We owe Zenyatta big time.

And what a character she is.  Around the barn this most-majestic mare acts like a big, friendly Great Dane puppy. Really big, and really friendly.   Zenyatta’s pre-race warm-up routine includes Lipizzaner-like prances and dressage-type moves.  She seems to be saying, “I’m delighted that you’re here. I know you came to see me, and I want you to enjoy our moments together.”

To date she’s been perfect - undefeated.  She’s won nineteen in a row including last year’s Breeder’s Cup Championship in which she defeated the best male handicap horses that our sport had to offer.  Her final performance will be in the 2010 edition of that same race, where on November sixth she’ll once again try the best males in the world at a mile and a quarter on the main track at Churchill Downs.

We hope she wins, but win, lose or draw, Zenyatta will exit as Champion – a horse for the ages.  Like Secretariat before her, it will be a long time before we see the likes of Zenyatta again.  Once in two lifetimes?  More?

Zenyatta was an inexpensive purchase as Thoroughbreds go.  She was bought at the 2005 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $60,000, a price that was affordable for at least 60% of all yearling buyers.

As it turned out, her owners, Jerry and Ann Moss, were the only ones who thought she was worth $60,000, but at that moment no one knew for sure whether the Moss’ were right or wrong.  God knew how good Zenyatta was to be, but he wasn’t telling.

What’s interesting is this: Whether $600,000, $60,000, or $6,000, before a horse runs a time or two (and sometimes more) no one ever knows for certain how good they will be.  Not for sure they don’t.  This goes for Zenyatta and all the rest of them.

True, a poorly-conformed horse is probably not going to work out well, and Thoroughbreds with pedigrees showing little or no quality stand little chance of being great, or even good.  (When buying all or part of Thoroughbred race horses, these horses should be avoided.)  Still, many badly-made horses turn out to be good racehorses, and occasionally a horse with no pedigree jumps up and surprises.  So, how to proceed?

Let’s allow Zenyatta to show us the way.

If All Play Stable had purchased Zenyatta @ $60,000, we would have placed her in a 16-share racing partnership, kept one share for ourselves, and sold fifteen shares for $5,250, each share a 6.25% ownership interest.  (That’s a mark-up of 31.25%.)  Ongoing expenses (never marked-up) would have been divided sixteen ways, averaging about $200/month per-share.

Questions, questions:  In your mind, is it better to own A). 100% of one horse, or B). (over time) 6.25% of many horses?

If you answered ‘A,’ is $60,000 too much for you to pay for 100% of a horse?  If your answer is ‘yes,’ then what is the most you’d pay for 100% of a horse?

If you answered ‘B,’ is $5,250 too much for you to pay for a 6.25% share of a yearling with good conformation and a decent pedigree?  If ‘yes, that’s too much,’ how much would you pay for a share?

In order for you to consider a racing partnership a ‘success,’ would it have to make money?  Break even?  Win some races but lose some money?  I’m having a great time in a great sport and the money doesn’t matter?

What would be your main reason for participating in a racing partnership?  Trying something new?  Enjoying the ambience of the sport?  Meeting new and interesting people?  Winning races?  The money I’m going to make?

So much to consider.

Last question:  Had we purchased and syndicated Zenyatta, at the time of the syndication who among us could have predicted how it would turn out?

Right, none of us. Thus, the Magic of Zenyatta.

At $60,000 Zenyatta was affordable to at least 60% of those Thoroughbred yearling buyers who wanted to own 100% of a racehorse, so she passed the affordability test.  Thus, if she turned out to be only one-quarter as good, who would have complained?

So what is (or should be) considered an affordable amount to for a smaller percentage of more racehorses that, like Zenyatta, have good conformation and come from running families, horses like our All Play Stable yearlings?  Up to $10,000 per-share?  $7,500?  $5,000?  $3,000?

Will these horses be Zenyatta?  Probably not.  Maybe.  Can they be decent racehorses?  Certainly they can.

Will we know ahead of time?  We will not.  But Jerry and Ann Moss didn’t know either.  They did their research, looked at Zenyatta a number of times, and stepped to the plate.

Affordably.

Finally: Buying into a Thoroughbred racehorse is an investment in fun.  Before anyone makes such an investment they must come to grips with their uncertainty quotient and the tolerance of their pocketbook, and they must align themselves with trustworthy people.

After that, filled with high hopes and reasonable expectations, and with the idea that yes, this one could indeed ‘be one of the ones,’ they should venture forth into the world of excitement that is Thoroughbred racing.  Just do it.

