HnR’s Sulis Available Along with Sulis 17 at Keeneland November Sale
Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Yearling Sale is rightfully billed as one of the premier, if not the elite, U.S. yearling sale. Entrants are carefully selected and vetted for both outstanding physicals as well as pedigree.
From day one, our philosophy has been to try to breed horses that we cannot afford to buy. The opposite of course is to breed horses that we can’t afford not to sell.
Sulis & Sulis 17 filly by Lemon Drop Kid. All photos Mathea Lynch
Therefore, I was more than pleased to see HnR bred Sulis 16, a colt by Scat Daddy, appear as Hip 71 in the first book of this year’s Saratoga sale. This is the first HnR bred that made an appearance here.
Since HnR still owns Sulis by Maria’s Mon out of Medicine Woman by Dr. Blum, we have more than just pride on the line as to how Sulis 16 would be received by the discerning, global buyers at Saratoga. Sulis, in foal with a colt to Bodemeister, also produced a wonderful Lemon Drop Kid filly, Sulis 17, who may be her best foal yet, and that is saying something. Bodemeister, of course, sired Always Dreaming, winner of the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
Sulis 17 filly by Lemon Drop Kid
HnR purchased Sulis in 2012 at the Keeneland November sale as Hip 1026 for $105,000. She was in foal to Harlan’s Holiday and produced her first foal, a beautiful filly @ Northview Farm in PA, a registered PA_BRED.
Since we breed to race and sell, we decided to offer Sulis 13 as Hip 509 at the Keeneland November, 2013 sale. With the premature and unfortunate demise of Harlan’s Holiday, there was added interest in the foal. When the hammer came down, Sulis 13 sold for a strong $250,000. This was the highest price for a PA_BRED filly at the Keeneland sale.
Being a strong fan of Scat Daddy, we bred Sulis to Scat Daddy in 2013. She produced another attractive filly, Sulis 13, also sold at Keeneland in the November 2014 sale. Once again, a Sulis foal registered a six-figure price at $130,000.
We took a calculated risk for our sire choice for 2014, and the verdict is still out on this decision. We decided to breed her to Gio Ponti, a fantastic racehorse, but at that time unproven sire. Unfortunately for us, and many others, Gio Ponti got off to a slow start, which made his 2015 foals unattractive from a commercial point of view. Therefore, we decided to keep Sulis 15, another filly, and named her That’s What We Do.
Fortunately, as Gio Ponti’s horses became three year olds they performed at a much better level producing both a Canadian Classic Winner as well as a Breeders’ Cup Champion. We trained That’s What We Do as a 2 yo at Webb Carroll’s Training Center. We now have her turned her out for further maturing, and will start on her in the fall in FL. We expect her to be a two-turn turf horse.
We made a much better sire decision in 2016, once again choosing Scat Daddy. HnR was rewarded with a handsome Scat Daddy colt. Given the commercial value of this foal, coupled with intensified demand based on Scat Daddy’s sudden passing, we again decided to sell. Sulis 16 became Hip 71 in the Keeneland 1st book and produced a sale price of $220,000. This was the colt, resold as a yearling as Hip 72, @ Saratoga for a premium price of $325,000. We are very pleased that the connections had a successful pin hook with this foal.
In 2016, HnR decided to breed to proven, classic quality and chose the Lemon Drop Kid. This mating resulted in a foal that is arguably Sulis’ best foal yet–a phenomenal Lemon Drop Kid filly, Sulis 17. We are very excited about this foal.
Based on our goal to continue to evolve our broodmare band to black type mares that raced for HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing, we have worked to implement this transition steadily over the last couple of years. Therefore we have decided to not only offer Sulis 17 at the Keeneland November 2017 sale but also to offer our wonderful mare Sulis. Anyone seeking a young mare who is a reliable producer of six figures knock out foals should check Sulis out. Anyone looking for one of the best Lemon Drop Kid weanlings available should be looking at Sulis 17. Interested, contact Carl McEntee @Darby Dan Farm (Carl@darbydan.com)
After beginning her career in California, HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing’s homebred Grand Prix made the first foray in the state of her birth a successful one as she triumphed in the $100,000 New Start Stakes, the first stakes on the Penn Mile undercard.
A half-sister to champion Finest City, also bred by Hank Nothhaft, Grand Prix was sent off as the second choice behind 2016 Pennsylvania-bred champion 2-year old filly Rose Tree. With Javier Castellano aboard for trainer Gary Mandella, Grand Prix stalked the early pace set by long-shot Risque’s Diamond through the opening quarter of the 6-furlong test.
While racing outside horses, the winner then took the lead on the turn and increased that lead to 2 lengths in mid-stretch. Castellano kept her mind on business to the wire and she won by a length over the rallying Rose Tree. The final time was 1:09.61.
“As I watched the race and the splits unfold 21.90, 44.61, 56.77 and saw her hold off a really nice filly like Rose Tree, she actually exceeded my already high expectations,” said Nothhaft, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who races in California and in Pennsylvania, and is a strong supporter of the Pennsylvania breeding program. “My thoughts as she came across the finish line were one of pride and thinking how cool that she’s living up to her name- Grand Prix – as well as her big sister Finest City.”
