Matz family has big Preakness Day

The Preakness Stakes undercard proved bountiful for the Matz family.

Trainer Michael Matz saddled Truly Together to an optional-claiming win early in the day, and then his wife, Dorothy Matz, had her turn in the spotlight as the breeder of Grade 2 Dixie Stakes winner Takeover Target.

Dorothy Matz is no stranger to bringing up elite Thoroughbreds, being the granddaughter of Robert Kleberg, former owner of the legendary King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas. She is the daughter of prominent owner-breeder Helen Groves, and among her five siblings are Jockey Club member Helen Alexander and successful breeder Emory Alexander Hamilton.

Matz went to $500,000 to purchase Takeover Target’s eventual dam, the Empire Maker filly Vanquished, at the 2006 Keeneland September yearling sale. The half-sister to Grade 1 winner Critical Eye was put into training with Michael Matz and had a brief career, winning one of five starts for earnings of $57,300.

Boarding at Helen Alexander’s Middlebrook Farm in Lexington, Ky., Vanquished has had six foals during her broodmare career, and all four of her runners are winners.

Takeover Target, a 4-year-old son of Harlan’s Holiday and the dam’s third foal, sold for $175,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September sale. He has won 5 of 11 starts, including three graded stakes, and earned $795,935 for owners Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence.

Truly Together’s score in her Pimlico optional claimer capped off an active day for the produce record of 2008 champion turf female Forever Together. Earlier in the card, the Belong to Me mare had another foal, Tapit Together, run a good third in a maiden special weight.

Both fillies – by Smart Strike and Tapit, respectively – race as Kentucky-born homebreds for George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable, who owns and raced Forever Together and boards her at Stone Farm in Paris, Ky. Both are trained by Matz.