‘Probability of Success’: Jacobson Bullish on Half-Sis to Vahva Heading into Keeneland September

[Wandering Eyes]

A native Kentuckian, Brendan Jacobson always knew his heart would lead him into racing, but he wasn't quite sure how until he purchased his first broodmare in 2019. Now six years on and 20 broodmares in, Jacobson is looking forward to offering a City of Light half-sister (hip 357) to Grade I winner Vahva (Gun Runner) through the Warrendale Sales consignment during the second session of Book 1 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale next Tuesday.

“She is a quality individual,” Jacobson said of the yearling. “She's been a queen since she was born. She's got a good head on her shoulders, her demeanor is top notch. I have had confidence in her from the beginning. The mare is that way, too. She is just very, very classy.”

The mare is Grade I-placed Holiday Soiree (Harlan's Holiday), who has produced not only Vahva, but also graded-placed Ahavah (City of Light) and Signal from Noise (Arrogate).

Under his Wimberley Bloodstock banner, Jacobson purchased Holiday Soiree, with the now yearling in utero, for $300,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November sale. Vahva had won the GII Raven Run Stakes just weeks before her dam went through the sales ring at Keeneland, but Jacobson said he was just as impressed with the mare's pedigree as her graded-stakes winning daughter.

“Her female family is pretty prolific, if you study it,” Jacobson said. “Governor [Brereton] Jones bred Holiday Soiree and she really goes back to a Ned Evans family, which goes to Intentional Move and her dam, the mare Lunar Dancer born in 1968. Mr. Evans worked with this family for years and built upon it for years and took care of it and then Governor Jones went on to do it. And hopefully I can carry that on.”

Hip 357 | Megan Devine

The cultivation of decades old families is a part of the breeding industry that sings to Jacobson.

“Trying to find these deep female families that have been curated over time is something that interests me,” he said. “And if those families have produced winners, then that interests me even more. And I think your probability of success keeps going up as all of those things keep happening.”

Holiday Soiree also had some promising young foals in the pipeline, giving Jacobson even more confidence in the purchase. The mare's City of Light filly had just sold for $400,000 to Cherie DeVaux and Belladonna Racing–the same connections who purchased Vahva in 2021. Named Ahavah, she finished second in the GII Fair Ground Oaks earlier this year. The mare's Nyquist filly sold for $725,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale.

“I just saw this kind of a loaded track coming,” Jacobson said. “I thought, 'Well, why not?' The mare was getting a little bit older and she failed to meet her reserve and I remember walking over to Hunter Simms at Warrendale and I said, 'Hunter, I'd like to buy her, but I can't pay what you guys are asking for her.' We ended up making a deal and we got her bought. Luckily, it all worked out.”

Jacobson is founder and CEO of Walbrook Capital and quietly pleads guilty to being “a numbers guy,” before stressing that he grew up, first and foremost, with a love of racing and the land.

“I was born and raised here in Bourbon County, so I am a native Kentuckian,” Jacobson said. “My grandfather was a professor at UK in agriculture. My dad was raised on a farm behind Mt. Brilliant off Huffman Mill Pike. He's told me he used to go pick field corn and sell it to the tourists that were visiting the Man o'War statue.”

The connection to the land only deepened when he married Chelsea, another native of Bourbon County he had first met in middle school.

“My wife's side of the family are farmers in Bourbon County, so they raise hay, cattle, corn, soy beans, etc,” Jacobson said. “My father in law is a really good producer of high-quality hay. He provides hay to a few farms, one of them was Ann Marie Farms who raised City of Light and it comes full circle that we now have a filly by City of Light. The same hay was fed to Good Cheer, who Ahavah finished second to in the Fair Grounds Oaks. We are just intertwined into the business and the area. It's part of our life.”

Ahavah | Hodges Photography

Jacobson credited Tom Hinkle with his first involvement in the industry six years ago.

“Tom Hinkle is a good friend of mine,” he said. “He and I got talking about the breeding side of the business. And so, with his guidance and advice, I kind of dove in.”

Since 2019, Wimberley Bloodstock has steadily added to its numbers. At last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, the operation's five purchases included graded-placed Unsung Melody (Maclean's Music) (hip 1260), who was acquired for $375,000.

“I am a believer that in order to learn something, you have to dive head first into it,” Jacobson said. “And you learn through experience. So over the last six years, I've learned a lot about the horse, I've learned a lot about the business, I've learned a lot about matings. I spend an inordinate amount of time during mating season picking the stallions, who we are going to breed the mares to, consulting with different people. There is a lot of time and effort and energy that goes into what we are doing.”

Wimberley Bloodstock's 20 broodmares are divided between Margaux Farm and Lane's End.

“We breed racehorses,” Jacobson said. “We don't breed sales darlings that don't go on and do anything. We want to breed a good sturdy, correct horse.”

If timing is everything at the horse sales, Holiday Soiree's yearling filly will enter the Keeneland sales ring Tuesday in fine shape. Vahva added a Grade I win to her resume in last year's Derby City Distaff, a race in which her dam finished third in 2013. City of Light, meanwhile, had a pair of graded winners just last weekend when Fierceness won the GI Pacific Classic and Formidable Man captured the GII Del Mar Mile.

“I think we will have potential buyers from all over the world look at her,” Jacobson said of the yearling. “If somebody is looking to build a broodmare band, I don't know why they wouldn't want to have this filly on their short list.”

As Wimberley Bloodstock inches through its first decade, Jacobson said his goals for the breeding operation are pretty standard.

“Obviously, I want to run a good business,” he said. “I want to raise healthy, good horses. And I would like for those horses to win graded stakes races, Grade Is. That's the goal of every breeder, right? To get a horse into the right hands and watch them go on and be successful.”

The Keeneland September sale begins Monday with the first of two Book 1 sessions beginning at 1 p.m. Book 2 sessions on Wednesday and Thursday begin at 11 a.m. Following a dark day on Friday, the September sale continues through Sept. 20 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

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