Because you never know.

I happen to be a female, and I love horses. Thoroughbreds, in particular.  I’ve been a fan for 50 years, since my Grandma and Mother first took me to Green Mountain Park, a now-defunct race track in Pownal, Vermont.  Sometime around age 11 I found my way to the rail at Saratoga.  I’ve never left.

Many women and girls feel the way I do about horses.  Women have an intuitive connection to the equine species.  To quote the brilliant Hall of Fame trainer, Leroy Jolley, “Who loves a horse more than a 13-year-old girl?”

Precisely.

It’s because females have this natural relationship that I am often confounded by the misogyny that still lurks in certain sectors of horse racing.  When I realized my vocation as a racing writer only seven years ago, three very nice—but very misled—male turf writers told me that I’d never make it because…I write like a girl.

Like, Oh, my God. Does that mean that I dot my letter i’s with daisies or hearts?  That I gush when talking about horses, and how they touch my heart?

That I write with passion, about a species that, by its very nature, evokes passion?

If horse racing is not about passion then, pray tell, what is the appropriate response.

Here’s the irony.  The Sporting Goods Manufacturers’ Association conducted two separate surveys in the early 2000s, and reported that Thoroughbred racing is the only American sport for which females are the majority of the fan base.  Women pay the bulk of admissions at Thoroughbred tracks (between 51% and 62%, depending on the track and the season0, yet only 5% of the professional positions in this industry are held by women.

Don’t believe me?  Please research the Boards of the racing associations, then do the math.

Many people are striving to undo this imbalance.  NYRA (the New York Racing Association) is one such entity.  God bless NYRA.  For the past five years or so, NYRA has hosted a Women’s Day at the Saratoga Race Course.  A local radio station sponsors the event, and all kinds of goodies are given out under a big tent near the Big Red Spring.

Last year, NYRA teamed with my humble self and several other women-professionals of various walks in the sport, and gave us a Racing Vocations booth at the Women’s Day event.  They promised to do it again this year. (Last year’s event was August 19th: I’ll tell you the moment I know the date for 2010.)

Maylan Studart. Photo courtesy of NYRA/Adam Coglianese

Among the women who came by to encourage women and girls to find their careers in racing were up-and-coming jockey, the brilliant and talented Maylan Studart.  I love Maylan…I can see ‘Hall of Fame’ in her future.  She knows horses, and she speaks to them in such an intimate manner that it almost feels like a sacred moment.

Maylan was discovered in her native Brasil by John DaSilva, who’s been the lead handicapper at The New York Post for longer than I can remember.  He’s one of my favorite people – a genius of some kind – and he obviously knows a gifted jock when he sees her.

Hopefully Maylan will be at our Racing Vocations booth this August, and many other women in the sport, too. The lively exchange of ideas, information and encouragement will be a blessing to all who participate from both sides of the table.

Speaking of men who believe in women…and of being blessed.  I am so happy to be associated with Paul Rothfuss and the All Play Stable team.  It’s a dream come true for me: I get to hang out with horsepeople and horses, and to write things that (hopefully!) will encourage others to join our merry band of horseloonies.  Paul loves and respects women.  He has to—he’s surrounded!  His beautiful wife, Barbie, has been his bulwark for 50 years.  His two Partners in All Play Stable are females, Robin Fiester and Sara Dunham, and I’m the Communications Manager.  If Paul didn’t like women you’d have to consider him a masochist to surround himself with four smart, strong babes like these.

One of the things I love the most about All Play Stable and Paul is that everyone is encouraged to join in the fun.  I want to see an LLC of all women—think, “Sweet Potato Queens” – who use racing programs instead of utensils as weapons.  I would so love to see a group of smart, strong, thinking females get together with us under the All Play Stable aegis to make an LLC of women, by women, for women.

Right now we have an LLC of yearling fillies, Miss Waterford and Twylight Cocktails.  Both girls are sharp and shapely. Miss Waterford is the strong, not-so-silent type, and Twylight Cocktails is – well, if she was a woman she’d be the one with whom any man would like enjoy twilight cocktails.

Rachel Alexandra. Photo courtesy of NYRA/Susie Raisher

As they go into the breaking and training period of their lives, they’ll grow and morph into formidable race-chicks, ready to kick serious equine butt.  You can see it in their eyes.  Our two divas will be stepping into the spotlight just as Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta are hanging up their halters.  Hey – you never know. If I sound confident in our critters’ ability it’s because I know the man who made them, and who works with Phenomenal Women (think, Maya Angelou) to develop them into real, live race horses.  I know the power of horses to transform the human soul—and I, as a woman, know the cosmic storm that’s created whenever two or more females put our heads and hearts together, adding up to far more than a mere two.

