For Princess Fans
Oct 6, 2013 16:31:19 GMT -5
Post by racinggal on Oct 6, 2013 16:31:19 GMT -5
This is a very nice article about Princess of Sylmar and her owne.
For King of Prussia Stable, Princess of Sylmar Is A Racing Fairy Tale Come True
By Teresa Genaro
Forbes
In April of 2010, Edward Stanco sent his mare Storm Dixie to Kentucky to be bred for the first time. He’d purchased her for $67,000 in 2006, and after she won just once in 10 starts, he decided, after years in the racing business, to take a shot at breeding a horse.
The mating didn’t go quite as planned.
Storm Dixie was sent to Ashford Stud outside Lexington to be bred to Grand Slam, a proven stallion who had sired hundreds of winners with earnings in the tens of millions. But when Storm Dixie got to the farm, Grand Slam was unavailable for breeding after having been kicked by a mare.
Stanco’s bloodstock adviser, Joe Brocklebank, suggested that they breed to another Ashford stallion, Majestic Warrior, a lightly raced colt in his first year in the breeding shed.
“Trust me,” Brocklebank told Stanco.
Four Grade 1 victories, $1.6 million in earnings, and a presumptive championship later, Stanco is glad he did.
The filly that resulted from that mating, Princess of Sylmar, is a racing fairy-tale dream come true. In addition to being the first horse bred by Stanco, she’s also the only one currently in training in his King of Prussia Stable, a small partnership comprising Stanco and a few friends and business associates. Her latest victory came on Saturday at Belmont Park, in the prestigious Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame Stakes.
A native of upstate New York, Stanco has lived in Pennsylvania for 25 years; Pennsylvania’s racing and breeding program benefits from slot machine revenue, and despite being conceived in Kentucky by a Kentucky-bred stallion and a New York-bred mare, Princess of Sylmar is a registered Pennsylvania-bred, by virtue of the fact that Storm Dixie foaled her on a Pennsylvania farm, Sylmar Farm in southeastern Pennsylvania.
The filly got her start at Penn National, a small track that seldom gets mentioned in the same sentence with racing’s elite, and after a 19-length win there last November, trainer Todd Pletcher shipped her to his New York barn. While most of Pletcher’s promising horses ship to Florida for the winter, Princess of Sylmar stayed north, dominating Aqueduct Racetrack’s winter stakes races for three-year-old fillies, winning three consecutive races, two of them stakes, by a combined nearly 20 lengths.
A second-place finish in the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct in April convinced Stanco and Pletcher to send the Princess, as her owner calls her, to the Kentucky Oaks in May. Despite her record of four wins and a second in six races, she was sent to the post at odds of 39-1, rewarding her backers generously when she won by a half-length.
She hasn’t lost since.
Stanco grew up in Schenectady, New York, not far from Saratoga Springs, and when his filly began winning races last winter, he allowed himself to dream about winning New York’s flagship race for three-year-old fillies, the historic Alabama Stakes, run at Saratoga Race Course every August. What might have seemed folly in the dead of an Aqueduct winter became reality on August 17, when Princess of Sylmar became the 133rd winner of the race.
“This is the best day in our lives in horse racing,” Stanco said that day, in a winner’s circle crowded with family and friends, some from as far away at Japan. “She’s given us everything.”
He lives not far from the farm where she was foaled, and he was there shortly after her birth. He is the sort of racehorse owner who visits his horses in the barn, getting there early in the morning, bringing his grandchildren, nuzzling the horse about whose accomplishments he talks with a sense of amazement and good fortune. She seems to return the affection, draping her long neck over his shoulder and resting her head on his chest.
When Princess of Sylmar won the Alabama, Edward Stanco declared that there was “zero chance” that she would run in the Breeders’ Cup this year; disinclined to ship her cross-country and run her against older horses, and with an eye on next year’s racing campaign, he didn’t want her to overdo it this year, even if missing the Breeders’ Cup cost her an Eclipse Award for champion three-year-old filly.