Nothhaft, who stood the late stallion Silver Train at Northview PA, where Grand Prix was foaled, shipped the daughter of Tale of the Cat to Pennsylvania from California several weeks before the New Start Stakes to take advantage of the state’s incentive program . ” Grand Prix is a late foal [April 28) and is still maturing,” said Nothhaft.
“Also , she runs well on turf, dirt and Tapeta. Depending on her performance going forward I can shoot for the Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes-G2 in September or fall back on the original plan to pursue the Pennsylvania-bred circuit.
Being from Sharon, Pa., the Masters is a special race for me, and maybe Grand Prix will get me back there for the fourth year in a row.” Living The Life (IRE), a multiple graded stakes winner and millionaire campaigned by Nothhaft, won the Masters in 2014 and ’15 and finished second in 2016. Grand Prix, out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Be Envied, earned S60,000 for the New Start and sub subsequently finished second in a June 26 allowance at Penn National against older mares to boost her career bankroll to $126,510.
The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) hosted Its’ 38th Annual Iroquois Awards Banquet on June 9 at The Hershey Hotel. PHBA members, the board of directors, and top Pennsylvania breeders and owners were present for a great night of dinner, cocktails, and conversation.
Brian Sanfratello, Executive Director of the PHBA, served as Master of Ceremonies for the gala evening. Roger Legg PHBA President offered his greetings and welcome to the assembled group, while the Honorable Russell Redding, Secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture provided insightful comments on the current status and support by PA for the thoroughbred industry.
Russell Redding PA Secretary of Agriculture PHBA Awards 2017
Henry “Hank” Nothhaft provided the Keynote address describing his journey to breeding Finest City, one of four, and the first PABRED Breeders’ Cup Champion in 24 years, and Eclipse Award Winner as Best Female Sprinter.
Click on the link below for the full script of Hank Nothhaft Keynote.
Finest City Moves to take Decisive Lead in Breeders’ Cup F & M Sprint
PHBA AWARD BANQUET
JUNE 9, 2017
Acknowledgements/Brian/Roger/Board/Guests/fellow PA Breeders/honor to speak. Topic=Story how Finest City came to be PABRED Breeders Cup winner and ultimately Eclipse Award Winner as best female sprinter. One main takeaway is without the PHBA Breeder fund incentives there would not have been a Finest City.
Hank Nothhaft Keynote PHBA Awards 201
Before I present “My Finest City” story, I want to highlight my strange connection to the first PABRED Breeders Cup Winner-Go For Wand. During my Marine Corps tour in Vietnam, 1968-1969, approximately two decades before Go For Wand’s 1989 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies win, I met and worked closely with a young (we both were young :)-) Marine Lieutenant, Bret Lunger, who went on to become one of the first American Drivers in Formula 1 auto racing.
Fast forward to 1984 and the creation of the annualBreeders’ Cup World Championships. Not surprisingly top breeders like Christiana Stables were soon participating and producing winners. Go For Wand not only won the Breeders Cup Championship in 1989, but also like Finest City, won an Eclipse Award for Best 2 year old Filly. The connection between Go For Wand and Finest City is that Bret Lunger’s mother Jane Dupont Lunger owned Christiana Stables and bred Go For Wand. So there is definitely a strange coincidence and a bit of karma between PA’s 1st and 4th Breeders Cup Champion Fillies.
The Setting!!
Saturday November 5th Santa Anita Park, the Great Race Place, in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains, the hallowed grounds that hosted the likes of Sea Biscuit, John Henry, Zenyatta to American Pharoah, 72,811 Fans on hand, the largest crowd to attend a Breeders Cup since introduction of the two day format— cheered on as Finest City is about to go against 12 competitors— challenging to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint Grade 1 world championship including Wavell Avenue the previous year’s champ. Not the favorite, but with Money Mike Smith, up in a wide open race, Finest City is getting some respect and is sitting at 4/1 to 5/1 odds.
Glued to our big screen TV, pacing nervously back and forth at home in Saratoga CA, reflecting on, not only the strange week leading up to the race, but also the fact we were not at Santa Anita, which is basically our home track, and the improbability of possibly being the Breeder of a Breeders’ Cup Champ, and that Champ if she does succeed will be a PABRED, 1st in 24 years and 4th in History.
Why weren’t we at the race? Besides Finest City, we actually had another Mare in the race as owner and nominator (explain nominator)-Living the Life-3 times Graded Stakes Winner-including two Grade 2’s Master Stakes wins, and a Grade 3 Win over the males in the All American Stakes. She was Grade 1 placed on dirt, and had over 1 million $$ in her bank account. As a connection to two runners in a 13 horse field we had made elaborate plans to attend the race.
Devastatingly, in her last prep workout, LTL came up lame and could not participate. In a knee jerk reaction to this disappointment I gave away our tickets and canceled our travel package. Twenty-four hours later, and to this day, I regretted my decision, but it was too late to go back.