Women + Thoroughbreds = Power.  This is my mantra.  This is the system under which I strive.  This is why I am the Communications Manager at All Play Stable, and why I am blessed to work in the job.  The man who created this company believes in the power of females to transform the world, and—being no dope, himself—has filled his life, his work and his heart with women-types of two species who will find our power and take that to the track.

If you’re a woman — or a man! — and you want to become part of this tremendous family of people and horses who will give their all—give us a call.  Drop me a line.  Whatever you do, seize the moment.

Your Mother would be proud.

Tra-lee, tra-la!

I find myself using that expression frequently these days.  It may be that my mind is disintegrating into that child-like state to which many adults decline as they age—or it may be due to the fact that the horses are back at The Oklahoma.’

If this confuses you, either you’re new to horse racing or you haven’t yet experienced Saratoga.  ”The horses” would be Thoroughbreds, and “The Oklahoma” is the training track on the north side of Union Avenue that is not only legally part of the world renowned Saratoga Race Course—it forms fully half the mystique and majesty of the place.  Many equine photographers break their necks trying to get “the shot” of the mist as it rises The Oklahoma,  simultaneously bathing gorgeous, rippling horses with light that plays with the nuances of their faces, withers and glutes.

Ahh, the Oklahoma.  For me, it is the place that genuinely ushers in the Spring.  Most people gauge the change of the seasons by the date on which they see their first Robin Redbreast.  Downtown Saratoga merchants know that it’s racing season the night that the first Red Ferrari roars down Broadway.  But all Saratogians know that it truly is  Spring, that Racing Season is on its way—the first time we see a Sallee or Brook Ledge van roll down Union Avenue.

That first horse van, heavy with promise and Hope; flesh and bone, nickers and neighs—is the harbinger, the sign from God that, indeed, the Earth is turning on its axis and all is right with the world.  Well, at least with my world.  I need only three minutes with one horse to ooze into a state of dreamlike peace: I call horses, Valium on the Hoof.  I can practically fall asleep standing up after I’ve touched or kissed a horse.  And I’m a far-more pleasant person—I have ample witnesses who tell me this.

If a couple of minutes with one horse can transform my mind—my ability to stay conscious—imagine the effect that an entire training track full of equines has on me?  Sticking their heads out from their stalls, calling their early-morning greetings to passers-by, they are the angelic throng, itself: cherubim and seraphim, Angels and Archangels.

Cleverly, they disguise themselves as the world’s most intriguing animal, all neck and legs and hair and shine and wise eyes, they step out of Heaven and put on their equine robes long enough for us to interact with them.  The multi-eyed seraphim know that their appearance would scare the bejeebers out of the mere human heart, so they dress themselves in horsehair and hooves, and in the most-gentle of hearts, and on four strong legs.

Angels come to Saratoga every Spring, brought here not by Jacob’s Ladder or on a cloud that descends with a thud—but rather in a long, rectangular metal box with 18 wheels and 32 gears.  The box proudly reads, “Sallee” or “Brook Ledge” or any of a number of regional names.  The box brings the horses back to Saratoga—and all’s right with the world.

With those horses comes Hope, and Hope is all there is.  As a great poet, a fellow Mount Holyoke Alumna, reminded us,

“Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
and sings the tune without the words
and never stops, at all.”

– Emily Dickinson

Without Hope, there is no life.  With Hope, anything is possible.  With Hope, a wacky-looking little horse named Seabiscuit becomes…Seabiscuit.  With Hope in the heart, an acorn becomes a mighty oak tree, a pauper becomes a captain of industry, and a ragin’ Cajun takes everything in his heart and the talent that God gave him, and he wins the  Kentucky Derby two years in a row.

Without Hope, all is lost.

With Hope, all is possible.

The horses have come back to Oklahoma.  They are my rock stars.

Thirty years ago, I was a racing fan. But I was also a young woman with fantasies about rock stars.  Those boys and their guitars arrived in Saratoga via the mysterious, steeped-in-mythology, Rock Star Buses.  They played at SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center), then retreated to their glamorous lives in those golden chariots.

It was a few years later that I realized that the real rock stars—the ones who didn’t promise the universe and deliver nothing—didn’t ride in a purple Silver Eagle with gold trim.  No, no, the real rock stars, the ones who will love you ’til they day they die, and run their hearts out to make you happy—traveled in tractor-trailer vans, hay flying out the side windows, grooms waving to pretty girls in cars on the Northway.

