Post by Isabelle on Oct 1, 2015 12:51:48 GMT -5
OCTOBER 2015 STABLE INTERVIEW WITH GRAYSON MEADOWS (CREATIVECAUSE)
Wow! What a spirited interview I just had over at Grayson Meadows. The staff is certainly energetic and full of life, it's no wonder they have the likes of Call Me Crooked, Passion Heart, and others. It's no wonder they like to focus on sprinting, they all seem to have such a spark to get things going right away-no waiting for them. GM was just beautiful with the leaves turning as Autumn has encroached, please enjoy the latest edition of the stable interviews! Please feel free to give comments and questions at the end of the article, I will be sure to pass them on to any of the GM staff to respond to.
Isabelle: I must say I am definitely eager for this interview Mr. Grayson, Grayson Meadows is one the top racing stables around these days. I can hardly wait to visit the stables and meet all those gorgeous track stars close up. Before we get there though, can you tell me a little bit about the beginning of GM? When the foundation was laid, and how the racing itself began?
TG: Well we’re glad to have you Isabelle. Grayson Meadows began as more of a hobby for my grandparents. They had owned a few racehorses previously that ran at small tracks like Fonner Park. They wanted something bigger though, so they bought an acreage with a barn that if you took so much as a step into it, it would collapse. Least to say one day when I was eighteen I got a little curious and walked into it to see what was inside it and found myself in quite a pickle when it started falling down. -chuckles- Anyways, they built Grayson Meadows and from there it’s just sort of grown into what it is today. Along the way I popped up and ended up as a co-owner of the stable. We received our first horses in March of year fourteen and we’ve been racing ever since.
Isabelle: We're glad you made it out of that pickle! I am aware that your parents died in a car crash when you just ten years old. That must have been devastating for you. You have done some amazing things in your career at such a young age without parents. How do you feel about being in such a demanding position at your age? Do you find anyone looking down on you for it?
TG: -nods- Well, for one thing my grandparents weren’t all to happy that I opted to run a family business rather than do normal things such as go to college. However they knew they couldn’t keep me away from Grayson Meadows, I’ve always loved the sport and I’ve dedicated the majority of my life to learning everything I can about the sport. It’s been a lifelong passion and I’m getting to live my dream every day, I really can’t complain.
Isabelle: Sounds like that support through adversity really helped you make the choices you felt were best for you. What does GM focus on, any particular surface, furlong lengths, or bloodlines? Besides winning of course, what sort of objectives and goals do you have?
TG: We’re currently focused on the sprinting distances. And as for bloodlines, we do seem to hoard Blood of the Angel and Cryin’ Out Loud lines. Currently we have set our sights on improving the sprinting lines at Green Horse Fields and The Wire as much as we possibly can.
Isabelle: Well you can scoot some ideas on over to NDM, we're lacking a bit in our sprinting lines. Only the recent season here or so have we been using sprinters more, so definitely give us a call sometime. Please explain the basic roster you hold, do you like to campaign racers for a few years or hold them on longer? Do you prefer racing or breeding more, and what are your future plans for bloodline stock?
TG: -looks behind at all GM ponies looking out of their stalls with ears perked in interest-
We have a bit of everything I guess, although the majority of our roster are sprinters, and turf runners. We usually campaign racers for just a few years then retire them, but if we feel there is more potential then we’ll run them another year. Examples being Tears Of An Angel and Passion Heart. I personally prefer racing as I quite enjoy the thrill of it, whether I’m on a horse's back, or standing in the grandstands, as an owner, it's always so thrilling to watch and know that you're a part of it.
And as for future breeding plans, -smirks- I suppose I could tell you a few of them. We’ve got a Dylan Himself foal out of Union Jaque planned for year sixteen, the last Beyond the Limits foal is planned for year sixteen. Oh! and we have a Dare to Impress foal by Worldbreaker planned for year sixteen as well. And if we want to get really, really far down the road, we have another Passion Heart foal sired by Hokum coming up in year seventeen, Cryin’ Out Loud will be having his final foal out of Call Me Crooked in year seventeen as well. We also managed to snag up a Sun King breeding, so Allouette Divine will be visiting him in year seventeen.
Isabelle: Sounds exciting! Thanks for the dish, I look forward to see those fuzzies in person someday. In what areas does your staff shine, are they any you would like recognize? How long have you worked with them, are you looking to expand your staff?
TG: Sam does a fantastic job handling our horses no matter what age, even if he does have a sailors mouth. Our jockeys Alex Shade and Andrew Martin absolutely kill it out on the track, and our apprentice jockeys Jessie Coppermen and my sister Hadley are both on their way to bright future careers. We’re still looking into hiring some more people yet, but for now our small staff is pretty incredible.
Isabelle: I can see Steve Wilson and Aaron Evertt over there giving us the eye, I think they would like to join us. Welcome you two, would you like to say a few words and join us for a while?
TG: -waves for them to come over- This is Isabelle. Now don’t say something stupid -chuckles-
AE: It’s about time you got us some publicity kid, you can’t expect the horses to do it all on their own.
