Top 20 Pennsylvania Breeders of 2017

By Linda Dougherty

It was a record-setting year for Glenn E. Brok, who in 2017 collected the most Pennsylvania Breeding Fund awards in the program’s history.

Brok, who owns Diamond B Farm in Mohrsville with his wife Becky, saw his homebreds earn $374,651, while he garnered stallion awards of $75,191, for a total of $449,842. The top homebred for Brok was The Man, a son of Ecclesiastic, who formerly stood at Diamond B. He captured the Banjo Picker Sprint Stakes for Pennsylvania-breds at Parx Racing, as well as five consecutive allowance races for a perfect six-for-six season.

“The Pennsylvania breeding program has been really great for us,” Brok said. “And our program is stronger and better than other states.”

* Donald L. Brown Jr. was the second-leading breeder in Pennsylvania in 2017, with his combined breeder and stallion awards totaling $326,862. His top three award winners were all sired by the stallion Messner, who stood at Penn Ridge Farms in Harrisburg before being exported. These were Ruby Bleu ($42,127), Wildcat Cartridge ($42,806) and Wildcat Combat ($41,794).

“The Pennsylvania breeder awards give you the best opportunity to recover and possibly profit from the expenses of raising a horse,” said Brown. “Further, the awards are great for Pennsylvania agriculture! I would rather see a farm and green grass than a parking lot or strip mall.”

* It was sheer sire power for Northview-PA, as the Peach Bottom nursery owned by Richard Golden earned $321,053 in stallion awards. Dominating the Pennsylvania sire list in terms of stallion awards earned was Jump Start, whose progeny garnered $207,984. Other stallions who stand or stood at the farm were Fairbanks ($54,988), Medallist ($28,836), Love of Money ($21,298), El Padrino ($7,352), and Bullsbay ($366). Jump Start was the top sire in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2017, with total progeny earnings of more than $5.4 million. His top Pennsylvania-bred during the year was Late Breaking News, who earned more than $47,000 in awards for his breeder, Stacy McMullin Machiz.

* Thanks to a pair of stakes-winning half-sisters, the Barlar LLC stable of owner/breeder Larry Karp was the fourth-leading recipient of breeders awards in 2017. Karp’s homebreds earned $214,866 while he earned $58,431 in stallion awards from the progeny of E Dubai, for a total of $273,297. Imply, a daughter of E Dubai out of Allude, by Orientate, captured the Northern Fling Stakes at Presque Isle Downs, accruing $161,000 in breeder awards. Her younger half-sister Advert, by Lonhro, won the Malvern Rose Stakes at Presque Isle, earning $92,624 in breeder awards.

* A bevy of homebreds and a slew of stallion awards combined to boost William J. Solomon VMD, owner of Pin Oak Lane Farm in New Freedom, into fifth place of all Pennsylvania award winners last season. Solomon had 14 homebreds running at area racetracks and they earned $102,616 in breeder awards, with the top two earners being Invisible and Hygh Life. Stallion awards for horses that stand or stood at Pin Oak Lane were $162,981, for a total of $265,597, with his leading stallion being Offlee Wild ($35,159), followed by Albert the Great ($34,102).

* Thanks to the success of homebreds at Pennsylvania racetracks sired by her champion Smarty Jones, Patricia L. Chapman completed 2017 as the sixth-leading breeding fund award recipient. Chapman earned $162,409 in breeder awards and $94,120 in stallion awards, for a total of $256,529. Chapman’s top homebreds were Someday Jones, a multiple allowance winner and second in the Lyman Stakes at Parx Racing, and Mama Jones, who placed in the Plum Pretty Stakes and the Dr. Teresa Garofalo Memorial, both at Parx.

“I’m thrilled about my top award winners,” said Chapman. “The Pennsylvania Breeders Award program has been very good to me. I am especially happy that my top winners are homebreds, by a homebred, out of my homebred mares, and that both are trained by John Servis.”

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PHBA: PA Day at the Races

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Published in North American Trainer, Winter 2017 issue.

Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races 2017 kicked off Parx Racing’s fall season, and proved to be another exciting day in Pennsylvania racing. Despite the rain that threatened, then rolled in, before the first stakes race, over 80 PA-breds showed what they’re made of as they battled down the stretch in each of the card’s 10 races.

The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) treated Pennsylvania breeders and their guests, owners, and trainers to a buffet lunch, complete with a private third-floor view of the track. Keith Jones, retired NHL player, current hockey studio analyst for NBCSN, and member of competitive nature, as he has throughout his career, and never gave up. He took on his rivals in the stretch, grabbed the lead near the wire, and won with the determination that he’s known for.

Winning the Medal and his connections celebrated for the second year in a row as the six-year-old son of Medallist rallied to win his second $100,000 Marshall Jenney Stakes. Even with the race being forced off of the turf due to the nonstop rain, the gelding provided the biggest upset of the day, blasting from last at the half-mile pole and flying by his competitors to for the win. Bred by Rick Molineaux, owned by R and L Racing, and trained by Patricia Farro, he went off at 15-1, paying $32.

Ted Vanderlaan, brother to Dr. Teresa Garofalo, namesake of the fourth stakes race of the day, was in attendance to cheer on the winner and celebrate his sister. Garofalo was the treasurer of the PHBA board before she passed away in 2010 from acute myeloid leukemia. Her equine practice in West Chester, Smokey’s Run Farm, focused on equine reproduction, and the stakes in her name is a special one to the PHBA. The winner, three-year-old Grand Prix -- a half-sister to 2016 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint-G1 winner Finest City -- had her own cheering section with breeder and owner Hank Nothhaft and the crew that traveled to Pennsylvania to watch the filly run. Under jockey Jose Ferrer, the daughter of Tale of the Cat went to the front after the first sixteenth of a mile and never looked back to win by a length and a half. Grand Prix won the New Start Stakes at Penn National back in June, and the win in the Garofalo gives her a second black-type win.

As the rain continued to fall, the $100,000 Mrs. Penny Stakes for fillies and mares aged three and up, was also moved off the turf. Jockey Brian Pedroza and four-year-old filly Great Soul, by Great Notion, opened a three-length lead with an eighth of a mile to go and held off latecomer Imply for a close win. Great Soul was bred and is owned by Steve and Jane Long, and trained by Tom Proctor.

We extend a sincere thank you to all of our members and guests who attended, as well as the board members and special guests who presented the gifts in each race. We’re looking forward to a successful and productive 2018 breeding season and wish everyone the best of luck in the coming year. Visit www.pabred.com for a full gallery of the day’s photos!

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Keeping it all together! The Pennsylvania Breeding Fund

First published in North American Trainer issue 44 - May - July 2017

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