By: Blood Horse

Photo Credit: Derbe Glass/ NYRA

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/237759/calumet-returns-as-leading-breeder-by-money-won

Historic Calumet Farm broke a 57-year drought in 2019 by becoming North America’s leading breeder by money won for the first time since 1961.

Owned by a trust and leased to Thoroughbred operations owned by billionaire businessman Brad Kelley since 2012, Calumet was represented last year by a battalion of 410 starters—more than any other North American breeder—that collectively earned $12,576,242 in purses. The 2019 runners captured 331 wins (14% of 2,408 starts) and finished in-the-money 958 times (40% of all starts).

Calumet also was named as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Breeder along with George Strawbridge Jr. and Godolphin. Calumet’s general manager Eddie Kane said leading the breeder standings by purses and being an Eclipse finalist are important milestones for the farm because it recognizes all the efforts from the organization and its employees over the past seven years.

“While we did not set out with this as a goal, it is a welcome result of our strategy,” Kane said. “Both achievements are important in their own right, with the Eclipse Award being the more tangible of the two.”

Calumet’s best farm-bred runners of 2019 included 15 black-type winners, of which seven won nine graded stakes. Mongolian Groom was the lone grade 1 winner as the victor of the Awesome Again Stakes (G1), but Mongolian Stable’s son of Hightail  (who stands at Calumet) also placed in the $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) and the Santa Anita Handicap Presented by San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino (G1) on his way to earning $533,891 for the year.

Multiple graded stakes winner Zulu Alpha was Calumet’s most accomplished runner by number of victories in graded stakes and by earnings. The then 6-year-old gelded son of Street Cry out of the A.P. Indy mare Zori won the MacDiarmida Stakes (G2T) and W.L. McKnight Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park and captured the Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes (G3T) at Kentucky Downs. Zulu Alpha ended 2019 with $1,131,940 in earnings for owner Michael Hui, who claimed the horse from Calumet for $80,000 in September 2018 at Churchill Downs.

The 2019 stakes winners included seven homebreds that raced in Calumet’s colors, led by grade 2 winner and multiple grade 1-placed Channel Cat, a son of Calumet stallion English Channel  out of the Kitten’s Joy  mare Carnival Kitten. Channel Cat won the Bowling Green Stakes (G2T) and was third in the United Nations Stakes (G1T)—behind runner-up Zulu Alpha—and third in the Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T).

Channel Cat is one of two Calumet-bred graded stakes winners produced from the cross of English Channel with a Kitten’s Joy mare.

“(The cross) certainly looked good on paper. We are very gratified that it has proven itself on the track,” Kane said. “We think this is just the beginning of that evidence. English Channel has continued to move his way up to the top. He was the No. 1 turf sire in 2019 by black-type stakes winners. He has always bred well with the A.P. Indy line mares, and we had a strong feeling the progeny from the top two turf stallions would breed out, and fortunately it has.”

English Channel, an 18-year-old son of Smart Strike, led all other North American sires in 2019 with 13 black-type winners on the grass. He was the third-leading turf sire on BloodHorse.com by progeny earnings at $7,008,810 behind Giant’s Causeway ($10,366,245) and Kitten’s Joy ($7,286,854).

Calumet has a long and storied history in Central Kentucky. William Monroe Wright founded the farm in 1924 as a Standardbred nursery. His son Warren Wright Sr. launched a Thoroughbred dynasty in 1932 that led to two Triple Crown winners—Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation in 1948.

Calumet first became North America’s leading breeder by money won in 1941. The farm claimed this title again in 1944 and then outright owned this position for 11 consecutive years from 1947 through 1957. Wright died in 1950 and ownership of farm changed to Wright’s widow, Lucille Parker Markey, who remarried Admiral Gene Markey. After 1957, the farm held the title once more in 1961.

Calumet endured years of turmoil following the death of its marquee stallion Alydar in 1990. A torrent of financial chaos followed and led to bankruptcy. The farm was eventually sold in 1992 to the late Henryk de Kwiatkowski. Kelley later acquired the farm from Kennelot Stables, operated by the de Kwiatkowski Trust.

When Kelley got into the Thoroughbred business more than 20 years ago, he focused heavily on horses with a propensity for grass racing and that extended to the acquisition of 2007 turf champion English Channel as a stallion prospect. In 2019, seven of Calumet’s 15 stakes winners won on the grass as a legacy of the bloodstock acquired early on, according to Kane. He said the farm more recently has been moving toward breeding horses with a broader range of ability.

“We have for many years been trying to move toward a better balance between both turf and dirt with sprinters, milers, and classic distance runners as well as with fillies and mares,” Kane said. “We have continued to try to breed more strategically and more commercially and improve the quality of the mare band.”