SW: shush Aaron, -puts out hand to shake Isabelle's hand- nice to meet you.
AE: -punches lightly in the arm- You’re stealing my spotlight. -extends hand to Isabelle-
SW: Your spotlight? I was being polite.
AE: Hey now, I trained a Turf Triple Sprinter Crown winner, I deserve the spotlight.
SW: I trained her in her two year old season before you’re name was even heard of.
AE: Well she won a triple with me, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!
TG: -rolls eyes- We hired Aaron earlier this year to take over our sprinters training. I actually teamed the two of them up on Wishing For A Heroine to see what would happen, so far it's gone fairly well. Normally they’re a lot better behaved. -glares-
AE: Umm
SW: ....
Isabelle: -laughs- It's nice to see you all like to play together. Everyone will get a chance to have the spotlight, so let's settle and talk a little more in depth. What would you three consider the greatest assets of GM in terms of staff, training, facilities and general operations, not including the horses? Are there any areas you don't agree on specifically, or do you all have like minds?
TG: Well, we have our own training track which is new to this year, and that’s definitely helped, and it’s saved us quite a bit of money.
SW: Overall, for being such a large stable with so little staff, we’re run very well and very efficiently.
TG: I should have gray hairs by now, but thankfully as Steve said our staff is very good at getting everything done and where it needs to be.
AE: As for disagreements. We disagree on a lot of things all the time. Steve and I both come from different training back grounds and finding ways to make our training skills and knowledge of the sport come together can be rather challenging but we seem to make it work, and as you can see it’s done very well.
TG: I usually can diffuse a situation if it gets too heated, but we’re overall very open to each other's ideas the majority of the time, so we all work together pretty well.
Isabelle: I think some of the best situations come out having to fight for it, it makes the fighters build a more solid foundation and feel out the cracks and problems to really solidify the end result better. Ms. Evertt, what makes you passionate about GM? What brought you here in the beginning? What drives you in your career and how does GM support that?
AE: I would say the horses themselves do, they love this sport so much and when you have a horse that is so passionate about running it makes my job that much more enjoyable. These horses are like your kids, you get to watch them grow and for me it makes me very proud to watch them blossom into the animals they are today. I watched a filly by the name of Call Me Crooked romp in The Wire’s Follow The Hoofprints Juvenile Turf Sprint and I can remember thinking, man, what would it be like to have a filly like that in your training barn? I followed a few of their horses and when a job opening popped up I jumped on it. I came from a smaller stable that had a few good horses but it really wasn’t the environment I wanted to be in. So when I got the job at GM I was ecstatic, I was nervous but I was going to get to train some of the very horses I followed and loved. I mean I’ve trained winners of Triple Sprinter crown legs, a Breeders’ Cup race winner, and multiple horse of the year race winners. It’s incredible.
Isabelle: Sounds like a dream come true for you! Has GM won any stable awards? Do you have any HOF or BHOF horses residing with you? If so, where they ones you campaigned or did you acquire them once their status was already established?
TG: We’ve won the Y15 Stable Faceoff, and Y14 most improved stable. We currently have Breeding Hall Of Fame inductee Beyond The Limits, and we acquired him earlier this year at a rehoming sale. We do have a few prospects for the hall of fame and breeding hall of fame though.
Isabelle: I'd love to get a tour of the racing stables now, perhaps Mr. Wilson would like to be my guide through the older racehorse barn first? Please tell me about your stars, the ones who will be going to breeding in the next year or so. Which should be watched in particular and why? I personally have sought out an early breeding reserve on Daddy's Overdraft, how is she coming along?
SW: Of course. -motions for Isa to follow-
-stops in front of Allouette Divine’s stall-
-Divie pokes her nose out and lets out a blood curdling squeal of excitement and quickly looks from Isa to Steve-
Isabelle: Well hello to you too! -laughs-
SW: Ouch... Anyways, this is Allouette Divine she’ll be headed off to the breeding shed at the end of the season after she makes a run in the breeders’ cup. She’ll be bred to Tears of Blood. She’s out of unknown lines, so we really don’t know exactly what to expect of her in the breeding shed, but she’s got lovely confirmation so we’re hoping for the best.
-stops in front of Daddy’s Overdraft who is pacing in her stall but comes right to the door when she spots Steve and Isa-
SW: This is the famed Daddy’s Overdraft, -sneaks her a peppermint- she’s one of my personal favorites around the barn, her sweet and willing personality has made her a pleasure to train. She’ll return to the track and race through her five year old season, she still has quite a bit of fight left in her and I think next year this is going to be a horse you’ll want to watch out for in the older turf horse division. Overall, she’s setting herself up very nicely for some huge wins next season.
