Author Archives: Debbie Easter

2020 VTA Yearling Futurity, September 9, 2020, 9 am – 1 pm, Warrenton Horse Show Grounds, Warrenton, Virginia

The Nineteenth Annual $27,500 Virginia Breeders Fund Yearling Futurity will be held Wednesday, September 9, 2020, at 9:00 a.m., at the Warrenton Horse Show Grounds, Warrenton, Virginia.

CRITICAL EVENT DETAILS:

  • Rules and Procedures: Please review the Rules and Procedures Information sheet for details about eligibility, participation fees and more.
    CLICK HERE for Rules and Procedures Information sheet
  • Entries: The attached entry form must be completed and returned to VTA along with copies of current Coggins, for each participating yearling by September 1st. Non-VTA members must submit check payment for entry fees.
    CLICK HERE for Futurity Entry form
  • Email entries to: page.easter@easterassociates.com or mail them
    Attn: Page, Virginia Thoroughbred Association, 250 West Main Street, Suite 100, Charlottesville, VA 22902.
  • Awards: $7,500 in prize money will be divided within each of three classes:
    • 1) VA-Bred or VA-Sired yearling colts/geldings ($7,500)
    • 2) VA-Bred or VA-Sired yearling fillies ($7,500)
    • 3) VA-Certified colts, geldings and fillies ($7,500)

Groom’s prizes will also be awarded. 

3 –Year- Old Bonus Award: Any Virginia-Bred, Virginia-Sired or VA-Certified yearling that completes in the ring will be eligible to complete for a percentage of a $5,000 bonus to be awarded at the completion of their three-year-old year. The bonus award is based on total earnings at the end of their three-year-old year.

  • Coggins: Each entry MUST be accompanied by a legible copy of a current Coggins – NO EXCEPTIONS. If a Coggins is not received prior to the event date, the yearling may be ineligible to participate!

REGISTER YOUR THOROUGHBRED:

Participating Virginia-Bred and Virginia-Sired thoroughbreds must be registered with the Virginia Breeders Fund. If your yearling has not been registered, you may do so by going to the VTA website at www.vabred.org/vbf/register-here prior to September 9th.

Participating Virginia-Certified Thoroughbred yearlings must be registered with the VTA. These yearlings must have completed their six month residency requirement, at a certified farm, and their owners issued a VA-Certified certificate, before being allowed to compete. 

ABOUT THE JUDGE:

The judge for this year’s competition is Rick Abbott, a former longtime Pennsylvania bloodstock agent who along with his wife Dixie, had a successful sales consignment business, Charlton Bloodstock. The Abbotts, who were both active in show horses and hunting when they met and married in the early 1970s, earned a reputation as conscientious, honest horse people with a strong work ethic.

Among the horses bred, raised and/or sold by Charlton were graded stakes winners Miss Union Avenue, Palmeiro and Afleet Again. Their most prominent broodmare was $10,000 private purchase Christmas Strike, a half-sister to Ned Evan’s Grade 1 winner Christmas Kid. Among the 12 offspring of Christmas Strike were Double Down Vinman, a 20-race winner who earned nearly $450,000 and four stakes-placed runners, including Holy Christmas, the dam of stakes winner and graded-placed Holy Lute.

The Abbott’s retired in 2016 and sold their 160 acre farm near Coatesville, Pennsylvania. In a Bloodhorse article published four years ago, Abbott said any emotion attached to retirement is associated with the farm and not the business. “The emotion is not about giving up the business as much as it is about giving up the farm,” he said. “We have been there 36 years. We raised our children there. It’s a beautiful place and we love it, but it really needs to be a business. We’re sentimental about the farm, but I’m ready to give up the business. We’ve been doing it for 40 years.”

COVID-19

Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, our popular judging contest and post futurity seminar will not be held this year. We hope to provide a box breakfast at 7:30 AM prior to the first class.

We ask that all participants and spectators wear face masks and practice social distancing as required by Virginia Law.

We look forward to seeing you in Warrenton, on Wednesday, September 9th for the Nineteenth Annual VA Breeders Fund Yearling Futurity!

Questions? Contact Page Easter at the Virginia Thoroughbred Association
Direct Line: (434) 326-9811
page.easter@easterassociates.com

2020 Colonial Downs Schedule

Join us virtually this summer at Colonial Downs! The 2020 season will run from July 27 – September 2 with racing every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 5:30 PM. Stall applications and the condition book are available at colonialdowns.com. Virginia Derby Night is Tuesday, September 1. Closing night will feature five Virginia-bred/sired stakes.

Virginia Sired, Mr. Buff Gets Fifth Stakes Victory

From the Thoroughbred Daily News, October 20, 2019

EMPIRE CLASSIC H., $306,450, Belmont, 10-19, (S), 3 yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:48.65, ft.

Third to Pat On the Back in this race last year, Mr. Buff got his revenge on the GII Kelso H. victor and race favorite Saturday. Mr. Buff broke so sharply that he stumbled a step leaving the gate, but quickly recovered and moved up to challenge Not That Brady (Big Brown). Seizing control as the half went in :47.38, the chestnut glided into the lane on a clear lead and held off a late running Dynamax Prime to register his fifth stakes victory.

“I knew we had horse turning for home and I wanted them to get on their outside lead, trainer John Kimmel said. “I’m going, change your lead, change your lead. He never changed his lead. Junior [Alvarado] said he didn’t want to take his forward momentum away by trying to make him change. He said he had plenty of horse in there, so he stayed on that left lead from the half-mile pole to the wire.” The conditioner added, “He’s as good a New York-bred as there is. I think this horse is going to have a chance to do something bigger against open [company] down the road. He didn’t have a very good trip in the Woodward. He’s a gelding. He’s going to be around for a long time for us to enjoy.”

