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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
On the surface, hiring people who have battled substance abuse issues, some of whom have criminal records, might not seem like a good idea. But Elliott Walden, the president and CEO of racing operations for WinStar Farm, felt otherwise. His family had dealt with these issues for years. His son, Will, now a successful trainer who is sober, had dealt with addiction for years before turning his life around thanks to the Stable Recovery program, which was co-founded by Taylor Made's Frank Taylor and Christian Countzler. Stable Recovery helps addicts overcome their substance abuse issues and then helps find them jobs in the horse racing industry. The success of the program has been nothing short of remarkable. “I had seen things firsthand how well this worked through my son, Will, and his working through addiction and into sobriety and seeing his friendship with Christian Countzler, who started Stable Recovery with Frank Taylor,” Walden said. “He was very close to them. We knew they were going about it the right way. If Christian said these guys were solid, that's all I needed to hear.” So Walden got involved. WinStar is now one of a group of about 20 farms and racetracks that have signed on with Stable Recovery as Strategic Partners. What that means is that they are willing to hire, train and look after graduates of the program. Walden said WinStar currently employs eight individuals who have graduated from the program. “There are probably about 20 of what we call Strategic Partners,” Taylor said. “To be a Strategic Partner, all you need to do is to hire people that graduate from Stable Recovery and support them and pay them well. It's been miraculous. When we started Stable Recovery, the first two years, Taylor Made hired everybody and that's because we were that short of help. After that, we were fully staffed or overstaffed. Out of the blue people started calling me and said, 'Can I get some help?' We started sending people to different farms to work. That's when we coined the name Strategic Partners. That list has really grown and the quality of people and farms that we work with is just unbelievable. They are benefitting from our people and our people are benefitting a lot from them.” Walden admits that when he first approached WinStar owners Kenny and Lisa Troutt about hiring recovering addicts, it took some convincing for them to agree to do so. “We have had a great experience,” Walden said. “We started a little bit over a year and a half ago. I wouldn't call it a leap of faith, but it took some encouragement on my part with the Troutts to have them gain a comfort level when it came to employing these guys. Some of them have records. Many of them have checkered pasts. I am grateful to them for their Christian beliefs and their willingness to take a chance on these men.” Not only do the graduates work at WinStar, they live in a house on the farm. It is Ann Hayes who oversees the Stable Recovery program for the WinStar employees. “We dedicated a house that they live in and they support each other,” Walden said. “Ann Hayes has helped us look after the Stable Recovery guys and give them support. She's the one that just saw the good in each one of them and the men they were becoming. It's been really exciting to see their growth and development.” Walden says that he has had one person who didn't make it once hired by WinStar, but said that was an unusual situation. “Sometimes things happen, but it happens very rarely,” he said. “The great thing about it is that most of these guys have stayed sober from the time they have been there. We might have lost one that didn't work out. But those are great statistics when it comes to people in recovery.” Most have been exemplary. “That's part of the beauty of this program,” Walden said. “They are still accountable to Stable Recovery, even though they are working at WinStar and are living at WinStar. They still go over there for meetings once a week. They have touch points with other guys in the program. They are helping the younger guys in the program continue to develop. It's truly what recovery is all about. It's not about yourself; it's about helping the next man.” Several of the Stable Recovery grads work directly with the horses at WinStar. Walden said that it's no coincidence that the men have thrived once connected with the horses. “There is a connection point where the horses love these guys right from the start,” he said. “Quite honestly, they probably haven't felt that in a long time. They've burned a lot of bridges, not only with their families, but in the workplace as well. The horses come in and they are able to love them exactly where they are and they love the horse back. It's a beautiful thing to see. Recovery, if done well, it's done through a spiritual lens. The connection they develop with the horses brings about something outside of themselves and can help them in that spiritual plane. They are caring for something besides themselves. It's not about themselves. It's helping others and it's about helping a horse, and that gives them a responsibility. I think it is part of the secret sauce.” The