West Point Thoroughbreds

 Busy Days for Finley, West Point Thoroughbreds

After owning a share of 2017 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Always Dreaming , there's a high bar of success for West Point Thoroughbreds.

So the week of March 11-17 was not the ultimate experience for the prominent racing partnership, but it was surely memorable. West Point saddled runners in two Triple Crown preps March 16, and a spending spree at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale included the $2 million sale topper.


"We're feeling good about what we're doing, but the pressure is on us to succeed," said West Point founder and CEO Terry Finley, whose group bought 10 horses at the Ocala sale for a combined $4.415 million.

On the racetrack, West Point was represented by graded stakes winner Gunmetal Gray and the California-bred Galilean in separate divisions of the $750,000 Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park. Galilean finished third in the first division, 2 1/2 lengths behind longshot winner Long Range Toddy, and Gunmetal Gray closed from 10th to get up for fourth, a little more than nine lengths behind Omaha Beach, who beat 2-year-old champion Game Winner by a nose.

The results boosted Gunmetal Gray, who won the Sham Stakes (G3) in January, to 21.75 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard and gave Galilean 7.5 points, keeping both 3-year-olds on course for the May 4 Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs.


"When you are on the Triple Crown trail, you have to run OK or better. It's pretty straightforward," Finley said. "We're in a decent spot with both horses in terms of points, but they have to run better in April in order to merit running in the Kentucky Derby."

Though both colts are based in California and trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Finley said Galilean, a son of Uncle Mo  owned by West Point, Denise Barker, and William Sandbrook who is 29th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, will probably ship east to Keeneland to run in the April 6 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2).

Gunmetal Gray, also owned by Hollendorfer and Pearl Racing, is 10th on the leaderboard and is scheduled to make his next start in the April 6 Santa Anita Derby (G1) at Santa Anita Park.


On March 19, both colts arrived back at Santa Anita, where racing has been canceled until March 29 because of the deaths of 22 horses during the California track's winter meet that began Dec. 26. Finley called the situation at Santa Anita "tragic," but after conferring with West Point's West Coast trainers (Hollendorfer, John Sadler, and John Shirreffs), he said the partnership will continue racing there.

"I have confidence in the track at Santa Anita, and I glean that from our trainers. They have breezed horses over the track and are OK with it. The numbers are the numbers, and the situation has been tragic out there, but they made some tweaks," Finley said. "These trainers put their heart and soul into our business. They work seven days a week, 365 days a year. Our trainers probably have a combined experience of about 140 years in the sport, and I am definitely going to pay attention to them a lot more readily than the rancor you see online.

"The trainers told me to be calm, that we all have to deal with it, and we need to continue making progress in terms of a laser-like focus on the horses and finding out what's on the horizon that can help them. No one has all the answers and it's not an overnight fix, but you keep enhancing the protocols and you keep looking at different ways to make sure things are as good as they can be when these horses perform in the mornings and afternoons. We have no choice but to get better and improve the statistics we are dealing with."

Finley also said he heard encouraging words from his trainers about Santa Anita retaining the services of highly regarded track man Dennis Moore this month. Moore served as Santa Anita's track superintendent from 2014 through Dec. 31, 2018, and has spent more than 35 years working at the Arcadia, Calif., track.

"Dennis garners the utmost respect, and our trainers talked about the merits of bringing him back," Finley said. "He owns that track. It's his baby, and he has a great team working for him. He has kept his cool and went to work, and that's what we need."

Finley added that the situation has prompted him to analyze how West Point conducts its business at racing venues across the country.


"The situation scared the hell out of me, and one of the things we've done is to self-evaluate. We have 10 years of data to study about where we bought horses, who we bought horses from, where we ran them, which trainers we used, how long the horses raced, who had short careers, and who had long careers," Finley said. "We are also having heart-to-heart conversations with our trainers, telling them that they should be crystal clear with me about the times they felt pressure from us about running. We're going to have more of those conversations. I want to do my part, and I want our company to do its part in trying to figure out how to deal with these problems. If we can do something to help, we want to be supercognizant of it."

At the Ocala sale, Finley said the amount spent on 10 horses, including two fillies, was a record for West Point and its outside partners at a single sale.

"It was the first (2-year-old) sale of the year. We had a lot of money burning in our pocket. We have been able to attract a good number of people who are new to the business that want to play at the highest end of the game. Their orders are very clear about that. They want to race on Saturdays, and everything came together," Finley said. "Like a lot of things in life, you get into a zone or flow, and we really, really liked the horses we whittled down to. We bid on 11 of them and bought 10. Usually, the percentage isn't that high. We didn't come into the sale thinking we'd spend (more than) $4.4 million, but we'll be strong at the Fasig-Tipton sale (March 27 at Gulfstream Park) as well."

The sale topper that went to West Point and partners Rob Masiello and Siena Farm is a son of three-time leading sire Tapit  and the first foal from dual grade 1 winner Artemis Agrotera. Breeders Chester and Mary Broman retained a share of the New York-bred, and Finley said Lane's End also bought a share of the prized colt.

Named Chestertown, the colt will be trained by Steve Asmussen, who also trained Untapable, a daughter of Tapit who captured the 2014 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) and Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), among other top-level races, and was named that year's champion 3-year-old filly.

"We have a 3-year-old filly (Excess Capacity) we bought with Sol Kumin that is trained by Steve, and he's the Tapit man. Everything fell into place, and he loved the colt," Finley said. "He's a New York-bred, so I imagine the pressure is going to be on at (Saratoga Race Course) when we walk him into the paddock to face state-breds. But they don't give anything away, even in the state-bred ranks, and he'll have to come out with his running shoes on."

West Point also bought the filly with the highest price tag at the March sale, paying $850,000 for a daughter of first-year sire The Big Beast  out of the Trippi mare Lucky Trip. The filly will be trained by Sadler, and, according to Finley, Hronis Racing also owns a share of the Florida-bred filly.

Other West Point purchases at Ocala:

A $475,000 son of Lemon Drop Kid ;

A $350,000 colt from the first crop of Tapiture  who will be trained by George Weaver;

A $250,000 Include  colt headed to Sadler's barn;

A $185,000 colt from first-year sire Carpe Diem  whose second dam produced champion Lady Eli; 

A $115,000 Paynter  filly;

A $70,000 Louisiana-bred son of Ice Box ;

A Brethren  colt bought for $60,000;

A $60,000 New York state-bred son of Commissioner  who will be trained by Danny Gargan.

"We bought 10 2-year-olds at Ocala, and we bought 15 yearlings (in 2018)," said Finley, who paid $1.35 million for a Medaglia d'Oro  colt named Sedgwick who was the sale topper at The Saratoga Sale last year. "I would think we'll end up with 15 more and have about 40 2-year-olds this year. We're excited about it, but it's not an easy road, even with really good prospects. There are more people who want to win big races than big races."