Breeders' Cup: Moulton has Breeders' Cup starters Friday and Saturday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Susan Moulton will have runners both days of the Breeders’ Cup in Manny Wah and homebred Andthewinneris, both graded stakes winners at Keeneland, and both carrying the sentimental silks of her late father, Naylor Morton.
“It’s been amazing – the silks I use are my father’s,” she explained. “I had some silks in the past, but when my father passed, I started using his.”
Texas-born, Moulton grew up in the family training and pinhooking business based at Retama Park and was an exercise rider and even trained a few horses herself. She first crossed paths with her eventual husband, former jockey Shane Sellers, when he rode for her father.
But then, “I was out of it for a while,” Moulton said of the racing business.
Instead, she was focusing on turning unthinkable personal tragedy into service to help those in need. Her son, Will, from a previous marriage, died in a 2007 car accident in Maui at age 8. She founded the Will Smith Foundation in his memory, supporting a variety of children’s causes around the world. And after son Charlie died from an overdose in 2016 at age 28, she helped launch Rise Recovery, a Texas-based counseling service.
But eventually, after a weekend trip to the track during which she met trainer Wayne Catalano, the Thoroughbred world called Moulton back.
“It’s actually Wayne that brought me back into the game,” she said. “I came [to the track] with some girlfriends – [trainer] Michelle Lovell, we used to gallop together. I came up for the weekend, I met Wayne, and by then, my life had changed a little bit, and I said, ‘You know what, I miss this.’ ”
Moulton’s first graded stakes win as an owner came in 2013, when Solitary Ranger won the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity for Catalano. She would not win another graded stakes for nine years, with Manny Wah taking the Grade 2 Phoenix Stakes on Oct. 7 at Keeneland and Andthewinneris taking the Grade 2 Bourbon Stakes on the turf two days later to earn their way to the Breeders’ Cup.
Manny Wah, a $175,000 yearling purchase by Moulton, runs in Saturday’s BC Sprint. Andthewinneris, from her first crop of homebreds, starts Friday in the BC Juvenile Turf.
Moulton purchased the picturesque former Pauls Mill Farm in Versailles, Ky., in 2018 and renamed it Safari North. Andthewinneris, from the first crop of Oscar Performance, was a $67,000 buyback at the Keeneland September yearling sale.
“He was meant to be sold – we breed to sell, and if we don’t get them sold, we race,” Moulton said. “So, this is what happens when you don’t buy our horses!”
Freshman sires get their chance
Two-time Horse of the Year and perennially successful sire Curlin is poised for a strong Breeders’ Cup, and his champion son Good Magic, part of a competitive group of freshman sires this season, is stepping onto that stage with a big opportunity on Friday as well.
Good Magic won his maiden in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and went on to finish second in the 2018 Kentucky Derby behind Triple Crown winner Justify. Now standing alongside Curlin at Hill ‘n’ Dale in Paris, Ky., Good Magic is represented by Grade 1 Champagne winner Blazing Sevens and Grade 3 Iroquois winner Curly Jack in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Friday, as well as Grade 2 winner Vegas Magic in the Juvenile Fillies.
“Good Magic is off to a very good start,” Hill ‘n’ Dale’s John Sikura said. “I feel like [Curlin’s] sons could be important sires.”
As of Nov. 1, Bolt d’Oro (Spendthrift Farm) was North America’s leading freshman sire by earnings by less than $100,000 over Justify (Ashford Stud), with Good Magic less than $50,000 back in third. All three have starters on Breeders’ Cup Friday.
Justify has Verifying, a half-brother to champion Midnight Bisou who was second to Blazing Sevens in the Champagne, in the Juvenile. Bolt d’Oro will be represented by graded winner Major Dude in the Juvenile Turf.
Other North America freshman sires with runners in the main body of Friday Breeders’ Cup races are City of Light (Lane’s End) with Battle of Normandy and Gaslight Dancer in the Juvenile Turf and Chop Chop in the Juvenile Fillies; Sharp Azteca (Three Chimneys) with Sharp Aza Tack and Tyler’s Tribe in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Alma Rosa in the Juvenile Fillies; and Mendelssohn (Ashford), with Delight in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Wound Up in the Juvenile.
Plus, Oscar Performance (Mill Ridge), who has Andthewinneris in the Juvenile Turf and G Laurie in the Juvenile Fillies Turf; Cloud Computing (Spendthrift), who has I’m Very Busy in the Juvenile Turf; Girvin (Ocala Stud/Airdrie Stud), who has Atomically in the Juvenile Fillies; and Mo Town (Ashford), who has Mo Stash in the Juvenile Turf.
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