Sun shines on 20th Maryland Million
Postponed one week because of heavy rain, the 12-race program produced a record handle and an abundance of tales to tell.

Story by Sean Clancy
Photographs by Lydia A. Williams and Brandon Benson

A deluge from the remnants of a tropical storm postponed the 20th Maryland Million for a week. When the event finally did occur on October 15 at Laurel Park, the sun came out, and the 12-race card, boosted this year to an unprecedented $1.48 million, attracted a crowd of 21,653, produced a record Maryland Million handle of $5,049,426 and provided dozens of story­lines.

Maryland-breds ruled the day, accounting for eight of the 12 races. Represented by one winner each were Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Vir­ginia.

In the Classic, Play Bingo devoured ground faster than suburban sprawl, securing an upset victory. Ten-year-old veteran La Reine’s Terms, off since the 2004 Million, won the Turf. Jockey Ramon Dominguez set a Maryland Million record by winning five races.

And then there was the Ladies Turf.
Divine intervention always gets the lead.
Established in 1933, the Pons family’s Country Life Farm is one of the focal points of Maryland’s breeding and racing industry. The family farm in Bel Air has scrapped like a street vendor through the years. It’s developed nationally prominent stallions Allen’s Prospect, Citidancer and Malibu Moon— who together had five winners on this year’s Maryland Million day card. Allen’s Prospect leads the list of Maryland Million sires with 19 winners, including three added this year.

Good times and bad, Country Life is there. When it comes to the Maryland Million, restricted to the offspring of Maryland sires, Country Life’s family dedication, hard work and ultimate success epitomizes what the state and the day is all about.
For the Pons family, the 2005 Maryland Million was like no other.

Joe Pons—Country Life’s patriarch in the deepest sense of the word—lived for his farm, fought for the sport and loved the Maryland Million. Wry wit, enthusiasm for anything racing and pure kindness made Joe Pons a treasure.

Three days before the rescheduled Maryland Million, Pons, 83, died. On October 8, Pons would have been holding court in the Maryland Million village. On October 15, the Mary­land Million was dedicated to Pons. That’s racing—the show must go on.
Country Life Farm’s homebred 4-year-old filly Surf Light made sure of it. Dispatched at next-longest odds of nearly 17-1 in the field of seven, she skipped to the lead under Rodney Soodeen and rolled home by a length and three-quarters over Sassy Love and favorite Rowdy in the $150,000 Ladies on the grass. Zero-for-4 on the turf and coming off three straight out-of-the-money finishes, Surf Light became the only speed in the race when morning-line favorite Love Match scratched. By Malibu Moon, who stood at Country Life before moving to Kentucky in the fall of 2003, Surf Light finished sixth in the Maryland Million Oaks last year. This time she relished the good turf and was never headed in an emotional win.

Cheers and tears make odd partners. After the race, Maryland’s racing community gathered in and around the winner’s circle trying to make sense of a day, a sport, a life.
Trainer Flint Stites accepted the trophy, awestruck by the moment. Joe Pons’s son Josh cried—and didn’t care—while being interviewed by two reporters. Pons’s friend Brice Ridgely hugged any Pons he could find. Lucy Howard, one of three part-owners (along with Country Life and Eva Ly­dick) of Surf Light, stood in the middle of the winner’s circle marveling at the moment. Mike Pons, a son of Joe Pons and president of the Maryland Million, rushed down Laurel’s apron to be interviewed on HRTV, shaking more hands than a presidential candidate. He tried to give words to a bittersweet day.
“Unbelievable. He’s loving every minute of this,” Pons said of his father. “That last 50 yards, that filly had 10,000 pounds on her back. How did she hold up with everybody riding her and roping her? [That had to be a phrase Mike learned from his dad.] She’s been a good filly, but she’s been unlucky, and to see her do this, on the biggest day of the year, it’s too good. Dad loved this stuff. This was Christmas day to Dad.”

Saying goodbye to a father on Wednesday makes a son look back. Running a breeding farm makes one look ahead. For Mike Pons—for all of Country Life—there were feelings of both on this day.

“I know we have some really good young horses, and driving down today, I said, ‘Well, today won’t be our day, but we have a couple of really good young horses, horses we’ve never had before. I’m thinking, ‘A year from now, two years from now.’ Then to have this happen today. . . ” Pons said. “He loved Maryland racing and he loved the people who loved Maryland racing most of all. You couldn’t throw a net over all these butterflies.”

