Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
JUSTIFY TAKES GLENNWOOD TO PINNACLE
Triple Crown winner Justify’s meteoric career spanned just 111 days. But his breeder, the Gunther family’s Glennwood Farm, is no brief flash. The operation, which has been steadily turning out standout runners for years, has a number of stars on the track this year – and comes to the Keeneland September yearling sale with a well-stocked consignment for those looking for future stars, including a halfbrother to the unbeaten Triple Crown hero.
John Gunther, an investment banker and stock brokerage executive, has been involved in Thoroughbred breeding and ownership for more than a quarter-century and is the proprietor of 350-acre Glennwood Farm in Versailles, Ky. His daughter Tanya, a former investment banker in London, takes a leading role in planning matings for the farm’s select broodmare band, which operates primarily as a family business with a small group of outside clients.
Glennwood had a breakout year in 2005, as it co-bred Eclipse Award champion 2-yearold Stevie Wonderboy, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and also bred, raised, and sold multiple Grade 1 winner First Samurai, who was third in the Juvenile. In more recent years, the farm has bred, raised, and sold multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, second in the 2011 Belmont Stakes; multiple graded stakes winner My Miss Sophia, second in the 2014 Kentucky Oaks; 2015 Florida Derby winner Materiality; 2016 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz; and co-bred 2017 Hollywood Derby winner Mo Town. The Gunthers also have campaigned horses such as multiple graded stakes winners Last Gunfighter and Tiger Moth as homebreds.
While the operation has enjoyed steady success, this year it has streaked to new heights. Justify, by the late Scat Daddy, is out of the Grade 3-placed Ghostzapper mare Stage Magic, also bred and campaigned by the Gunthers. The farm sold Justify for $500,000 to the partnership of WinStar Farm and China Horse Club at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale.
“It’s been so exciting for the whole farm,” Tanya Gunther said. “Everyone is so excited they were part of this horse’s journey – they remember him as a foal, prepping him as a yearling, taking him to the sale. It’s brought everyone together – they never thought this would happen, and they’re so proud. We’re so proud. I grew up thinking about Secretariat and watching those races, so to see our horse, his name with those great horses of history . . . wow.”
Stage Magic is the dam of three winners from as many starters, including The Lieutenant, winner of the Grade 3 All American Stakes this year at Golden Gate and second to Diversify in the Grade 2 Suburban.
Tanya Gunther says there are similar physical and personality traits shared by Stage Magic and Justify.
“They’ve got a similar hind end in terms of the hind leg,” she said. “He’s a bigger, stronger ‘man’ of a horse, of course, but they do share a lot of similarities in terms of their physical traits. And she’s also a mare who knows what she wants. I’ve heard [trainer Bob Baffert] talk about how [Justify will] tolerate you for a minute and then he’s kind of done. She is exactly like that. When she’s foaled, she’ll let a couple people in there, but if there’s too many, she’ll let you know.”
While breeding a Triple Crown winner is the accomplishment of a lifetime, the small Glennwood operation has had major success with other runners this year as well. Just weeks after Justify’s Belmont Stakes victory, the Gunthers’s homebred Without Parole won the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting carrying their silks. The Frankel colt is from a long-cultivated Glennwood family. He is a half-brother to Tamarkuz, and their dam, Without You Babe, is a halfsister to Stay Thirsty. The Gunthers also bred and sold Vino Rosso, this year’s Wood Memorial winner who placed in two other graded stakes.
Glennwood brings a 19-horse consignment to this year’s Keeneland September sale, led by the half-brother to Justify. The colt, from the second crop of champion Will Take Charge, is an April foal. Stage Magic delivered a Pioneerof the Nile colt this year and was bred to Quality Road for 2019.
The Glennwood consignment also includes an Uncle Mo filly who is a full sister to Mo Town; a Super Saver filly out of Grade 3 winner Molto Vita, from the family of Mo Town; a colt from the final crop of City Zip who is from the immediate family of Materiality and My Miss Sophia; a Curlin colt out of Grade 2 winner Luna Vega; a filly from the first crop of Carpe Diem who is from the family of Last Gunfighter and Tiger Moth; a More Than Ready filly who traces directly to the great broodmare Toussaud; and a Munnings colt from the family of champion Good Magic.
Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s vice president of racing and sales, said he is expecting a “dynamite” September sale, and pointed to support from “tremendous partners” such as the Gunthers as one reason.
“It takes some incredible partners,” Elliston said. “We hustle, we get out there, we encourage people to come, but Keeneland is made because of the people we represent. That’s our mission – we are founded by horsemen, for horsemen, and September, November, our racing product is all about the level of support we get from the breeding community and the racing community.”