Talking this past Saturday before the Beldame, Stanco seemed to have had a change of heart.
“If she wins today,” he said, “we’ll think about going.”
The Beldame field was a small one, but it included the monster Royal Delta, reigning two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, 2012 champion older female, and 2011 champion three-year-old filly. As a three-year-old in 2011, she was purchased at auction by Benjamin León’s Besilu Stables for $8.5 million.
An actuary by trade, Stanco put his chances of beating Royal Delta last Saturday at 30%. The betting public sent her to the post at 2-1; now five, Royal Delta, who’s got three dominating wins in five races this year, went off at .30-1.
Facing older horses for the first time, Princess of Sylmar more than met the challenge, driving past Royal Delta in the stretch to win by two lengths for her fourth consecutive Grade I win.
The Beldame is a “Win and You’re In” race for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (back this year to its original name after five years of being called the Ladies Classic); with the victory, Princess of Sylmar earns an automatic berth to the race and $10,000 in travel awards; in addition, the Breeders’ Cup will pay the $40,000 in fees that would be required to enter the race.
But Princess of Sylmar, the first foal by a modest mare, wasn’t nominated to the Breeders’ Cup when she was registered with The Jockey Club, and to supplement her now would cost a hefty $100,000. When Stanco talks about whether to run her, though, he doesn’t talk about the money. He talks about the filly.
“She’s a gift, she’s a blessing, and we treat her that way,” he said in the winner’s circle on Saturday afternoon at Belmont. “And she’s to be shared. We’ve got a lot of racing left in her, hopefully, next year.”
His hesitance to run her in California was obvious, though he refused to rule it out; he also made clear that he leaves such decisions to his trainer.
“I’m the chairman,” he said Saturday. “Todd’s the CEO.”
But even as he insisted that his trainer would make the call, he couldn’t stop himself from talking about Princess of Sylmar as if the superstar filly were one of his children.
“I really don’t want to stress her,” he said. “I don’t want her to be unhappy. I don’t want her to come back weak next year.”
“That’s critical to me,” he went on. “We’ve been with her right from the day she was born.”
For King of Prussia Stable, Princess of Sylmar Is A Racing Fairy Tale Come True
By Teresa Genaro
Forbes
In April of 2010, Edward Stanco sent his mare Storm Dixie to Kentucky to be bred for the first time. He’d purchased her for $67,000 in 2006, and after she won just once in 10 starts, he decided, after years in the racing business, to take a shot at breeding a horse.
The mating didn’t go quite as planned.
Storm Dixie was sent to Ashford Stud outside Lexington to be bred to Grand Slam, a proven stallion who had sired hundreds of winners with earnings in the tens of millions. But when Storm Dixie got to the farm, Grand Slam was unavailable for breeding after having been kicked by a mare.
Stanco’s bloodstock adviser, Joe Brocklebank, suggested that they breed to another Ashford stallion, Majestic Warrior, a lightly raced colt in his first year in the breeding shed.
“Trust me,” Brocklebank told Stanco.
Four Grade 1 victories, $1.6 million in earnings, and a presumptive championship later, Stanco is glad he did.
The filly that resulted from that mating, Princess of Sylmar, is a racing fairy-tale dream come true. In addition to being the first horse bred by Stanco, she’s also the only one currently in training in his King of Prussia Stable, a small partnership comprising Stanco and a few friends and business associates. Her latest victory came on Saturday at Belmont Park, in the prestigious Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame Stakes.
A native of upstate New York, Stanco has lived in Pennsylvania for 25 years; Pennsylvania’s racing and breeding program benefits from slot machine revenue, and despite being conceived in Kentucky by a Kentucky-bred stallion and a New York-bred mare, Princess of Sylmar is a registered Pennsylvania-bred, by virtue of the fact that Storm Dixie foaled her on a Pennsylvania farm, Sylmar Farm in southeastern Pennsylvania.