Isabelle: Keep goin' girl, then later you can make me a very pretty foal just like you -gives her a pat-
-continues to Dry Your Tears stall where the little filly is waiting for them with her head stretched as far out of the stall as her body can allow her-
SW: Here's another barn favorite, Dry Your Tears. We’re currently leasing her from Nature Blues Stable, although I know Hadley and Tanner would love for us to steal her. We’re not too sure exactly what they want to do with her, but if they want us to run her another year we’d be more than happy to race her through her five or six year old season. -pats filly on neck-
Isabelle: -gives pretty filly some ear rubs and a chunk of apple-
-motions for Isa to follow and steps in front of Dare to Impress’s stall-
SW: Here we have a BC race winner, and a turf triple crown near misser, Dare To Impress. She’s been on quite the struggle bus as of late, but she’s coming out of it. She’s hot off a horse of the year race win at Battlestone Downs and she’s ready to take a few more before her season is over. She always pulls through for us when the race is huge, she’ll be returning to the BC filly and mare turf this season to see if she can’t pull off a back-to-back win. She’ll retire after that and be bred to Worldbreaker for the year sixteen season.
-dodges a nip from Imp and continues to Wishing for a Heroine’s stall-
SW: Heroine isn’t in here right now, she’s off burning off some energy in the pasture, we usually try not to stall her for long amounts of time because she works herself up so much. Daddy’s Overdraft used to be the same way, but she’s coming down as she ages more. Heroine may be going to the breeders’ cup depending on how she does the rest of season, if she goes we’ll probably retire her after if not she’ll race the first half of Y16, we’re still thinking about who to breed her to upon retirement.
-walks down to Tears of an Angel’s stall-
SW: Here we have what may be a future Hall of Fame inductee depending on how the rest of her season goes. We decide to keep her running because she didn’t get much of a chance last season, she wasn’t supposed to be in the Breeders Cup last year but because of a lack of entries we figured getting her some high-class race experience wouldn’t hurt, and well, she won when she was in what was quite possibly the worst form of her career. With that in mind, we knew she was something dangerous so we kept her running and look at her now. she’s won half her races and has been killing it all year. She’s going to retire after the Breeders’ Cup and be bred to Forbidden To Fly for year sixteen.
Isabelle: -gives her a little snuggle- Now for the three year olds, perhaps Mr. Grayson would like to chime in on these guys. Do you have a favorite for this year? I've been interested in Call Me Crooked's astonishing career, as I am the owner of her half sister Crooked Intentions.
TG: Definitely. -leads Isa to Crook’s stall-
TG: Here she is, the superstar sprinter herself. She’s been nothing short of amazing all season as I’m sure you could tell. She’s set very high standards for whomever is going to precede her in winning the turf triple sprinter crown. She’s definitely not slowing down much, she just ran a bullet work the other day and as you can see she isn’t hindered by it at all.
-Crook stomps at a fly and paces in her stall before letting out a squeal and twitching her ears in annoyance because no one is petting her-
Isabelle: -complies and gives many pets and rubs to pretty girl whispering sweet nothings to her-
TG: Don’t tell Fly, but I think she’s my favorite three year old. She’s very quirky and throws tantrums all the time but watching her run is incredible. -pats Crook’s neck- She’ll be taking on the older mares and colts in the Breeder's Cup Turf Sprint. That or she’ll be taking Tears of an Angel’s place in the Filly and Mare Turf Sprint.
-walks down to other stalls-
In these two we have Chatoyant and the gutsy Honorary. Both have been slow to win this year but I think next year will be the year that you see something big from the two of them. Tayo did win the first leg of the Sprinter Triple Crown, not too shabby for the competition he was facing. Neither of them are slated to go to the Breeder's Cup, I think everyone is in agreement that they aren’t ready for that level of competition yet.
-stops at stall with another grey filly who nuzzles Isa's shoulder before poking tanner in the chin with her nose-
Isabelle: Awwww -gives girl a big hug and a chunk of apple- Such a sweetheart! -begins to formulate plot on how to steal sweetie pie filly for a little cuddle time later-
TG: This is My Kingdom Come, she’s not too well known as she’s very lightly raced but what she lacks in starts she makes up for in heart. She’s a sweet little filly that has a heart of gold, unfortunately we’ve had some issues with hoof bruises and things like that this season that has kept her from racing at the beginning of the year, but she’s back and fitter than ever. You’ll probably see her sticking to under cards, she's a bit slow to get wins, though she always runs a good race.
-sweatshirt is grabbed and yanked on by horse behind him-
TG: And the turd you see behind me is Take Flight. He’s had a somewhat rough go this season, although he nearly beat Pandora every time they met in the turf triple crown. He did however get his major three year old race win in the CTC so we’re pretty happy for him. He’s been pretty lightly raced so far this season and he’s definitely had enough rest since the TTC and CTC. He’s ready to dominate some older horse fields, he’s currently working towards the Breeder's Cup, although if he shows us he doesn’t want to go he’ll just stick back and wait until next year. He hasn’t beat older horses yet so we’re still waiting to see if he’s got what it takes to outrun his older peers.
Isabelle: Nicely rounded up stable you have there. They're going to be some stars next year I can tell. What are your juveniles up to? Any threats for some of the triple crowns next season? I noticed SmashDashing has quite a record so far.