The most poignant answer to “How would you like to be remembered?” is “I just want to be remembered.” For Joe Pons, there’s no worry about that.
Bingo wasn’t playing

There are five points of call in a mile and three-sixteenths race at Laurel. For Play Bingo in the Classic, the calls looked more like points of despair—at least the first three did.
Jockey Ryan Fogelsonger can show more patience than a chess player. In the Classic he allowed Play Bingo to fall out of the race, lagging behind the speed of last year’s Classic hero and this year’s favorite, Presi­den­tialaffair. After the first quarter, Play Bingo galloped along 12 lengths off the lead. After a half, he was 221\2 behind. After three-quarters, he had slimmed it to 171\2, and then that lead was gone as he went from last to first to win the $250,000 Classic by a length over Aggadan. Five Steps finished third, while Presidential­affair tired badly to finish fourth.

Owned by F. Eugene Dixon’s Erdenheim Farm and con­­ditioned by Dr. John R.S. Fisher at Fair Hill Training Center, Play Bingo went on a roll as a 3-year-old in the fall of 2004, winning five in a row, including the Northern Dancer Stakes. Freshened after snapping the streak in the Jennings Handi­cap in December (he was fourth to Aggadan), Play Bingo couldn’t get the job done in five starts this year. He came close in two allowance races this summer, but suffered his worst defeat leading up to the Maryland Million in the Kelso Handicap at Delaware Park, finishing fifth, beaten 101/2 lengths.
Fogelsonger took a shot, went back to what worked last fall and dropped Play Bingo like an anchor in a deep lake. Fisher thought it was too far, his owners gave up and the crowd counted him out. Play Bingo loved it.

“I stopped thinking, I stopped looking, I was totally in shock,” Fisher said. “I told Ryan before the race, ‘I think the horse got into his races too early, but you don’t have to be last.’ In the race, I’m thinking I made a big mistake, but Ryan was brilliant. He came back and said, ‘I waited and I waited and I waited. I had no concept that he could make up that much ground on those horses.’ ”

Finally turned loose, Play Bingo roared past his rivals for his biggest career victory.
It was the biggest race ever won in Maryland by Dixon, who is in his 80s and has owned horses for several decades. The current chairman of the Penn­syl­vania State Horse Racing Com­mission, Dixon keeps about 25 horses in training with Fisher. A businessman and philanthropist who has at various times owned several major sports teams in Philadelphia, Dixon inherited Erdenheim Farm from his uncle, prominent owner/breeder George D. Widener. “Mr. Dixon is extremely patient and most concerned about his horses being well taken care of,” said Fisher.

Play Bingo was bred in Mary­land by David and JoAnn Hayden’s Dark Hollow Farm and William Beatson. His sire, Polish Numbers, stood at Northview Stallion Station, and earned a spot among the state’s leading sires before his untimely death, at age 15, in November 2002.

Play Bingo was purchased by Dixon for $60,000 at the 2002 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling sale, upon the advice of Fisher. Dixon and Fisher campaigned Play Bingo’s full sister Quick ’n Smart, who won a few minor stakes going short on the turf after being purchased at the 1997 edition of that sale.

“Quick ’n Smart was a stone nut. She ran off most mornings. But I liked her—you always like ones that can run,” said Fisher. “And I liked [Play Bingo] a lot. They are complete opposites. He doesn’t look like her, he doesn’t act like her and he doesn’t run like her. In his races, he’s loping along, loping along, looking around and then he only runs the last quarter of a mile. That’s just the way he is.”

The duo of Play Bingo and Quick ’n Smart have deep roots in Maryland breeding. They are out of the Smarten mare Poised to Pounce, who comes from a family developed over many years by the late Maryland breeders John and Kitty Merryman. John Merryman bought Play Bingo’s great-granddam Counterflight (by Count of Honor) as a yearling for $1,500 at a Timonium auction in 1963, and she became the ancestress of many of their good runners, including multiple stakes winner Smart ’n Quick ($711,804). Poised to Pounce, Smart ’n Quick’s half-sister, was only moderately successful on the race track. With Kitty Merryman in failing health (her husband died in 1993), Poised to Pounce, with Play Bingo in utero, was consigned to the 2000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed sale. She topped the auction on a bid of $142,000, her purchasers being Dark Hollow Farm and Beatson, the partnership that became Play Bingo’s official breeder.

