Debutante Update Keeps Glencrest in the Generation Game

No less than he should be, John Greathouse III is a big believer in pedigree. “In the end, I've got to have a reason for somebody to turn down the catalog page and say this is one I need to go and see,” he says. “If the horse lacks paper, I'm not interested. They've got to have some family there.”

Greathouse, after all, is himself a living testament to the horseman's faith in heritability-whether through nature or nurture. His grandfather, the first John, was a celebrated Bluegrass hardboot who bred a Kentucky Derby winner soon after founding Glencrest Farm in the 1950s. The second John, a boy of 16 when Venetian Way won in 1960, is still on hand with that famously astute eye of his; but it is the third John who has increasingly supervised Glencrest since the premature death of his uncle, David, in 2013.

David was a founding partner of Four Star Sales and their barn is where Greathouse has been busy showing horses in the run-up to the Keeneland September Sale. And the reason for seeking him out is Hip 621, selling Wednesday: a Verrazano (More Than Ready) filly out of the Malibu Moon mare, Akron Moon. For it was at this sale last year that breeder Joe Minor of JSM Equine submitted (through Taylor Made, who share his consignment) a Quality Road (Elusive Quality) filly out of the same mare. She stalled at $220,000, so Minor took her back to try again at the breeze-ups. He was handsomely vindicated when she brought $800,000 from Kaleem Shah at Fasig-Tipton's Florida Gulfstream Sale.

“In fairness, Joe had a lot of conviction about the filly all the way through,” Greathouse recalls. “He stayed strong on her and I think had a little seller's remorse even after selling her, because of how much he loved her from the beginning. She was a big, scopey filly, with a lot of athleticism, very light on her feet. And the right attitude, like all the good race fillies I've been around: tough but not ignorant. She had a huge walk on her, and got out there and was very willing. She looked like that Classic horse.”

And that is no less than she appeared in winning the GII Sorrento S. at Del Mar and then, on Labor Day, the GI Del Mar Debutante S. over the same track. Greathouse has since been talking to one of the partners in the filly. “And he said that every time he sees her, she gets bigger and longer,” he reported. “She looks like she'll run all day, the way she galloped out: like she wants two turns already. Knock on wood, she can win the Juvenile Fillies at the Breeders' Cup.”

Even as it stands, Bellafina extends a record of remarkably consistent achievement by Glencrest graduates. Greathouse is still only 34, but has already had a series of elite performers through his hands. In his very first year after returning full-time to the farm, in fact, the family pinhooked none other than Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie).

“He was a big, gangly horse, wasn't all finished yet,” he recalls. “I always liked the way he moved, there were a lot of things you could like about the horse: he just wasn't the finished product. Since I've been at Glencrest, the last ten years or so, I think we've had six Grade 1 winners and ten Graded stakes winners overall. And that's with two yearling barns, 27 stalls-so I generally won't prep any more than that. We've been blessed to have our hands on so many nice horses.”

Incredibly, in fact, this modest supply line has produced both the highest juvenile Beyers of the summer: Bellafina leading the fillies with her 94 in the Sorrento, and Trophy Chaser (Twirling Candy) reaching 96 when breaking his maiden by 15 ¾ lengths at Gulfstream last month. He had been bought by Greathouse's cousin Deuce as a weanling, at the Keeneland November Sale for $35,000. He failed to meet his reserve back here last year and was sold for just $42,000 at OBS in March.

“We're traders,” shrugged Greathouse. “For the most part, my program is: we buy to resell. Win, lose or draw, we generally bring them here to find a new home. We do the best we can with what we have. We sold Haveyougoneaway (Congrats) for very little. Al's Gal (English Channel), another Grade 1 winner, didn't turn a profit either.

“Trophy Chaser was a handy little colt, just had a few issues at the time that stopped him turning a profit. But you know what, I'm very proud he's turned out the way he has. Because that's what gives me the most pride, seeing the horses turn out on the racetrack. When you've had some conviction about an animal, when you've thought: 'Gosh, this one's special.' Trust me, I've been wrong plenty of times. But when they do prove you right, that's what makes it all worthwhile.”

