With Sticksstatelydude, Burchell finally in spotlight

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Greg Burchell has been around horses his whole life and helped develop several champions, though none of them generated much national recognition for him personally.

As he prepares to wind down his career in racing, Burchell, 54, has developed one more horse he believes might have star quality. If so, everyone may soon know Burchell’s name.

Burchell is the official trainer of Sticksstatelydude, one of several contenders in Monday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Hopeful Stakes for 2-year-old males at Saratoga. Sticksstatelydude, a son of First Dude, won a maiden race here Aug. 14 in his second career start. Kiaran McLaughlin, a lifelong friend of Burchell’s, was listed as the trainer, but that’s because Burchell – who was the trainer of record for the colt’s debut at Churchill Downs – had not yet applied for his trainer’s license in New York. Burchell, who has trained off and on since he was 18, has since obtained his New York license.

“I’d like to run a horse here,” Burchell said Friday at Saratoga. “I raised a lot of champion horses for Mr. [Frank] Stronach and Sheikh Mohammed and Taylor Made [Farm]. I’ve never run a horse in a graded stakes myself.”

Burchell has one stakes victory credited to him, Sticks Wondergirl’s win in the Remington Park Oaks in 2012.

In the one year Burchell worked for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing, he raised Fantastic Light, who in 2001 was the European Horse of the Year and North American turf champion. During his tenure working for Stronach, Burchell said he raised Ghostzapper, Ginger Punch, Macho Uno, and Golden Missile, among others. He was the yearling manager for Taylor Made when Artax, the champion sprinter of 1999, was a yearling.

Burchell is the son of a trainer, James Burchell. Greg Burchell and McLaughlin grew up together in Lexington, Ky., and worked for Greg’s father. One of James Burchell’s clients was Alvin Haynes, who operated a trucking business out of Lexington with his sons, Mitch and Scott.

Sticksstatelydude, a Virginia-bred, is named after Alvin Haynes, whose nickname was “Sticks.” The horse was sent to Burchell by breeders Glenn and Roxanne Eickhoff when he was nine days old. They put Sticksstatelydude through the sales ring at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton mixed sale, where Burchell bought him as a weanling for $40,000. Among the owners was Haynes.

Haynes died in July 2014, two months before Sticksstatelydude was to be pinhooked at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Because Sticksstatelydude was on the small side, he failed to reach his reserve, so Burchell bought him back for $30,000.

“Mr. Haynes had always been good to me. I said, ‘I’m not going to take a loss on the last horse I buy for him,’ so I bought him back as a yearling for less than I paid for him as a weanling,” Burchell said. “My wife, a couple of her college roommates have wanted to get in on a horse – they never owned a horse before – so they got in on him.”

Burchell turned Sticksstatelydude out for a couple of months, and the horse finally had a growth spurt. He went from 15.2 hands to 16.2. Burchell doesn’t often run 2-year-olds in his name, but Sticksstatelydude came to hand quickly, and Burchell decided to run him on the closing-day program at Churchill Downs, which was a night program. It was Sticksstatelydude’s first time at a track. He chased Mayor Mac all the way around the track and finished second. The final time of the race was 0.56 seconds faster than the Bashford Manor Stakes for 2-year-olds run that night.

In his Aug. 14 win, Sticksstatelydude weaved in and out in the stretch and won by two lengths, a race that produced two next-out maiden winners.

“He ran up to him, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to do,” Burchell said of Sticksstatelydude’s debut. “He seemed to figure it out when we got over here. He ran through the dirt hitting him in the face, did all the things you like to see a 2-year-old do.”

The Hopeful will have a profound impact on not only Sticksstatelydude’s future but also Burchell’s. Burchell would like to make it to the Breeders’ Cup with Sticksstatelydude, especially because it’s run at Keeneland in Lexington.

A good performance by Sticksstatelydude in the Hopeful could make the colt hot property, and offers to sell could come pouring in.

“I’ve been offered a lot of money already for him,” Burchell said. “He looks like he’ll go around two turns. First Dude was successful in the big races. This horse has tactical speed, he’s attractive, smart, and trains very forwardly. He’s got some talent. We’ll see Monday just how much.”