Praying Has Spread Blessings

[Wandering Eyes]

Did you hear the one about the wrestler who opted for three foals and a submission?

Understandably, Jeff Kerber feels a little conflicted about the “submission.” In his youth, as Iowa's first high school wrestler unbeaten through four years of varsity competition, everything came down to what he could do with his bare hands. In lately discovering a flair for a second walk of sporting life, however, Kerber had to make a pragmatic concession to the economic odds against him. His entire Kentucky program comprised four mares, and one of them-actually the first he ever bought-has turned out to be too valuable to keep. He sold her last year, to Jeff and Melissa Prunzik of Stone Bridge Farm, in the process ensuring that he can afford the stud fees to keep the other three producing viable foals.

But he still has skin in the game, as we'll hear; and his conversation is full of infectious cheer as he recalls the day he laid a foundation for what he wanted to do, now that he had sold his livestock feed business.

That was at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale, where he fell in love with a Bernardini filly named Pray for Leslie. She had won her first two at Churchill earlier that year, only to derail at Saratoga. Kerber asked his friend Mike McMahon (of McMahon and Hill) to come and give a more seasoned opinion.

“Looks like she's wearing slippers,” McMahon said. They both laughed. But McMahon assured him that her big feet were not a problem, and that he had indeed found a nice type.

“I didn't trust my eye back then,” Kerber says. “I've got better in the years since. But I'd picked her out, done all the research, and she was my pick of the litter. It was before Bernardini had really caught fire, as a broodmare sire, but I'd always loved him. And Pray for Leslie had been really fast, broke her maiden by open lengths at Churchill, ran big numbers and then got hurt only the third start of her life. I was ready to go quite a bit higher than we ended up paying [$130,000].”

In fairness, Kerber was not a total novice. His was an inherited passion and, by the sound of it, an inherited aptitude.

“My dad was the one that spent the time to get me hooked,” he recalls. “Not that it took much! Anyway he always had two or three mares and, in 2022, he ended up with two foals running in the same paddock. And one went one direction, one went the other: Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) and Mr. Wireless (Dialed In) won $3 million between them, out of his two old mares. He died the next year. But with a smile on his face!”

Kerber's own enthusiasm had been such that right back when he left college, before entering the family business, he had put in a few months on the track.

“I didn't want to go into the real world right away!” he recalls. “I actually worked for D. Wayne Lukas. Well, he signed my paycheck. He wouldn't have known me. I was walking hots and grooming for his 'B Team,' at Bay Meadows.”

So while three decades of feeding hogs and cattle still lay ahead, Kerber always had some horse sense lurking there. Certainly he showed judgement in his choice of Pray for Leslie's first cover, Nyquist, then on the bubble at $40,000. Unfortunately she lost that foal, so it was not until the 2022 September Sale that the mare could bank a first dividend, an Omaha Beach filly bringing $120,000.

As Alys Beach, this filly proceeded to win on debut at Saratoga and later ran third in the GI Alcibiades Stakes. Next came a Vekoma filly, sold for $130,000 the following September; and then a daughter of Authentic, offered as a weanling at the 2023 Keeneland November Sale. Which is where the other Jeff enters the story.

Prunzik is a real estate guy from western Pennsylvania, and had stumbled across the Thoroughbred world just by making Lexington a regular stopover on trips to Melissa's family farm in Mississippi. He had always been interested in the margins between sport and business: using the same professional skills, in business coaching, as he did helping out various local basketball teams. And that mindset, as he became ever more fascinated by breeding, prompted a series of parallel ventures. First there was the purchase of Stone Bridge Farm from the Courtney family, as base for his own breeding and track programs. And then he established an affiliated bloodstock syndicate, Stone Bridge Investments, bringing 59 investors together in a handful of mares, pinhooks and occasional racing stock.

“So we've been trying to create some other revenue streams, to support the boarding,” Prunzik explains. “And, knock on wood, it has gone well the last couple of years. We have a very nice, eclectic mix of people: maybe 10-to-12 that I went to high school or college with; then family members and in-laws; then some business acquaintances; and a handful of horse people.

Jeff and Melissa Prunzik | Courtesy Jeff & Melissa Prunzik

“At first we focused primarily on the lower-to-middle market, say $20,000 to $70,000, and we did have success doing that. But the last couple years we've decreased the number of pinhooks in order to buy better quality, and I think the latest round of sales has shown that it's the stronger stallions and better pedigrees where the market's really thriving.”

Prunzik's own portfolio, meanwhile, had happened to land on Pray for Leslie's Authentic filly. When she left the ring as a $100,000 RNA, the two Jeffs negotiated a private sale.

“So we had her at the farm, and really liked the way she was maturing,” Prunzik explains. “So much so that we went down to OBS to try to get her 2-year-old half-sister [i.e. the Vekoma filly]. And once seeing her 'in person,' we ended up acquiring her from Mayberry Farm for $410,000 and sent her to Robbie Medina.”

