the oracle has spoken: champions dream becomes the first stakes-winning colt from the first crop by justify

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champions dream, conor foley, jeff weiss, justify, nashua stakes, oracle bloodstock, rosedown racing

“This colt was kinda small when I bought him,” said pinhooker and consignor G.W. Parrish when I was inspecting the gray colt that he had purchased out of the 2021 Keeneland September sale and had trained up to working a quarter-mile for the OBS March sale in :20 4/5.

The colt had turned in a very good work, showing a stride length of 25.3 feet and earning a BreezeFig of 73. In addition the colt was speeding up through his work, attracting further notice for that as he worked around the turn.

In addition to a quick work, the colt was from the first crop by champion Justify (by Scat Daddy) and out of a graded stakes winner by Tapit. Even so, Parrish had acquired the colt for only $25,000 as a yearling.

“I brought him down here and put him in training, and he never missed a day, never did anything wrong,” Parrish continued. “He’s turned into a really nice colt.”

Most everyone else thought so too, and the gray son of Justify brought $425,000 from Rosedown Racing Stables, which is the entity owned by commercial real estate developer Jeffrey Weiss. The owner sent his new colt to trainer Danny Gargan, and the colt, named Champions Dream, won his debut going seven furlongs at Saratoga on Sept. 3 by 2 ¼ lengths.

Conor Foley of Oracle Bloodstock, along with his team, had selected the gray colt for Weiss at the March sale and said “he was one of the best horses in the sale. We loved him and were tickled to bits to get him for Jeff Weiss, although I was surprised by the price. I believe everyone expected him to go for more.

“Danny thought this was a nice colt very early, and Champions Dream then won his maiden at Saratoga comfortably, which is the right way.”

A month later, Champions Dream had a rough trip in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and finished fifth, but in his next start, on Saturday at Aqueduct for the G2 Nashua, Champions Dream was organized and on cue, winning his first stakes by three-quarters of a length over Full Moon Madness.

Bred in Kentucky by John Oxley, Champions Dream is the fifth stakes winner for Justify from a first crop of 176 foals. That represents 3 percent of his foals to date, but the achievement is most notable for a quartet being graded or group winners. Of the five, four are fillies; Champions Dream is the sire’s first stakes-winning colt, so far.

Justify’s first book of mares included about 40 major stakes winners and dozens of mares who had produced high-class racers from around the world. One of the quality racemares sent to Justify was Dancinginherdreams (Tapit), winner of the G2 Golden Rod Stakes at two. The elegant gray filly also ran second in the G2 Forward Gal and Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream but didn’t win another stakes.

Cast in the beautifully balanced mold of her distinguished sire Tapit, Dancinginherdreams was medium-sized and elegant, and her Justify colt was definitely in the type of his dam and Tapit. Having grown well over the winter, adding strength and standing about 15.3 as a 2-year-old in training, Champions Dream had the profile and phenotype of a miler who would develop well at two and possess the potential to be a challenger as a 3-year-old.

How different from his massively constructed sire Justify, who combines the immense strength and muscularity of broodmare sire Ghostzapper with the scope and height of Scat Daddy. Justify is a tank; Champions Dream is a sport vehicle.

That difference is not a bad thing. Champions Dream stood up to the rigors of early training and handled the preparation for the in-training sales well. He prospered under the Parrish Farms regimen and has continued to develop and improve over the summer in Gargan’s barn.

“Champions Dream showed Danny pretty early that this was an above-average colt,” Foley said, “and he keeps on doing things well. He’s going to Florida, gives us the feeling he’d like Gulfstream, and will be on the Derby trail. We’re all very excited for Jeff Weiss and his family to have a colt of this caliber.”

The future looks bright for this progressive young athlete, and if he proves as high-class and tough as Nashua himself, Champions Dream should bring a lot of smiles and dreams.

