Randy and Jenny Boyd bought a share in the multiple stakes winner Splendora on Monday, March 2. Last Saturday, the Boyds were at Santa Anita for the first time to watch Splendora cruise to an easy win in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile. A five-day gap between a private purchase of a top-ranked racehorse and a major stakes win is almost unheard of. “I know it took us a little while, but we’ll try to do better,” Boyd wisecracked an hour after the race. The $300,000 Beholder Mile represents the biggest win for the Boyds, who have invested heavily in the last year privately and at auction. They co-own Splendora with longtime California owner Michael Talla. Last summer at the Saratoga yearling sale, the Boyds bought a Gun Runner filly for $2.6 million, the most expensive filly of the prestigious sale. In November, the Boyds paid $2.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale for Seismic Beauty, winner of the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar last August. Seismic Beauty and Splendora are trained by Bob Baffert. :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. At the same November sale, the Boyds paid $3.1 million for Vahva, a now 6-year-old mare who is scheduled to be bred this year. Vahva, who won 7 of 20 starts and earned $2,289,010, was second to Splendora in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar last November. On Wednesday, at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale of 2-year-olds in-training in Florida, the Boyds purchased a Nyquist filly for $2 million, the most expensive hip on the second of the three-day auction. The Boyds own the 3-year-old filly Tennessee Belle, who won a six-furlong maiden race by 7 1/4 lengths at Saratoga last August for trainer John Ortiz. The couple also own three other 2-year-olds aside from the expensive Gun Runner filly. All are bound for Saratoga this spring, Randy Boyd said. Randy Boyd, 66, is the president of the University of Tennessee system, which has five campuses in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Martin, Pulaski, and a health sciences campus in Memphis. “We produce 75 percent of the dentists and 40 percent of the doctors for the state of Tennessee,” Boyd said. Boyd founded a pet care company that was sold privately in 2020. By then, Boyd had been appointed to president of the University of Tennessee system. In 2018, he unsuccessfully ran for governor in Tennessee, losing the Republican primary Bill Lee, who was elected later that year. The Boyds followed racing for years before taking a greater role as owners. The recent purchases of Seismic Beauty and Splendora reflect a long-term approach to racing and breeding for the Boyds. “We’re looking to breed her in 2027,” Boyd said of Splendora. “This way, we can participate in her final campaign and enjoy the racing well.” The couple are aiming to build a small band of high-profile broodmares and race the foals. “Our long-term plan is to have five of the best mares possible and breed them to the best stallions possible,” Boyd said. The outlook has changed. The couple were initially involved in pinhooking, the practice of buying weanlings or yearlings and selling them at later auctions, but have replaced that concept with a more racing-oriented approach. “We are committed to our strategy. We won’t deviate from the strategy, but we change strategies every month,” Randy Boyd joked. The Beholder Mile was the fourth race on an outstanding program at Santa Anita. After Splendora’s win, the Boyds spent part of the afternoon exploring the famous racetrack for the first time. They were back in the winner’s circle later in the afternoon as guests of Baffert’s when Potente won the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds. With their level of investment, a return to the winner’s circles of major stakes may not be far away. “It was always something we were interested in,” Randy Boyd said. “We fell in love with the racing side of it.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.