On his own terms.
One of the toughest decisions any trainer faces is when to keep going with a horse and when to call it a day. So it was for La Reine’s Terms and his trainer, Larry Murray.
La Reine’s Terms, owned and bred by Howard and Sondra Bender, made his 39th career start in last year’s Turf, finishing third. At age 10, the Maryland-bred made his 40th start in this year’s Capital Bank Maryland Million Turf. That’s right, 371 days between races. La Reine’s Terms, under Jeremy Rose, improved two places this year, capturing the $150,000 stakes by three-quarters of a length over 2004 winner Dr Detroit. Rubi Echo finished a neck back in third.

“I always sleep pretty good, but I’ve been worried about this horse,” Murray said. “He doesn’t have anything major bugging him, he just has a lot of miles on him. I didn’t want to embarrass him. He would know that, it would affect his head for six months. He’s going to be a bear now.”

La Reine’s Terms became the oldest horse ever to win a Maryland Million race. A son of Private Terms, who launched his career at Northview Stallion Station before moving to Kentucky in 1996, La Reine’s Terms is now 26th on the list of all-time leading Maryland-bred money-earners, with $804,591.

“He’s family, a character. Everybody calls him an alpha male. He loves the limelight,” Murray said. “He galloped every day and liked it. He told us, with his breezes, ‘Hey, I’m not done yet.’ Probably the first part of August, I used to kid him, ‘The Million’s coming.’ He always rises to the occasion.”

It was the fifth Maryland Million victory the Benders have celebrated as owners, and pushed them into a tie with Mea Culpa Stables Inc. on the leading Maryland Million owners list.

“It’s a special win,” Sondra Bender said. “Naturally you hope for a win, but he’s 10 years old and maybe he doesn’t want to do it any more. Larry said he seemed to want to do it, so we let him do it. He’s got a few health issues, but he came up to it fine, and the proof is in the pudding. Somebody asked if he’ll come back next year. Maybe, maybe.”

Sticky gets there in time.
Moments after the Oaks, trainer Richard Small gave Sticky a pat on the neck and shook his head in disbelief.

You should have seen Chris Grove, trainer of Lexi Star.
Lexi Star looked like a sure thing, and Sticky looked like a sure second, until Lexi Star began to drift within the furlong pole, siphoning off her momentum just enough for Sticky and jockey Jozbin Santana to get there by a head.

It was Sticky’s fourth win in six tries. She was bred in Maryland by her owner, Robert E. Meyerhoff (Fitzhugh LLC), whose connections with the family go back decades. Her sire, Concern (by Broad Brush), carried Meyerhoff’s colors to victory in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Classic-G1, retired with earnings of $3.079 million and stood at Northview Stallion Station until relocating to Oklahoma.

“It’s a real strong family,” Small said. “Her dam, Hair Spray [a graded stakes-winning daughter of Pentelicus and half-sister to Meyerhoff’s 2004 Maryland Juvenile Cham­pion­ship Stakes winner Legal Control], was fast—real, real fast. She’s just a tiny little thing that didn’t come around very quick.”

Sticky won an allowance race at Philadelphia Park by 14Z\x lengths in her Maryland Mil­lion prep. Her penchant for running late seems to be working.
“When you make a run at them, sometimes you get by them and sometimes you don’t,” Small said. “This one is just like the old man [Concern]. He won them all at the end, too. I’m not sure a lot of them want to go a mile and an eighth; that was in our favor. If you get beat in a tough race like that, you get beat. That’s the way it goes. You get paid at the end.”

Smarter still.
The Lassie was about streaks. Smart and Fancy became the fourth favorite in a row to win on the day’s card, and the 2-year-old filly kept a seven-race win streak alive for her trainer, Tony Dutrow.

Smart and Fancy made it look easy on the track, but the winner’s circle was anything but easy for her connections. An inquiry and claim of foul muted the celebrations until the stewards chose to disqualify second-place finisher Racing Bridgett for interfering with early leader Don’t Be Long, who crossed the wire in fifth place. Who Was was placed second, with Swear to It third.

