Mill Ridge Graduates in the Breeders’ Cup
Scott Serio/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup photo
The 2024 Breeders' Cup, set to take place at Del Mar Racetrack in California, is a pinnacle event showcasing the best of the best from around the world. This two-day event scheduled for November 1-2 will feature 14 championship races and more than $33 million in purse money. As the culmination of a long series of qualifying races, the Breeders' Cup not only serves as a battleground for the best in the sport of horse racing, but also as a celebration of breeding excellence.
Mill Ride Graduates Entered on Breeders’ Cup Saturday
RAGING SEA - Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Race 6, 4:21pm EDT
RAGING SEA, a daughter of Curlin and out of the mare Stormy Welcome, was born and raised at Mill Ridge Farm. As a yearling, she was a $300,000 RNA at the Keeneland September Sale and therefore retained by her breeder, Alpha Delta Stables. RAGING SEA has won 4 Graded Stakes races this year, including the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga in which she beat champion IDIOMATIC. RAGING SEA is an exciting contender in Saturday’s Breeders' Cup Distaff, where she faces top 3yo filly THORPEDO ANNA. She breaks from post 6 and has morning line odds of 7/2.
Tere Poplin/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup photo
SEIZE THE GREY - Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Race 12, 8:25pm EDT
SEIZE THE GREY, owned by MyRacehorse and trained by D. Wayne Lukas, is gearing up for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The son of Arrogate bred by JAMM Ltd looks to add a third Grade 1 victory to his name, having won the Preakness Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby earlier this year. A win in this race could put him in the discussion for Champion Three-Year-Old male. SEIZE THE GREY drew post number 6 and has odds 10-1.
SEIZE THE GREY was raised at Mill Ridge and sold for $320,000 at the 2022 Saratoga Select yearling sale.
Scott Serio/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup photo
The Mill Ridge Breeders’ Cup Legacy
Since the inception of the Breeders’ Cup, we have raised or sold a stellar 9 Breeders’ Cup Winners.
NOBALS was an exciting upset winner of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita. He was bred by Dr. John Chandler.
OSCAR PERFORMANCE, standing stud at Mill Ridge, was two when he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in 2016. His 1 ¼ length victory with jockey José L. Ortiz who took his first Breeders’ Cup win astride OSCAR PERFORMANCE.
RIA ANTONIA’s future National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame jockey, Javier Castellano, rode her to a win in the 2013 Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park against 32-1 odds.
LIFE IS SWEET took the 2009 Ladies’ Classic 2 ½ lengths under trainer John Shirreffs of 2005 Kentucky Derby winner GIACOMO fame.
ROUND POND won the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Her mother, AWESOME AGAIN, was the winner of the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
ARTIE SCHILLER won the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Mile by almost two lengths with the late jockey, Garrett Keith Gomez.
SWEET CATOMINE won the 2004 Juvenile Fillies at Lone Star park in Grand Prairie, Texas, as RIA ANTONIA did nine years later,
JOHAR won the first dead heat of Breeders’ Cup history when he took the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Turf in a tight race that saw him in a photo finish with HIGH CHAPARRAL at 14-1 odds.
SPAIN won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs in 2000 when she was two. Her sire, Thunder Gulch, won the 1995 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
JOHAR (outside) and HIGH CHAPPARAL dead heat in the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Turf
Nicoma Bloodstock’s Breeders’ Cup Winners
Nicoma Bloodstock, the consulting arm of Mill Ridge, has had two additional Breeder’s Cup Winners in addition to Mill Ridge’s eight Breeders Cup-winning Thoroughbreds,
BRICKS AND MORTAR won the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Turf by a head. He was subsequently named the 2019 American Horse of the Year during the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s (NTRA) Eclipse Awards. His jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr., just won the 2022 Belmont Stakes.
STREET SENSE’s ten lengths lead secured his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile win in 2006. The next year he would go on to win the Kentucky Derby. STREET SENSE’s dual wins made him the first horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Kentucky Derby. He took home a 2006 Eclipse Award in the Two-Year-Old Male category.
With over 40 years in the business, it is no wonder Nicoma Bloodstock has had so much success. Headley Bell, a fifth-generation horseman, founded Nicoma Bloodstock in 1979 and is still president. Bell also serves as Managing Partner at Mill Ridge. Bell’s mother, Alice Chandler, founded Mill Ridge in 1962, and his grandfather, Hal Price Headley, was Keeneland's co-founder and first president.
In addition to the above Breeders’ Cup winners, since 2005, Nicoma Bloodstock has produced 19 Grade 1 winners, including two Horse of the Year titles, two consecutive Kentucky Derby winners (Barbaro and Street Sense), four Breeders’ Cup winners, and back-to-back Sovereign Awards winner.
Headley Bell championed the call for a bloodstock agents’ code of ethics. This led to the creation of the Thoroughbred Agent and Consultant Association (TACA) in 1989. Nicoma Bloodstock prides itself on its focus on integrity in all aspects of its business, and the resulting client success is undeniable. Join us in our tradition of success.
If you’d like to begin a conversation with a bloodstock agent at Nicoma Bloodstock about potentially owning your own piece of Thoroughbred racing history, contact us today at
(859) 224-1000 or learn more here.