridius salvaged his career after being gelded last summer, winning two of his final three starts including Aqueduct's Gravesend Stakes Dec. 28, and trainer Butch Reid was looking at a return trip to New York for the Toboggan Feb. 1 . . .
Stablemate Uncle Heavy exited last year's Pennsylvania Derby-G1 with a minor injury and was enjoying the snow on the farm with Reid's brother Mark in January. He'll return when the better weather does. "We thought he was a bit of an underachiever," Butch Reid said. "I'm hoping this little bit of time helps him mature and step up to the next level."