Smart and Fancy, by North­view Stallion Station’s Not For Love (the only stallion besides Allen’s Prospect to have two winners on the card), led off an unprecedented Maryland Million double for Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman of Chester­town, Md., who bred the Lassie winner and are co-breeders of the first two finishers in the Nursery.
Smart and Fancy was purchased at the Fasig-Tipton Mid­lantic Eastern Fall Yearling sale for $47,000, and races for a partnership—Win & Place Stable—assembled by Dutrow.
“I had seen her at the farm a couple of times,” Dutrow said. “I went to the sale hoping I could buy her, and she fell into an affordable price range. We were real happy to have her. She always trained fantastic, and after I breezed her a time or two, I said this is a Maryland Million filly. That was in May.”

Dutrow was so high on Smart and Fancy that he shipped her from his Philadelphia Park base to Delaware Park to capitalize on the $39,000 purse offered to maidens. She beat two horses. Undaunted, Dutrow sent her back to Delaware, and she beat two horses.
“I shipped her over to Delaware because I knew I had something decent, but when I did that she broke out of the gate, showed some speed and quit,” Dutrow said. “I said, ‘Something is not right.’ Then I packed up and went all the way back to the beginning and said, ‘Let me see if this can get me there,’ and it did.”

This was a Philadelphia Park maiden race a month before the Maryland Million. Equipped with blinkers for the first time, Smart and Fancy won by 15 and booked a ticket to the Maryland Million.

“I ran her at Philly to see what I was seeing in the morning, and I did,” Dutrow said. “She came down here today and did what she did, and it speaks for itself. I knew I had the horse with the most ability, but what’s going to show up today?”

What showed up was Dutrow’s seventh win in a row. With a horse in at Belmont and another one later on the Maryland Million card, could the streak continue?
“Hey, I’m live,” Dutrow said with a smile. “At both places.”

Heartfelt suspense.
Four races later in the Nur­sery, open to 2-year-olds of both genders, Dutrow was indeed live. At least momentarily.

Dutrow-trained X Marks the Spot, a maiden, swept to the lead and rolled home to win by a length and three-quarters over Creve Coeur and tiring pacesetter Preferred Lender.
Dutrow and owners Milton Higgins and Tom Bowman accepted the trophy while the infield toteboard flashed. Dutrow squinted at the replay, Higgins stood arms folded, Bowman stared and jockey Stewart Elliott tried to ignore everything.
Finally, the stewards made the call, disqualifying X Marks the Spot for brushing with Eugene Ford’s Creve Coeur in the stretch. X Marks the Spot bothered Creve Coeur as he rushed past, and it was enough to squash Dutrow’s streak and elicit a quick turnaround in the winner’s circle.

Ford and trainer Graham Motion were hustled into the winner’s circle to celebrate the victory by Creve Coeur, a son of Northview Stallion Station’s Lion Hearted.
Ramon Dominguez was aboard Creve Coeur. The victory was the fourth on the day for Dominguez, matching Edgar Prado’s 1998 record. The win marked the sixth triumph in Maryland Million races for Motion. 

The victory added another chapter to Ford’s remarkable career as an owner. Ford started in racing in 1983 on the advice of Zelma Morrison (sister of one-time Laurel co-owners Bob and Tom Manfuso), and was a client of the late Bernie Bond until the early 1990s, when he became one of the first clients to go with Bond’s now-famous protege, Motion.

With Bond as their trainer, Ford and Morrison campaigned the brilliant filly Sham Say, a $24,000 yearling purchase at Timonium who was undefeated in seven starts (six stakes) when sold privately as a 3-year-old in 1988 for $2 million, setting a then-record for a Maryland-bred filly or mare.

In the early 1990s, Ford, a Wash­ington, D.C., real estate developer, had nearly 30 horses in training. He keeps the number right around six now, with Creve Coeur, an $85,000 Timonium yearling purchase (selected by Motion’s father, Michael), pulling the wagon.

“I’m getting a little old for the breeding,” said Ford, “so I might sell my mares this year, but I’ll keep buying yearlings and 2-year-olds.”
Saay it fast
“It’s a long, long story,” owner/trainer Wayne Bailey answered, moments after Saay Mi Name easily won the Maryland Million Sprint, the gelding’s third stakes victory in his last four starts.

Here’s the abridged version. Bailey bought a well-bred filly with a club foot. He brought her home and told his wife, Kelly, that even if the mare never raced, she’d be worth the purchase price as a broodmare. The mare (Wuxi) raced, but was ruled off for standing in the gate. Her first foal, Miss Flutie Brown (by Salutely), broke a sesamoid a week before making her debut. Miss Flutie Brown is the dam of Saay Mi Name. He’s where the story gets good.