Living the Life Stretch Drive with Mike Smith up wins the Masters Stakes
Now the rest of the story.Born in Sharon PA, a son of German immigrants with no connection to horse racing,I got involved in thoroughbred breeding and racing relatively late in life, hopefully not too late, in my early 60’s. I’m hoping the old adage that horsemen live longer than the general population —because they are waiting for the next big horse to come along—–is true.
I spent the majority of my business career breathing life into pre revenue, high tech start-up companies— generally taking them to positive exits after 4 to 6 years of compulsive commitment. Either I became an adrenaline junky from this lifetime pursuit— or I was an adrenaline junky in the first place, and this was the cure for my addiction.
Reflecting on a future, that no longer involved running another upstart, entrepreneurial venture, I decided that I needed to create a glide path to something I could create myself that would fulfill this need. I continued my business career until a couple years ago while launching my horse racing business in parallel. The last 18-24 months I have been full time on my thoroughbred business.
After some analysis of my likes and dislikes, I decided to put together a plan to breed and race thoroughbreds.
“Feel Free to laugh.”
It was a good thing that I didn’t realize how little I really knew about “The Game” or I likely would have never started down this road. Over the years, I was a casual thoroughbred horse racing fan who really enjoyed attending live racing a couple of times a year mainly Bay Meadows and occasionally Del Mar.
Plus, during most of my business career I visited the United Kingdom frequently. I was an avid reader of Dick Francis novels, an ex-jump jockey, whose popular crime mysteries tied to the inner workings of British horse racing. I became somewhat of an anglophile and attended races in the U.K. ,almost as a ritual during most of my trips.
No doubt I read one too many Dick Francis novels because it gave me a romanticized view of the horse business and being an owner.
As I took my first steps, one thing in my favor was decades of entrepreneurial experience bootstraping companies after receiving initial tranches of seed capital.Armed with unabashed enthusiasm and confidence—-only outweighed by my naiveté, ——-I started my quest for success in a completely new field of endeavor, far from the technology world.
Attending some Owner seminars sponsored by TOC in CA, auctions, visiting farms and meeting a few folks involved in the then vibrant Nor Cal horse racing scene centered on Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields, I jumped in.
My goal was to run successfully at the tracks in Northern CA, eventually with horses bred by myself. I targeted claiming level races and claimed a few horses as well as buying some yearlings at auction for modest sums.
On the business side, the attraction I saw in the thoroughbred business was an opportunity to create a business with no employees or partners, through outsourcing and self funding; lots of analytics and data, intense competition; mobile assets; most deals done on a handshake; and instant gratification of the racing. During this time I became a voracious reader and student of every book, magazine, newsletter, video and TV program that I could digest which is ongoing.
And as seemingly=== endlessly====and ==== unpredictable=== the horse business is, I always have an updated plan so I am managing against predefined expectations, knowing full well that it will have to be adapted as reality unfolds.
And after all of that, then I fell in love with the horses, whose stewardship became my top priority.That was it. Thoroughbreds became my new compulsion!
Off and running, I got into the business just in time for the 2008/2009 financial meltdown that impacted our industry so savagely. What many, if not most, in our business viewed as a significant setback or worse, was a blessing in disguise for me.
I was going through a rapid learning process via the school of hard nocks via trial and error. Especially errors. My first efforts were less than successful.
UNDERSTATEMENT.
Relief was about to arrive from an unexpected source.Given my years as an entrepreneur, I recognized the financial tsunami that “gob smacked” the entire world financial structure as the opportunity for a full stop, and a restart, with a new plan. Failure in Silicon Valley is not vilified, but considered a right of passage, so I didn’t find this initial setback as something out of the ordinary. So a “restart” is what I did.
With frenetic energy and focus, I found homes for my entire stable with the exception of a couple mares bothwhich I retain to this day.The biggest thing I learned from this initial foray was “There is no such thing as a cheap horse.” Upkeep is relatively the same, so head up market as high and as fast as possible. The biggest thing I accomplished was setting the cornerstone for a foundation of able, trusted advisors, which I continue to rely on and grow to this day. And finally, my horse named Danger, a 16:1 long shot, placed 2nd in the Cavonnier Juvenile Stakes in 2008. That put the hook in very deep. I was so excited that I remember little of the 3 hour drive home from Santa Rosa CA except the overwhelming feeling of euphoria.
Armed with real world experience, what to do next? The racing fabric in CA was ruptured. Bay Meadows our wonderful local track shut down. Breeding and racing horses in CA and at least breaking even financially was a dream of the past.
During this transition I broadened my horizons. I attended the Kentucky Derby & Oaks, the Preakness and toured several breeding farms in KY including Winstar Farms. I remember specifically visiting Tiznow, an icon to me, from the famous Winning one for America Breeders’ Cup Classic Win. I thought, “Wow, wouldn’t it be cool to breed to some of these top sires”. I also went to the Breeders’ Cup races several times at Santa Anita.
The totality of these experiences raised my aspirations as to what might be possible. My mindset went from breeding claimers to breeding horses that I couldn’t afford to buy.