TG: As of now? -scratches head- Probably not, our juveniles this season compared to last season are rather . . . um . . . slow to develop you could say. We had some very competitive juveniles last season and this season they’re all taking their sweet time. We do have hopes for SmashDashing however. We’re hoping to maybe pull off a turf triple sprinter crown back to back but he’s gotta win some preps first. As for the rest of our juveniles, we’re just trying to get some horse of the year races under their belts so they don’t get stuck racing in the undercards all next season.
Isabelle: Can you select a favorite yearling and weanling to bring into the spotlight-I know how hard that can be to choose! Maybe Ms. Evertt would like to aim me towards some velvet noses?
AE: Well I know my personal favorite is Ephemeral, she’s my go to mount. She doesn’t particularly like men so I got stuck with the task of training and jockeying her because she’s very . . . um . . . sensitive you could say. It’s like having an Arabian but she’s a Thoroughbred. She needs a particular type of handler and handling and I guess I fit the bill.
Isabelle: How is your breeding stock filling out over the years, since you established a special breeding division? What would you consider to be your foundation GM lines that others might look to for future reserves? Perhaps I could sneak a little extra reserve in somewhere? -laughs-
TG: Well, we’ve really filled out in the sprinting section of things which is something we’ve been trying to do for awhile now and we’re pretty well set up overall. As for foundation lines we really don’t have a single line that strictly belongs to us yet, although you can look forward to maybe seeing some in the near future.
Isabelle: Thank you very much for your time Mr. Wilson and Ms. Evertt, it was certainly wonderful to meet you. I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time, I know there are always horses to train!
SW: Not a problem Isabelle.
AE: -waves bye and walks off down the barn with Steve-
Isabelle: Mr. Grayson, now that it is just you and I once more, is there a certain special horse around here that perhaps hasn't won major races or bred exceptional foals necessarily, but holds a special place for you or GM?
TG: That’s a hard one, but I would say for me it’s probably My Kingdom Come. She’s such a sweet little filly, she hasn’t done a lot on the track but she’s definitely one that I enjoy spending time with. Who knows, maybe when she’s done being a broodmare she may just become one of our track ponies.
Isabelle: Please let us know which horse has made the greatest contribution to GM and why.
TG: -scratches head deep in thought- Well, that one is difficult too. It has to be between Call Me Crooked and Passion Heart. Passion Heart was the horse that came from nowhere and started leaving classy horses in her dust, but Crook was the all star juvenile that really got our name out there. And still today, she is that all star horse, although she’s on a losing streak as of late she’s still considered one of the top horses in the country and it’s a category she deserves to be in.
Isabelle: Which horse are you personally the most proud of, and why?
TG: Call Me Crooked definitely. We’ve brought her from G5 to G1 to Turf Triple Crown winner. With how new we are to the racing world we’re extremely thankful to Witch Creek Stable for allowing us to buy Crook. We’re fortunate to even have a horse of this caliber and to have been able to campaign her and on top of that for her to be as successful as she is with such a rigorous race schedule, we’re really lucky.
Isabelle: What are the plans for the rest of this racing season, any special campaigns or horses being retired before the end of the year?
TG: Well, we probably have about five or six horses going to the Breeders’ Cup so we’re working them towards that. Our retirees for the end of the year are Tears Of An Angel, Allouette Divine, and Dare To Impress. We’re thinking we may just have a Hall Of Fame prospect in Tears Of An Angel as well depending on how the rest of her season goes.
Isabelle: As a longer standing stable around GHF/TW, do you have any suggestions or advice for those older than you, those who are your peers, and those up and coming stables who are just getting into the business?
TG: For the up and coming stables, just keep truckin' on, our first few weeks were rough but nonetheless it will get better. Don’t really have any advice for the older stables other than watch out, we’re only getting started.
Isabelle: Oooh, that almost sounded like a challenge! Which stable do you admire the most, and why? Do you have any particular business friends that have inspired you or lifelong friendships that have supported you?
TG: I would say it's pretty close between Intrepid Racing, Witch Creek, and Stride Of Perfection. It’s been amazing racing against them, and we’ve learned a lot from them. They set the bar for what we one day hope Grayson Meadows can be. We haven’t met a whole lot of people, not that we are antisocial or anything, we just haven’t quite had the opportunity presented yet. We’ve done a little communicating, but not much. We’re hoping we can get out there more and maybe make a few business partners this upcoming year.
Isabelle: Do you have any last comments you'd like to say about yourself, your staff, the horses, or GM itself?
TG: W-
HG: We’re awesome.
TG: Thanks Hadley -gives knuckle sandwich while Hadley yells some choice words at brother-
TG: Watch out, because we’re on a rollercoaster that only goes up from here my friends.
Isabelle: Well Mr. Grayson, it certainly was an eventful afternoon! You have a lot of great, fun staff around you, it looks like going to work is more like going to play around here. Your Thoroughbreds are something special, and definitely you can book me into bringing some of your sprinting bloodlines into NDM in the future for sure. Best of luck with those Breeder's races this year, and don't give up on those juveniles, you never know what will happen once they turn three.