Bred in the name of Wayne Bailey and Kelly Bailey’s father, Urban Deiter, Saay Mi Name made his debut in 2004 at the age of 4, and went on to win four races from a demanding 19 starts, earning just shy of $100,000. This year the chestnut gelding had made 11 starts (with four wins) going into the Maryland Million. After adding in the Sprint’s $82,500 first prize, he’s earned $233,522 in his second year of racing, and more than $330,000 for his career.

Under Chip Van Hassel, who was winning his first Mary­land Million race, Saay Mi Name snuck through on the rail, opened up a big lead and held off Cherokee’s Boy by one and a quarter lengths. American Proud was third. Defending champion My Poker Player finished fifth without ever threatening.

“Sometimes I wondered what we were doing, sure,” Bailey said of the long, slow process of racing a third-generation horse. “I believed in the breeding. Hopefully this will help our stallion, Who’s Your Daddy [an unraced son of Smarten out of Miss Flutie Brown who stands at stud for the Baileys and will move to their new farm in Chestertown, Md., for 2006].”

The winner’s circle looked like a purple-themed rap show with kids, adults and most of the crowd wearing purple shirts and hats emblazoned with “Who’s Your Daddy.”
“Saay Mi Name has taken every step,” Bailey said. “I keep thinking this step is as good as he is, and then he takes another, so I don’t know what to do with him now. If you breed them and want them around, you’d better wait until late in their 3-year-old year or 4-year-old year [to begin racing].”

The Baileys recently settled on their farm in Chestertown. “We’ve been doing this for 20 years,” Wayne Bailey said. “This is going to buy a new barn.”
Saay Mi Name is the third consecutive Maryland Million Sprint winner for his sire, Not For Love; this was the fourth year in a row that Not For Love has had two winners on the Maryland Million card.

Fulfilling Prospect
The most impressive performance on the day came in the Turf Sprint. Michael Gill’s Sarah’s Prospect and jockey Ramon Dominguez (his third win on the day) swept through five furlongs to win by a handy eight and three-quarters lengths. Dominguez never moved on the bay son of Allen’s Prospect.

Trained by Mark Shuman, Sarah’s Prospect made his turf debut at Delaware Park in his prior start, winning by four and equaling the course record of :55.92. The New York-bred led every step of that one and had Shuman thinking Maryland Million.
“He had foot problems, so we took a shot,” Shuman said of the Delaware race. “I was surprised. He had a bar shoe on, tied the track record and did it with horse left. Going into the race, I said, ‘If he runs big, I’m running him back [here].’ We always had it in the back of our minds.”

Sarah’s Prospect instantly put it in the front of their minds and kept it there with an effortless win, leading every step of the Turf Sprint. Love Antics finished second, with Mr Mutter third. Sarah’s Prospect was bred by Dr. Jerry Bilinski and Martin Zaretsky.

Weather— or not.
David O’Neill was having a bad year betting at the track, so he took the ultimate race track gamble and claimed a horse. Working at Chrysler and living near Delaware Park, O’Neill put up $7,500 for Rapture, a daughter of Double Zeus. Trained by Bessie Gruwell, Rapture banged around Delaware Park, and then O’Neill made her his broodmare band.

Rapture’s 5-year-old daughter Valley of the Gods made her 35th start in the Distaff Handicap, winning for the ninth time and second time in a week. Trainer Keith LeBarron had cross-entered Valley of the Gods in the originally scheduled Maryland Million and in the Pistol Packer Handicap at his home track of Philadelphia Park. On October 8, LeBarron opted for the Philadelphia race. When the Maryland Million was called off, LeBarron felt vindicated even before the daughter of Valley Crossing took on four rivals in the Pennsylvania-bred stakes.

She won that race by seven and three-quarters lengths, and LeBarron told O’Neill there was a chance at making the rescheduled Maryland Million.
Seven days later Valley of the Gods picked up a check for $82,500 by rallying under Harry Vega to win by a half-length over Blind Canyon and Spirited Game. In a week’s time, Valley of the Gods earned nearly $120,000.

Her sire, Valley Crossing, who stood at Bonita Farm, moved out of state, then died in 2004.

