By Bill Finley
Tom Mullikin, who runs Mullikin Farm with his wife Michelle, admits he doesn't have the assets to compete at the highest level of the breeding business.
“I'm the son of a Washington DC deputy fire chief and Michelle is the daughter of a retired air force pilot,” Mullikin said. “We are not working off a trust fund. We're mom and pop. We do everything ourselves, from foaling mares to mucking stalls. A lot of the mares we get are handed down or gifted to us.”
That's not the easiest way to make it in the breeding business, but the Mullikins have a good eye for talent and are not afraid to take a chance. That's how they got the mare Peace Opportunity (Point of Entry), who has been put up for sale as part of Fasig-Tipton's October Digital Sale. The sale concludes Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET. Machmer Hall Sales is the consignor.
They were given the mare for free, with the only expense being that they had to pay the cost of shipping her to their Paris, Kentucky farm. Peace Opportunity made just one career start, finishing second in a 2018 maiden special weight race at Aqueduct.
“The filly came to us from Marette Farrell,” Mullikin explained. “Marette had this filly bought as a yearling and thought she had a lot of talent. She had one start and then wound up getting hurt. The connections didn't want to go on with her or breed her. She was looking for an out and was talking to [Machmer Hall's] Carrie [Brogden] and that's where I came in. We thought she had a good pedigree.”
It wasn't the first time that Mullikin would connect with Brogden and pick up the type of mare who was not going to impress the most deep-pocketed buyers.
“Carrie and Craig [Brogden] have an elite broodmare band of their own,” Mullikin said. “They also have mares that don't meet their criteria. They're like the Yankees and I'm the Toledo Mud Hens. It may not work for them, but it works for me.”
The Mullikins teamed up with another friend, Chris Baker, and bred Peace Opportunity to Funtastic. As it turned out, her first foal could run. His name is First Peace (Funtastic) and he's a three-time stakes winner coming off a victory in the $750,000 GII Eddie D S. at Santa Anita. That increased his career earnings to $778,020.
“You hear a lot of stories where horseman say they knew the horse was going to be good right from the start,” Mullikin said. “I always thought that was a lot of BS. But I can honestly say that I told Chris this colt was special. He has confidence, he was intelligent and independent. There was a certain air about him. It's like when you go see a Little League game. You can tell right away which kids stand out and are special.”
The Mullikins are not in the racing business, so they and their co-breeder Baker sold First Peace as a short yearling at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton February Mixed sale for just $15,000.
His racing career would go a long way toward establishing a value for Peace Opportunity. It didn't take him long to prove that he was a lot more than just another horse without a splashy pedigree. He broke his maiden in his third start and then finished third in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille S. at Del Mar. He picked up his first stakes win two starts later in the John Shear S.
The Mullikins and Baker had let an eventual Grade II winner get away for just $15,000 at auction, but they still had his dam. And when First Peace won the Eddie D, the team felt the timing was perfect to sell Peace Opportunity. She is Hip 24.
“After he won the Eddie D, I wanted to get ahead of the other sales, the November mixed sales,” Mullikin said. “The digital sale itself is a great format. Peace Opportunity is as easy going as can be. You could drop her off in Times Square and she wouldn't blink an eye. But it's often the case where a lot of stress is involved when shipping a mare to a sale. I like the idea of letting them stay in the field with her buddies. Hopefully, they'll garner attention and people can visit and inspect them here at the farm.
“I like this format, especially for mares or even for weanlings or short yearlings. You may have something that may not be top shelf that you can shop at a digital sale and get some looks. It's the ease of the format that is really appealing.”
Peace Opportunity will sell in foal to Gunite.
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