Searching for a better venue to relaunch HnR, I met Carl McEntee, then of Ghost Ridge Farm in late 2010. Carl was attempting to re-syndicate Smarty Jones. Even a newby like me knew about PENNSYLVANIA hero Smarty Jones, and the idea of being a Smarty Jones’ season holder was exciting, and led me to investigate the racing landscape in PA for breeders an
World Famous Smarty Jones Northview PA 2012
I found the PHBA program to be a major incentive to become involved in PA. It looked like Utopia compared to CA. And being originally from PA was the icing on the cake.Doing the deal for Smarty Jones to move from KY to PA took a lot of time and was complicated. It gave me a chance to get to know Carl and his boundless energy and optimism.
Frankly, I never thought Carl would pull it off. I likened it to what we call a “cram down round” in the venture capital world, but he persevered and we bred a mare to Smarty Jones in 2011 and produced our first PABRED, Smarty’s Legend in 2012.
Later that year, Carl moved to Northview Stallion Station in Peach Bottom, bringing Smarty Jones, Jump Start and E Dubai with him. I came out to visit several times to evaluate the facilities and discuss various opportunities in PA. Our strategy expanded to include breeding to sell, in order to diversify and balance the risk of racing.
One of these trips took place the week before the 2011 Preakness. Animal Kingdom two weeks from winning the Kentucky Derby, was deep in preparation for the Preakness at Fair Hill Training Center. Through a mutual friend, Carl and I were told we could come by and see Animal Kingdom in his stall. The weather turned sour and a strong spring storm with a bit of thunder spooked the horses. We waited patiently to see the big guy, but in the end we weren’t granted an audience.
During the long wait in the car, Carl and I discussed a plan and economics required to buy a proven sire, move him to PA and support him with an appropriate broodmare band. I am almost certain, without that chance thunderstorm waiting to see Animal Kingdom, hatching a plan to buy a sire for PA would never have materialized. It was pretty spontaneous.
After fleshing out a business plan to support the PA Sire Plan, Carl and I identified a short list of sires that met our criteria in terms of bloodlines, likelihood of availability, and price. Our initial target was Henny Hughes. At one point we thought we had a deal to buy him, but it didn’t materialize. We moved to Silver Train and couldn’t get a deal done and so on. The list was not very long after that. It didn’t look good. Then a major downdraft occurred in the stock market. The 2008/2009 financial collapse was still an open sore among investors. A radio interview with Tom Ludt Chairman of the Breeders’ Cup regarding the flight of discretionary money encouraged me to reapproach the Silver Train syndicate. This time the deal was consummated quickly at a price that met our budgetary constraints.
Silver Train Northview Stallions PA
With Silver Train acquired, we put together a budget to acquire mares to support his breeding program. We were confident Silver Train would be very popular the first two years standing in PA so our efforts were multi-year, aimed at supporting him in the critical third year.
Our acquisition program included buying mares in foal, racing prospects, and claiming mares that were still racing. Our Golden Gate Fields based trainer, Keith Nations move to PARX buoyed our confidence in our program. He was a trusted ally we could rely on to train and claim horses.
Carl and I did extensive analysis for the 2011 Keeneland November Breeding stock sale. The plan was to purchase up to 5 broodmares taking advantage of depressed prices to score some bargains. Besides pedigree, physical compatibility, race record-some black type highly preferred, and youth, our goal was to recover the purchase price of the mare from sale of the first foal and then breed the mare back to Silver Train.
After creating a list of suspects, we spent days walking the grounds and bidding on mares that we believed met our criteria. We lost out on a number of our candidates, but bought 3 mares including Be Envied.
Be Envied by Lemon Drop Kid o/o While Rome Burns Produced Finest City, Grand Prix and Move while owned by HnR Nothhaft Horseracing LLC
Our thoughts were— we must be geniuses—-or missing something—- because we purchased this beautifully pedigreed 9 year old daughter of the Lemon Drop Kid in foal to emerging leading sire City Zip for $37,000, Though City Zip stood for a modest $10,000 in 2010, he was on the rise and his precocious capabilities were documented. Be Envied had a good race record, black type and was ½ to Grade 1 winner Burning Roma with lot’s of black type on the rest of the page.
City Zip Lanes End Versailles KY
The next morning, Be Envied was on her way to Northview Stallion Station. She settled in nicely and produced a beautiful light chestnut filly on March 28, 2012.New to the commercial auction market, I set off to name my foals, giving little thought to whether they would be sold.
Everyone who looked at Be Envied 12 thought she was a knockout weanling. I started thinking about racing her, having bred only a handful of horses in CA, none of which were commercial. Given the name of the sire and the mare, I registered her with the Jockey Club as City Envy.
Time passed quickly, and the raves continued. By late summer, 2012, Carl was convinced that we could hit a homerun by selling City Envy as a weanling and perhaps get 5 times what we paid for the mare in utero. My entrepreneurial background kicked in, and I saw this as a potential path to enhance our cash flow.
We x-rayed her and the results were clean. We started early sales prep on her at Northview MD and then consigned her to Fergas Galvin’s Hunter Valley Team for final sales preparation. She was very live in the run up to sales day with a huge number of looks and vetting. Fergas who is rightfully very conservative even caught the fever.
