Lecomte Challenge for Louisiana-Bred
By Christie DeBernardis
Whispering Oaks Farm’s Four Leaf Chief (Lookin at Lucky) gets a class test in Saturday’s GIII Lecomte S. at the Fair Grounds and his performance will determine whether he continues in open company or returns to the state-bred ranks.
“We are just not quite sure he is good enough to continue in open company,” Whispering Oaks Farm owner Carrol Castille said. “It’s going to be a race-by-race situation. We will just have to wait and see.”
A debut winner on the turf against open company at Evangeline Downs July 10, the Steve Flint trainee followed up with a victory in the Louisiana Cup Juvenile at Louisiana Downs Aug. 2. Fourth in the state-bred Evangeline Downs Star S. Aug. 30, he was subsequently shelved and returned with a victory in the state-bred Louisiana Legacy S. at Delta Downs Nov. 22.
Four Leaf Chief closed out his juvenile campaign in an open one-mile optional claimer at the Fair Grounds Dec. 28, where he finished third behind fellow Lecomte contender War Story (Northern Afleet) after a wide trip and being bumped at the break.
“In his last performance, we thought he was much the best horse,” Castille commented. “For the first half of the mile, he just kind of played around. He was 20 lengths out of it, but he came closing really strong.” (Video)
The Louisiana native added, “He has done that before. In his stakes win at Delta, he played around for the first half-mile and then he finally got serious and was good enough to overcome it. In this type of company, we will have to get in the race right out of the gate.” (Video)
Flint, Castille’s personal trainer, put blinkers on Four Leaf Chief after his last start in an attempt to get him more focused and both trainer and owner have been pleased with the colt’s works since. He most recently breezed five furlongs at Castille’s Evangeline Downs Training Center, which was built on the site of the old Evangeline Downs, in 1:04 Dec. 20.
“He is still a big kid at heart, so we put blinkers on him and it made a huge difference,” Castille remarked. “He is like a totally different horse. He is focusing a whole lot more, so we expect a good performance out of him Saturday.”
Despite the fact that Castille’s Whispering Oaks Farm is one of the premiere breeding farms in Louisiana, Four Leaf Chief is not a homebred. Castille purchased the sophomore for $65,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September Sale.
“It was a combination of him being a state-bred with open pedigree, so to speak,” Castille said on the decision to buy the colt. “I actually purchased a couple of other horses there and [my other trainer Steve] Asmussen liked him a lot. We were able to get him for the right price.”
He continued, “The way I look at it, being a Louisiana-bred is an insurance policy. Hopefully they are good enough to run in open company, but if not, we always have the Louisiana-bred program to fall back on. Also, the versatility of my two trainers gives me the ability to do both. I run the state-breds here with Flint and run the open-breds with Asmussen, who runs all over the country.”
The owner of several telecommunications companies, Castille grew up around horse racing. He founded Whispering Oaks in 2001 and the farm is currently home to six stallions, headlined by Closing Argument and D’Wildcat.
Whispering Oaks produces around 40 homebreds each year. Castille currently has 30 horses running and 32
2-year-olds in training, about 70% of which are Louisiana-breds.
“I buy both open horses and state-breds at the sales,” Castille said. “Of course, I also run some of my homebreds and sell some. I stand two of the top stallions in the state in Closing Argument and D’Wildcat and I am the majority owner of both of them. We do really well with those. We breed anywhere from 120-150 mares a year at the farm, both in house and outside.”
While Castille is no stranger to graded stakes success, having won the 2005 GIII Arlington-Washington Breeders’ Futurity with Sorcerer’s Stone (Gulch) and most recently the 2014 GIII Victory Ride S. with Street Story (Street Cry {Ire}), a win by Four Leaf Chief on Saturday would mark his first graded stakes success with a Lousiana-bred.