Brandywine Looks Golden This Fall

by Lucas Marquardt

Brandywine Farm’s Jim and Pam Robinson are celebrating their 40th anniversary in horse racing this year. In the coming weeks, they might be celebrating a whole lot more than that. Indeed, Fasig-Tipton’s October Fall Yearling Sale, which begins a three-day stand Monday in Lexington, could kick off an exciting run for the Robinsons. In addition to a nice collection of yearlings at October that figure to be well received, the husband-and-wife team will watch a horse they bred in partnership, the Grade I winner Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor), go for Breeders’ Cup glory in the GI Classic Nov. 1. Soon after, the Robinsons then return for Fasig’s November Sale Nov. 3 to offer Majestic Harbor’s dam Champagne Royale. Also the dam of this year’s GI Arkansas S. winner Danza (Street Boss), Champagne Royale is considered a leading Broodmare of the Year candidate. 

“Hopefully, it will be fun,” and understated Pam Robinson said of the coming 15 or so days. 

Regardless of what happens at Fasig, the Breeders’ Cup and beyond, it’s already been another big year for the Robinsons. They are currently the fifth-ranked breeder in the U.S. with $4,143,197 in progeny earnings, and are unique in that they are the only breeder in the Top 5 who doesn’t also stand stallions. 

Among their five 2014 black-type winners are three Grade I winners. In addition to Danza and Majestic Harbor–who captured the Gold Cup at Santa Anita over the summer–they also bred the GI Woodward S. winner Itsmyluckyday (Lawyer Ron). All three horses were bred with former business partner Rob Whiteley, who operated Liberation Farm. 
In some ways, Brandywine Farm has a mom-and-pop feel to it. The Robinsons own the vast majority of the mares at Brandywine, and work the farm alongside a dedicated team of horsemen and women. They rarely breed to stallions whose fees are north of $20,000 or so, and are happy to ply their trade in the meat-and-potatoes middle market. But the scope of Brandywine defies the label. With 100 of their own mares and another 30 or so boarders, the Robinsons are anything but small. 

As they’ve always done, the Robinsons specialize in value. They shop for mares with a limited budget, and, like many, rarely have a shot at those with the flashiest race records and pedigrees. 

“Financially, it’s not what we’re able to do,” said Pam Robinson. “But even if we did have a lot of money, I don’t know that we’d spend a whole lot for mares. It’s a challenge [to buy good, inexpensive mares], and we enjoy it.” 

Champagne Royale, dam of Danza and Majestic Harbor, is a good example of finding a diamond in the rough. The Robinsons teamed with Liberation to buy her for just $29,000 at the 2006 Keeneland January Sale. When Liberation liquidated its stock in 2012, they bought the mare for $40,000 (or essentially $20,000, given they already owned half) at Keeneland November. 

Two months before buying Champagne Royale outright, the Robinsons sold Danza at Keeneland September to Eclipse Thoroughbreds for $105,000. 

“He was a little mischievous,” Pam Robinson remember on Friday from the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds. “We put jolly balls in the colts’ stalls, and he liked to bang that thing around and throw it over the wall.” 

Majestic Harbor, sold at the 2009 September Sale for just $20,000, had a different sort of wild streak. “One thing that stood out about him is that he had the most unruly mane,” Pam Robinson laughed. “It wanted to go this way and that way, and it was a nightmare for the sales prep people. I talked to the lady who co-owns him the other day, and apparently it’s still that way.” 

Like that pair of siblings, Itsmyluckyday has well outrun his yearling price tag. Sold by the Robinsons for $47,000 at the 2001 September Sale, Itsmyluckyday has now earned over $1.7 million. 

“He was a late foal, so he was immature to start with,” said Pam Robinson. “But he got better every day, and turned into a darn good-looking horse.” 

Itsmyluckyday will stand his first season at B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm in 2014 for a fee of $8,000. “We’ll already book several mares to him,” said Jim Robinson. Spendthrift offered Itsmyluckday as part of its “Share the Upside” program, which, along with similar programs, the Robinsons declare themselves big fans of. 

“We’ve had luck with it,” said Pam Robinson. “We have a breeding right to Into Mischief. Warrior’s Reward looks promising, and we have a right to him. We jumped on the bandwagon early with that. We got a breeding right in every one of Spendthrift’s horses. We got a breeding right in every one of Darby Dan’s horses. We got one in Overanalyze at WinStar, and in Old Fashioned and Astrology at Taylor Made. And we already bought seasons to Flashback at Hill ‘n’ Dale. For us as commercial breeders, it makes sense. It may cost us extra money in the short term, but if something hits, it could be worth a lot of money.” 

These types of programs also generally fit well with the Brandywine game plan, which tends to focus on first- and second-year stallions. 

“There are so many good young stallions, and we enjoy supporting them in their first couple of years,” said Pam Robinson. “And let’s face it, there aren’t that many proven stallions that we can afford to go to.” 

That makes their results even more impressive. In recent years, they’ve bred or co-bred the GI Belmont S. winner Ruler On Ice (Roman Ruler), MGISW Champagne d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) and GISW Secret Compass (Discreet Cat); and the Grade II winners Vision in Gold (Medaglia d’Oro) and Aggie Engineer (E Dubai). (Medaglia d’Oro stands for six figures now, but he stood for $40,000 when the Robinsons bred to him in his second year at stud.) 

Not surprisingly, then, two of Brandywine’s big guns for the October Sale are by first-crop sires. Hip 86 is a filly by the three-time champion Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat). She was produced by a half to the graded winners Sapphire n’ Silk (Pleasant Tap) and Golden Itiz (Tiznow) and to the dam of GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Turf heroine Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect). 

“His dam, Ammalu, had a Hard Spun we sold for $270,000 as a weanling who is currently running–and winning–in Japan,” said Pam Robinson. “This is a very nice Gio Ponti, and we hope he’ll be well received.” 

Added Jim, “I haven’t seen a lot of the Gio Pontis, but he himself has such a nice walk on him–he’s got the best stride on a stallion you’ll ever see–and I think he’s passing it on. This colt has a nice, big walk–he walks like a cat.” 

The Robinsons are also high on Hip 271, a colt from the first crop of champion Cape Blanco (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The colt is a son of SP Colonial Review (Pleasant Colony) and is from the family of this year’s GII Adirondack S. winner Cavorting (Bernardini). 

“He’s a little on the small side, but he’s very well balanced and comes from a very nice family,” said Pam Robinson. “I think he’s going to mature into a gorgeous 2-year-old–he just needs some time. I think he’ll be a nice pinhook for somebody.” 

The Robinsons hope those October horses are the opening act to the main presentation, November’s Champagne Royale.

“The folks at Fasig-Tipton looked it up, and she’s one of only two mares in the world who have produced two Grade I winners this year,” said Pam. “We’ve had a lot of interest in her already. We’ll see what Majestic Harbor does in the Classic. But it should be fun.”