Team Heath brings stock to Cloverleaf

Cloverleaf Farm ranks high among the upscale Thoroughbred farms and training facilities in Florida. Robert Brennan built it and spared no expense.

It was named Due Process Farm in the days when Brennan was riding high as president of International Thoroughbred Breeders. Nowadays, Brennan is in prison and the farm belongs to the Tampa computer entrepreneur, John Sykes, who renamed it Cloverleaf Farm. Due Process was originally 800 acres; Sykes has added 200 more.

"We moved our stallions, horses, and clients' horses over to Cloverleaf," said Bonnie Heath III, son of Bonnie II, the much respected Florida owner and breeder. "We had and still have a good relationship with Dick Simon [owner of Sez Who Thoroughbreds], but his farm is filling up and Cloverleaf became a necessary alternative for us. Our farm has been sold and is in the process of being commercially developed."

Making the move with Team Heath are the syndicated stallions Outflanker and Way West.

"Again, this is no knock on Sez Who," Heath said. "As I pointed out, Sez Who Thoroughbreds needs space to accommodate its own growing population, and since we moved the breeding stock, it made sense to move the stallions."

The syndicated Outflanker is yet another instance of a stallion without graded or group status who is making a mark as a stallion.

"I was not really interested in standing another stallion after Honor Grades was moved to Kentucky," Heath said. "But when I looked over Outflanker's pedigree and saw that he is by Danzig out of Honor Grade's family, thus making him a three-parts brother to Honor Grades, it seemed like the right thing to do. So we syndicated him.

"Way West, we sort of inherited when Bob Lucus got out of the business. He is a stakes-winning son of Gone West and with only three crops of racing age, I have a feeling when he gets some numbers going for him, he is going to make it."

Both stallions got some black type last weekend. Outstander Outflanker, a 2-year-old bred by Heath, placed in the Tyro Stakes at Monmouth. At Arlington Park, Western Pride (Way West) placed in the Round Table.

Another Team Heath horse, Honor Glide, the millionaire multiple Grade 1 stakes winner, has an uncertain future. "I would like to stand him in Florida after this year, but breeders in Florida generally look for the speed types that will flash a quick furlong or two at the sales," Heath said. "It's a tough go for a stallion prospect who was best on the green and at the classic distances. I would have to think that a different venue would suit him better."

Brent Fernung, the general manager of Cloverleaf, pointed out that one of the farm's homebreds, a colt by Dehere-Afleet's Gold, topped the recent Fasig-Tipton Yearling Sale at $600,000.

Fernung said the farm has high hopes for Capture the Gold (Crafty Prospector-Countess B.B., by King Emperor). "He's a multiple stakes winner who had a world of speed. His first crop is on the ground," he said.