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Category Archives: Farm

Mastery: Class and Potential

His potential has not been kept a secret, as Everett Dobson’s Cheyenne Stables’ Mastery went off at 3-10 in his maiden effort Oct. 22 at Santa Anita Park, 3-10 in Del Mar’s Bob Hope Stakes (gr. III) Nov. 19, and 1-5 in the 1 1/16-mile Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (gr. I) Dec. 10.

Bred by Arthur Hancock’s Stone Farm, Mastery was consigned to last year’s Keeneland September yearling sale by Stone Farm and was purchased by Gatewood Bell’s Cromwell Bloodstock for $425,000 during the sixth session.

Winner’s Circle

Arthur Hancock III can recite pedigrees as well as any other Central Kentucky hardboot, meaning he can go back off the top of his head through generationof equine families at sometimes dizzying speed. Hancock, though, is also a big believer in omens, karma, and philosophical pieces of wisdom, which he can also recite on demand. All of the above played a role in his 2009 purchase of the mare Steady Course from the dispersal of William T. Young’s Overbrook Farm. Steady Course’s name hit the bright lights Nov. 19 when her son Mastery won the Bob Hope Stakes (gr. III) at Del Mar. The son of Candy Ride at that moment became Bob Baffert’s leading contender for the 2017 Triple Crown series.

Bloodlines: Hancock-Bred Mastery Shows Classic Promise

That man in Bourbon County. The one who bought in Sunday Silence at the Keeneland July sale, discovered that he had bought the colt for himself because the breeder didn’t want to retain him, and then watched the colt win two-thirds of the Triple Crown. Well, that horse-breeding Arthur Hancock is at it again, and he has not misplaced his lucky rabbit’s foot.

Menifee Colt Wins Korean Triple Crown

Menifee raced for the partnership of James Stone and Arthur Hancock and was trained by Elliott Walden, winning the GI Blue Grass S. and GI Haskell Invitational S. in 1999 after finishing runner-up to Charismatic (Summer Squall) in that year’s GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S.

Kentucky Derby Superstitions

Jockey Gary Stevens, who will ride Mor Spirit in the 2016 Kentucky Derby, once told Jennie Rees that he believes in Derby Destiny and the winners were picked a long time ago. Whether it’s luck or superstition, owners and trainers have seen their own signs during the Triple Crown campaign, both good and bad.

Think Picking A Baby Name is Tough? Try Naming a Thoroughbred

“I like the story behind the naming of Sunday Silence, the 1989 Kentucky Derby winner,” Jockey Club registrar Rick Bailey said in an e-mail. “Someone from outside the industry sent a list of names to some Kentucky farms including Stone Farm of Arthur B. Hancock III. Sunday Silence was one of the listed names. The story is Mr. Hancock remembered a song favorite, ‘Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down.’ When Hancock realized the horse’s parents’ names were Halo and Wishing Well, Bailey said, “Sunday Silence was a perfect fit.”