The Winchell Thoroughbred Legacy

 

The Winchell Thoroughbred Legacy

 Joseph Di Rienzi

In Northern American thoroughbred racing history some stables standout – Calumet, Claiborne, Darby Dan, Phipps, Juddmonte, Rokeby and Godolphin to name a few. Their runners have garnered the most prestigious races and their stable colors are integral with the sport’s pageantry. A stable that has been a mainstay for over 60 years but does not have the comparable high visibility is Winchell Thoroughbreds. In this piece, I will chronicle its ownership which has had two iterations and highlight, in my opinion, the 10 most prominent thoroughbreds that raced in the maroon and white silks.

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Verne H. Winchell gained enough notoriety owning the western based Winchell’s Donuts franchise that he was known as “The Donut King”.  When Winchell’s Donuts merged with Denny’s Restaurants, he became the new company’s CEO. Long fascinated with racing, Verne became a prominent horse owner in the early 1960’s, with Ron McAnally as his stable’s main trainer. The first significant runner that carried the Winchell banner was the appropriately named Donut King. The Cal bred burst onto the national scene in 1961 with a stunning upset in the Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack narrowly defeating future three-year-old champion Jaipur with major runner Sir Gaylord and two-year-old co-champion Crimson Satan, finishing third and fourth, respectively. The brown son of Determine prepped for the 1962 Kentucky Derby with a strong third place finish in the Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct but missed his chance for Derby glory having to be withdrawn from the race with an infected heel. Racing to his six-year-old season in a 53 race career, Donut King retired with earnings over $300,000.

The first champion to race for the stable was Mira Femme. A California born daughter of Humpty Dumpty trained by Buster Millerick, she had an outstanding juvenile year winning 6 of 10 starts including the Hollywood Lassie and Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes. At year’s end she was the Co-Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1966. Successful in stakes races as a sophomore in 1967, Mira Femme was retired to the broodmare ranks after her four-year-old season.

In 1991, the Verne H Winchell Stable raced three prominent racehorses all trained by McAnally. The oldest, Tight Spot, was a Kentucky bred son of His Majesty who as a four-year-old did enough to win an Eclipse Award for Champion Male Grass Horse. The bay colt recorded five consecutive victories including the Inglewood Handicap, American Handicap, Eddie Read Handicap and Arlington Million Stakes until finishing in a dead heat for ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs Racetrack. 

The other stars of 1991 were a pair of three-year-olds – Olympio and Sea Cadet. The former a son of Naskra from the Winchell foundation mare Carols Christmas distinguished himself winning four Derbies across the United States. Victorious in the Arkansas, Minnesota, American and Hollywood Derbies. Olympio’s lone try at classic success resulted in a fourth place finish in the Preakness Stakes.

Olympio’s stable mate, Sea Cadet, developed a fan following as a result of his having been born with a short stump for a tail. He was deemed one of the West Coast best 1991 Kentucky Derby prospects off victories in the El Camino Real Derby, the San Felipe Stakes and a third in the Santa Anita Derby. However, on Derby Day he could not finished better than eighth place to Strike the Gold after leading the field until the last 1/8 of a mile. Sea Cadet’s best successes came the following year as a four-year-old winning the Donn, Gulfstream Park and Meadowlands Handicaps.

After Verne Winchell died in 2002, ownership of the stable was passed to his wife Joan and their son Ron. The latter who has had interests in gaming, restaurants and real estate expanded the racing operation by purchasing a farm in Lexington, KY and involving partners in the ownership in many of the stable’s runners. Under the tutelage of primarily Steve Asmussen, Winchell Thoroughbreds and partners’ runners have achieved great success in the 21^st century.

Tapit was not the most accomplished horse in the history of the Winchell stable, but he is undoubtedly the most consequential in terms of his influence on the thoroughbred breed. Appraised of considerable value, he was purchased as a yearling at auction for $625,000 in 2002. Ron Winchell gave the gray son of Pulpit to Michael Dickinson, known for his unorthodox methods, to train. Making his career debut as a two-year-old at Delaware Park in October 2003, he swept to an easy 7¾ length victory. Following that with a facile triumph about a month later in the Laurel Futurity, Tapit went into winter quarters considered a prime 2004 classic prospect.