Though we set the reserve at $50,000, we expected her to bring up to $150,000. When the actual bidding started, it was weak and ended exactly on her reserve of $50,000, so she sold.We had a debrief after the auction to try to understand how we could be so wrong. It turned out, she was not vetting clean due to a cyst in her stifle.
Unfortunately, the cyst was not detected in our initial x-rays, or we wouldn’t have entered her in the sale. We definitely had mixed emotions after the sale.Cobra Racing purchased City Envy. We thought they would keep her to race. Instead they sold her at the 2013 yearling sale to Seltzer Thoroughbreds for $85,000.
Through a family gift, a 3rd generation horseman, but brand new trainer, aged 28, Ian Kruljac, took on Finest City, renamed for San Diego, home base of Seltzer. How new? Through the end of 2016, Ian has run a total of 6 horses under his stable name, with virtually all the victories coming from Finest City.
The good news is Ian had plenty of one on one time to spend on quirky Finest City’s and some of her minor physical maladies. As I waited for Breeders’ Cup announcer Larry Colmus to call the race, I reflected on what Ian told me about Finest City.I quote.“I would just add she’s on the small side, but has the biggest heart. She will hold her own/ compete against any other. She holds herself with so much confidence that’s not to be messed with. I truly stay out of her way mentally. She pulls me around the walking ring directs where she wants to go. Workouts are the same; she’s never asked. Very few have her will. “
I liked our chances.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Brief description of the race.
Pandemonium followed. My Cellphone exploded with calls and texts as my wife and I stopped cheering and jumping up and down. The first horse that I bred and sold at auction had just won a Breeders’ Cup Championship.!!
Finest City Moves to take Decisive Lead in Breeders’ Cup F & M Sprint
Finest City joined Go For Wand, Alphabet Soup and Tikkanen as the 4 Breeders Cup Champions from PA during the Breeders’ Cup 34 year history.
After an impressive outing at Santa Anita on May 11, 2017 in an open Allowance Race on the downhill turf course, HnR decided to ship her to Pennsylvania to take advantage of the lucrative PABRED Stakes program. Grand Prix, trained by Gary Mandella, arrived in good order in PA via Tex Sutton Horse Transport.
Grand Prix jogs to the Winner’s Circle
Based on her race fitness and positive conditioning at Delaware Park in Keith Nation’s Barn, we decided to run her the New Start Stakes, a 6 furlong sprint on the dirt for 3 year old PABRED fillies on June 3rd at Penn National in Grantville, Pa. The New Start Stakes was part of a 7 stakes program including the prestigious Pennsylvania Mile and the Governor’s Cup. Javier Castellano, 4 time Eclipse Award Winning jockey was booked to ride Grand Prix.
Click the above link for Racing Biz Article by Frank Vespe
Grand Prix broke sharply, maintained a position of stalking the leaders about a length off the lead before asserting herself at the 1/4 pole, maintaining her lead to the end of the race, besting undefeated, stakes winner and PA 2 yo filly of the year Rose Tree. We were not only gratified that she won impressively, but her splits and final times of 1:09.61 were certainly on the high end of our range of expectations. Grand Prix came out of the race 100% and will stay on the east coast. We are currently planning at least 3 more races before assessing our next move with her. Photos by B n D Photography.
Trophy Presentation by Brian Sanfratello PHBA Executive Director to Javier Castellano and Hank Nothhaft Observed by Northview Stallions Paul O’Laughlin
A few years back Henry “Hank” Nothhaft wrote the popular business book “Great Again” about how America can revitalize its innovation leadership and kick-start the economy again.
It captured the wisdom of his 35 years in California’s Silicon Valley where the serial entrepreneur fashioned a career of taking high-tech start-up companies and transforming them into highly touted, businesses. Nothhaft showed how small technological companies with manufacturing and engineering skills can survive, and even hit the winner’s circle if they take the right risks.
Born and raised in Sharon, Pa. in the western part of the state, several years ago, Nothhaft (pronounced note-off) saw retirement staring him in the eye. Not a sit around kind of guy, Nothhaft began researching opportunities that would continue his lifelong entrepreneurial quest.
“I landed on the thoroughbred industry– big rewards if you take the right risks, ” he explained in a telephone interview from his home in Saratoga, Calif.
“I took my usual analytical approach. I love the competitive, data driven field of racing and breeding. You acquire instant feedback and have a limited number of employees. I jumped in. I treated it as a start-up, a boot-strap operation that could be self-sustaining, generate cash flow and reinvesting the capital.”
Nothhaft attended a number of California Thoroughbred Owners seminars, mapped out a business plan, dove into tax implications and spent countless hours studying pedigrees and analyzing the best sires to mate with his mares.
“I bought books, videos, started reading Blood-Horse on how to evaluate prospective sires and mares. It was a lot of self-educating,” said Nothhaft, a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, and a former Marine officer who served in Vietnam.
“It hasn’t been a curve left to right to profitability, more a jagged edge. But all things considered it’s worked out very well.”
Nothhaft’s first taste of racing came at a Standardbred track near Columbus, Ohio as a teenager. He purchased his first thoroughbreds in California in 2006, operating under HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing. His business model was mostly breeding to race but when the economic meltdown hit in 2008, two years later he sold his horses and eventually relocated the business in Pennsylvania teaming up with Northview Stallion at Peach Bottom, Pa. Gradually he started adding some mares he could sell after their racing careers or keep to be bred.
