In late 2024, horse owner Robert Fetkin caught a couple of bad breaks. On Sept. 26, he and his wife Sheila’s ocean-front dream home in St. Petersburg on the Florida coast was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene. Less than a month later, his dual grade 1 winner The Chosen Vron—perhaps the best sprinter in the country—was placed on the veterinarian’s restricted list due to concerns about his front fetlocks and ruled out of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) at Del Mar. Seven-year-old The Chosen Vron, of which Fetkin was co-breeder and owner as part of the Tiz Molly broodmare partnership, would never run again. The California-bred chestnut gelding by Vronsky was recently retired due to his ankle problems. Fetkin’s home, six months into the re-building phase, is still under construction. Yet he has taken it all in stride. “I’m pretty resilient,” the buoyant 66-year-old restaurateur said. “I’m a person who always looks at the bright side of things.” The career The Chosen Vron had “was beyond my wildest... ...

BIG CITY LIGHTS IS COUPLE’S LATEST CAL-BRED STAR Approaching 50 years in the breeding and racing industry, Pam and Neal Christopherson likely would be considering retirement or at least cutting back. That doesn’t appear to be the case. It’s foaling time for the owners of Bar C Racing Stables in northeastern Oregon, where the Christophersons currently oversee a dozen broodmares and their yearlings, as well as five stallions. They’ve built an enviable regional breeding operation over the past 20 years, thanks to the success of their stand-out sire Harbor the Gold, who died in 2020. They sold a yearling for $1.35 million in 2023 at Keeneland to one of the world’s premier racing teams; that colt is now with the internationally recognized Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien. And they bred one of the West Coast’s top current sprinters, the California-bred star Big City Lights. Inducted into the Washington Racing Hall of Fame in 2023, the Christophersons, who will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in August, are enjoying the ride. “We... ...

OWNER WINS PLEASANTON STAKES WITH NORTHERN SALE GRADUATE MALA For a longtime Thoroughbred owner racing primarily in Northern California, 2024 was a most paradoxical year for Modesto’s Greg Avery. Running claiming-level horses, Avery amassed total earnings of about $380,000—mostly through his partnership with Zvika Akin and trainer Steve Sherman—easily the best of his career. Yet the year also delivered a harsh double blow, started by the permanent closure in June of his home track, Golden Gate Fields. That was followed by the recent decision by Golden State Racing to forgo future racing dates at the region’s designated replacement venue, the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. That caught Avery by surprise, coming after a 26-day Pleasanton meet this fall that proved a financial disappointment. With nowhere to turn for now, many northern-based horsemen such as Avery are left to focus on Santa Anita. Track owner 1/ST Racing has pledged racing opportunities for them and financial assistance for shipping and keeping the Pleasanton facility open for year-round training purposes. Avery admits worrying... ...

IDAHO HORSEWOMAN HAS ALOTALUCK WITH CALIFORNIA-BRED  With one mare and decades of patience, Eleanor Martin knows it is never too late to get lucky. At the age of 80, the lifelong Idaho horsewoman got her first taste of graded stakes glory with the aptly named 3-year-old Alotaluck, a son of her only current broodmare, Colinda Dawn. True, her 50-year-plus wait didn’t come with a win, but the California-bred gelding by Sir Prancealot did produce a runner-up finish in last February’s $400,000 Sunland Derby (G3). Then Martin had to delay enjoying her milestone for seven months while she successfully appealed a Sunland Park stewards’ decision to disqualify the rider of Alotaluck for excessive use of his whip and declaring Alotaluck a non-starter. It all worked out in Martin’s favor with Alotaluck’s finish reinstated—as well as the $85,360 in purse money he earned—and she and her horse have moved on. The dark bay, trained by Martin’s nephew, Ty J. Garrett, has banked $240,788 while winning three of seven lifetime starts with a... ...

EQUINE CONNECTION LEADS TO SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS VENTURE You might think Missouri businessman John Moroney was “thinking outside the bun” 35 years ago, convincing a local bank owner that it would be a smart move to back his plan to develop a few Taco Bell fast food restaurants in the St. Louis area. Thanks to his good timing and that early investment, Moroney proved to be right. Today he owns and operates 23 of the Mexican-style food franchises in Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. Surprisingly, Moroney adds, “None of it would have happened if not for horse racing.” In the past few years, the jovial Moroney has become known in California racing as part of leading breeder Terry Lovingier’s cadre of horse investment partners. He recently purchased the $250,000 sales topper, bred by Lovingier, at the Fasig-Tipton California fall yearling auction. That was far from where he started. It was in the late 1980s. Moroney was a struggling owner of a franchise burger restaurant. But he saw an opportunity to “make a... ...

FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER STANDS HALLADAY IN CALIFORNIA Connor Harrell admits to feeling down-cast after his young stallion Halladay didn’t fare better at Fasig-Tipton’s California fall yearling sale Sept. 24 in Pomona. The sale was the first big test for his grade 1-winning son of standout sire War Front of the market for state-brews, where horsemen are reeling from the closure of Golden Gate Fields and other economic factors. While 12 of his 15 yearlings sold (one was withdrawn), the average price of $12,667 was well below what Harrell hoped for. “Disappointed,” said Harrell, a third-generation horse owner whose syndicate is standing Halladay at Harris Farms for $7,500, when asked for his reaction. “But being realistic, there were a lot of folks in the same situation we are. It’s the sort of environment we’re in; just a tough market.” The 8-year-old Halladay won the 2020 Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) at Saratoga for trainer Todd Pletcher, repelling a number of challenges from a strong fi eld in gate-to-wire style. He won two other... ...

OWNER’S HOMEBREDS INCLUDE DOUBLE STAKES WINNER SHADY TIGER   Edward “Rusty” Brown knows a lot of people, and he has a knack for bringing them together with the sport he’s always loved—horse racing. Many of his partners are well-known personalities in the California racing community—trainers such as Bill Spawr, Jeff Bonde, and Bob Hess Jr., and fellow owners Bob Bone, Terry Lovingier, Phil Lebherz, and Alan Klein, among others.  The affable Brown is best known for his partnership with Lebherz and Klein in the syndicate supporting the popular 17-year-old stallion Smiling Tiger that has produced so many winners and sale horses for them over the years. He also is the sole owner of a few horses, most notably his versatile California homebred Shady Tiger, a Smiling Tiger 3-year-old gelding who recently won the Snow Chief Stakes Presented by City National Bank. But many other partners among Brown’s more than 60 ownership combinations are often people who see how much he enjoys the sport and want to get involved, he says. Some... ...

EQUINE BOOK INSPIRES RACEHORSE OWNER Joe Navarro has always loved horse racing lore. “Movies like ‘Seabiscuit’ and ‘Secretariat’ were important,” said Navarro, a California Thoroughbred Breeders Association member since 2019. “They were great for horse racing and the country. We need stories like these in America today.” Navarro, who considers racing his hobby, is trying to add to that inspirational list. One horse story has grabbed the Texas native’s attention like no other: Never Say Die—a near-dead new-born foal saved with a bottle of bourbon who became an international superstar. From that difficult beginning, the son of Nasrullah went on to win the 1954 Epsom Derby—the first Kentucky-bred to accomplish the feat—and the St. Leger Stakes, the oldest of the British classics, by a whopping 12 lengths. That was only a part of the amazing true tale as described in the 2013 book, Never Say Die, written by James C. Nicholson. Navarro calls the story “Seabiscuit on steroids.” It involves significant touchstones, both for racing and popular culture, beginning with... ...

SIX-S TRANSLATES TO SUCCESS Murrey Seidner didn’t aspire to anything more than a small family operation when he formed Six-S Racing Stable to indulge his passion. But his star Clubhouse Ride put him in the spotlight anyway. First as a multiple graded stakes winner of more than $1.3 million and since then as one of the top stallions in California, the 16-year-old son of undefeated Pacific Classic (G1) winner Candy Ride has been a hit-maker since his first foal crop reached the track. Among the state’s top 10 stallions since 2020 with stand-out runners such as Brickyard Ride and Warren’s Showtime, Clubhouse Ride, standing at Legacy Ranch, ranked first on the California general sire list for 2024 with progeny earnings of $1,103,943 as of March 20. Seidner, 83, is a successful businessman who owns a car dealership, Toyota of Glendora, and an automobile repair business, Seidner’s Collision Center. He started the latter in Rosemead in 1964, and it has grown to 13 locations in California’s San Gabriel Valley. Seidner has... ...

CAL-BRED INVESTMENTS PAY OFF FOR LONGTIME BANK EXECUTIVE After a lifetime of making careful investments, William Peeples wants to follow his own instincts—and smell the roses. Peeples, 81 in April, is retiring from the Goleta bank he helped start 35 years ago. That will allow him more time to spend with his wife, Ardyce, and continue pursuit of another major interest—racing Thoroughbreds. As a longtime pinhooker and client of bloodstock agent John Brocklebank, Peeples applied to horse acquisition much the same investment knowledge he used in banking. He bought and sold his best young horses and realized returns that he later reinvested. Nowadays, he’s keeping the horses he buys to race himself. “I’ve always treated racing as a business, an avocation, I guess,” Peeples said. “It’s a divergence from what I’m used to. Racing is just another world, so much more relaxing, even though I get very nervous beforehand if I have a horse running. Of course, there’s the thrill of winning a race. “It’s a challenge as well, the... ...

