November Newsletter
SHARING IN CELEBRATION
Our children laugh at me because November is my birth month, and I remind them; ‘every day is your birthday’, and I do try and live that. The same applies to Thanksgiving except it is a holiday where we all ‘pause’ after a long year, and ‘reflect’ and hopefully families are together.
Often, we also remind you our role with Mill Ridge and Nicoma are for ourselves and teams to assist our friends/clients with fulfilling their dreams with the horse and in this business. We are fortunate to have many members of our Mill Ridge team that have worked with us 40 years or more and the essence of mom, Alice Chandler, lives through us all each day.
Celebrating this has been the transition with Price as Mill Ridge general manager for nearly five years and now Beth, his wife, and their family, Caroline and George, are living in the main house on the farm, that where my siblings and I were raised. Built in 1962, the home is a core part of the property and history for Mom and John Chandler, her husband of over 50 years, entertained and welcomed those through their home. To see the home renewed with overnight guests, and children riding their bikes with cousins over the farm is a welcome sight and very uplifting. Mom loved Mill Ridge and the Beaumont land it rests on and while there was never a specific plan in place, she wanted it to move forward with time. Thanks to Price and his family it too is fulfilling her dreams.
And, we celebrate Jerry and John Amerman and their family with the racing success of ENDLESSY (G3), TRIKARI (G1) and TUMBARUMBA (G3), all sons of their homebred and raced OSCAR PERFORMANCE. He has managed to excel in an illustrious third-crop of stallions including JUSTIFY & GOOD MAGIC to be ranked #1 Graded Stakes Winners by percentage of starters in 2024! The reward is great for the Amermans supported Price and me in managing the horse with a stellar group of shareholders led by Eclipse Award winning breeders in George Strawbridge and Tanya and John Gunther and as a result, we have all benefitted.
Also, for over forty years Tolie Otto and now her daughter Audie, known as Jamm Ltd. as breeders, have been dear friends with our family. We celebrated the pinnacle of racing with KEEPER HILL in 1998 winning the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Spinster (G1). Sadly, like mom, Tolie passed away recently but her breeding program lives on through Audie and their mare SHOP AGAIN and her daughter SMART SHOPPING, the dam of Preakness (G1) winner SEIZE THE GREY. Also, a shareholder with Oscar Performance and now Casa Creed, the Otto’s have a boutique program of 6 to 8 mares. The journey SEIZE THE GREY took Audie and us, starting Kentucky Derby day, winning the Pat Day Mile (G2) was joyous and accompanied with wonderful memories and many hugs and high-fives.
The hugs and high-fives stretched even further when Alpha Delta’s RAGING SEA won in Saratoga, the Personal Ensign (G1) with a hard-fought battle down the stretch over IDIOMATIC. Owner/breeder Jon Clay experienced his first (G1) success as a breeder AND owner and so well deserved for he is passionate for the horse. Celebrating this moment with brother and advisor, Reynolds, goes down for each of them and us as a moment of a lifetime and forever cherished.
It was not but a few months later, November and the Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars when Jon and Reynolds would celebrate once again, but this time as sellers of the extraordinary broodmare and producer STRONG INCENTIVE. Benefitting in the year from two additional (G1) offspring in SURGE CAPACITY and WAYS AND MEANS joining brother (G3) HIGHLY MOTIVATED, Jon foaled a lovely Good Magic filly from the mare and felt the opportunity to offer STRONG INCENTIVE on the market, accomplishing their goal when selling for $2.75m.
She joined a momentous evening for Price and our clients/friends as OSCAR PERFORMANCE daughter and standard bearer, RED CARPET READY (G2) sold for Bo Bromagen and family and Patrick Lewis for $1.5m after providing so many thrills and nearly $800k in earnings. This too was a great reward for her breeder, Clover Hill Farm and the Lynn Schiff family, also shareholders in Oscar Performance, who savored her racing career as well.
Those in the Thoroughbred business pursue the dream daily and led by the horse and the land and the people. The dream is often evasive because that is what makes a dream. Yet, if you are fortunate to be touched, oh what a moment it is! Something, that is lasting and savored with great thanks and appreciation, one day at a time.
Headley and Price