Purchasing Euro Fillies
Nothhaft knew he couldn’t afford the top-tier yearlings at sales in the U. S., but understood he could obtain better value with racing fillies in Europe. Working with Darby Dan Farm sales and bloodstock director Carl McEntee, Nothhaft travelled to England where in 2013 he purchased Macaabra, who came to Santa Anita and scored in an allowance race in early 2014.
Pleased by the result, McEntee was sent back the following year and zeroed in on a pair of sharp fillies, but the more highly touted filly failed to pass the vet’s exam. The plan was when that filly passed the exam, Nothhaft would ship both over to Santa Anita.
In the meantime, McEntee’s brother Phil was training a small string on an English farm. The second filly was the quirky Irish-bred Living the Life, daughter of Footstepsinthesand. She became his pet project.
“Phil had time to work with Living the Life and eventually he figured her out mentally,” Nothhaft noted. “So we entered her in a handicap at Lingfield Park’s synthetic racecourse that she won and then turned in a nice performance there in a much tougher race finishing third.”
The owner and trainer entered the filly in the $247,000 All-Weather Fillies and Mares Championship Final staged on Good Friday in April 2014. With Adam Kirby in the irons, the 8-1 favorite Living the Life dominated from the get-go, cruising to a 3 1/2 length score. Nothhaft calls it his biggest thrill in racing.
“I love the racing atmosphere in England,” he explained. “To me that victory is what racing is all about. I’ve also been a big fan of Dick Francis’ horseracing mysteries and I felt like I was living one of his books that day. I met everyone and anyone in British racing. The day before we travelled to Newmarket to take in all its splendor. What an amazing adventure.”
Afterwards Living the Life was shipped to Santa Anita trainer Gary Mandella (son of Hall of Fame trainer Richard) who began mapping out a racing schedule. Under Mandella’s tutelage, she won the Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (Grade-2) twice but just missed a third score, when Living the Life ran second despite a compromising trip last September. A synthetic-track star, Living the Life whipped the boys last May in the All American Stakes (Grade-3) at Golden Gate Fields and finished runner-up in the Santa Margarita Stakes (Grade-1) on the dirt.
Pointed at the $1 Million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, the 6-year-old Irish-bred mare developed an ankle injury the week leading into the race. She was scratched and retired. Living the Life concluded her racing career with a 10-6-4 record from 35 starts and $1,028,394 in earnings. She joined Nothhaft’s broodmare band of seven at Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky.
Homebred BC Champion
Still, Nothhaft had another strong rooting interest in the BC Filly & Mare Sprint, his homebred Finest City. He purchased her dam Be Envied (by Lemon Drop Kid) for $37,000 at the Keeneland Sales while in foal to City Zip. Finest City was foaled at Northview-Pa.
Named for the city of San Diego, Finest City fought off a late challenge by Wavell Avenue (the 2015 winner), to win the 2016 Breeders’ Cup race by three-quarters of a length. She joined an elite group of three other Pennsylvania-breds (Alphabet Soup, Go for Wand, and Tikkanen) who have won a Breeders’ Cup race.
A pair of father-and-son tandems contributed to Finest City’s success. Wayne and Tyler Seltzer race her in the name of their Seltzer Thoroughbreds, while Eric and Ian Kruljac have collaborated on the 4-year old mare’s training. Finest City was the first horse that 28-year-old Ian trained under his own name.
When Living the Life came up lame Nothhaft gave his Breeders’ Cup tickets to Gary Mandella, a decision he still regrets.
“We have a racing room in our house and my family and I were glued to the big screen TV watching Finest City’s race” he recalled. “When she won we were excited beyond belief, literally jumping for joy. Within moments my cell exploded with texts and calls. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
Finest City kicked off her 2017 campaign with an impressive victory in the $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes pulling away in the stretch to win by 3 3/4 lengths on January 21 at Santa Anita. That evening she took home the 2016 Eclipse Award as top female sprinter.
“She was a knockout from day one, athletic, well-balanced and somewhat precocious,” Nothhaft remembered. “One of the reasons Carl and I decided to sell her was we thought we were going to be able to get $150,000 for her to build up my breeding business. She was the first horse I bred who sold commercially at auction.
“We had some top-flight horsemen looking at her at Keeneland. But, the bidding just never took off. You could feel the air go out of the room. Later I found out that on x-rays at the auction it looked like there’s a cyst or OCD of some kind, shadows that showed up. It held the price down. She went for the reserve, $50,000. I never would have entered her in the sale, but kept her to race, as I did with (his homebred stakes winner) Mister Nofty for the same reason.”
Building Breeding Program
Nothhaft credits the PHBA awards program for the purchase of Silver Train that enabled the owner to move him to Northview-Pa. where he built a broodmare band to support the stallion. Finest City was one of the first colts produced.