BREEDER FOUND GEM WITH DADDYSRUBY Montanan Steve Reger has made a career consulting for companies that drill for oil in the vast Bakken shale region of North Dakota. But the part-time horseman has discovered a gem of his own in California-bred Daddysruby, winner of the La Brea Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita. As luck would have it, Reger, who has been in the oil business for nearly 50 years, didn’t have to dig very deep. Th is 3-year-old gray or roan daughter—fittingly by the Ontario-based sire named Frac Daddy—is out the very first horse he owned, a Washington-bred mare named Youtheprizeandi. Reger, who breeds and races as Jethorse LLC, calls her “The Prize.” The 15-year-old daughter of You and I has provided the lifelong Billings resident with a number of other firsts. She was his first winner and later, his first broodmare. She produced Reger’s initial winner as a breeder as well, a stakes-placed California-bred colt by Scat Daddy named Daddysprize who earned $119,973 while winning four of 10 starts.... ...

CAL-BREDS GAVE OWNER HIS START By any measure, California horse owner Michael Nentwig and his partners have been on a roll for the past few years, racing such notable graded stakes winners as Going Global, Maxim Rate, and Ginobili, among many other standouts. These days, Nentwig manages a stable of 55 horses spread among half a dozen trainers for his investor group. Best known for importing turf runners from Ireland, Nentwig has come a long way since he began claiming a few horses with friends at Northern California tracks while still a college student at California State University, Hayward (now East Bay) in the 1990s. As things developed, it was a pair of California-breds—one acquired through a claim and one that he co-bred—that helped him at pivotal points of his journey. The Fremont native’s first big strike came in 2003, when Nentwig said he saw a Harris Farms homebred, Moscow Burning, bang into a rail in a claiming race in the stretch and still manage to win. He recalled telling... ...

Thomas Halasz, one of the owners of Bus Buzz, has a message for the aggressive animal rights organization PETA, which maintains that racing is indifferent to the welfare of its equine athletes: “This is how we care for our horses.” Halasz was referring to the lengths he and his partners went to in order to save Bus Buzz after the injury incurred by the stakes-winning California-bred. In the final race of the first day of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships Nov. 3 at Santa Anita Park, Bus Buzz was in distress when pulled up in upper stretch while battling for the lead. The mishap, over in an instant, stunned the large crowd, which let out a collective gasp. PETA, in a statement released Nov. 7, questioned whether track and Breeders’ Cup officials, as well as trainer Steve Knapp, were covering up the condition of the 3-year-old Bus Buzz to avoid scrutiny. The group has long been opposed to the horse racing industry and closely monitors negative publicity about the sport.... ...

Horse owner John Tipton has been a familiar presence at Bay Area racetracks and the summer fair meets for more than three decades. Since 2000, his horses—competing mostly at the lower claiming levels—have banked more than $1 million, according to Equibase. And those are just the horses he’s owned outright, not to mention the 30 or so racing partnerships to which he has belonged. He’s bred a few horses as well. But, he admits, nothing he has done in the business comes close to the attention he has garnered since he and his daughters, Alissa and Hallie, began a new racing venture called Mean Girls Racing Stable. The ultimate goal behind it—a successful women’s-only racehorse ownership syndicate—is a ways off , Tipton knows. But they are laying the foundation. The stable name, of course, comes from the iconic 2004 comedy film about high school life for an exclusive gang of fashion-obsessed coeds that starred Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey. Both Alissa and Hallie said it was one of their favorite... ...

Jeff Ganje learned his winning moves early in life. How many other horse breeders can say they had the iconic hip-hop star MC Hammer’s backup dancers practicing their choreography in his living room? Bet U can’t touch that. True story: While Ganje was attending Cal State Hayward, where he played football and ran track in the early 1990s, his teammate and roommate Alonzo Carter was part of the Hammer dance troupe that used their place to practice. Ganje was caught up in the excitement as well, tagging along with Hammer — who enjoyed success in racing for a time with his Oaktown Stable — throughout the rapper’s “U Can’t Touch This” tour. Ganje even entertained the thought of a musical career himself, rapping on a demo recording for Hammer before abandoning the idea. “I didn’t really have the talent,” he says. These days, the fast footwork that Ganje appreciates most are from the horses he owns, like the recent graded stakes winner Shotgun Hottie and the 2-year-old California-bred juvenile Lord... ...