The filly got her start at Penn National, a small track that seldom gets mentioned in the same sentence with racing’s elite, and after a 19-length win there last November, trainer Todd Pletcher shipped her to his New York barn. While most of Pletcher’s promising horses ship to Florida for the winter, Princess of Sylmar stayed north, dominating Aqueduct Racetrack’s winter stakes races for three-year-old fillies, winning three consecutive races, two of them stakes, by a combined nearly 20 lengths.
A second-place finish in the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct in April convinced Stanco and Pletcher to send the Princess, as her owner calls her, to the Kentucky Oaks in May. Despite her record of four wins and a second in six races, she was sent to the post at odds of 39-1, rewarding her backers generously when she won by a half-length.
She hasn’t lost since.
Stanco grew up in Schenectady, New York, not far from Saratoga Springs, and when his filly began winning races last winter, he allowed himself to dream about winning New York’s flagship race for three-year-old fillies, the historic Alabama Stakes, run at Saratoga Race Course every August. What might have seemed folly in the dead of an Aqueduct winter became reality on August 17, when Princess of Sylmar became the 133rd winner of the race.
“This is the best day in our lives in horse racing,” Stanco said that day, in a winner’s circle crowded with family and friends, some from as far away at Japan. “She’s given us everything.”
He lives not far from the farm where she was foaled, and he was there shortly after her birth. He is the sort of racehorse owner who visits his horses in the barn, getting there early in the morning, bringing his grandchildren, nuzzling the horse about whose accomplishments he talks with a sense of amazement and good fortune. She seems to return the affection, draping her long neck over his shoulder and resting her head on his chest.
When Princess of Sylmar won the Alabama, Edward Stanco declared that there was “zero chance” that she would run in the Breeders’ Cup this year; disinclined to ship her cross-country and run her against older horses, and with an eye on next year’s racing campaign, he didn’t want her to overdo it this year, even if missing the Breeders’ Cup cost her an Eclipse Award for champion three-year-old filly.
Talking this past Saturday before the Beldame, Stanco seemed to have had a change of heart.
“If she wins today,” he said, “we’ll think about going.”
The Beldame field was a small one, but it included the monster Royal Delta, reigning two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, 2012 champion older female, and 2011 champion three-year-old filly. As a three-year-old in 2011, she was purchased at auction by Benjamin León’s Besilu Stables for $8.5 million.
An actuary by trade, Stanco put his chances of beating Royal Delta last Saturday at 30%. The betting public sent her to the post at 2-1; now five, Royal Delta, who’s got three dominating wins in five races this year, went off at .30-1.
Facing older horses for the first time, Princess of Sylmar more than met the challenge, driving past Royal Delta in the stretch to win by two lengths for her fourth consecutive Grade I win.
The Beldame is a “Win and You’re In” race for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (back this year to its original name after five years of being called the Ladies Classic); with the victory, Princess of Sylmar earns an automatic berth to the race and $10,000 in travel awards; in addition, the Breeders’ Cup will pay the $40,000 in fees that would be required to enter the race.
But Princess of Sylmar, the first foal by a modest mare, wasn’t nominated to the Breeders’ Cup when she was registered with The Jockey Club, and to supplement her now would cost a hefty $100,000. When Stanco talks about whether to run her, though, he doesn’t talk about the money. He talks about the filly.
“She’s a gift, she’s a blessing, and we treat her that way,” he said in the winner’s circle on Saturday afternoon at Belmont. “And she’s to be shared. We’ve got a lot of racing left in her, hopefully, next year.”
His hesitance to run her in California was obvious, though he refused to rule it out; he also made clear that he leaves such decisions to his trainer.
“I’m the chairman,” he said Saturday. “Todd’s the CEO.”
But even as he insisted that his trainer would make the call, he couldn’t stop himself from talking about Princess of Sylmar as if the superstar filly were one of his children.
“I really don’t want to stress her,” he said. “I don’t want her to be unhappy. I don’t want her to come back weak next year.”
“That’s critical to me,” he went on. “We’ve been with her right from the day she was born.”
