Flying Buccaneer taught Glenn Porter a thing or two about patience. The California-bred son of Oats and Corn was Porter’s first ever claim back in 1987 at Turf Paradise. He couldn’t win in Arizona and ultimately ended up in Mexico at Agua Caliente, finally breaking his maiden in start number 15.
The exploits of Flying Buccaneer were indicative of Porter’s early success with Thoroughbreds. Porter, who had also purchased a ranch around the same time, had to wait a long time for his first star.
But Porter is no quitter. A hard worker, he owned his first gas station in Palos Verdes at the age of 25, making him the youngest station owner in Southern California. He has owned two auto repair shops for the last 35 years: Glenn’s Auto Repair in Tarzana and European Car Care in Corona. Both have glowing Yelp reviews.
Glenn Porter liked horses from an early age
“I’m not an absentee owner—I work just as hard as any of the guys that work for me,” Porter said. “And if you keep doing well for your customers, they’ll be loyal to you.”
Since that Flying Buccaneer claim, Porter has had success in the Quarter Horse game, doing well with Port-land Meadows Futurity winner Babys Famous and sharp Los Alamitos runner Affre. But eventually Thoroughbreds lured him to switch.
“After the Quarter Horses are 2 or 3, there aren’t any big races or money,” Porter said.
He started claiming Thoroughbreds about a decade ago, but it wasn’t until he claimed Zuzu’s Petals that his story took a twist.
Zuzu’s Petals, a Cal-bred daughter of Bedford Falls—Tangled Lace, by General on the track. Porter and friend Guy Taghavi se-cured the filly for $20,000 on April 21, 2017.
“We had planned to continue racing her like all the other horses we claimed; there were good purses in optional claimers,” Porter said. “With her trainer Jeff Mullins, we ran once at Santa Anita then waited for Del Mar, but she got hurt a little bit. Jeff said, ‘Well, there’s your broodmare.’ ”
Porter and Taghavi had been tossing around the idea of keeping a broodmare, but never pursued it.
“It was sort of a dream not to keep claiming Thoroughbreds and try to move them up the ladder, but to breed,” Porter said.
Calling upon his sense of loyalty, Porter turned to Zuzu’s Petals’s co-breeder, Carol Lingenfelter at Poplar Meadows, where her stallion Bedford Falls was also standing at stud.
“I’d never met Carol before, but we talked over and over on the phone,” Porter said. “I shipped Zuzu straight from Del Mar up to Sanger to be a mom, and everyone was happy about it. I kept hearing from people, even jockeys that had ridden her, how happy they were.”
When it came time to choose a stallion, Porter turned to bloodstock agent Lisa Groothedde.
“She sent me all of the nicks, and Munnings was the one we liked,” said Porter. “Everything went well; everything turned out well. Carol took care of everything. We brought Zuzu back and made her foal a Cal-bred by going to a California sire next. We tried to go to Stay Thirsty, who stands not too far from my shop in Corona, but after three tries she didn’t take.”
The foal at her side was a bay colt, born in April 2019. He was broken under Terry Knight at Legacy Ranch, then Porter tried to sell him at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita 2-year-old sale. But the colt, who was named Munnings Mary Xmas at the time, did not meet his reserve at $95,000.
Having been with Mullins, Porter knew Jed, Tim, and Mark Cohen of Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Te-mescal. When Mullins approached after the sale and said the group wanted the colt, Porter was more than happy to sell.
“They’re some of the greatest guys I’ve ever met,” Porter said. “I couldn’t ask for a better ownership group. I’m happy just being the breeder because I feel part of the group. It’s something we’ve developed together. I’m part of it because I brought the foal all the way up.”
Zuzu’s Petals’ colt was renamed Fast Draw Munnings and took until September to get to the races.
Above, Glenn and Lynn Porter with some of their grandchildren. Right, Glenn Porter and his daughters, Jennifer Hernandez (left) and Molly Northrop (right).
“Everything in this industry takes time,” Porter said. “You can’t push. If you blow a motor in a car, we can just put in another motor. But with horses, if anything goes wrong you might not be able to repair it.”
Fast Draw Munnings broke his maiden first out, winning at Los Alamitos sprinting on the main track. He ran third in the $178,000 Golden State Juvenile on the Breeders’ Cup under-card at Del Mar, then third again in the $102,000 King Glorious Stakes to close out the year.
Fast Draw Munnings was 4-1 when he went to the post in the 11⁄16-mile California Cup Derby, a $192,000 race for the best Cal-bred sophomores at Santa Anita. He was facing familiar rivals such as Straight Up G and Finneus, but jockey Drayden Van Dyke let Fast Draw Munnings settle and pounce. With a rally, the colt got up on the line to win by a neck, improving his record to two wins and two thirds in four starts for earnings of $170,600.
“I couldn’t ask for anything better,” Porter said. “It hasn’t been a roller coaster, just a total exciting experience that I never in my life would have dreamed.”
Zuzu’s Petals has an “excellent” yearling filly by Classic Empire and is in foal to Clubhouse Ride. Porter has had other horses on the track. A Dime for Me is currently racing at Turf Paradise, and the long-retired Trumpet Player Jay was a popular runner. But after the success of Fast Draw Munnings, Porter is starting to look for another broodmare.
“I hope everything keeps going according to plan,” Porter said. “But I could never ask for anything better than what happened in the last year.”