Force the Pass new to Anchor and Hope
Force the Pass will enter stud in Maryland in 2020, becoming a rare Grade 1 winner to stand in the state. He is the latest newcomer at Louis and Grace Merryman’s Anchor and Hope Farm in Port Deposit, Md., which is continuing to build an exciting roster of young stallions even while rebuilding from a destructive barn fire in August.
Force the Pass, a millionaire son of Speightstown, raced as a homebred for Colts Neck Stables and won four stakes. His biggest score came in 2015 in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, which he won by 3 3/4 lengths. He will stand at Anchor and Hope Farm as the first foray into the stallion business for Tom Kuegler’s Wasabi Ventures Stables. That nascent operation has quickly become one of the leading owners at Laurel Park, and Kuegler has further expanded to purchase more than a dozen broodmares in order to support his first stallion.
“We believe in the health and strength of the Maryland racing and breeding industry,” Kuegler said. “We think Force the Pass offers incredible value to Mid-Atlantic breeders given his combination of race record, pedigree, and physique. We expect to use an aggressive marketing campaign to get 100 mares to the horse in his first season, which will give him every chance to live up to his potential at stud.”
Force the Pass is the latest young stallion at Anchor and Hope, whose most established horses are Grade 2 winner Bourbon Courage and Grade 1 winner Imagining, both of whom have held their own nationally in a tough freshman sire class. The farm also stands graded stakes winner Holy Boss, whose first foals arrived this year; and U.A.E. Group 1 winner Long River, who entered stud in 2019.
The farm is lucky to have an intact roster after a fire broke out in the main barn at Anchor and Hope the morning of Aug. 12. Bourbon Courage and Imagining were inside, along with yearlings and mares. Forewoman Heather Cellinesi, who was first to discover the fire, managed to open the doors on each stall and get the horses out of the barn without any loss of life. For her efforts, Cellinesi was chosen to receive the 2019 Joe Kelly Maryland Million Unsung Hero Award, presented annually by the board of directors of Maryland Million Ltd.