Preparing for his sophomore campaign in Florida, Tapit suffered shin problems that delayed his first start until the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park in March. After finishing a disappointing sixth, Dickinson discovered the horse had contracted a lung infection. Admittedly under prepared, he was entered less than a month later in the Wood Memorial and ran a remarkable race, closing stoutly in the stretch to win by ½ length.

Off his victory in the Wood, Tapit was the third betting choice in the 2004 Kentucky Derby, but on a very sloppy track, he finished ninth to the then undefeated Smarty Jones. Rested until September, Tapit last career start was an undistinguished ninth place finish in the Pennsylvania Derby.

Retired to stud at Gainesway Farm in Lexington Kentucky, Tapit was considered a promising son of influential sire of sires Pulpit, but not originally at the top tier. That designation changed dramatically when his first crop started racing in 2008 with Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly victress and champion filly Stardom Bound. Overall, Tapit has sired five champions and six Breeders’ Cup winners. His most remarkable achievement to date is that he has sired four Belmont Stakes winning sons (Tonalist, Creator, Tapwrit and Essential Quality) tying him with legendary 19^th century stallion Lexington for the most winners of the final classic. At this writing Tapit has sired 91 stakes winners of combined earnings of over $170 million. His breeding legacy continues and with the progeny of his sons and daughters who are well on their way of establishing a “Tapit” bloodline.

There have been two Kentucky Oaks winners to carry the Winchell silks (both trained by Steve Asmussen). Summerly, a chestnut daughter of Summer Squall, purchased as a yearling for $410,000, had a very fruitful three-year-old season in 2005 with victories in the Silverbulletday Stakes and the Fair Ground Oaks prior to her victory in the Kentucky Oaks. She missed out on garnering an Eclipse Award with third and second place finishes, respectively, in the Mother Goose Stakes and the Coaching Club American Oaks to eventual champion Smuggler. Raced as a four-year-old, she was sold at auction in November 2006 for $3.3 Million.

Untapable a homebred bay daughter of Tapit not only won the Kentucky Oaks, but she was a Breeders’ Cup winner and Eclipse Award Three-Year-Old Filly Champion. She had a spectacular year as a sophomore in 2014 winning six of seven starts (her only loss incurred when she competed against males in the Haskell Invitational Stakes). Untapable’s victories include the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, the Fair Ground Oaks, the Kentucky Oaks, the Mother Goose and the Cotillion Stakes. She capped her championship year with a triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Kept in training two more years, Untapable finished in the money in several races, but her only victory was in the 2015 Apple Blossom Handicap.

Tapizar was a homebred son of Tapit who after an indifferent beginning as a two-year-old in 2010 broke his maiden for Asmussen by over 10 lengths at Churchill Downs in his fourth start. Shipped to California he showed a high turn of speed at the beginning of his three-year-old campaign winning the Sham Stakes. Raced sparingly in 2011, he concluded the year with a fifth place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. As a four-year-old, he atoned for that last defeat, at odds of 15-1, leading most of the way in the 2012 edition of the Dirt Mile contested at Santa Anita Park for a 2¼ length triumph.

Retired in 2013 to join his sire Tapit at Gainesway Farm, Tapizar sired the extraordinary female Monomoy Girl (for different ownership) who has won the Kentucky Oaks, two Breeders’ Cup Distaffs and two Eclipse Awards. Sadly as he was being prepared to be exported to Japan for stud duties in December 2020, Tapizar suffered a stall accident that necessitated his euthanasia.

Undoubtedly the best horse to race per date for Winchell Thoroughbreds has been Gun Runner. The colt was purchased privately as a yearling in 2014 by Three Chimneys Farm who, in turn, sold a half interest to Ron Winchell. From the time he was sent to Steve Asmussen, there were high expectations for the striking copper colored chestnut son of undefeated Argentinian champion Candy Ride from the female family of champion Saint Liam. Gun Runner won his two initial 2015 starts and then finished fourth on a sloppy Churchill Downs surface in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. In 2016, Gun Runner again won his first starts – the Risen Star Stakes and the Louisiana Derby, both run at the Fair Grounds Racetrack.

