It's early, but maybe not too early to start dreaming of the GI Kentucky Derby. At least it's not for owner Richard Rigney. Rigney is the owner of 'TDN Rising Star' Jonathan's Way (Vekoma), the winner of last Saturday's GIII Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs, the first of many races that award Derby points to the top five finishers. Making his second career start after overcoming trouble to win a maiden at Saratoga, Jonathan's Way was an impressive winner, suggesting there could be bigger and better triumphs in his future.
To discuss Jonathan's Way and the recent success his stable has had, Rigney was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland.
So does he already have a case of Derby Fever?
“Absolutely,” he said. “I had Derby Fever about a year ago with this horse. So I'm real excited about him. He's quite a horse. The horse was purchased as a weanling by John Moynihan in the November sale at Keeneland. While we've always liked the horse, we were at one time considering maybe doing some pinhooking, selling him as a yearling or maybe at a 2-year-old sale. But this was such a nice physical for us that we decided that there was no way that we were going to put the horse up for sale, which is actually kind of unusual for us.”
Rigney did not get off to a good start in this business. With Phil Bauer as his private trainer, he launched Rigney Racing LLC in 2013. In the first four years of its existence Rigney won only 17 races. In 2023, Rigney won 33 races with earnings of $3,924,319, and now the stable includes one of the most highly-regarded 2-year-olds in the game. Rigney said the turnaround came when he hired bloodstock agent John Moynihan to pick out his horses at the sales.
“John's made a world of a difference,” Rigney said. “When I was starting in this business and when Phil and I went out together, I figured I was a successful business man, with a successful business. I make flavors [for liquor] and I've done well. I've been doing this for 30-some-odd-years and I've never had a salesperson working for my business. I figured I could do just as well in the racing business. But Phil and I were just miserable about picking horses. We were terrible.
“When it comes to adding John to the team, I felt a little bit bad about it at first because I was a little concerned that it was going to diminish my value as part of the Rigney Racing. Here's this guy who's going to take over and be in charge of picking out our yearlings. But it was the best thing that ever happened. John can really pick out an athlete.”
Bauer, of course deserves credit, as well. A former assistant to Kenny McPeek, he has blossomed as Rigney's private trainer.
“Phil and I, we have very similar personalities,” Rigney said. “So it was easy for us to be close friends. I thought that I wouldn't mind growing this business, but if I'm going to grow this business I would like to do it with you, Phil. So he agreed to come to work for me. We had some rough years at first. This business can be really difficult. Our first five years we were doing terrible and I was getting phone calls from other trainers asking if I'd let Phil go and hire them. I never would have done that. I will always be with Phil.”
In our breeding spotlight section, we looked at the WinStar stallion Independence Hall.
TDN European Editor Emma Berry gave an overview of the major upcoming yearling sales in Europe in the 'News You Can Use' segment sponsored by Darley.
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar, XBTV.com and Darley, the team of Randy Moss, T.D. Thornton and Bill Finley reviewed the major races from last week and zeroed in on the four Grade I events offered at Woodbine. They also previewed the upcoming GI Pennsylvania Derby and GI Cotillion Stakes at Parx, and caught up with the latest news on the Keeneland September Sale.
Click here to watch the Writers' Room and here to view the show as a podcast.
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