One day last week I had a meeting on Case Street.  The big, bay window faced George Street, which crosses East Avenue to become Potato Chip Lane, going into the Oklahoma.

As I sat in the meeting, I was listening intently—and then I yelped.  Those with whom I met asked what was wrong with me.  I responded that I’d just seen my first Rock Star Bus of the Racing Season—my first Sallee van.  NOW it’s Spring.  NOW the horses are here.  NOW we can think about the Future, that bright, elusive place where all the good stuff happens.

The real rock stars, the stars who rock my world, are those Thoroughbreds, those mighty steeds whose ancestors, the Arabians, raced across sand dunes.  Their cousins race today.. From those Arabians, our Thoroughbreds got guts, stamina, and the craving to please their humans and to show that love with unflagging determination and focus.

These are the stars who give me Hope.  In spite of the politics of horse racing—which is screwed up on so many levels, chiefly because horses aren’t in charge—in spite of the doubts and the terrors and the fears of failure or money woes—still, I hold tremendous Hope for our sport.

I believe that horse racing in America can not only become strong—it can, once again, become America’s Pasttime. Horse racing was the most popular sport before television, computers and satellites—when fans had either to attend in person or keep their heads pressed to a radio.  I know that, with all the technology we possess currently (which changes by the second)—the sport can resurrect itself.

(If we don’t let the technology take over ["The medium IS the message," as Marshall McLuhen observed]—we can make it. When the medium, itself, becomes the message—as has become the case with social media and the addiction to it—we humans lose control over that which we created.  The created becomes the creator, and that is when the danger sets in.)

This sport can make it if all the selfish people will please go away, and all those who genuinely love the horses and the sport will take one giant step forward.  Make ourselves known.  Work together, rather than against each other. Cooperate.  Finally get that Racing Commission together. (Leroy Jolley, we need you! Who would be a better Racing Commissioner than the great Hall of Fame Trainer? No one.)

Hope springs eternal in horse racing.  As long as an $11,000 horse like Noble’s Promise can show his class and talent, and win $800,000 and change—to date!—racing has Hope.  Noble’s relatively modest breeding is actually a good thing.  His $800,000 talent is not that he’s a Storm Cat colt—it’s that he doesn’t care.  He knows he has the stuff, and he’s won almost a million dollars so far.  He was legitimately in the Kentucky Derby, because he’d earned his way there.

Hope springs eternal.  Noble’s Promise lives up to his name.

This is the sport in which Hope is often all we have. From the moment a foal takes her first tentative steps and finds Mom’s well of deliciousness, to the moment she crosses the finish line first in the Woodward—this is the sport that, every little step along the way, demands that we have a heartful of Hope.  Without Hope, we are lost.

We have barnfuls of Hope at All Play Stable.  Newborn foals; weanlings; yearlings and two-year-olds—we have beautiful horses, each with a daily commitment to Hope.  People who do horse racing may joke that they’re in it because they enjoy being broke or myriad other “horsepoor” lines, but the bottom line, the truth, is that no one gets involved in horse racing unless they absolutely adore horses, and have a heartful, a treasurechestful, a boatload—of Hope.

This is the sport that demands that we include Hope in our tack box.  Without it, no individual foal can stand on her feet, or an entire sport rally itself to secure its future.

As I drove south on the Northway after that meeting last week, hurriedly on my way to yet-another meeting, a huge horse van approached in the opposite direction.  The blue-and-white printing read, “H. James Bond Racing.”

I beeped, waved and gave the thumbs-up.  The driver probably thought I was insane.  I just had to make that contact, to thank the driver on a sunny, warm day for delivering a truckload of Spring, of Hope, of Joy to me, and for getting that precious cargo safely to the Oklahoma.

Hope.  Sometimes, it’s all we in racing have.  Always, it’s all we need.

Years ago, Barbie and I were having ‘one of those days’ at Woodbine, when our friend and co-horse-fanatic, Susan McCutcheon (also in tearing-ticket mode) asked, “Have you ever created a story using all the names of the horses in a race?”  In fact we hadn’t, and Susan said, “Well, here’s one for you,” and she promptly reeled off a story using all the horses in that day’s seventh race – she had scribbled the fable on her program.  I wish I’d kept it. 

Last year we started a ‘tradition’ of creating a ‘story’ using all of the Derby horses – A Kentucky Derby Tale, 2009 Style.”  With may thanks to Susan, following is our 2010 rendition, A Kentucky Derby Tale, 2010 Style.  (Derby horses in bold type.)