He was the third betting choice in the 2016 Kentucky Derby and put in a solid effort, finishing third, 5 lengths behind Nyquist and eventual Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator. Held out of the other two classics, Gun Runner proved to be a consistent racehorse the rest of the year winning the Matt Winn Stakes and finishing in the money in the Travers Stakes, Pennsylvania Derby and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He ended his sophomore campaign with a victory against older horses in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs leading all the way.

If Gun Runner had shown himself to be a good horse in 2016, the 2017 version verged on greatness. Starting the year with a dominating victory in the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park, the son of Candy Ride went to the Middle East to contest the Dubai World Cup, at that time the world’s richest race. Gun Runner ran a strong race, but was unable to withstand the furious closing charge of Arrogate, the previous year’s three-year-old champion.

Arrogate, who after the Dubai race was considered one of the all-time greats, on his return to the U. S. suffered a puzzling loss of form, losing his two subsequent starts at Del Mar Racetrack. Gun Runner, on the other hand, was becoming a racing machine. The sculpted chestnut pulverized his fields in the Stephen Foster Handicap, the Whitney and the Woodward Stakes. In each contest, Gun Runner, once his jockey Florent Geroux urged his mount forward, quickly put distance between him and his hapless foes. In the three races mentioned above, the burnished chestnut won by 7, 5¼ and 10¼ lengths, respectively, in strong final times. These blowout victories coupled with Arrogate’s losses, led people to believe what was unthinkable after the Dubai World Cup, that Gun Runner was now the best horse in training in the U. S. 

The two rivals met again in the Breeders’ Cup Classic run in 2017 at Del Mar. Florent Geroux took the same approach he used during Gun Runner’s win streak in that he would let his mount run freely and see if anyone could out sprint him. By the stands the first time, Gun Runner had a narrow lead over Collected with European raced Churchill saving ground in third position and sophomore West Coast to his outside. Down the backstretch, Gun Runner was ½ length in front of Collected, setting fast fractions with now West Coast and Churchill a few lengths behind. Mike Smith had Arrogate settled between horses in eighth place, hoping for a Dubai-like rally. As they headed around the far turn, the two leaders separated themselves from the rest of the field as the Classic turned into a match race. At the top of the stretch it appeared that Collected had a slight advantage, but when Geroux roused Gun Runner, he slowly edged away. At the finish, Gun Runner was 2¼ lengths in front of Collected who held second by over West Coast. Arrogate, who made a tepid move in the stretch, finished in a dead heat for fifth place.

Not long after Gun Runner’s connections received the 2017 Eclipse Awards in his name for Champion Older Dirt Male Horse and Horse of the Year, the now five-year-old made his final career start in the Pegasus World Cup (which took over as the world’s richest race) at Gulfstream Park in January 2018.  Thought to have a disadvantaged outside post, Gun Runner, nevertheless, broke sharply and was able to avoid going wide around the clubhouse turn. Settling in second just behind Collected down the backstretch, Gun Runner slowly crept forward, so that by the final turn he had assumed the lead. As Collected retreated, West Coast made his move, so that at the top of the stretch he was at Gun Runner’s flank. However, Gun Runner was not to be denied as he leveled out in greyhound-like fashion to prevail by 2½ lengths over West Coast.

Sent off to stud duty at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, KY., Gun Runner retired with a record of 12 victories in 19 starts and earnings of over $16 million. His first crop is reaching the races in 2021 and, by all indications, Gun Runner is off to a strong start as a stallion.

The stable has had a representative this year in the classics with Midnight Bourbon who finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness. Recently, he stumbled in deep stretch, throwing his rider in the Haskell Invitational Stakes at Monmouth Park. Indications are that horse and jockey only suffered minor injuries. With Midnight Bourbon’s continued development and more runners by stallions Tapit and Gun Runner, it would appear that Winchell Thoroughbreds will continue to play a major part in American horse racing.