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breeding in ohio: ‘a good horse can come from anywhere’

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breeding in ohio, conor foley, kettle corn, kim williams

California Chrome’s successive victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes have turned attention to his breeding and the breeding of Thoroughbreds in California, but the Golden State is not the only jurisdiction with a record of top performers.
Florida is the regional market that most challenges Kentucky’s eminence in breeding, but the programs in Virginia, New York, Maryland have all produced classic winners and champions.

On the other hand, Thoroughbred breeding in Ohio nearly died out during the most recent period of economic collapse.

One of the breeders who has weathered that storm is Kimpton “Kim” Williams, who has Fair Winds Farm in Waynesville, Ohio, with his wife Laurie. Located about 20 minutes north of Cincinnati, Fair Winds stood leading sire Honey Jay (by Double Jay) and currently has Mercer Mill (Forty Niner), who has reigned as the leading Ohio sire for a decade.

Williams said that breeding in Ohio had collapsed to the point that there were fewer than 100 accredited Ohio resident mares, but that last year, bloodstock investor and adviser Conor Foley from Lexington had contacted him.

Williams said, “Conor called me with some investors and said that the market in Ohio is going to get better, and we’d like to put a stallion up there.”

That call led Fair Winds and a group of interested investors to purchase a graded stakes-winning son of Candy Ride (Arg) called Kettle Corn.

“When this horse became available,” Williams recalled, “I told the partners that this horse is a stayer, is by the right sire, and is a real racehorse. We negotiated a price, and they ultimately accepted it.”

So the partners had themselves a horse.

Williams is both correct and philosophical about acquiring a stallion prospect of major talent like Kettle Corn, who defeated Paynter in the G2 San Diego Handicap and twice ran second to Game On Dude in G1 events. Williams said, “We were in the right place at the right time, and if we had faltered, Kettle Corn would have been in somebody else’s program.”

Foley found the horse while Kettle Corn was out in California with trainer John Sadler. The bloodstock agent and breeder said, “I love the way he’s made. I think Kettle Corn possesses a tremendous amount of speed that will carry, and I think he will be a tremendous asset for the Ohio program. As California Chrome has evidenced, a really good horse can come from anywhere, and I really believe that this horse could be a source of major performers. Plus, the Williamses are great people.”

Both mentally and physically, Kettle Corn has impressed all the people around him. Williams enthused that Kettle Corn is a “perfectly made horse. He’s very kind, very smart, and a very typey horse. Kettle Corn stands 16 hands, carries good flesh, and reminds me of a Quarter Horse. He has a pretty head and a keen eye. When trainer John Sadler sent him to Kentucky, we went to look at him, and he was race fit. I liked him then, and he has put on a bunch of weight and filled out now. Has a lot of muscle tone and a great hindquarter.”

Foley noted that “I’m thrilled to see the people in the Ohio program get a horse like this. Their program was hurt so badly that they nearly lost the infrastructure there. But a horse like Kettle Corn can help turn that around. He won more than $800,000 and ran a Beyer Speed Figure of more than 100 eight times.”

In addition to speed and good looks, Kettle Corn also has a great attitude. Williams said, “We are building a new stallion barn, and he’s such a gentleman that we are keeping him in a barn with mares. And he is not a problem or anything.”

If the stock by Kettle Corn run to his ability and manners, they should be able to earn their keep and more. The Ohio program has high expectations from proceeds of video lottery terminals, with 80 percent of the money received from that reserved for purse distributions.

Earlier this year, the governor of Ohio appointed Williams to the state racing commission as an advisor on the use and distribution of the money for the breeding and racing industry there. Noting that this is a serious responsibility, Williams said that “there is opportunity for breeders and racehorse owners here, especially if they participate in the Ohio accredited program, which means that the foal is by a stallion who stands in the state and is foaled here too.”

In addition to the possibility of making money with horses in Ohio, there is also the chance to dream. Dreaming as big as a Triple Crown success doesn’t seem out of reach for regional breeders, and we can thank California Chrome for that also.

*The preceding article was first published earlier this week at Paulick Report.