Common Defense Delivers 'Unbelievable' First for Norevale

Common Defense (Karakontie {Jpn}), the first foal born at Sarah and Leo Dooley's Norevale Farm, provided the couple with an emotional trip to the winner's circle when he broke free of the pack late and powered home a maiden winner at Oaklawn Park last Saturday.

“We have a four-month old daughter and I woke her up from her nap with all of the screaming,” admitted Sarah Dooley. “We were so excited. He was the first foal born on the farm, we bred him, it was our first year foaling, we broke him, and we still own a good piece of him. He was in our silks on a Saturday at Oaklawn and he went off as the favorite. It was all surreal. And then he wins. It was unbelievable.”

The Dooleys began leasing the 110-acre farm on Hume Bedford Pike near Paris on Sept. 1 of 2020. Five months later, they partnered with Sarah's father, Tony Holmes, and brother Michael to purchase the mare Allusion (Street Cry {Ire}), carrying the Karakontie colt, for $25,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January sale.

Out of Alchemist (A.P. Indy), the now 13-year-old mare is a full-sister to multiple Grade I placed And Why Not, who produced multiple graded winner Fearless (Ghostzapper) and multiple graded placed Just Whistle (Pioneerof the Nile). Allusion is also a half-sister to graded winner Far From Over (Blame).

Common Defense's third dam is Grade I winner Aldiza (Storm Cat).

“It's a very good family,” Leo Dooley said of the mare's appeal in 2021. “There is a lot of page. I guess we kind of hoped that somewhere along the line, she would throw a good runner and hopefully this is him.”

Common Defense didn't attract a lot of interest when offered at the 2021 Keeneland November sale and was led out unsold at $9,000.

“He had some X-ray issues that pinhookers and the bigger buyers probably wouldn't have been very appreciative of,” Leo Dooley said of the buy-back. “But it was never, ever going to hurt him as a racehorse.”

Despite their faith in the youngster, the couple admitted they weren't terribly keen on keeping him to race.

“I can honestly say I didn't want to go the racing route,” Leo Dooley said. “We were dragged along, but we are pretty happy about it now.”

Sarah Dooley added, “We have to give all the credit to my dad for that. That was all dad. He wanted to race him. And here we are. We are happy he dragged us along for that ride now.”

Common Defense showed promise in his first racetrack appearance, finishing second in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight at Oaklawn Dec. 17. That effort earned the colt an additional partner when David Bernsen joined the ownership line.

“[Trainer] Kenny [McPeek] put him in touch with us,” Sarah Dooley said of Bernsen. “He thought we would all be a good fit. And so far, so good.”

Sent off the 8-5 favorite making his second start Saturday, Common Defense bobbled at the break, was jostled into the first turn and mired in traffic on the far turn, but once clear in the stretch produced a powerful late kick to draw away to a 3 1/2-length victory (video).

“We were hopeful,” Leo Dooley said of expectations heading into the colt's second start. “We were definitely hopeful because he ran such a good race first time out. We were really hoping he would improve off of that and he did.”

As for where Common Defense might start next, Leo Dooley said, “It's up to Kenny to decide. We trust whatever Kenny wants to do. We are along for the ride.”

Allusion is still a part of the Norevale broodmare band. The mare's Not This Time colt RNA'd for $260,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November sale two months ago. The Dooleys have high expectations for the colt, who they plan to offer at the Keeneland September sale later this year.

“We are really excited about him,” Leo Dooley said of the short yearling. “He is one of the standouts on the farm.”

Sarah Dooley added, “When we send foals to a foal sale, we are always happy to protect them if we like them enough. We primarily sell yearlings, but if we like the foal, if he's a really good individual, we will go to a foal sale and we are always happy to protect them and bring them home if we need to.”

Allusion is currently in foal to Epicenter.

The Norevale broodmare band currently numbers some 20 head and the operation has expanded beyond its original base.

“We still have that main farm and we lease another place across the street as well,” Sarah Dooley said. “And now we also lease my parents old farm right around the corner on Russell Cave.”

Asked if their success Saturday at Oaklawn makes them want to get more involved in the racing side of the business, Leo Dooley said with a laugh, “Yes. It makes getting up in this cold weather and going to the farm a lot easier. But we are probably never going to get this lucky again for a while.”

For her part, Sarah Dooley said, “There are so many things that were special about it. He was the first foal born on our farm, we are owners/breeders, we are in partnership with my family, he was in our silks. People always say it's the dream. It's why we started this farm, to breed winners, breed good horses, and you read about people saying it and you hear people saying it and it's nice to finally say that ourselves.

“Hopefully he can go on and be a nice horse, but even just the win, in our colors, it's a step in the right direction for sure and we are just going to keep trying to build on that. I don't know if we are going to be in the racehorse game now, but we are happy to take it when it comes.”