Wow! What a spirited interview I just had over at Grayson Meadows. The staff is certainly energetic and full of life, it's no wonder they have the likes of Call Me Crooked, Passion Heart, and others. It's no wonder they like to focus on sprinting, they all seem to have such a spark to get things going right away-no waiting for them. GM was just beautiful with the leaves turning as Autumn has encroached, please enjoy the latest edition of the stable interviews! Please feel free to give comments and questions at the end of the article, I will be sure to pass them on to any of the GM staff to respond to.
Isabelle: I must say I am definitely eager for this interview Mr. Grayson, Grayson Meadows is one the top racing stables around these days. I can hardly wait to visit the stables and meet all those gorgeous track stars close up. Before we get there though, can you tell me a little bit about the beginning of GM? When the foundation was laid, and how the racing itself began?
TG: Well we’re glad to have you Isabelle. Grayson Meadows began as more of a hobby for my grandparents. They had owned a few racehorses previously that ran at small tracks like Fonner Park. They wanted something bigger though, so they bought an acreage with a barn that if you took so much as a step into it, it would collapse. Least to say one day when I was eighteen I got a little curious and walked into it to see what was inside it and found myself in quite a pickle when it started falling down. -chuckles- Anyways, they built Grayson Meadows and from there it’s just sort of grown into what it is today. Along the way I popped up and ended up as a co-owner of the stable. We received our first horses in March of year fourteen and we’ve been racing ever since.
Isabelle: We're glad you made it out of that pickle! I am aware that your parents died in a car crash when you just ten years old. That must have been devastating for you. You have done some amazing things in your career at such a young age without parents. How do you feel about being in such a demanding position at your age? Do you find anyone looking down on you for it?
TG: -nods- Well, for one thing my grandparents weren’t all to happy that I opted to run a family business rather than do normal things such as go to college. However they knew they couldn’t keep me away from Grayson Meadows, I’ve always loved the sport and I’ve dedicated the majority of my life to learning everything I can about the sport. It’s been a lifelong passion and I’m getting to live my dream every day, I really can’t complain.
Isabelle: Sounds like that support through adversity really helped you make the choices you felt were best for you. What does GM focus on, any particular surface, furlong lengths, or bloodlines? Besides winning of course, what sort of objectives and goals do you have?
TG: We’re currently focused on the sprinting distances. And as for bloodlines, we do seem to hoard Blood of the Angel and Cryin’ Out Loud lines. Currently we have set our sights on improving the sprinting lines at Green Horse Fields and The Wire as much as we possibly can.
Isabelle: Well you can scoot some ideas on over to NDM, we're lacking a bit in our sprinting lines. Only the recent season here or so have we been using sprinters more, so definitely give us a call sometime. Please explain the basic roster you hold, do you like to campaign racers for a few years or hold them on longer? Do you prefer racing or breeding more, and what are your future plans for bloodline stock?
TG: -looks behind at all GM ponies looking out of their stalls with ears perked in interest-
We have a bit of everything I guess, although the majority of our roster are sprinters, and turf runners. We usually campaign racers for just a few years then retire them, but if we feel there is more potential then we’ll run them another year. Examples being Tears Of An Angel and Passion Heart. I personally prefer racing as I quite enjoy the thrill of it, whether I’m on a horse's back, or standing in the grandstands, as an owner, it's always so thrilling to watch and know that you're a part of it.
And as for future breeding plans, -smirks- I suppose I could tell you a few of them. We’ve got a Dylan Himself foal out of Union Jaque planned for year sixteen, the last Beyond the Limits foal is planned for year sixteen. Oh! and we have a Dare to Impress foal by Worldbreaker planned for year sixteen as well. And if we want to get really, really far down the road, we have another Passion Heart foal sired by Hokum coming up in year seventeen, Cryin’ Out Loud will be having his final foal out of Call Me Crooked in year seventeen as well. We also managed to snag up a Sun King breeding, so Allouette Divine will be visiting him in year seventeen.
Isabelle: Sounds exciting! Thanks for the dish, I look forward to see those fuzzies in person someday. In what areas does your staff shine, are they any you would like recognize? How long have you worked with them, are you looking to expand your staff?
TG: Sam does a fantastic job handling our horses no matter what age, even if he does have a sailors mouth. Our jockeys Alex Shade and Andrew Martin absolutely kill it out on the track, and our apprentice jockeys Jessie Coppermen and my sister Hadley are both on their way to bright future careers. We’re still looking into hiring some more people yet, but for now our small staff is pretty incredible.
Isabelle: I can see Steve Wilson and Aaron Evertt over there giving us the eye, I think they would like to join us. Welcome you two, would you like to say a few words and join us for a while?
TG: -waves for them to come over- This is Isabelle. Now don’t say something stupid -chuckles-
AE: It’s about time you got us some publicity kid, you can’t expect the horses to do it all on their own.
SW: shush Aaron, -puts out hand to shake Isabelle's hand- nice to meet you.