“I called David and said, ‘I’m a genius now,’” said LeBarron. “She won so easily [at Philadelphia], we decided to give her a chance. Now we’ll give her the winter off and bring her back next year. Every distance, she loves. She’s just a good horse.”
O’Neill, who retired this past spring after a 32-year career with Chrysler, knows it.
“She just made more in a week’s time than it took me in two years’ time,” O’Neill said. “I’ve had offers for her, but they’re only offering what I just made today. She might race another year, but you never know what will happen. She’ll be my next mare. It’s funny. I always called Rapture ‘Mama,’ and she proved it today.”

Digging for gold.
Trainers Hubert Cave and Scott Lake were playing a heated game of musical chairs with Foxs Gold Digger. On May 23 at Delaware Park, Lake claimed the 5-year-old Allen’s Prospect gelding for $5,000 from Cave. One start later, Cave claimed him back for $5,000. A race later, Lake claimed him again for $6,250. Yup, in his next start, Cave raised again, paying $8,000 for Foxs Gold Digger. That’s when Cave, a Bowie-based conditioner, pulled the chair from the game.

Cave ran Foxs Gold Digger in two allowance races while aiming for a start in the Sprint Starter Handicap. Foxs Gold Digger rewarded Cave with a game win in the $30,000 Maryland Million day opener. Ridden by Dominguez, Foxs Gold Digger scored by half-length over Summer Carnival, while Dixie Rap finished third. Foxs Gold Digger was bred in Florida by Franklin Fowler and F.S. Cole.

Sent off as the 4-5 favorite, Foxs Gold Digger tracked last year’s Sprint Starter winner, Drum Roll Please, down the backside before collaring him and wearing down Summer Carnival for his third victory of the year.

“It’s a special win,” said owner/trainer Cave. “I had the horse as a 2-year-old; I originally claimed him from Mike Gill; and I had his brother Fox’s Flyjinsky, who started getting good at 5. I looked at this race after we claimed him [the last time] and decided to point for it. I ran him in a couple of allowance races to make sure we didn’t lose him.”
timing was right

Earlier this year owner Debra Kachel lost last year’s Starter Handicap winner, Dixie Colony, for $7,500. The son of Citidancer won his next start and was claimed for $7,500 in his next start after that. He won his next start and was second for a $16,000 tag on September 12. That’s when Kachel and trainer Ricky Hendriks timed it right. They claimed the Virginia-bred with sights on defending his Maryland Million crown.

No problem.
Dixie Colony picked up a check for $27,500 by winning the Baltimore Sun Maryland Million Starter Handicap. Dixie Colony went off as the favorite in the eight-horse field, and rallied from fifth to draw away by a length and a half over Mr Song and Dance and All Irish. Stewart Elliott was aboard for the first time since last year’s Maryland Million.
“We claimed him back, and we’re glad we got him,” Hendriks said. “He looked like he was getting good again, and the owner told me to go get him. It must have been fate, because I won a four-way shake for him.” The 5-year-old gelding was bred by Mrs. C.
Oliver Iselin III.

Ending to a perfect day.
The three starter handicaps are designed to give the claimers a chance on Maryland’s biggest day of racing for locally connected runners. Winners of all three were a direct result of dropping a claim slip earlier in the year.

Trainer J.W. Delozier put up $5,000 for Marley Hart in May. The daughter of Allen’s Prospect won twice for Delozier, who found a logical spot for her in the Distaff Starter Handicap, final event on the card.

Under Dominguez, who won his fifth race of the afternoon, surpassing Prado’s record set in 1998, Marley Hart sat close to the pace before opening up by five in the stretch and clearing the field at the wire by a length and three-quarters over Seventeen Above and Bo’s Typhoon.

The victory gave Allen’s Prospect his third win of the day. John P. McDaniel, the newly appointed chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, bred the 5-year-old mare in the name of his Hickory Ridge Farm, located in Highland, Md. Delozier owns part of Marley Hart with longtime friend Charley Mace, who is a first-time owner.

“It was really rewarding with her, because I own half of her, and it’s not like we paid $100,000,” Delozier said. “We paid $5,000, and we’re able to develop her and bring her along. I give a lot of credit to Ramon Dominguez; the guy has an unbelievable gift. He was able to settle her. She’s never run like that. He taught her to sit off and relax. Everything was coming together nicely, but he got the job done. In a way, it’s an honor to have him ride for you.”