CAMARADERIE PUTS MORE FUN INTO RACING As far back as grade school, horse owner Victor Flores has been driven to succeed. Bored with the classes he was taking at Workman High School in La Puente and restless to make his way in the world, Flores decided he’d had enough during the second half of his sophomore year. After being informed by his counselor that he was so far behind in credits that he would not be able to graduate on time, the 16-year-old Flores passed the GED test. By the next week, he was working in a manufacturing plant.  “My parents totally signed off  on my decision,” Flores said. “They knew I wouldn’t just lay around.” Often working two jobs at a time, he found his way to Dow Hydraulic Systems in 1987 as an employee for a company that manufactures and tests precision hydraulic parts for the aerospace industry. Thirty-six years later, he is the general manager and co-owner of the firm, which he said has about 100 employees... ...

BUILDING TRUST WITH EVERY FOAL HE BREEDS Ken Miles, breeder of Old Pal, winner of this year’s Snow Chief Stakes Presented by City National Bank, says he tries to keep one thing in mind as his young horses are preparing for the eventual sales ring. “A horse may have many owners during its lifetime; you never know what will happen after leaving you,” he said. “But it will only have one breeder. Your name will always be attached to that horse.” Getting a young charge to accept the “human touch” is one of the most important qualities he can instill in order to forge a successful transition to racehorse, says the Washington breeder. Beginning as early as possible in a young horse’s life, Miles wants a weanling to become accustomed to being handled. “Not only do I love it (playing with the foals), but it’s to their benefit, I really believe that,” he said. “Over time, it builds a lot of trust.” Even if the horse only has a short... ...

  When Arroyo Vista Farm’s horse manager, Miguel (Mike) Jimenez, looks at his career arc, what he sees is a circle. The ranch where the veteran horseman of more than 35 years got his start as an assistant—Valley Creek Farm in Valley Center, Calif.—is located on the same northeast San Diego County property as Arroyo Vista Farm, Henry Williamson’s 45-acre Thoroughbred breeding operation. In many ways, Jimenez grew up there. And as far as he is concerned, it’s a place he plans on never leaving. “I’m hoping to continue to do the same thing I’m doing,” said Jimenez, 54, reflecting on the future. “I would want to still manage a farm. Heaven forbid, if anything were to happen and this place was forced to close down, I don’t know what else I’d do.” At Arroyo Vista, Jimenez and his staff , including chief assistant Pablo Martinez, oversee 40 mares, 30 weanlings, and roughly an equal number of yearlings. The numbers fluctuate, Jimenez noted, as mares are sent out for breeding elsewhere... ...

Nick Hines, long familiar to fans for his racing analysis as “The Sarge” on television, showed up as the leading buyer at the recent California Thoroughbred Breeders Association winter mixed sale at Pomona. It’s not surprising. The former trainer and longtime TV host has been an independent bloodstock agent for more than a decade. He spends much of his time scouting Thoroughbreds for his clients and attending sales throughout the country. At the Jan. 31 auction, the budget-conscious Hines led the way with seven purchases totaling $132,000. Discussing his change in career direction, he said he reluctantly stepped away from training in the fall of 2007, a year after getting married. “I was at a crossroads,” Hines explained. “I had been offered a job with Southern Equine Stable to manage their horses. I had about 30 horses at the time, training a few for Harris Farms and also for Paul Girdner, an owner who played a big part in my career. I had married Michelle in 2006, and we wanted... ...

ALABAMA’S LOSS IS CALIFORNIA’S GAIN In some small way, Carla Gaines—one of the most successful and admired horse trainers in the state—owes it all to California Thoroughbred magazine. As she relates the story, the youthful Gaines was reading the periodical in an administrative office adjacent to a stallion barn in the bayou country of central Louisiana one icy winter morning when she made the decision that changed her life. The people she was working with at the time were pinhookers—in the business of buying yearlings and preparing them for resale as 2-year-olds. She enjoyed the people and working with the horses, but the weather was frightful. “It was so miserable,” she recalled. “It just rained and rained and it was freezing cold. The pictures (in the magazine) were so inviting; it seemed so sunny and I remember telling my friend, ‘I’m packing my stuff  and I’m going to California.’ Anyway, that’s how I got my start.” Little did Gaines realize that her decision would lead to a training career totaling 31... ...