AE: -punches lightly in the arm- You’re stealing my spotlight. -extends hand to Isabelle-
SW: Your spotlight? I was being polite.
AE: Hey now, I trained a Turf Triple Sprinter Crown winner, I deserve the spotlight.
SW: I trained her in her two year old season before you’re name was even heard of.
AE: Well she won a triple with me, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!
TG: -rolls eyes- We hired Aaron earlier this year to take over our sprinters training. I actually teamed the two of them up on Wishing For A Heroine to see what would happen, so far it's gone fairly well. Normally they’re a lot better behaved. -glares-
AE: Umm
SW: ....
Isabelle: -laughs- It's nice to see you all like to play together. Everyone will get a chance to have the spotlight, so let's settle and talk a little more in depth. What would you three consider the greatest assets of GM in terms of staff, training, facilities and general operations, not including the horses? Are there any areas you don't agree on specifically, or do you all have like minds?
TG: Well, we have our own training track which is new to this year, and that’s definitely helped, and it’s saved us quite a bit of money.
SW: Overall, for being such a large stable with so little staff, we’re run very well and very efficiently.
TG: I should have gray hairs by now, but thankfully as Steve said our staff is very good at getting everything done and where it needs to be.
AE: As for disagreements. We disagree on a lot of things all the time. Steve and I both come from different training back grounds and finding ways to make our training skills and knowledge of the sport come together can be rather challenging but we seem to make it work, and as you can see it’s done very well.
TG: I usually can diffuse a situation if it gets too heated, but we’re overall very open to each other's ideas the majority of the time, so we all work together pretty well.
Isabelle: I think some of the best situations come out having to fight for it, it makes the fighters build a more solid foundation and feel out the cracks and problems to really solidify the end result better. Ms. Evertt, what makes you passionate about GM? What brought you here in the beginning? What drives you in your career and how does GM support that?
AE: I would say the horses themselves do, they love this sport so much and when you have a horse that is so passionate about running it makes my job that much more enjoyable. These horses are like your kids, you get to watch them grow and for me it makes me very proud to watch them blossom into the animals they are today. I watched a filly by the name of Call Me Crooked romp in The Wire’s Follow The Hoofprints Juvenile Turf Sprint and I can remember thinking, man, what would it be like to have a filly like that in your training barn? I followed a few of their horses and when a job opening popped up I jumped on it. I came from a smaller stable that had a few good horses but it really wasn’t the environment I wanted to be in. So when I got the job at GM I was ecstatic, I was nervous but I was going to get to train some of the very horses I followed and loved. I mean I’ve trained winners of Triple Sprinter crown legs, a Breeders’ Cup race winner, and multiple horse of the year race winners. It’s incredible.
Isabelle: Sounds like a dream come true for you! Has GM won any stable awards? Do you have any HOF or BHOF horses residing with you? If so, where they ones you campaigned or did you acquire them once their status was already established?
TG: We’ve won the Y15 Stable Faceoff, and Y14 most improved stable. We currently have Breeding Hall Of Fame inductee Beyond The Limits, and we acquired him earlier this year at a rehoming sale. We do have a few prospects for the hall of fame and breeding hall of fame though.
Isabelle: I'd love to get a tour of the racing stables now, perhaps Mr. Wilson would like to be my guide through the older racehorse barn first? Please tell me about your stars, the ones who will be going to breeding in the next year or so. Which should be watched in particular and why? I personally have sought out an early breeding reserve on Daddy's Overdraft, how is she coming along?
SW: Of course. -motions for Isa to follow-
-stops in front of Allouette Divine’s stall-
-Divie pokes her nose out and lets out a blood curdling squeal of excitement and quickly looks from Isa to Steve-
Isabelle: Well hello to you too! -laughs-
SW: Ouch... Anyways, this is Allouette Divine she’ll be headed off to the breeding shed at the end of the season after she makes a run in the breeders’ cup. She’ll be bred to Tears of Blood. She’s out of unknown lines, so we really don’t know exactly what to expect of her in the breeding shed, but she’s got lovely confirmation so we’re hoping for the best.
-stops in front of Daddy’s Overdraft who is pacing in her stall but comes right to the door when she spots Steve and Isa-
SW: This is the famed Daddy’s Overdraft, -sneaks her a peppermint- she’s one of my personal favorites around the barn, her sweet and willing personality has made her a pleasure to train. She’ll return to the track and race through her five year old season, she still has quite a bit of fight left in her and I think next year this is going to be a horse you’ll want to watch out for in the older turf horse division. Overall, she’s setting herself up very nicely for some huge wins next season.
