New York Bundle Trainer Update

As we had previously mentioned, this weekend our collective teams spent time assessing each member of the New York-Bred Bundle to develop the optimal roadmap moving forward and we have come up with what we think is a very strong game plan. We have selected trainers for four of the five, and will hold off on the last one as we continue to debate some options:

Here are the horse/trainer combos:

Maclean’s Music x Downdraft Filly – This daughter of Maclean’s Music has been a standout at the farm according to Chetley and Nellie, in addition to catching the eye of many trainers who have stopped by the farm. It has been decided this exciting filly will join the barn of Christophe Clement. It’s worth noting the 3-year-old sibling by Nyquist, One Life Live It, has recently jumped on the work tab at Blackwood Stables in Kentucky.

Liam’s Map x Bitter Lemon Colt – The Liam’s Map colt will be trained by Todd Pletcher. This decision seemed like a no-brainer. Not only did Pletcher train Liam’s Map, but he has been very successful with that Lane’s End stallion’s progeny, most notably Liam’s Map’s leading lifetime earner, Grade 1 winner Colonel Liam. This powerful colt seems to have the physical makeup and mental mindset to excel in a program like Pletcher’s.

Liam’s Map also has his Derby 150 hopeful in Deterministic, who was victorious in the G3 Gotham on Mar. 2. It was an impressive victory for a few reasons, including an off-track, six-plus month layoff and the start coming at one-mile off the bench. He’s definitely one to keep an eye on in the upcoming Derby preps.

Volatile x Princess Samurai Colt – This maturing son of first-crop stallion Volatile continues to improve week after week. Once ready, he will join the barn of Danny Gargan, trainer of top Derby contender Dornoch. Danny has been the model of consistency throughout his career from a win percentage and in the money percentage standpoint. He knows how to get those capable of being able to run at two to do so, winning at 20% with 2-year-olds over the last three years.

Freud x Hoopskirt Colt – The grey son of Freud is back in a steady training rhythm after having to have a 30-day respite. Chetley and Nellie thought the time did him very well and from a fitness standpoint don’t think he lost a lot from this break. He will still need to go through some of the motions before getting back into serious work, but that should take too long. It has been decided that this colt will also join the Clement barn.

Complexity x Bares Tripper c. – Your Complexity colt is the one that we have left TBD. At this time we are actually debating the idea of selling him at a 2-year-old in training sale. As with most owners, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing buys a lot of horses and as each horse goes through the process of training, individual roadmaps are created for each horse whether that is to race or sell. In this case, the Complexity colt is one they believe may be best to sell. We are not exactly sure what we have with him yet, and Complexity’s progeny sold fairly well in the first 2-year-old sale of the year, having five six-figure horses including a NY-bred, which sold for $220,000. This could be a good opportunity to take some risk off the table. To be clear, this is not decided yet, and we could decide to keep and race him–we just wanted to share our thoughts and the options that are being discussed. We will learn a lot over the next few weeks and then be more confident in determining the best approach. If we decide to race, he will most likely go to Clement or Gargan, and if we do decide to sell, it will most likely be at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale in Maryland in May. Selling would be a very unique experience for the ownership group as we will take everyone through the entire journey from training up to the sale, the consignment, the showings, and ultimately the auction. If a sale is decided as the best course we will pay out a special dividend of the sales proceeds to all of the partners.

All in all, we are pleased with the progress of the NY Bundle and are still feeling confident we could see a couple of these promising prospects debut at Saratoga this summer. We hope you are enjoying the journey so far, and now that we have trainers named, be on the lookout for the MRH naming contests in the very near future.