Button Down Makes Grade for McAlpins

When Button Down (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) powered home a 1 1/2-length winner of Saturday's GIII Cardinal H. (video), the filly was following a script that has worked for Bill and Carole McAlpin's Greenwood Lodge Farm in the past. The McAlpins acquired the filly as a winless 3-year-old for 65,000gns at last year's Tattersalls December from the draft of her breeder, Juddmonte Farms.

“We've been buying out of the December Mares Sale for a long time and over the years we've bought several of the Juddmonte fillies that were being sold on by them,” explained Bill McAlpin. “We basically bought her with the thought of converting her into a broodmare at some point, but you always like to have them win and, with a little luck, maybe do a little better if they have the ability to race a bit more. We've done that before, we've taken several who have not been successful at two or three and at least made them winners to improve their pedigrees a bit.”

Button Down has done more than just become a winner. Under the tutelage of trainer Josie Carroll, the bay filly broke her maiden at Woodbine in May. An allowance winner next time out in July, she was second in both the Flaming Page S. and GII Canadian S. before finishing a close-up fifth in the GI E.P. Taylor S. She earned her first graded victory in the Cardinal.

The filly's success was not a complete surprise.

“This was a filly that we thought might have a little more potential than that,” McAlpin confirmed. “And the Juddmonte guys did as well–Lord Grimthorpe was very cognizant that she might have ability. It was just one of those things, when you have the number of great horses that Juddmonte does, you're not going to keep a 4-year-old maiden even if you believe that she has real potential. It's clear that they understood that she was a nice filly and that she might have further possibilities.”

McAlpin continued, “We relatively quickly began to feel that she had real promise. Obviously, it's been a lot of steps. Josie had to get her ready for racing. The filly arrived in the States in late December and she didn't run until that introductory race at Keeneland in April. Josie took a lot of time with her. She had a few physical issues to work through and she's been a little bit quirky. Josie, I think, has been the ideal trainer for her because she has taken so much time and cared for her. It's been a process of working through everything step by step.”

Saturday's graded stakes victory only serves to bolster Button Down's outstanding Juddmonte pedigree (Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree). The filly's family also includes Elmaamul (Diesis {GB}), Reams of Verse (Nureyev) and Midday (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

“She has a spectacular pedigree–it's really an astonishing pedigree,” McAlpin said. “She is very attractive, she has very nice conformation. And now, through Josie's efforts, she also has the racing record.”

The McAlpins have been shopping at Tattersalls for going on two decades now.

“For whatever reason, we've always been more inclined to grass racing,” McAlpin explained. “We have mares in Europe as well. We keep mares in France and we've had mares in England and Ireland. So we are inclined towards those kind of horses and those pedigrees anyway. For many years, you could buy some brilliant pedigrees, some Classic pedigrees and deep deep pedigrees very reasonably. I think it's getting a little competitive now. When we began to come over 15 years ago, we were almost the only North Americans really shopping. There were a couple other people that you might see regularly, but now there are quite a few Americans that shop over here. And anytime you've got a bigger buying audience, there is more competition.”

The McAlpins' Greenwood Lodge Farm, based in Bourbon County, has been in a transitionary phase over the last few years.

“We breed mostly to sell,” McAlpin said. “Obviously, we do race as well. We've actually had a dispersal over the last two years of the basic broodmare core. We have a number of young horses that are just having their first foals or we are breeding them in Europe. We have quite a few fillies in training.”

Of the dispersal, McAlpin added, “It was partially that we were uncertain really which direction we wanted to go with the business and how we wanted to do it. We had been doing it quite a long time and, frankly, as you get older, your priorties change a little bit. So we don't want to leave the industry completely, but we certainly wanted to reduce the number of horses that we had.”

The McAlpins are back in England as this year's renewal of the Tattersalls Mares sale draws near, but the original plan wasn't to shop the auction.

“We were over here [in England] doing something else and some of our plans got changed, so yes, we are in Newmarket and we are going to look at some,” McAlpin said, before adding with a chuckle, “but it was almost accidental.”

Button Down is expected to return to the races as a 5-year-old next season.

“She is so sound and she has gotten better after every race to this point,” McAlpin said. “She is continually improving. Now she is maturing. She's getting heavier, thicker and stronger. Mentally she seems very good. We're hoping to have a good year with her next year if everything goes to plan. Perhaps she will just keep improving–she might well do.”

Greenwood Lodge also campaigned this year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner Gliding By (Artie Schiller).

“She didn't deal with the soft turf and she didn't run as well as we hoped she would,” McAlpin said of Gliding By. “We're hoping she'll come back and do well next year also.”

Reflecting on Button Down's Cardinal victory, McAlpin said, “It certainly keeps you excited about it. It's wonderful to have a good horse. You know how few and far between the really good ones are and it's fun to have it all come together.”