Isabelle: Keep goin' girl, then later you can make me a very pretty foal just like you -gives her a pat-
-continues to Dry Your Tears stall where the little filly is waiting for them with her head stretched as far out of the stall as her body can allow her-
SW: Here's another barn favorite, Dry Your Tears. We’re currently leasing her from Nature Blues Stable, although I know Hadley and Tanner would love for us to steal her. We’re not too sure exactly what they want to do with her, but if they want us to run her another year we’d be more than happy to race her through her five or six year old season. -pats filly on neck-
Isabelle: -gives pretty filly some ear rubs and a chunk of apple-
-motions for Isa to follow and steps in front of Dare to Impress’s stall-
SW: Here we have a BC race winner, and a turf triple crown near misser, Dare To Impress. She’s been on quite the struggle bus as of late, but she’s coming out of it. She’s hot off a horse of the year race win at Battlestone Downs and she’s ready to take a few more before her season is over. She always pulls through for us when the race is huge, she’ll be returning to the BC filly and mare turf this season to see if she can’t pull off a back-to-back win. She’ll retire after that and be bred to Worldbreaker for the year sixteen season.
-dodges a nip from Imp and continues to Wishing for a Heroine’s stall-
SW: Heroine isn’t in here right now, she’s off burning off some energy in the pasture, we usually try not to stall her for long amounts of time because she works herself up so much. Daddy’s Overdraft used to be the same way, but she’s coming down as she ages more. Heroine may be going to the breeders’ cup depending on how she does the rest of season, if she goes we’ll probably retire her after if not she’ll race the first half of Y16, we’re still thinking about who to breed her to upon retirement.
-walks down to Tears of an Angel’s stall-
SW: Here we have what may be a future Hall of Fame inductee depending on how the rest of her season goes. We decide to keep her running because she didn’t get much of a chance last season, she wasn’t supposed to be in the Breeders Cup last year but because of a lack of entries we figured getting her some high-class race experience wouldn’t hurt, and well, she won when she was in what was quite possibly the worst form of her career. With that in mind, we knew she was something dangerous so we kept her running and look at her now. she’s won half her races and has been killing it all year. She’s going to retire after the Breeders’ Cup and be bred to Forbidden To Fly for year sixteen.
Isabelle: -gives her a little snuggle- Now for the three year olds, perhaps Mr. Grayson would like to chime in on these guys. Do you have a favorite for this year? I've been interested in Call Me Crooked's astonishing career, as I am the owner of her half sister Crooked Intentions.
TG: Definitely. -leads Isa to Crook’s stall-
TG: Here she is, the superstar sprinter herself. She’s been nothing short of amazing all season as I’m sure you could tell. She’s set very high standards for whomever is going to precede her in winning the turf triple sprinter crown. She’s definitely not slowing down much, she just ran a bullet work the other day and as you can see she isn’t hindered by it at all.
-Crook stomps at a fly and paces in her stall before letting out a squeal and twitching her ears in annoyance because no one is petting her-
Isabelle: -complies and gives many pets and rubs to pretty girl whispering sweet nothings to her-
TG: Don’t tell Fly, but I think she’s my favorite three year old. She’s very quirky and throws tantrums all the time but watching her run is incredible. -pats Crook’s neck- She’ll be taking on the older mares and colts in the Breeder's Cup Turf Sprint. That or she’ll be taking Tears of an Angel’s place in the Filly and Mare Turf Sprint.
-walks down to other stalls-
In these two we have Chatoyant and the gutsy Honorary. Both have been slow to win this year but I think next year will be the year that you see something big from the two of them. Tayo did win the first leg of the Sprinter Triple Crown, not too shabby for the competition he was facing. Neither of them are slated to go to the Breeder's Cup, I think everyone is in agreement that they aren’t ready for that level of competition yet.
-stops at stall with another grey filly who nuzzles Isa's shoulder before poking tanner in the chin with her nose-
Isabelle: Awwww -gives girl a big hug and a chunk of apple- Such a sweetheart! -begins to formulate plot on how to steal sweetie pie filly for a little cuddle time later-
TG: This is My Kingdom Come, she’s not too well known as she’s very lightly raced but what she lacks in starts she makes up for in heart. She’s a sweet little filly that has a heart of gold, unfortunately we’ve had some issues with hoof bruises and things like that this season that has kept her from racing at the beginning of the year, but she’s back and fitter than ever. You’ll probably see her sticking to under cards, she's a bit slow to get wins, though she always runs a good race.
-sweatshirt is grabbed and yanked on by horse behind him-
TG: And the turd you see behind me is Take Flight. He’s had a somewhat rough go this season, although he nearly beat Pandora every time they met in the turf triple crown. He did however get his major three year old race win in the CTC so we’re pretty happy for him. He’s been pretty lightly raced so far this season and he’s definitely had enough rest since the TTC and CTC. He’s ready to dominate some older horse fields, he’s currently working towards the Breeder's Cup, although if he shows us he doesn’t want to go he’ll just stick back and wait until next year. He hasn’t beat older horses yet so we’re still waiting to see if he’s got what it takes to outrun his older peers.
Isabelle: Nicely rounded up stable you have there. They're going to be some stars next year I can tell. What are your juveniles up to? Any threats for some of the triple crowns next season? I noticed SmashDashing has quite a record so far.