A dominant winner over Dynamax Prime in this venue’s Saginaw S. June 30, Mr. Buff followed suit with another decisive score over that rival in the Evan Shipman S. at Saratoga Aug. 7. Testing much deeper waters in the GI Woodward S. at the Spa Aug. 31, the Empire-bred faded to seventh after setting the early pace. The winner’s dam is also responsible for the 3-year-old Daddy Knows (Scat Daddy), who broke his maiden during the Saratoga meet; and a yearling filly named Miss Buff (Friend Or Foe).

Mr. Buff, by Friend or Foe, breaking his maiden at Belmont on September 23, 2016. Photo by Adam Coglianese.

Zonda, Tass Show Early Dividends For Schera’s Pilot Project

by Chelsea Hackbarth | 09.16.2019 | 1:26pm Previously printed by the Paulick Report.

Matt Schera learned about the Virginia Thoroughbred Association’s Virginia-certified program two years ago, and that season he sent his first several yearlings to be started at the Braeburn Training Center located in the foothills of the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains.

In order to qualify for the Certified program, horses must spend a six-month residency at a Virginia farm or training center prior to Dec. 31st of their 2-year-old year.

Now 3-year-olds trained by James “Chuck” Lawrence, both Zonda and Tass have earned a 25 percent bonus for their wins at tracks in the Mid-Atlantic region.

“The 25 percent win bonus is obviously amazing,” Schera said. “Pat Nuesch does a great job starting them, and the training center is really lovely.”

Zonda up for an allowance win at Colonial Downs August 8th

Zonda, a Maryland-bred by Scat Daddy, won her first start by 11 3/4 lengths at Laurel Park. The filly then tried a pair of stakes races at Delaware Park, but Schera said she didn’t seem to take to the surface.

Zonda then ran second in a Laurel allowance and won an allowance at Colonial Downs. She finished fourth in Colonial’s Virginia Oaks. The filly’s earned $85,419 on the track, plus an additional $14,000 for her two wins from the Virginia-certified program.

“I’m just loving the fact that Colonial Downs is back,” Schera added. “I hope they can sustain their momentum and keep going next year.”

Tass, a Kentucky-bred by Temple City, won at second asking at Delaware Park and was most recently third in a Saratoga starter allowance. She’s earned $34,530 on the racetrack, plus an extra $5,000 from the VTA.

Last year, Schera sent another four yearlings to the Braeburn Training Center, and he plans to send at least that many this season as well.

“For me, the weather is decent enough in the winter,” said Schera. “It’s not Ocala, but it’s also not Maryland or Delaware. I think it’s definitely worth it in terms of what you can win.”

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Copyright © 2019 Paulick Report.This entry was posted in Bloodstock and tagged Braeburn Training Center, Horse Racing, james lawrence, matt schera, TASS, Virginia Thoroughbred Association, Virginia-Certified Program, Zonda by Chelsea Hackbarth. Bookmark the permalink.

Braxton Spearheads Godsey’s Eagle Point Farm Program

The following appeared in The Paulick Report September 14th.

Virginia-bred Braxton is the flag-bearer for Karen Godsey’s Eagle Point Farm in Ashland, Va., with more than $125,000 in earnings and a special personality. The 5-year-old son of Peak Dancer has also earned an extra $22,000 in the last several seasons courtesy of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association.

Karen Godsey and Braxton

“He’s doing great,” said Godsey. “We just love him. He looks really sweet and innocent, but he’s not, but he gets away with it because he’s Braxton.”

Most recently second by a length in the $100,000 Meadow Stable Stakes, Braxton most recently ran in the $100,000 Punch Line Stakes on Sept. 7 at Colonial Downs.

Running on the same card were two of his half-siblings, Taskinas and What the Beep, all out of Godsey’s homebred mare Toccoa, by Purple Comet.

“Her only foal that isn’t running is the one that’s by her side,” Godsey laughed.

The success of Toccoa’s offspring is just one reason for Godsey’s light-hearted demeanor. Thanks in large part to the VTA’s Virginia-certified program, Eagle Point Farm is on the upswing. Horses bred in any state can earn a 25 percent bonus for wins at tracks in the Mid-Atlantic region if they spend six months at a training center in Virginia before the end of their 2-year-old year.

“It’s taken us up not even a notch, but 10 notches,” Godsey said. “It’s proved to be so popular, we’ve basically been able to fix up our whole farm. For a farm that’s been in business since 1947, it takes a lot to update the facilities.

“I remember before this program, I was worrying about how I was going to be able to keep going,” she continued. “Now, I need to figure out how to do these projects around all the horses we have here.”

This year, Godsey already has 36 yearlings in the barn before many of her regular clients have even made their regular purchases at the big yearling sales.

“It’s a different kind of stress now,” she said. “Now I can make a career and a life out of this, and pass it on some day.”

New to the Paulick Report? Click here to sign up for our daily email newsletter to keep up on this and other stories happening in the Thoroughbred industry.
Copyright © 2019 Paulick Report.This entry was posted in Bloodstock and tagged Braxton, Eagle Point Farm, karen godsey, Peak Dancer, Taskinas, Toccoa, Virginia Thoroughbred Association, Virginia-Certified Program, what the beep by Chelsea Hackbarth. Bookmark the permalink.