The first John started the farm on parcels of land put together by his father on the back of the automobile loans he had introduced to this part of the world. In his time both Wavering Monarch and Clever Trick stood here and, while the retirement of Military (Danzig) means that there is no longer a Glencrest stallion, subsequent generations of Greathouses have diversified and dovetailed their responsibilities to keep the surname synonymous with the brand.

The third John, admittedly, had little expectation of doing so during his college days at the University of Kentucky. But after his father hit upon those good racing fillies, Honey Ryder (Lasting Approval) and Panty Raid (Include), the whole thing clicked with Greathouse and he enrolled on the Irish National Stud course.

While enthused by that exposure to a different racing culture, he still treasures the schooling he received closer to home. “I was very young when my grandfather got sick, so I can't say I learned a lot from him,” he said. “But the way things have been run on the farm were run that way 100 per cent because of him. Now I've changed a few things, because if you're not constantly evolving, I think you're getting left behind. But things that have worked, you don't want to change too much. I've been so fortunate to have teachers like my uncles and my father.”

Uncle Allen helps with the broodmares. Dad helps browse the foal sales. No less than ever, then, Glencrest remains a family affair. One cousin, Bucky, annually runs 600 or 700 steers through the 860-acre farm; while Deuce, who notably found Tepin (Bernstein) for Robert Masterson and has just returned from the Arqana August Sale with an $850,000 American Pharoah filly, is bringing business to the equine side through his agency and syndication ventures. Deuce bred TDN 'Rising Star' Legit (Curlin), impressive winner of both his starts this spring.

The family has always done especially well with fillies. The ill-fated multiple Grade I winner Devil May Care (Malibu Moon) was even allowed to take her chance against colts in the Derby. It is the fillies, of course, who especially warrant a good page when Greathouse seeks up to a dozen pinhooks every year.

“We can't always afford the nice big ones, but we've tried to become a bit more aggressive,” he said. “And, if you can pick holes in any of them, they will always have the paper. My dad taught me early on that if there's no paper, there's no horse. Or if they can't walk, that's my other big criterion, I'm not going to have a lot of interest. Hopefully, the physical matches the pedigree, and you get rewarded. I'll sacrifice sire for female family every time. There's a few stallions, like Tapit (Pulpit) or Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday), that have upgraded the mares they've been bred to. But most can't do that. It's when you've got some paper there, that's when you get runners.”

Greathouse stresses that the farm, though family-run, is not exclusive family business; that Glencrest welcomes outside clients such as Minor, whose Verrazano filly receives a warm endorsement. “She has a lot of class,” he said. “And she's got the right attitude. I love the way she moves. I think highly of the stallion and she's a well-balanced, medium-sized horse. Very athletic. I think she'll be a runner.”

And with her updates, of course, the one thing she has going for her now is that first imperative: a page. Yet the irony is that a Greathouse grounding, for many, would itself represent all the family a horse might need.

“In the end, you hope if you show people you're raising a good horse, they'll come buy a horse,” Greathouse said. “Regardless of some conformational faults it may have. There are plenty of good farms-Clarkland, or guys like Frank Penn-where they're farmers that raise nice horses. And that's kinda our niche, too. We're not the big farm with all the stallions. But we try to do it all: to make the best of our land we can, keep them outside as much as possible, lay down bone, give them the important things that help provide the foundation of a good racehorse.

“I think Glencrest is a farm you can always rely on to do it the right way. To take care of the animals the right way. I have one gentleman, Gene Guy, who has worked with us for 45 years. I don't think many people can say that of their farm managers. Another, Ricky Evans, has been there 30 years. And that shows in the horses. It shows on the racetrack.

“It's competitive. There are a lot of guys that do it, a lot of sharp guys that do it. We will bid on 50 horses a year to buy ten. I'm just fortunate to be at that threshold-and you just hope you can keep getting it right, and keep playing the game.”