Gainful-ly Employed for European Duty

Kern Thoroughbreds’ Joe Miller came up just short to Robert Cowell when he tried to acquire the racing prospect Dornoch (Mizzen Mast) at the Tattersalls Horses In Training Sale two weeks ago. Recompense came yesterday at Keeneland November, however, when Miller came out on top for Dornoch’s 8-year-old dam Gainful (Gone West). Miller paid $190,000 for the stakes-placed mare, who sold in foal to First Defence and was the co-top-priced mare Sunday. Mill Ridge consigned the Juddmonte-bred Gainful as hip 1867. 

Miller said he was acting on behalf of an undisclosed client and said the mare will continue her breeding career in Ireland. 
“She’s a good-looking mare, and the first foal out of her brought 180,000 sterling last week at the Tattersalls sale, and he was a very good-looking horse,” Miller said. “I was trying to buy him as a racehorse to bring him back to America, and I think he could get black-type. She’s a black-type mare, and I think she could be a commercial mare in the future.”

Asked if the client would sell out of the mare, Miller said, “Possibly, if they got the right horse out of her.” 
Campaigned in Europe by Juddmonte, Gainful was three times placed in listed races for trainer David Smaga. She probably ran her best race in the Prix Finlande in 2009 when she finished third behind Denomination (Smart Strike), a subsequent MGSW in the U.S. 

Gainful is a half to the stakes-placed Fully Funded (Aptitude) and was produced by stakes-placed Fully Invested (Irish River {Fr}), herself a half to the European group winners Multiplex (GB) (Danehill) and Memorise (Lyphard). It is the extended family of champions Commander In Chief (GB) and Warning (GB). 

A native of Saratoga, Miller worked with the respected European horsemen John Warren and Henry Herbert selecting sale prospects before joining Lincoln Collins at Kern Thoroughbreds a decade ago. Miller, who is based in Lexington, specializes in international racing and racing and breeding management.