Since 1976, Russell Drake has managed River Edge Farm in Buellton, at one time the No. 1 breeding farm for thoroughbred racehorses in California. In his plush office, photos of horses and their proud owners standing in the winner’s circle fill nearly all the space on his walls.
Most of the champions—about 90 percent—were bred right there on the farm, earning more than $50 million over three decades. There’s stallion Pirates Bounty, who became one of the top sires in California in the 1990s; 1993 Eclipse winner and California Horse of the Year Bertrando; and Idiot Proof, who earned more than $1 million on the racetrack. In 2007 alone, horses bred at River Edge made more than $6 million, some purchased or bred by Drake for a fraction of the winnings.
“We’ve had a lot of great horses here at the farm,” Drake said with a laugh. “We had so many pictures and awards, we stopped hanging them up.”
River Edge no longer actively breeds thoroughbreds. Last year, farm owner Martin Wygod—chairman of WebMD—decided to focus his breeding efforts in Kentucky and devote the farm to raising younger horses.
“The economy was bad, and to have a lot of horses here, some of them would be pretty slow pay and some not pay,” Drake explained. “It’s hard to think about having a place that you’re raising your own horses, and have other horses here that you’re boarding that aren’t going to keep up with their finances. It was better to stop that.”
Though it’s out of the breeding game now, River Edge is part of the rich history of the industry in the Santa Ynez Valley. Legendary breeder Fletcher Jones, who gave Wygod his first two horses as a birthday present, foaled multiple stakes winners at Santa Ynez’s Westerly Stud Farms in the 1960s, until his death in 1972. American Quarter Horse Hall of Famer and trainer D. Wayne Lukas has owned several farms in the valley. Pepper Oaks Farm in Santa Ynez bred numerous stakes winners, including top sire Swiss Yodeler, before closing in 2008. Now, there are only a few breeders left.
“The economy has taken its toll,” said David Hunsicker, the Santa Ynez Valley Equestrian Association’s executive director. “It’s been sad to see it, because we’ve lost a lot of great farms in the process.”
Besides Santa Ynez’s Magali Farms, which couldn’t be reached for this article, one breeder still alive and well is Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, a 350-acre farm in Buellton. Owned by Tom and Debbie Stull, who bought it from Lukas in 2000, Tommy Town also boasts a 7/8-mile training track, one of the largest private tracks in the country.
The farm is currently home to four stallions and about 60 mares, and about 30 of its horses are currently racing in California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The most successful horses bred there include Ain’t No Other, who has made almost $300,000, and Whatsthescript, who ran in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup.
At Tommy Town, racehorses can begin training at about 15 to 18 months old. After being broken in, trainers condition them to ride, starting with a merry-go-round-type exerciser. Once comfortable, they move on to jogging in a round pen, then to jogging the track.
According to Tommy Town’s chief financial officer Deanne Beer, mares used for breeding are generally bought in Kentucky or claimed off the racetrack. Potential matches are often judged by pedigrees; farm manager Mike Allen can tell by sight what will make a perfect match, evaluating potential mates on size and bone structure.
The farm also uses high-tech means—a computerized technique called “nicking,” where mares and stallions are compared based on bloodline and given odds of the pairing producing good racehorses. Of course, Beer said, it’s not an exact science.
River Edge’s Drake knows the unsure nature of the business well. When he met Wygod, he’d already had 14 years as a breeder to his credit. Farm owner Wygod lived in New York, so Drake served as Wygod’s eyes at horse sales. Wygod would pick the pedigree he liked, and Drake would find horses with good “conformation”—correctness of bone structure, strong legs and shoulders, and balance.
“A lot of it is luck,” Drake explained. “Once in a while you get lucky and you buy a good horse that turns out to be very successful. You buy a lot of them that don’t. If there was a sure way to do it, everybody would do it. The horse business is a tough business.”
At one time, River Edge had four prize stallions. Drake foaled about 150 mares every season, from January to June. Sometimes, three or four foals would be born in a night, and no matter the time, Drake would be there for each one to ensure there were no problems.
After giving birth, the mares would be back to breed as soon as 30 days later. Though some breeders would foal their star mares until they couldn’t have any more offspring, at a certain age, Drake said, the mares start losing their ability to produce healthy babies.
“As the mare gets older, the foals usually get fine-boned, just not the quality they were when they were younger,” he explained. “If a mare’s been good to us, I feel like after 18 to 19 years, let her retire and just live out the rest of her life here eating grass and enjoying life. That’s always been my motto.”
The most valuable thoroughbreds are those with a perfect combination of stellar racing records, confirmation, and pedigree. Successful sires can command stud fees of $500,000 or more, which they can earn up into their late teens. For mares, Drake said, it can take several years to find out if she can produce winners. Fillies with good pedigrees and conformation, who for whatever reason don’t make it at the racetrack, usually return to the farm as brood mares.
Currently, all the horses at River Edge are bred in Kentucky and flown out to Buellton at about six months of age. The farm is currently home to several yearlings with racing in their futures. They’ll spend several months on the ranch before they’re sent to a training center at Rancho Santa Fe, where they’ll be broken in and trained until they’re ready to race.
If they show promising speed, Drake said, they’ll move on to the racetrack at around age 3. If not, they’ll be brought back to the farm and allowed to mature, along with other active racing thoroughbreds brought in for a little rest and relaxation.
Now retired, but still living on the farm, Drake said working for Wygod has been his dream job, though he doesn’t necessarily miss the breeding.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 50 years, and it’s nice to not have to get up in the middle of night and foal mares,” he said. “That’s just part of the deal.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas is born to run, like a Boss. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 7-14, 2012.