By Perry Lefko
Manfred and Penny Conrad are having a hard time believing that in less than 10 years since entering the Thoroughbred world, they have produced a Breeders' Cup winner, a horse that raced in the GI Kentucky Derby and Queen's Plate in the same year, and have sold two broodmares at auction collectively for more than $1 million.
The Canadian-based husband and wife, who collectively run as Conrad Farms, have proven that you can do some amazing things with a modest operation.
The couple won the Nov. 3 GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with Shamrock Rose (First Dude), who scored a last-to-first victory at more than 25-1 odds. It was her fourth consecutive stakes win, positioning her as a strong contender for an Eclipse Award in the female sprinter category.
Subsequent to their Breeders' Cup win, the Conrads sold Theogony (Curlin) and Jennifer Lynnette (Elusive Quality) for a total of $1,075,000 at the Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton November Sales, respectively.
“It's an awfully expensive business, so at the end of the year, if we break even we feel very fortunate,” said Penny Conrad. “That's the goal, to run it as a business.”
“Maybe you can make a lot of money, but you have to have winnings in order to pay your expenses,” Manfred added. “That's a given.”
After Shamrock Rose won Keeneland's GII Lexus Raven Run S., trainer Mark Casse suggested to the Conrads they consider taking the winning purse and running the filly in the Breeders' Cup. Shamrock Rose had not been nominated and it would cost $130,000 to enter. The Conrads gambled and won. Considering some owners can race their entire lives and never win a Breeders' Cup race, the Conrads consider themselves exceptionally lucky.
“We didn't aspire to get there or the Derby, but somehow we managed to get through,” Penny said. “We decided to [put up the money], which was a risk, but she'd earned the right to be there.
“Mark had mentioned she might have a chance [to win an Eclipse Award] and this is all mind-boggling for us. We're a very small [operation] with very few horses, and here we are experiencing all these things. That was another reason Manfred said, 'Let's go into the Breeders' Cup for the experience.' How can we be fortunate enough to have all these experiences?”
The couple live just outside of Kitchener, Ontario, where Manfred, a German native who came to Canada in 1963 at age 18 with “a background in nothing” and little money in his pocket, and a business partner became prominent as property builders under the name The Cora Group.
When Conrad and his partner decided to sell six office buildings and their property management business in June, 2008, he and Penny entered the Thoroughbred breeding/racing business. Penny, who was born in England and came to Canada at the age of 20, had an interest in horses because she rode them growing up and continued to do so with Quarter Horses.
“We had more time, so I thought breeding would be something I'd really like to do,” Penny said. “We had the farm and the space, so let's put some horses in there and breed. In the beginning we tried to sell our best. We only bred a few. It was always under a handful.”
The late breeder/owner Patricia Martin, who had been a neighbor of the Conrads, helped Penny in the early stages. She was a 20-year client of veteran horseman Andrew Smith, who helped the Conrads build a horse farm and advised them on broodmare purchases at the Keeneland November Sale.
During their initial foray into the sales realm, Penny said the pedigree information in the yearling sales catalogues was “like a foreign language.”
“She could get at least her bachelor degree in that now,” Manfred joked. “She studies it every night, trust me.”
The couple works in seemingly perfect harmony, with Manfred's study of conformation serving as a compliment to Penny's pedigree knowledge.
“When we buy a horse, I want to see it walk,” Manfred said. “I may be totally off because I'm not a horse person, but I think I have a good feel for it–because sometimes when I like something, Mark seems to like it, too. But I could never really pick a horse, obviously.”
Theogony was among the Conrads' first yearling purchase, selling for more than $200,000, at the 2011 Keeneland September Sale. At the time, it was a “huge” amount of money for the Conrads.
“Andrew convinced us we needed better stock to succeed,” Manfred said. “These horses looked like there was promise that they could become good horses.”
Theogony, named for a story of the Greek gods, captured two Black Type stakes and placed in a pair of graded stakes in a 19-race career that saw her bank more than $400,000. The combination of Theogony's winnings and her recent sale for $500,000 in foal to Quality Road at Keeneland November allowed the Conrads to recoup their overall initial investment in yearlings.
Jennifer Lynnette (Elusive Quality), who the Conrads acquired for $110,000 as a Keeneland September yearling and recently sold for $575,000 at Fasig-Tipton November, won the 2017 GIII Royal North S.
Because Manfred operates Conrad Farms like a business, the decision was made to sell the two mares. The Conrads have held on to the first foal out of Theogony–a colt by Uncle Mo.
“One thing I learned is you cannot hang on to things that probably don't work out anymore,” Manfred said.
That said, the Conrads have retired their homebred State Of Honor (To Honor and Serve), who bowed a tendon running in the 2017 Prince Of Wales. Rather than give the colt time to recuperate and bring him back to the races, the Conrads decided to geld and retire him. State Of Honor gave the Conrads their first big thrill running in the Derby (finishing 19th) and then the Plate (finishing eighth). Regardless of the outcomes, the couple agreed it was the experience alone that made him so special.
“State Of Honor is our pet now,” Manfred said. “He's going to outlive us both. I'm not saying you have to give the horses away. You can keep them, but there is a point where you say if I want to be in that business [long term], I need new blood…Right now our big horse is Shamrock, but we have to aim for more Shamrocks.”
Casse, who took over as the Conrads' trainer in 2014, said he is on board with their plan.
“They just wanted to win races and do it at Woodbine,” Casse said. “For the most part it was for Canadian-breds. They wanted to run and win and have a good time. That's all they told me and we got lucky. For a small stable they've done extremely well.
“Yes, we were a long shot in the Breeders' Cup, but they were okay with that. Not every owner would run a Shamrock Rose in the Breeders' Cup. They put up a lot of money. Your average owner wouldn't do what they did. But they truly enjoy their life and are wonderful people. It's nice to win, but it's even more rewarding when you win for good people.”
According to the Conrads, their success at the World Championships was simply an ideal blend of good business and good fortune.
“That was the thrill of a lifetime, the Breeders' Cup–a dream come true,” Penny concluded.
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