Strategic Partners program now includes some of the biggest names in the industry, giants like Coolmore, Denali, Godolphin, Juddmonte and Keeneland. Spy Coast Farm has started a program that specializes in taking in female graduates of the Stable Recovery Taylor said his experiences with Keeneland have been typical of the type of cooperation he has gotten from within the industry. “The Keeneland team has been fantastic,” he said. “We've got guys working out there and thriving. I see that continuing to grow and they have been a great partner. Some of the guys work at sales time with the horses, but their main jobs have been doing maintenance. Keeneland has been a big supporter and they believe in what we are doing, they built a house out there for some of our guys to live in. We have something like eight people living on the Keeneland property that are Stable Recovery graduates. They were willing to give them a chance.” Taylor added that the Strategic Partners program has done more than just help recovering addicts. It has helped to fill what has become a huge need for an industry that has struggled to maintain a suitable workforce. “You're helping in two ways,” he said. “You're not only saving a life and the extended families of these men and women who have battled addiction. You're also helping to create a workforce. How many people in this country are addicted? This is a way to just start helping and to be part of the solution instead of the problem.” With the Strategic Partner initiative having taken off, Taylor is justifiably proud of the program, what he and Countzler have helped accomplish and the progress the graduates have made. “It doesn't work perfectly every time, but, overall we are having great success,” he said. “I get more out of this than anybody. It's so much fun to see these guys change their lives and enjoy success.” The post Stable Recovery Graduates Are Thriving at WinStar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
That HRHZ site keeps locking up, white box saying something went wrong, frustrating, been doing it for a while now. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Billy Loughnane has broken a 21st-century record in Britain by riding 222 winners in a calendar year, surpassing Kieren Fallon's mark set in 2003.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Bill Farish recalls how he first met with the Ace Stud team at the 2024 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. More Than Looks, a son of international supersire More Than Ready, had just won the GI Breeders' Cup Mile and was poised to begin his stud career at Lane's End Farm. “They were interested in standing him in Australia, where More Than Ready had done so much good work at stud, so it was a natural fit,” explained Farish. After his debut season at Lane's End in 2025, More Than Looks shuttled to the Southern Hemisphere to join the Yulong roster in Mangalore, Victoria. Farish said he was a shining success there, breeding close to 100 mares. That initial venture established the foundation for a growing partnership between Lane's End and Ace Stud. While Yulong is based primarily in Australia, the entity known as Ace Stud has recently expanded its international reach by purchasing a stud farm in Newmarket, England and increasing its investment in the American market. In 2026, Ace Stud will stand its first two stallions in Kentucky. Multiple Grade I winners Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Raging Torrent (Maximus Mischief), who both raced in Yulong's colors, are set to begin their stud careers at Lane's End. The two new stallions dominated headlines during the fall breeding stock sales as Ace Stud made major plays under the banners of the Raging Torrent Syndicate and Carl Spackler Syndicate. Raging Torrent Syndicate was the leading buyer at the Keeneland November Sale, securing five mares for a combined $5.225 million, and buying Broodmare of the Year Puca (Big Brown) for $5 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. While not all of those purchases will necessarily be going to the two new stallions in their debut season, Farish said that Ace Stud will be sending a strong contingent of mares to anchor the first books of both Raging Torrent and Carl Spackler. “It was pretty exciting to see the mares Ace Stud purchased,” Farish said. “It gives breeders confidence that these stallions are going to be getting tremendous support from the owners. They're excited about both horses and they're going to be supporting them with very good mares.” Carl Spackler and Raging Torrent will stand for $15,000 in their debut seasons. “Both horses represent great value and we think they really fit a good niche for breeders,” noted Farish. “They'll be very popular commercially and we're supporting both of them with a lot of our mares as well.” RAGING TORRENT (Maximus Mischief — Violent Wave, by Violence) Raging Torrent stands at Lane's End Farm" width="1155" height="825" /> Raging Torrent at Lane's End | Linzay Marks Farish said that Raging Torrent boasts commercial appeal as a winner of the GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap and the GI Malibu Stakes. For Lane's End, bringing in another Malibu winner felt