Silver Train Northview Stallions PA
Then tragedy struck. In late December 2013, Nothhaft received a phone call that Silver Train had died from a swift attack of colic while traveling to quarantine in Brazil awaiting his return to the U.S. Even though he was accompanied by a veterinarian when he became ill, the 11-year old horse by Old Trieste died before reaching an equine hospital. Silver Train had just completed his second season of Southern Hemisphere stud duty.
The winner of four graded races including the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Grade-1) and Metropolitan Mile (Grade-1), Silver Train moved to Northview-Pa. in September 2011, after being purchased by Nothhaft. Ranked among the nation’s leading young sires since his runners first appeared in 2010, He sired 14 stakes winners, six of them graded/group winners and two champions. From 2011-2013, his progeny earnings exceeded $3 million. His runners averaged an impressive 17 starts for their careers.
“Silver Train was all class, the consummate professional, ” said Nothhaft, the majority shareholder. “Given his proclivity for producing winners, we expected big things from Silver Train for years to come. With our expansive plans for him in 2014, his sudden passing was a real shock.”
Nothhaft’s strategy has been to move up the value chain with both mares and sires in order to address the high end of the market which has been good to strong for some time.
“The middle of the market commercially is hit or miss, and the low end commercial market is not viable from an economic point of view,” he noted. “As a result, I have retained my middle market bloodstock and am racing them, primarily in PA. Of my top of the market horses, I am selectively selling and retaining the rest for racing.”
Nothhaft’s primary stable is with Gary Mandella at Santa Anita and he keeps a string of runners at Parx with trainer Keith Nations, who had trained for the owner in northern California. Through 2016 HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing has career earnings of $2,058,285 with 34 wins, 33 seconds and 36 thirds.
One of his top runners is 3-year old Grand Prix who scored her first stakes victory in 2016. She is a Pa.-bred, a filly by Tale of the Cat, trained by Mandella.
“We’re hoping she continues to develop so we can ship her to the Masters at Presque Isle where I had some much success with Living the Life,” Nothhaft observed. “Her value has been significantly enhanced by Finest City’s Breeders’ Cup win.”
Breeding to Top Stallions
This year Nothhaft bred two of his mares to American Pharoah. Kindle is carrying a colt and graded stakes placed Halljoy, who he purchased in UK and raced in California, is expecting a filly.
“The plan is to sell the Kindle and retain the Halljoy to race,” he said. “We believe the Kindle could be a very commercial foal. This year Kindle and Living the Life will be bred to Pioneer of the Nile. We are moving to stress quality over quantity. I can’t think of anything better than to own a high-quality PA-bred running there. As the breeder and owner, the right PA-bred horse can be very exciting and profitable.”
Nothhaft believes Pennsylvania’s breeding program has weathered the storms of budget fights in Harrisburg that stopped its momentum after the economic meltdown of 2008/2009. He sees reasonable stability and improved breeding incentives.
“I am starting to increase my activity again in PA after moving resources to other states over the last few years,” he noted. ” The current program is one of the best if not the best in the U.S. The PHBA has become aggressive in promoting PA’s advantages. It takes a while to turn a large ship, but I see activity and enthusiasm starting to pick-up. Our industry is fueled on discretionary income, and the stock market is always a good barometer on how things are going to develop.”
Nothhaft is bullish on mid-Atlantic racing, pointing to Pennsylvania being in the early stages of a turnaround with new legislation and increased breeder awards, along with Frank Stronach’s strong commitment to Laurel Racetrack as well as Delaware Park’s being stabilized at a reasonable level.
“If nothing changes we could be at the beginning of a golden era for the Mid-Atlantic,” Nothhaft observed. “My view is one of guarded optimism and excitement going into the next few years.”
City Envy (AKA Finest City) and Hank Nothhaft Keeneland November 2012
By Nikki Sherman
Originally published in PHBA February, 2017 Newsletter published in Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Magazine
Photos HnR Nothhaft Media Library
Other than the Kentucky Derby, winning a Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championship race is the dream of every breeder in the United States. It often takes decades-if it happens at all-to reach that pinnacle, but for Henry “Hank” Nothhaft, it took just a few years.
“I have not been involved in horse racing very long, “ Nothhaft admits. “I became directly involved in a very limited way around 2008, with the idea to create a business I could run and enjoy while I was moving into retirement from my business career in the technology world.”
Nothhaft, who breeds and races under the name HnR Nothhaft Horseracing LLC, wanted to go through a hands-on learning experience in the Thoroughbred industry and was able to purchase the promising young stallion, Silver Train, in 2011. That November, he and agent Carl McEntee attended the Keeneland November mixed sale to look for mares that would cross well with the son of Old Trieste. There, they found a Lemon Drop Kid mare named Be Envied, who was in foal to the popular sprint stallion City Zip. Nothhaft purchased Be Envied for $37,000 and shipped her to Northview PA in Peach Bottom to foal. That foal was a lovely chestnut filly he decided to name City Envy.
The filly was entered in the 2012 Keeneland November sale as a weanling after colleagues convinced him that she should easily bring $150,000. However, early interest in City Envy, who Nothhaft had named before his decision to sell came about, fizzled out when on-site veterinary inspections discovered an existing OCD on X-rays. She just barely met her reserve of $50,000, selling for that price to Cobra Farm, who in turn pinhooked her at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2013. Seltzer Thoroughbreds purchased the filly for $85,000 and the father-son team of Wayne and Tyler Seltzer decided to rename her Finest City after their hometown of San Diego.