That enterprise paid off when the filly, named Praying, broke her maiden at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Once again, Prunzik boxed clever: cashed out Praying to Newtownanner Stud, and played up the winnings on her dam.

“We'd already been looking to buy the mare, before, so now we went back to Jeff and he was nice enough to work out a deal with us,” Prunzik explains. “He would stay in the Nyquist foal [she was carrying], which we now have at the farm. And from what Jeff says, she's the best of the bunch so far, which is encouraging.”

It certainly is: because Praying herself is heading to the Breeders' Cup on a roll, having followed up her GIII Prioress Stakes success in the GII TCA Stakes; while the page has also gained from the Authentic filly who originally brought Prunzik into play. She achieved an excellent pinhook yield when sold to Gregory Tramontin (also returning to the same well, having earlier purchased Alys Beach) for $450,000 as a September yearling, and then as Spa Prospector ran third in the GIII Adirondack Stakes.

Three graded stakes performers, then, from three starters: Pray for Leslie, now in foal to Into Mischief, has proved an inspired find by Kerber.

“She just throws babies that can run,” he says. “She just does. I mean, I didn't even breed her right, to be honest. She stands about 15.1/15.2hh, and she's got a big butt. Vekoma was a great cross on paper. But the physical she needs is like Nyquist, which is why I went back to him. Though honestly I think you could probably breed her to anything. They all look like her. They're all a bit too short, they've all got a big old butt on them-and they can all run.”

Of course, Kerber could yet find himself with another nice breeder's prize this weekend. Regardless he will derive reliable fulfilment from the three mares he still has in Kentucky, divided between Hidden Brook and Hidden Springs: all by good sires (Curlin, Munnings, Scat Daddy) and all with happening covers (Tiz the Law, Omaha Beach, Twirling Candy). The one by Scat Daddy was picked up for $70,000 at Fasig February 2022, and last week in the same ring her Bolt d'Oro filly sold to Kenny McPeek for $150,000.

“Chief Stipe Cauthen has been very helpful, other people too,” Kerber says. “But I do just get a lot of enjoyment doing it myself, all my research, all my matings. It's a lot of fun, but it's also hard work and competitive. With just the few mares I have, the decisions you make are all important. So you better enjoy it!”

But that kind of balance, between indulgence and diligence, was learned long ago in the wrestling world-whether when in the ring himself, or in the community that also produced his brother-in-law Randy Lewis, Olympic gold medalist in 1984.

“You trained hard,” he says. “It's a difficult sport. But I wrestled in the World Championships in 1979, when I was 18, against Russians and Mongolians and guys from all over the world. So that was an experience. And these horses, it's a tough business. They can get damaged. That's why I had to sell the mare. Looking back, maybe I should have got more for her! But I want to keep in the game. If I don't sell when I have something people want to buy, I can't stay in business. Now I just have to find another one.”

And that's the point: even a businesslike approach doesn't take away the addictive, magical quality-something equally appreciated by the other Jeff.

“I was warned when I first got into the horse industry that it's almost like a cult,” Prunzik says. “That everyone eats, sleeps and drinks it. And I guess I've caught the bug. It's such an intriguing industry. I really wish people knew more about it, all the different angles and opportunities. Being where I am, we have a harness track up here but there's only a couple people I know that are in the Thoroughbred industry. Yet everyone that I ever brought down to the farm or to Keeneland, they love it.”

It is certainly a labor of love. Prunzik will already have done a day's work in real estate when switching mode for the evening.

“Every night I fall asleep doing farm or horse business,” he says. “But at the end of the day, if you put good people in places where they have the opportunity to succeed, then you'll have every chance of doing well. We've done that with our farm manager Juan Piedra, our operations manager Kali Kleinfelt, and Robbie Medina as trainer. Jeff's been a great guy to work with, too, and very flexible. So fingers crossed, things can keep going in the right direction for us all.

“Even though I don't own her anymore, Praying's last two races have been the most exciting time I've experienced in the horse industry. We've been very fortunate because every connection has benefited from Pray for Leslie and Praying: Hidden Brook, McMahon and Hill, Newton Anner Stud, Jeff Kerber, Robbie Medina and Stone Bridge Farm. It has been a 'win-win' all round.”

Kerber adds humorous context to that remark.

“Now these foals, I'm the guy that sold them all!” he notes with a chuckle. “I did all the matings, I bred them, but they were all two inches too short to bring the big money. They were athletic, they were balanced, but they just weren't tall enough. But I'm glad that everybody has done so well. I never really got paid like they did, but I don't really care. I mean, I do care, don't get me wrong. But my passion is to breed horses that can run. And with a very, very small herd, I've been able to hang. And that's hard to do. Hard, and a lot of fun.”

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