Stokes of Good Luck

When Beryl “Sonny” Stokes, Jr. retired from his family's seafood company after 55 years at the helm, the Floridian was in search of a hobby and his son-in-law, former Quarter Horse jockey Leroy McClurge, introduced him to the pinhooking game. What started out with a small investment in a single horse some seven years ago has only gotten bigger, culminating this spring with the $400,000 sale of a colt by Goldencents at the OBS March sale. Stokes will be hoping the run of good luck continues when he offers eight yearlings at the upcoming Keeneland September Sale, even as his yearling-to-juvenile pinhooking partner Hoby Kight shops for another crop of youngsters ahead of another round of juvenile auctions next year.

“I was looking for something to do and Leroy called me up one day and said, 'I've got a horse here and a guy wants to sell half of it. I wondered if you'd want to buy half a horse,'” he recalled. “I asked, 'How much is it going to cost.' and he said, '$2,750.' So I said OK. We bought the horse and then sold it for $10,000. I got half of that and I thought, there is nothing to this, let's try it again.”

Stokes added with a chuckle, “And this from a guy who didn't know which part of a horse was supposed to go first.”

McClurge and Stokes continued to partner for the next few years, expanding a bit each season.

“My son-in-law decided to buy another a horse the next season, which he did, and we made a little money on that,” he said. “So the next year we bought two or three. We didn't lose any money, we didn't make very much, but I just kept going on.”

McClurge made the introduction to veteran pinhooker Kight last year.

“Leroy had known him for years and used to work for him,” Stokes said. “I asked Leroy if Hoby might buy a horse for me and train him. It just so happened, Hoby had lost the guy who had partnered with him and he asked me if I wanted to partner with him. So I said, 'Sure.' That was last year, so we've been partners for two seasons.”

At last year's September sale, Stokes and McClurge paid $115,000 for a son from the first crop of two-time GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents.

“Last year, Leroy started training the Goldencents and a Curlin and another horse that we hadn't sold from the year before,” Stokes said. “But he was kicked in the forearm and broke his arm, so he had to quit training. I gave the horses to Hoby and he finished training them and put them in the sale for us.”

The Goldencents colt (hip 567) turned heads at the OBS March sale when he zipped a quarter in :20 1/5 before selling to Winchell Thoroughbreds for $400,000. Named Bano Solo, the youngster was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' with a debut victory at Churchill Downs in June.

“I was hoping that might happen,” Stokes said of the March result. “Everybody in the business keeps hoping for the big one, I guess.”

Last November, Stokes purchased nine yearlings. Eight have been entered in the September sale, while one is scheduled to sell at the Fasig-Tipton October sale. His September Book 1 offerings include a filly by Into Mischief (hip 38), a $100,000 purchase at the Keeneland November sale who is consigned by Eaton Sales; a Union Rags colt (hip 281) acquired for $75,000 who is consigned by Woodford Thoroughbreds; a City Zip colt (hip 739) purchased for $52,000 and consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency; and a Ghostzapper filly (hip 851) acquired for $57,000 and consigned by Eaton Sales.

“They are the best crop I've ever had,” Stokes said. “So I'm hoping they do well, but a lot can change. This business is the most undependable type of thing that I've ever gotten into. You think you've got something and the buyers who don't like it, so you don't have anything really. But everybody has seen the horses has complimented me on them. They say they are a nice group of horses.”

Asked if he pinhooked both weanlings as yearlings to diversify his investment, Stokes admitted, “Well that a little. But I just like the little babies for one thing. I love watching them grow and mature. And they go fast and it's amazing watching them play in the paddock and the fields. It's just a thrill to me. My daughter Lauren and Leroy have moved into a farm in Summerfield, just south of Ocala. They have 17 acres and 11 paddocks and a nice barn. They have three of my weanlings. They raised them. In fact, I'm picking them up tomorrow and we're going to take them up to Keeneland. We'll be up there Thursday morning with three babies for the sale.”

While shopping for weanlings last fall, Stokes decided to add a broodmare to his portfolio, purchasing Forestry's Magic (Forestry) (hip 516) for $50,000.

“Last year, Hoby and I were at the November sale and I said, 'You know, I'd kind of like to buy a mare. My daughter would love to have a baby on the farm. So we bought one and left it up in Kentucky and foaled it out in February and got a beautiful little Super Saver colt which I am going to put in the weanling sale in November.”

“I'm just a novice who doesn't know what he's doing,” Stokes, who started working at the Stokes Fish Company his father opened in 1930 when he got out of the Air Force in 1954, said humbly. “But I've learned a lot and the Lord's been good to me, I guess. I try not to make dumb mistakes. But in this business, nothing is certain, that's for sure.”

In addition to his sale offerings at Keeneland in the next two weeks, Stokes will be walking the barns with Kight.

“I'll be at the sale, I walk the barns,” he said. “I'm kind of old to be doing it, but I love it. Hoby has an unusual eye and I'm not there by any means. I'm a long way from being there. He can spot one a mile off. But I just don't see what he sees, I don't see with his eye. That's for sure. So I'm grateful to have him, because without him, I wouldn't have much success. I guarantee it.”

The Keeneland September sale starts next Monday with the first of four Book 1 sessions beginning at 11 a.m. After a dark day Friday, the sale resumes again Saturday at 10 a.m.