“She was a knockout from day one” remembers Nothhaft. “Unfortunately, that’s one of the reasons I decided to sell her, as I thought we were going to be able get six figures for her and I was focused on building a broodmare band for Silver Train to race in Pennsylvania. She was one of the first two or three PA-BRED horses I bred and was the first horse I bred who sold commercially at auction.”
The Seltzers’ trainer Ian Kruljac clearly had great hopes for their new filly from the beginning, as Finest City made her career debut at the prestigious Del Mar summer meet in July of 2015. The filly finished a solid second behind eventual graded stakes winner Gloryzapper. Her next start would be a different story-Finest City ran off to an impressive 8 ½ length score in a $70,000 maiden special weight at Del Mar. After an unsuccessful stakes debut over Santa Anita’s downhill turf course in her next start, Finest City returned to the winner’s circle with an easy 3 ¼ length score in a $53,000 allowance at Del Mar.
Finest City competed against some of the top female sprinters on the West Coast throughout the winter of 2015-16, and by April she finally broke through becoming a stakes winner when she captured the $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes-G2 at Los Alamitos. That race earned Finest City a chance to compete in the Breeders’ Cup, where she nearly faced off against Nothhaft’s own multiple graded stakes winner, millionaire Living the Life (IRE).
Living the Life (IRE) Flavian Prat up
“We originally had fairly elaborate plans to attend the Breeders’ Cup, but when Living the Life came up lame before the race, I canceled our reservations. I came to regret this decision,” Nothhaft admits. “So, my wife and I were glued to our TV watching the race. I must be honest, I thought Finest City could win, but was really more confident in a top-three finish. When she did win, we were cheering and literally jumping for joy. Within seconds, my cell phone exploded with texts and calls beyond anything we had ever experienced.”
On the first Saturday of November 2016, Finest City joined an elite group of just three other PA-Breds who have captured a Breeders’ Cup Race when she crossed the wire first in the $1,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint G1, holding off defending champion Wavell Avenue by three-quarters of a length under heavy urging from Hall of Fame Jockey Mike Smith.
Those other Breeders’ Cup-winning PA-Breds are some of the most talented athletes to grace the Breeders’ Cup. Alphabet Soup won the 1996 Classic in a thrilling stretch battle with Louis Quatorze and Cigar. Go For Wand captured the 1989 Juvenile Fillies as part of a campaign that culminated in her being crowned that year’s Eclipse Award champion 2 year-old filly, and Tikkanen, wh set a couse record at Churchill Downs in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup turf.
Finest City enjoyed a short break following the biggest race of her life, but has since returned to Kruljac’s Santa Anita Barn. She is steadily working towards a 2017 campaign that would ideally give her the opportunity to defend her Breeders’ Cup title, this time in her owners’ hometown of San Diego at her favorite track, Del Mar.
Finest City making her winning Breeders’ Cup move with Mike Smith up
She was also named a finalist for the 2016 Champion Female Sprinter, along with Haveyougoneaway and Paulasilverlining-both whom finished behind Finest City in the Breeders’ Cup.
Win or lose, nothing will compare to the thrill of winning a Breeders’ Cup race. Tyler Seltzer said it best when the NBC Sports camera crew caught up with him immediately following the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. The excitement was overwhelming, and all he could think to say was an emphatic, “She’s pretty great.”
Kindle a MSW/MGSP mare by Indian Charlie o/o Carson’s Vanity by Carson City had her first foal on January 26, 2016 @Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, KY. Kindle is short in stature, very muscular and always gave 100% during her racing career for HnR Nothhaft Horseracing. She ran a career best Beyer Number of 100 winning the Cool Air Stakes. Our high level goal in breeding to Tiznow was to get a horse with a combination of Tiznow size, durability and stamina with Kindle speed and muscularity. Ideally this foal would grow into a miler plus with exceptional tactical speed. We are a long ways off from knowing whether our objectives will be achieved, but so far we like what we see.
Made in America (KY) by Tiznow o/o Kindle @Darby Dan Farm
We have decided to keep Kindle 16 to race. As a result, we have named him Made in America (KY). As a January yearling, he stands nearly 15 hands which makes him almost as tall as Kindle. He weighs around 980 pounds which makes him large for his age. His conformation is excellent and he is well balanced and a nice frame to grow into. We are counting the days until we can move to the next step and start Made in America’s initial training.
The other days we are counting are the days until Kindle has her second foal. She is in foal to American Pharoah with a colt expected in the next two weeks or so. We are hoping this foal will have the same excellent confirmation that Made in America enjoys. If he does, we will likely put this colt up for sale in one of the weanling auctions at the end of the year.
Finally, to give Kindle every chance to succeed as a broodmare, we are breeding her to Pioneer of the Nile at Winstar for the 2018 foal. Time will tell how this story will evolve, but we are excited to be part of the journey. We are hoping he could be Tiznow’s next Big Horse.
