Best jumps in at top with OXO Equine

DEL MAR, Calif. – The names are Brill, Instagrand, and Rowayton, all 2-year-old debut winners in Southern California since late June.

They were expensive acquisitions who ran to expectations for owner Larry Best and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in maiden races at Los Alamitos and Santa Anita. All three may be in the conversation about the top juveniles of the year this fall.

“When you buy the horses, you expect them to do well,” Best said Sunday. “You hope and pray a lot. To come out 3 for 3 in maiden races is unexpected. They showed up. It doesn’t get better than that.”

Best and Hollendorfer will learn soon how their prospects rank among California’s 2-year-olds.

Instagrand, who beat maidens by 10 lengths on June 29 at Los Alamitos, will be a strong favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar.

Brill, who won a maiden race on the July 18 opening-day program at Del Mar, is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for fillies on Sept. 1. Plans have not been finalized for Rowayton, who won his debut July 21 at Del Mar. The Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity is a possibility for Instagrand and Rowayton.

It would be no surprise if Best was represented in the 2-yearold races at the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. A Boston resident, Best has invested enough in bloodstock to participate at that level.

Best bought Brill for $1 million and Rowayton for $320,000 as yearlings. Instagrand was acquired for $1.2 million at the Fasig-Tipton Gulstream sale in March. By Into Mischief, Instagrand earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure in his debut.

“I don’t think I know what I’ve got yet,” Best, 68, said of Instagrand. “It’s fun to see what the horse has showed at this point, a little more than I expected and that’s always good.”

The current 2-year-olds represent the second year of runners for Best, who owns the privately held OXO Capital, a company that specializes in medical technologies. Best was drawn to racing through a friend and has taken the approach of buying a limited number of prospects, often spending significantly at leading sales.

“Heart valves to horses, what a combination,” Best said.

Instagrand was the most expensive colt at the FasigTipton Gulfstream sale in March. Balon Rose, a War Front filly based at Saratoga with Chad Brown, was purchased for $1.6 million at the Keeneland September yearling sale last year, the second-most expensive filly at the marathon sale.

“I’ve spent most of my recent decades in medical technologies,” Best said. “I’ve had quite a bit of success. I’m getting older and I found something I can get excited about. With general business, I’ve been there and done that.

“I’m not a golfer. I like high risk and challenges.”

Best’s leading 3-year-old is Instilled Regard, who was fourth in the Kentucky Derby on May 5. Purchased for $1,050,000 at a 2-year-olds in training sale in March 2017, Instilled Regard has won 2 of 8 starts and earned $394,000. He won the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes in January at Fair Grounds and was later fourth, beaten 10 3/4 lengths, by Justify in the Santa Anita Derby in April.

In the Kentucky Derby, Instilled Regard was 85-1. Ridden by the up-and-coming Californian Drayden Van Dyke, Instilled Regard closed from 17th in a field of 20 to finish 4 3/4 lengths behind Justify.

“Pinch me,” Best said, recalling the spring. “I’ve got a horse in the Kentucky Derby in the first year. The odds were ridiculous. He outperformed. He closed well. He was moving faster than most horses in the last quarter-mile.”

After the Kentucky Derby, Instilled Regard was sent to a farm in Kentucky for a rest. He was transferred from Hollendorfer to trainer Chad Brown in the spring and has resumed training at Saratoga. Best said in the spring that the transfer was done to take advantage of the many dirt races for 3-yearolds on the East Coast.

“Chad has gone slow with him,” Best said. “We want to have a good 4-year-old year with a few starts before then. I’m targeting – I haven’t cleared it with Chad – the Pennsylvania Derby.”

The Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby is worth $1 million and is run at 1 1/8 miles on Sept. 22 at Parx Racing. By then, Best is likely to have acquired a few yearlings at the Keeneland September sale. Earlier this week, he was scouting prospects at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale.

For Best, who races as OXO Equine, the results are part of his strategy of buying a limited number of top-class yearling and juvenile prospects and entrusting them to trainers such as Hollendorfer and Brown.

So far, Best says, his accomplishments are little more than a foundation, although the team is loaded with the equivalent of first-round draft choices.

“It’s like having your own sport franchise,” Best said. “’I’m hoping for things to go well. It’s way too early. All I’ve done is buy horses.”