“Homeboy Chris, a Devil May Care and very Stately Victor, took a Conveyance through Jackson Bend to Dublin.

There he met Paddy O’Prado, who said, “No Backtalk. Just Make Music For Me, then we’ll follow the Line of David, sneak past Dean’s Kitten (aka, the “American Lion”) to the Super Saver and fulfill Noble’s Promise to get Sidney’s Candy, (which is Discreetly Mine), from the Icebox.

This sounds like Mission Impazible, but you’re Lookin’ At Lucky, and I’m tellin ya, this is an Awesome Act.”

Fun, don’t you think?

Thanks for reading.

Paul H. Rothfuss

For the last twelve years “the draw” has determined the order in which trainers got to select post positions for their horses, a method that produced excitement and plenty of room for second guessing from the fans (think: NFL Draft), elements that our sport desperately needs more of.

To me, it’s just one more indication that Thoroughbred racing ‘just doesn’t get it.’  Decisions like this are directly  contributing to the diminution, and perhaps the slow death of our sport.

A ‘pill pull’ in no way compares to watching the angst of owners and trainers as they attempt to decide which post best advantages the running style of their particular horse.  Or watching “…that poor s. o. b. as he ‘gets stuck’ with Number 20.”  (In 2008 that s.o.b. was Big Brown.  Recall, it produced lots of pre-race speculation, but it didn’t seem to bother Big Brown!)

Yes, ‘twould have been great for ESPN to continue broadcasting the event, but their decision should have had no bearing on whether or not the event was broadcast.  Couldn’t Churchill Downs and the ‘captains’ of racing team up to provide this bit of fun and excitement to racing fans by purchasing an hour of time on another of the 250 cable channels?  Inexpensive enough, I’d bet, and one hour of time would provide plenty of time for a lively, fast-moving broadcast, one that would probably have trumped the ‘snoozers’ that ESPN had been producing.

The Derby is the highest profile event on our Thoroughbred Racing Calendar – in any given year, producing the most elevated level of excitement that our sport experiences.  More exposure is available and more easily gotten during Derby Time.   Racing needs to sense these things – and go for it!

Last fall, our sport deftly avoided the years’ best opportunity for exposure to new fans by deciding to allow Rachel Alexandra’s victory in the Woodward to go off, sans national television.   How can this happen?  Can you imagine the marketers of the NFL allowing an opportunity like that to slip thru their fingers? 

Indy Car racing has Danica Patrick. Thoroughbred racing has Chantal Sutherland.  I can see this stuff, and so can you.  But racing? 

Really?   A ‘pill pull?’   I can hardly contain myself.

I feel the overwhelming need to write about Everything - All at Once.  I want to cover all the bases, from our foals and their dams, to our horses who are working their way toward their racing careers, to highlights about members, and every other small bit that will help paint a lovely picture of our group.  I want to stay up all night and write ’til my fingers fall off.  This urgency originates in my own frenzied head, not from any external pressure to produce.

Marion with Thoroughbred filly Bella Attrice

My brain is hyperventilating because of this self-imposed obsession.  I need to grab a mental paper bag and breathe into it; find some Zen and then proceed slowly, diligently and—hopefully—with some measure of intelligence. Producing a lot of junk has far-less value than creating a blog that is witty, insightful and appealing.  I’d rather say one really smart, simple word than 10,000 loud, crazed things that amount to nothing and alienate readers because I’ve worn you out.

The contents of this blog—and God knows, I detest the word, “blog”—will read more like nice little articles that help you, the readers, to learn about horses in general and our horses in particular.  I hope to help you to grow your knowledge base, and maybe even to invest in the All Play Stable concept.  We’d love to welcome you into our community of Thoroughbred lovers who really, really want to become horse owners.  We can make that happen. 

The maze of Thoroughbred racing is difficult to navigate, and is often confusing.  Hopefully the things you read in “The Alpha Mare Speaks” will help dispel some of that confusion, and encourage you to take that first step toward ownership and membership in our merry band of equine fanatics. 

If you have any questions, please contact Paul, Robin, Sara or me, anytime.  Drop me a line about something I wrote (or about something you’d like me to write), about All Play Stable, or just horsetalk.

Whatever you do, please stay in touch.  I want to write about your interests, so I formally request your input.  I can be reached anytime at marion@allplaystable.com.  Thanks, and—happy reading!

