Murphy's Success No Exaggeration

When Joe Murphy purchased the 350-acre Stoneleigh Farm 13 years ago, the Lexington businessman admitted the land was mostly for “relaxation,” but the operation hit the big time as the breeder of multiple Grade I winner Exaggerator (Curlin) and again when selling that star's half-sister by Medaglia d'Oro for $1.3 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale last August. Murphy returns to Saratoga next week with a yearling full-sister to Exaggerator who sells as hip 206 through the Warrendale Sales consignment during Tuesday's second session of the auction.

Murphy, who owns Buds Gun Shop and Range, credits his father, J.B. Murphy, with his interest in racing and breeding.

“It pretty much all started with my dad,” Murphy said. “He was always around horses and he got involved in the Thoroughbred business in the mid-80s. He bought a mare and bred her and his intention was to sell the offspring, but he got too attached and decided to keep them and started racing them. He did that through the late 80s and early 90's and then got out of the business.”

Murphy purchased Stoneleigh Farm in Paris in 2006, but racing and breeding wasn't originally in the plan.

“I bought the farm with the intention of just having the green space,” he explained. “But then I kind of got the bug and decided to buy a few mares.”

The fledgling breeding operation soon became a partnership between Murphy and the man who had first introduced him to the sport.

“I started buying some mares and my dad realized that I probably didn't know what I was doing, so he said, 'I'll tell you what. I'll split the mares with you.' So we started going in 50-50 on them and that's where I am today.”

Murphy and his father partnered to purchase then 3-year-old Dawn Raid (Vindication) for $50,000 at the 2008 Keeneland November sale. The filly raced in their colors just once, finishing a well-beaten seventh in a Turfway optional claimer that December.

“We sent Dawn Raid to Ken McPeek and she really didn't perform very well,” Murphy said. “We didn't know if she had a breathing issue or what, so we sent her to Rood and Riddle [Equine Hospital] and they did a treadmill test with her. They said she was the fastest horse that they'd had on a treadmill. My dad was trying to find a treadmill race and he couldn't find any, so we decided to breed her.”

Exaggerator, who was Dawn Raid's third foal, sold for $110,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The dark bay went on to win the 2016 GI Preakness S., GI Haskell Invitational and GI Santa Anita Derby. He was second behind Nyquist (Uncle Mo) in the GI Kentucky Derby.

Asked if there were mixed emotions in watching a horse he had bred have such success on the track, Murphy said pragmatically, “I went up to the Derby and watched him and that was really exciting and we went up to the [GI] Belmont [S.]. It was a really fun experience. But the way I look at it, if we had owned him, he probably wouldn't have been where he was. That's just Murphy's law. I was just glad for the success of the owners.”

The Murphys campaigned Dawn Raid's Pioneerof the Nile filly Nile Queen, who was claimed away before Exaggerator made headlines.

“My dad was miffed about that,” Murphy said of the claim. “I tried to claim her back–this was when Exaggerator was a 2-year-old and he was starting to get hot. She was entered in a claiming race and I had it set up to try and put a claim on her, but they ended up scratching her and she didn't race again. They ended up breeding her [to Bernardini] and flipping her for $525,000 [at the 2016 Keeneland November sale].”

The father-son team have maintained one member of the family for their two-horse broodmare band partnership. Dawn Raid's 3-year-old daughter Mischieviousmaximus (Curlin) will be bred next year.

“She cracked her sesamoid last year,” Murphy said of the unraced filly. “We thought, with the way she was progressing, we could probably race her and there was a chance, but it really wasn't worth the risk. Dr. [Larry] Bramlage thought there was a good percentage that she would reinjure it, so we just decided to turn her out. I wasn't in any rush to breed her, so she's just been enjoying the grass.”

Exaggerator's six-figure yearling price tag was the most Murphy had ever sold a horse for–until last year's Saratoga sale when Phoenix Thoroughbreds made the final bid of $1.3 million to acquire the filly now named Morning Dream (Medaglia d'Oro).

“It was really neat,” Murphy said of the experience. “My dad's health is marginal. So my wife and I went a couple days before and then I flew my dad up the day of the sale. As the numbers kept getting higher, my dad was sitting there saying, 'We shouldn't have sold her. We shouldn't have sold her.' And my mom was sitting next to him and she was saying, 'Thank you, Jesus.' She is a CPA and she's seen the numbers, from back in the '80s when he was involved, and she works on my finances–being in this industry can be tough. He was struggling letting go and she was all excited that we'd finally broken even.”

Murphy admitted last year's success will be difficult to duplicate with Exaggerator's full-sister this year.

“This filly looks really, really good and I think she'll do well,” Murphy said of Dawn Raid's Curlin yearling. “But I'd say it would be hard to top last year.”

Dawn Raid produced a colt by Medaglia d'Oro this year and Murphy has high expectations for the weanling.

“He looks phenomenal,” Murphy said of the foal. “The wise thing would probably be to sell him, depending on my dad's temperature. He's 83 years old and, like I said, he doesn't really like to sell anything. So I don't know what we'll do. Chances are we will sell him, but there is still a possibility that we might keep him.”

In addition to the two mares he owns in partnership with his father, Murphy also has two mares of his own with the main goal of breeding to sell.

“Our intent is to sell–that's why I got into it,” he explained. “It was more for the breeding. I don't mind racing, but it's really hard to make money on the racing side. But if we have something we think is quality and we aren't going to get the right price, we'll keep and race it and see what happens.”

Murphy downsized Stoneleigh Farm three years ago, selling 300 acres to Archie St. George.

“I've got a little over 50 acres,” he said. “It's more manageable. Even before I sold to Archie, I probably still had the same number of horses and was using almost the same space that I use now. But it's taken some of the pressure off, I don't have to worry about mowing or neighbors complaining about fencing or anything like that.”

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings will be held next Monday and Tuesday at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. Each sessions begins at 6:30 p.m.