RENELLA’S HOMEBRED CHISMOSA GIVES ‘EM SOMETHIN’ TO TALK ABOUT You don’t have to spend much time talking to Jaime (Jim) Renella without realizing he’s about as close to the epitome of the American Dream as anyone can get. He came to Southern California with his family from Ecuador at the age of 4. Times were difficult, but he adapted to his new country. After leaving college—“I think I attended just about every JC in the area,” he joked—Renella wanted to make his way in the world. He worked hard learning the manufacturing business for several years. When the opportunity arose, he started his own company, Performance Tube Bending Inc., specializing in creating customized intake/exhaust systems for automobiles, in 2004 in Irwindale. The business proved successful and allowed him to indulge, at least a little bit, in his passion for horse racing. The first horse Renella claimed in 2010 also became the only mare he has bred. That mare, the aptly named You Can Dream, has produced five winners for him, including his latest, the 2-year-old filly... ...

THE JETT SET ARE SOLD ON CALIFORNIA RACING In Larry Jett’s mind, he probably had a future Kentucky Derby winner, but Red Ralph never hit the board. After years of attending the races as a fan, Jett, along with wife Ann, had purchased his first California-bred  Thoroughbred. There were high hopes for Red Ralph, a chestnut gelding by M. Double M.—Jakscent, by Jaklin Klugman. “The fellow that owned him couldn’t have him anymore, so I bought the horse for $5,000,” Larry said. “Within two days of working him in the round pen, he came up lame. The former owner said that if we paid for the vet, they would give us our money back.” He added wryly, “Keep in mind, this was the future Kentucky Derby winner.” It turned out that Red Ralph had osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), and surgery to clean out the joint didn’t help when he bucked shins not once, but twice. Still, the Jetts remained optimistic. “His first race came as a 4-year-old at Del Mar,” Larry said. “I had... ...

CONTINUING THE FAMILY TRADITION California breeder Ronald Rand certainly had a lifelong horse connection, but the racing bug didn’t truly bite until Aug. 28, 2011. That was the day Californiabred star Acclamation won the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic (G1) by a head. “That was definitely the catalyst for getting me in horse racing,” Rand said. Acclamation’s career is worthy of the silver screen, as the son of Unusual Heat—Winning in Style, by Silveyville, earned $1,958,048 with 11 wins, two seconds, and six thirds in 30 starts.  “He won the Eddie Read (G1T) twice, and the Charles Whittingham (G1T) three times,” said Rand. “But that Pacific Classic—that was the ride that did it.” Pitted against graded stakes stars Twirling Candy and Game On Dude, Acclamation went to the lead under Patrick Valenzuela and kept going. His achievements in 2011 earned him the title as the Eclipse Award national champion older male. Long before that fateful day at Del Mar, Rand’s family was already in the horse business. It traces back... ...

FRIENDLY ADVICE LEADS TO RACING SUCCESS When it came to business, lifelong Sacramento resident Larry Odbert had a knack for making the right choices—at least often enough to be highly successful. But more than 10 years after getting into horse ownership, including a few stabs at breeding a couple of the mares he had acquired, the 69-year-old Odbert admits he was stymied. Associated with or in charge of more than 20 businesses during a career of 40-plus years, Odbert wondered whether he was doing the right thing being in the horse trade. But then along came “Joe.” Freeport Joe, that is. The 5-year-old California-bred gelded son of the deceased top turf sire English Channel has been on a tear at Golden Gate Fields. He has won six of 11 starts dating back to August 2021, with two seconds and a third. A tyro over Golden Gate’s all-weather Tapeta main track, the late-running Freeport Joe has won two of the biggest races in Northern California in recent months. He grabbed the Berkeley... ...

California Thoroughbred owner learns value of friendships and racing partnerships Before he turned 16, Tom Beckerle was already working on the outskirts of the racing industry. He began by selling tip sheets at Los Alamitos near where he grew up and fell in love with the racehorses, as so many do.  “That’s how I got started,” Beckerle recalled. “As I got older, I got involved with a syndicate.” One syndicate of horse owners turned into many, and Beckerle was recently rewarded for his investment via Tom’s Regret. That California-bred 2-year-old filly triumphed in the $179,785 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs in Kentucky May 5. Long before Tom’s Regret, Beckerle was trying his hand in the game. The first horse that Beckerle bought into was Set Play, a Florida-bred filly trained by Peter Miller. Set Play broke her maiden first out, won the 2007 Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) three months later and ultimately ran 11th in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at odds of 41-1. “I got to... ...