Courtney's persistence pays off

Buying a mare for $1,000 and keeping her through three fruitless breeding seasons isn't the recommended way to breed a graded stakes winner.

But don't bother telling that to Jim Courtney.

Courtney, who keeps only one broodmare at his 13-acre Lane's End Farm in Monkton, Md., took exactly that route as the breeder of Finally Here, winner of the Grade 3 Duchess Stakes on Aug. 9 at Woodbine.

Finally Here, the first stakes winner from the first crop of Maryland sire Yarrow Brae, is a 3-year-old filly out of the Deputed Testamony mare Neolithic, an allowance winner of $53,633. Courtney purchased Neolithic for $1,000 back in 1996.

"Neolithic had bowed a tendon, and my trainer Jeff Runco told me she was available," Courtney said.

What appeared to be a bargain began to verge on an expensive failure, as Neolithic failed to get in foal for 1997, lost her 1998 foal, and for 1999 aborted twins at nine months.

"In the fourth year we got the Yarrow Brae filly - finally. That's the reason we named her," said Courtney, whose foals are born and raised at Stephen and Sue Quick's St. Omer's Farm in Forest Hill, Md. "The Jockey Club wouldn't give us 'Finally,' so we added the 'Here.'"

Finally Here received her early education from Harford County (Md.) horsewoman Jean Walter and Jean Rofe at the Middleburg Training Center in Virginia, then joined Runco's Charles Town stable. She won her maiden at Charles Town in her second start on April 16, and on May 14 came back to score in allowance company at Pimlico.

That's when Courtney got the call.

Trainer Tom Amoss, based at Churchill Downs, had been scouting prospects for his clients P.L. and Shirley Blake of Birmingham, Ala. The Blakes campaign as Pop-A-Top LLC.

"I was impressed by the [Pimlico] race," Amoss said. "I presented the Blakes with her pedigree, a tape and the Ragozin numbers, which we use a lot. Mr. Blake studied the information, and decided he wanted her."

Courtney, though not eager to sell, accepted Blake's offer. The price, according to Courtney, was $100,000.

Undefeated in two starts for Pop-A-Top and Amoss, Finally Here led up to the Duchess with an optional-claiming score at Ellis Park on July 12. The Duchess, worth $100,350 (Canadian) to the winner, nearly paid back her purchase price. From five starts, she has earned $140,490.

"It was bittersweet to watch her win that stakes," Courtney said.

Nevertheless, Courtney's consolation is that he still owns Neolithic - along with 2-year-old and yearling fillies by Yarrow Brae. The mare is back in foal to Yarrow Brae.

The 8-year-old Yarrow Brae (Deputy Minister-Bally Five, by Miswaki) stands at Allen and Audrey Murray's Murmur Farm in Darlington, Md. A top-class racehorse who won the Grade 2 Illinois Derby and placed in three other stakes (two graded), Yarrow Brae also sired in his first crop the multiple stakes-placed filly Butiwillflysomeday.

Courtney owns a share in Yarrow Brae. Like a lot of people, he was solicited by the Murrays to buy a share in Our Emblem, back in the fall of 2001.

"I said 'Why would I need shares in two stallions?'" Courtney said, with a laugh. After Our Emblem's son War Emblem won the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, shares in the horse went up considerably, and the Murrays ended up selling Our Emblem for more than $10 million.

Breeding horses has its ups and downs, as Courtney is well aware. Retired from the chemical manufacturing business - he founded and until 1994 operated Maryland-based Courtney Industries - Courtney has owned horses since 1989.

"Some people will tell you it's crazy to breed horses when you can just go and buy them," said Courtney said. "But I always tell them breeding one is the only way for someone like me to come up with a really good horse."