This has been one strange week.  Well, a very cool week: Interesting, in that Synchronicity has played a major role in 50% of my email and telephone conversations.

One of these Synchronicities (“meaningful coincidences” in the lingo of the late, great Swiss psychiatrist, Karl Jung)—is that Arabian horses keep coming to me.  In dreams, in emails, in Facebook dialogues.  Arabians are everywhere. Like ghost horses, they silently, stealthily, are pursuing me toward some goal of which I am not-yet aware.

One of the more fun ‘Arabian moments’ I’ve had in the last 24 hours was with a very wise man, our own Paul Rothfuss, Manager of All Play Stable.  We were talking about Spider, our precious little preemie whose guts and grit propelled him from being a 40-pound foal when he hit the ground in February (very early), to his present stature, which you can see in photos that accompany this piece.

Our 'spider' - One day old.

Spider is precious.  Paul reported that his first attempts to stand upon his birth were pitiful.  At least 50 times over many hours the little boy tried and fell, tried and fell.  But he would not give up.  He has a tenacity, a real craving to live, without which he’d not have made it through his first night. 

Spider is growing stronger and more bright-eyed with each passing day.  I love the little boy, but even more than that—I admire his inner strength.  God gave him guts.  This tiny foal could have rolled over and died, but he knew that he had a purpose in Life.  He owed it to his beautiful, nurturing Mommy (Oh, all right—‘dam’) to ‘stand and deliver.’

The 'spider' - three weeks old.

I have decided that I want to legally name him Sabat Hasan—”Beautiful Spider” in Arabic.  Or perhaps Arachnophobia, because I believe that any force that dares come up against this mighty mite had better be fearful to the point of fainting.

I like the second name, not because I think it’s humorous, but because our little boy has a fierce heart—and woe to them who try to dissuade, beat, or otherwise crush his determination.  I love the first name because this boy is clearly a long-legged spider whose roots go back not only to his dam’s and sire’s immediate parents—but because you can see his proud heritage written right on his nose.  Yep.  His nose.

Anyway, the wise Paul—of whom I referred earlier—had said, “…the Spider has a dished face, and that is a very good thing.”

What in God’s Name does that mean?

Those of you who know Thoroughbreds are aware that every single Thoroughbred on the planet, whether male or female, must be able to trace its pedigree back to one of three Foundation Sires.  These three Sires were called the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerly Turk.  (“Darley,” “Godolphin” and “Byerly” were the surnames of the human males who owned them.)

All three sires were Arabian horses, and all three descended from those great Arabian horses who, for thousands of years, accompanied their owners on the journey of Life. 

Anwer Sher - www.aqsher.com

These weren’t any wimpy horses, these Arabians.  These dish-faced horses, who look so ethereal, otherworldly and almost frail—are anything but.  Their conformation, while appearing to be delicate, gives them the ability to take riders on 200-mile endurance rides across contemporary desert sands.  These horses, these Arabians, are tough as nails. 

And they are the very foundation—think ‘I-Beams’—of our Thoroughbreds.  All Thoroughbreds have Arabian guts bred into them.

Anyway, that wise man said to me—just yesterday:  “If you see a Thoroughbred with a dished face, and he looks to be competitive on his form, bet on him!  Run to the windows!  A dished face denotes toughness.  That horse has guts.”

He right.  I saw a Thoroughbred with a dished nose run at Saratoga last year, and he won.  That horse reached back 9,000 years to his ancestors (who saved the lives of Bedouins), looked down that seven-furlong stretch, and said,

“Piece of cake.”

“This is nothin’.”

Many of our modern-day Thoroughbreds have long, straight noses, and I love ‘em.  But if you see a Thoroughbred with a dished nose: she’s not broken.  She’s a horse who is endowed with extraordinary spirit, an inner and physical strength that is beyond anything we can comprehend.  She is heir to nine millennia of defeating the elements.

So it is with our beautiful Spider.  The little man came out into the world too early and with the odds stacked solidly against him.  But he must have seen his own face reflected in his Mother’s eyes as he landed on the Earth, and in that reflection he saw a lovely, delicate dish.

He saw his great (x 26) grandparents providing shelter, speed and companionship to sheikhs and sheikhas.  As he viewed the locomotion and traction of hooves digging into the deep desert sands without stumbling the knowledge of several millennia washed over him.  Wisdom and Encouragement that can only be handed from one generation to the next by the spirit is nestled in his bone and sinew.

The 'Spider' Seven weeks old!