TG: As of now? -scratches head- Probably not, our juveniles this season compared to last season are rather . . . um . . . slow to develop you could say. We had some very competitive juveniles last season and this season they’re all taking their sweet time. We do have hopes for SmashDashing however. We’re hoping to maybe pull off a turf triple sprinter crown back to back but he’s gotta win some preps first. As for the rest of our juveniles, we’re just trying to get some horse of the year races under their belts so they don’t get stuck racing in the undercards all next season.
Isabelle: Can you select a favorite yearling and weanling to bring into the spotlight-I know how hard that can be to choose! Maybe Ms. Evertt would like to aim me towards some velvet noses?
AE: Well I know my personal favorite is Ephemeral, she’s my go to mount. She doesn’t particularly like men so I got stuck with the task of training and jockeying her because she’s very . . . um . . . sensitive you could say. It’s like having an Arabian but she’s a Thoroughbred. She needs a particular type of handler and handling and I guess I fit the bill.
Isabelle: How is your breeding stock filling out over the years, since you established a special breeding division? What would you consider to be your foundation GM lines that others might look to for future reserves? Perhaps I could sneak a little extra reserve in somewhere? -laughs-
TG: Well, we’ve really filled out in the sprinting section of things which is something we’ve been trying to do for awhile now and we’re pretty well set up overall. As for foundation lines we really don’t have a single line that strictly belongs to us yet, although you can look forward to maybe seeing some in the near future.
Isabelle: Thank you very much for your time Mr. Wilson and Ms. Evertt, it was certainly wonderful to meet you. I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time, I know there are always horses to train!
SW: Not a problem Isabelle.
AE: -waves bye and walks off down the barn with Steve-
Isabelle: Mr. Grayson, now that it is just you and I once more, is there a certain special horse around here that perhaps hasn't won major races or bred exceptional foals necessarily, but holds a special place for you or GM?
TG: That’s a hard one, but I would say for me it’s probably My Kingdom Come. She’s such a sweet little filly, she hasn’t done a lot on the track but she’s definitely one that I enjoy spending time with. Who knows, maybe when she’s done being a broodmare she may just become one of our track ponies.
Isabelle: Please let us know which horse has made the greatest contribution to GM and why.
TG: -scratches head deep in thought- Well, that one is difficult too. It has to be between Call Me Crooked and Passion Heart. Passion Heart was the horse that came from nowhere and started leaving classy horses in her dust, but Crook was the all star juvenile that really got our name out there. And still today, she is that all star horse, although she’s on a losing streak as of late she’s still considered one of the top horses in the country and it’s a category she deserves to be in.
Isabelle: Which horse are you personally the most proud of, and why?
TG: Call Me Crooked definitely. We’ve brought her from G5 to G1 to Turf Triple Crown winner. With how new we are to the racing world we’re extremely thankful to Witch Creek Stable for allowing us to buy Crook. We’re fortunate to even have a horse of this caliber and to have been able to campaign her and on top of that for her to be as successful as she is with such a rigorous race schedule, we’re really lucky.
Isabelle: What are the plans for the rest of this racing season, any special campaigns or horses being retired before the end of the year?
TG: Well, we probably have about five or six horses going to the Breeders’ Cup so we’re working them towards that. Our retirees for the end of the year are Tears Of An Angel, Allouette Divine, and Dare To Impress. We’re thinking we may just have a Hall Of Fame prospect in Tears Of An Angel as well depending on how the rest of her season goes.
Isabelle: As a longer standing stable around GHF/TW, do you have any suggestions or advice for those older than you, those who are your peers, and those up and coming stables who are just getting into the business?
TG: For the up and coming stables, just keep truckin' on, our first few weeks were rough but nonetheless it will get better. Don’t really have any advice for the older stables other than watch out, we’re only getting started.
Isabelle: Oooh, that almost sounded like a challenge! Which stable do you admire the most, and why? Do you have any particular business friends that have inspired you or lifelong friendships that have supported you?
TG: I would say it's pretty close between Intrepid Racing, Witch Creek, and Stride Of Perfection. It’s been amazing racing against them, and we’ve learned a lot from them. They set the bar for what we one day hope Grayson Meadows can be. We haven’t met a whole lot of people, not that we are antisocial or anything, we just haven’t quite had the opportunity presented yet. We’ve done a little communicating, but not much. We’re hoping we can get out there more and maybe make a few business partners this upcoming year.
Isabelle: Do you have any last comments you'd like to say about yourself, your staff, the horses, or GM itself?
TG: W-
HG: We’re awesome.
TG: Thanks Hadley -gives knuckle sandwich while Hadley yells some choice words at brother-
TG: Watch out, because we’re on a rollercoaster that only goes up from here my friends.
Isabelle: Well Mr. Grayson, it certainly was an eventful afternoon! You have a lot of great, fun staff around you, it looks like going to work is more like going to play around here. Your Thoroughbreds are something special, and definitely you can book me into bringing some of your sprinting bloodlines into NDM in the future for sure. Best of luck with those Breeder's races this year, and don't give up on those juveniles, you never know what will happen once they turn three.
