McKathan’s absence deeply felt
Just more than a month after the death of James Bryan “J.B.” McKathan Jr., the McKathan Brothers Training Center operation will again hang out its shingle with prominent representation in Florida’s 2-year-olds in training sales.
J.B. McKathan, who, with brother Kevin, was a proprietor of the McKathan Brothers operation, died unexpectedly Feb. 3 in Ocala at the age of 53. A memorial for the trainer will be held March 6 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s facility. Less than a week later, the McKathan operation will work the OBS March sale, for which it has 11 juveniles cataloged. Later in the month, the operation has five set for the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale of 2-year-olds in training.
J.B. and Kevin McKathan, sons of horseman J.B. “Luke” McKathan, started out as racetrack trainers but founded their own operation, the McKathan Brothers Training Center, in 1988 near Ocala. The brothers specialized in breaking and early training but also worked in 2-year-old sales prep, consigning, pinhooking, and as bloodstock agents.
Among the McKathans’s most prominent business associates are Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and his various clients. The brothers purchased 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Silver Charm for Baffert as a 2-year-old, and they broke and trained 1998 Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet. Both were divisional Eclipse Award champions, and the McKathans also worked with two-time Eclipse champion Silverbulletday for the trainer.
The McKathans and Baffert finally notched their Triple Crown via their work with Zayat Stables, which sends its young horses to the McKathans for early training. The McKathans gave Pioneerof the Nile and later his champion son American Pharoah their early lessons for the Zayats before both colts moved on to the racetrack. J.B. McKathan described American Pharoah, who swept the 2015 Triple Crown, as a “perfect student.”
American Pharoah “was a really big, lanky, classy, two-turn-looking horse,” J.B. McKathan told Daily Racing Form in 2015. “He didn’t look anything like a sprinter. He was a really nice horse. Really good bone, very correct.
“From the first time he worked, he was extraordinarily fast.”
Ahmed Zayat was among the prominent owners, trainers, and bloodstock agents offering tributes to McKathan.
“We are shocked and devastated to hear of the untimely passing of J.B. McKathan,” Zayat wrote on Twitter. “J.B. was a great friend and integral part of Zayat Stables’ success over the years. A great and talented horseman.”