Our Spider is stronger than he looked in his first minutes, for strength is not determined by one’s physical conformation, shape or color.  True strength—the kind that wins wars and horse races—is etched in the heart and revealed in the eyes.  Spider’s eyes are those of a trouper, and his nose—his tiny, beautiful, “dished face” —was a gift from his Great-Grandfathers, some 26 generations back.

Little Spider will continue to grow, and as each cell in his legs comes together to make them straight and strong, he’ll be grateful that one thing in his lovely conformation isn’t straight: his Arabian nose.

For us, it can serve as a constant reminder that we, too, can rise above our present circumstance, and claim the fortitude and pioneering determination of our ancestors.

In the spirit of Darley, Godolphin and Byerly: Salaam, indeed.

The continuing success of By The Light, NYTB’s 2007 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and 2008 Champion Female Sprinter, underscored most recently by a victory in the open Elizabeth Bay Stakes at Belmont, has prompted NYTB to name her breeder, Paul H. Rothfuss, New York’s inaugural “Breeder of the Month.”

Currently the top earner for her sire Malibu Moon, and well on her way to becoming a millionaire, By The Light was something special from the beginning, reeling off five straight victories for owner Jay Em Ess Stable and trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr., four of them in stakes company.   After she had beaten state-breds, colts and open-company fillies, it took no less a horse than two-time Eclipse Champion Indian Blessing to hand By the Light her first defeat in the Grade 1 Prioress where the pair finished one-two.  To date (July, ’09), By The Light has earned $866,785 and finished no worse than fourth in 16 starts, facing stakes company fifteen times.

If By The Light seems exceptional and intriguing, her breeder is no less so.  Thoroughbreds have always been part of Paul Rothfuss’ life, but he spent his professional career in radio broadcasting.  Starting at 17 as a Disc Jockey, by twenty-three Paul Rothfuss, (aka “Paul Rodgers”) was a “number one top-forty guy” at WCAO in Baltimore.  He admits the DJ’s life was a little whacky: “[The TV comedy] WKRP in Cincinnati got just one thing wrong.  What took only a half hour on TV really took about two weeks to play out at the station.”  LOL  In the mid-70s, Rothfuss turned to ownership, and in June 2008 he celebrated his fifty-year anniversary in broadcasting.

Paul’s Dad, a physician, bred and raced Thoroughbreds and was, according to Paul, “a truly outstanding horseman.”  In 1947, Dr. Rothfuss pulled seven-year-old Paul out of school to take him to Pimlico and see one of his home-breds race . . . and win.  Rothfuss recalls, “I made my first $2 bet and won $32, and I got my picture taken in the winner’s circle with the jockey to boot.”  Bliss!  It was also about this time that he formed his first ‘ideas’ about breeding. “Every February Dad put our mares in a box-car and shipped them to Kentucky, and later, they’d return with foals.  I thought that’s how you got baby horses.  Put your mares on a train, wait, and when they come back, Voila!”

What about By the Light?  In 2004, Rothfuss bought a mare named Dixie Tempo (Major Impact).  She had everything he looks for in a broodmare: pedigree (“I love love love Dixieland Band” [her damsire]), black type in the female family, correctness, soundness (58 career starts), and femininity.  In foal to Malibu Moon, Dixie Tempo was acquired by Rothfuss at the 2004 Keeneland November Sale.  She was a resident NY mare and Rothfuss, long attracted by the New York Breeding program, sent her to Victory Lane Farm in Millbrook where she delivered the filly who would be called By The Light.

Flash forward a few months.  “I had lots of horses I needed to support and I got a bit uncomfortable,” Rothfuss recalls. “I put the filly in the 2006 Keeneland January Sale hoping to get $25,000-$30,000, but she brought $120,000.  I was happy, stunned, and sad,” Rothfuss said.  “I bought the mare for only one reason – to race her foals. But the sale of the filly got me to thinking about what I might have done not to sell her. If I had a bunch of buddies to go in on her, I thought, $25,000 would have been plenty.  That way I could have kept, say, 20% of her and we could have raced her.”

Long-desirous of getting new people into Thoroughbred ownership, Rothfuss had been pondering how to overcome the two main obstacles that he believed prevented people from getting involved: cost and fear of deception.  In combination, this pondering and the ‘buddies’ idea led to the formation of All Play Stable.

Today Rothfuss concentrates full-time on breeding his mares and offering their qualified yearlings in partnerships that feature reasonably-priced shares.  His goal is to produce Thoroughbreds that can compete successfully at the upper levels. His mantra?  “We promise to do our level best to see that all of our Partners have a great time.  We operate with a Policy of Full Disclosure and we guarantee that no one will ever be conned, lied to, overcharged, or cheated in any way.  We guarantee excellent communication.  And because our shares are so comparatively inexpensive, we guarantee that when we do develop a good horse, our Partners will have a joyous and a profitable experience.”