like a natural continuation of their program's history. The race has served as a springboard for their current sires Flightline, City of Light, The Factor and Twirling Candy. “Raging Torrent is a very fast horse, a great-looking horse with a lot of substance to him, and an exciting sire prospect being out of the Into Mischief sire line,” said Farish. “The Malibu and the Metropolitan are two major stallion-making Grade I races and he took those both very impressively.” Trained by Chief Stipe O'Neill, Raging Torrent was a winner on debut as a juvenile claiming a five-furlong contest in July at Del Mar by over two lengths. He also placed third in the GIII Best Pal Stakes. The bay collected four wins at three, including the GII Pat O'Brien Stakes and the Malibu. Racing under new owners Yuesheng Zhang and Craig Dado this year at four, he traveled to Dubai to win the G2 Godolphin Mile and made his final career start a winning one in the Metropolitan. “In that race he beat Fierceness (City of Light), who was one of the best horses of the generation, so that was really a signature achievement for him,” said Farish. “He beat Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in the Malibu. All of his big wins were against quality fields and that's one of the things that was so important for him. He wasn't ducking anyone.” Farish said that breeders have responded to Raging Torrent's $15,000 price point. “He is a standout in that price range. It's hard to get a multiple Grade I-winning Into Mischief sireline horse at that price.” CARL SPACKLER (Ire) (Lope de Vega (Ire)–Zindaya, by More Than Ready) Carl Spackler wins the GI Fourstardave Handicap" width="1155" height="840" /> Carl Spackler wins the GI Fourstardave Handicap | Sarah Andrew Carl Spackler emerged as a stallion prospect for Lane's End last spring after securing a third Grade I win in the Maker's Mark Mile Stakes at Keeneland. “We were kind of locked in negotiations with the ownership group and thought we had a good chance with him, but just couldn't come up with an acceptable deal,” Farish recalled. “Ace stepped in and bought him and basically we thought we'd lost him. He went off to England to race in 2025. They put him up against the best Group 1 horses in Europe and I think he held his own very well, but after those three races, they knew we were interested and thought the U.S. would be a great place to stand him since he'd done his best work here. We're very excited for him to come back to us a year later.” Bred by Fifth Avenue Bloodstock, Carl Spackler was initially campaigned by e Five Racing and trained by Chad Brown before he went to race for Ace Stud last year. The flashy chestnut was named a 'TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard' when he broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park by 8 3/4 lengths in February of his 3-year-old season. Later that summer, he scored back-to-back wins in the GII National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes and GIII Saranac Stakes. At four, Carl Spackler earned his first Grade I win in the Fourstardave Handicap and followed that with a win in the GI Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes at Keeneland. Farish said he believes Carl Spackler's best effort came last year in the Maker's Mark Mile, where he bested MGSWs Integration (Quality Road) and Trikari (Oscar Performance) by over four lengths. “He was dominant that day and really showed he had all the class in the field,” he recalled. “It was a phenomenal effort and one of his many hundred-plus Beyer Speed Figure races. One of Carl's best qualities was his consistency. He won six graded stakes, including three Grade Is, in really dominant fashion.” Over the last three years, Lane's End has steadily bolstered its turf roster, adding a Grade I winner annually with Up to the Mark, More Than Looks, and now Carl Spackler (IRE). Farish noted that Carl Spackler is a unique addition as the only son of Lope de Vega, Europe's leading sire of winners in 2025, currently standing in the United States. “We are not allergic to turf horses here at Lane's End,” he said. “It's a niche that is under-appreciated in the U.S. and is really growing in popularity. Carl Spackler is one of the better-looking sons of Lope de Vega that I've seen. He's still letting down, but is a really beautiful horse.” Carl Spackler is out of 2016 GII Goldikova Stakes victress Zindaya (More Than Ready), a half-sister to GI Jamaica H. winner Western Aristocrat (Mr. Greeley). His full-sister Sandtrap is a Group 3-placed winner in Europe. “Carl Spackler is out of a More Than Ready mare, which gives him huge international appeal as well as American appeal,” said Farish. “We're excited to see how he's received and so far it has been overwhelmingly positive.” The post Raging Torrent and Carl Spackler “Fit a Good Niche” at Lane’s End appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Road to the Kentucky Derby will not officially begin in South Florida until the Jan. 31 Holy Bull Stakes (G3). However, the first weekend of the new year will offer an early glimpse of which youngsters might play a role in the series.View the full article
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