“Where By The Light is concerned, I have no regrets,” said Rothfuss.  “I’m happy for her owners, the Siegel’s of Jay Em Ess Stable.  They gave her a great name, they put a lot into racing, and they deserve to have good horses.  No ‘By The Light’ equals no All Play Stable.  By rights I probably should have named it By The Light Stable.”

He and the All Play Partners are looking to the day when they get a “By The Light” of their own.

“Paul H. Rothfuss is a man who loves horses.  Period. 

Since the age of three he passionately followed his father’s lead. Listening to his sire’s enamored reading of the exploits of Man O’War, Seabiscuit, Hyperion and Gallant Fox, little Paul could only begin to imagine how one day, Thoroughbreds and the single-minded love for them and the sport of racing would change his life.

That little boy would grow up to become a man who wanted very much to be involved in all phases of Thoroughbred breeding and racing–and yet saw that it appeared to be a game only for those of extraordinary financial means.  That didn’t seem right to Rothfuss: as a child he’d seen how much joy was derived from the sport to people of every stripe. It didn’t take a king’s ransom to listen to racing on the radio or watch it on TV.  You didn’t need wealth to pay the small admission fee to a racetrack and spend the day joyously screaming at the rail.

Yet that rail seemed to be a border, a physical reminder that those on the railside were the have-nots, while those within the oval created by the rail were the haves.  That delineation may not have been entirely true–surely the grooms and jockeys weren’t rich–but that social border seems in effect even to this day. 

So Rothfuss set out to devise a way that Real People–average women and men who love horses and live for this sport–could become fully involved as owners of Thoroughbreds on many levels.  Whether you want to own a horse that races or participate in the breeding of a broodmare and own a percentage of a foal–the opportunity should be there, for virtually anyone who craves that intimate relationship with a horse and others of similar ilk.  The All Play Stable Concept was Foaled.

Now, “trust” is a key word in Rothfuss’ life.  Without trust, you have nothing.  Business cannot succeed.  Relationships fail, miserably.  Horses who don’t trust their handlers absolutely cannot win.  And yet trust, like respect–is earned, not freely given.  One being must have a reason to trust another being: intuition plays a role in the development of trust.

The 2008 establishment of All Play Stable was the culmination of many years of diligent studying and planning.  It also was the result of Rothfuss’ realization that he’d found the people whom he could trust implicitly to make his concept soar: Robin Fiester, Sara Dunham and H. Graham Motion.

Fiester and Dunham actually met (…a few) years ago, when both were students at Louisiana Tech University, where they studied Equine Science.  Fiester, a Realtor, grew up riding horses and loving the game.  Dunham is a Saratogian: you’ve probably seen her at the backstretch, watching the morning workouts or exercising a horse herself.  She worked for many years for Hall of Fame Trainer Carl Nafzger.

And H. Graham Motion, the understated, truly gifted trainer who gave the world Ichabad Crane, Broken Vow, Film Maker and one of my all-time favorites, the venerable Better Talk Now.  Motion is a man who puts his entire being into creating an environment of support and nurturing for the horses in his care–and this is the stuff that drew Paul Rothfuss, Robin Fiester and Sara Dunham to him as an important member of the All Play Team.

This team of dedicated horsewomen and -men offer a singularly exciting opportunity to all those who want to fully participate in “The Sport of Kings,” but for whom that goal has always seemed inaccessible.  The good news is that it’s not just a dream–it is possible, and All Play Stable wants to welcome you to their family of trusted friends and colleagues.  Co-ed partnerships are being formed even as I write this, and partnerships specifically for women–”Fillies and Mares, 25 and up…” are in the making.  These partnerships are for racing and breeding–the full spectrum of Thoroughbred ownership is available for the asking.

Women’s Day at Saratoga (August 19th) will find the All Play Stable team at their table, and they’d love to meet you. That which starts as a handshake can culminate in a life-long friendship–and your presence in the winner’s circle.  One step at a time, we can All Play in this game, this Endeavour which we love so fiercely.  This sport, this obsession, this…horse racing…is, indeed, a sport for All.”

Many thanks to Ms Altieri for her kind words, and ‘Saratoga Today’ for publishing same.  You can read more of Ms Altieri’s stories and articles at www.horseracinginsider.com.