Patience Paying Off for Dalos

Ontario-based Ivan Dalos has been in the horse business since the 80's, but has seen his breed-to-race operation flourish in recent years. He and trainer Josie Carroll teamed up to take last year's Breeders' S. with Ami's Holiday (Harlan's Holiday)–Dalos's first win in a Canadian Classic–and they have a trio of extremely promising soon-to-be 3-year-olds poised to make their mark on either side of the border.

“I've been working at this for a long time–30 some-odd years, and we're slowly starting to show some results,” said the Hungarian-born Dalos, who is a partner in a Toronto flooring installation and construction company. “I'm not doing anything I didn't do before, except maybe I have a little more knowledge and a little more understanding. Sometimes you strike it lucky.”

Dalos, who breeds as Tall Oaks Farm, has been represented on the track in 2015 by two-for-two 'TDN Rising Star' Ami's Mesa (Sky Mesa); fellow 'Rising Star' and GIII Mazarine S. heroine Gamble's Ghost (Ghostzapper); and Amis Gizmo (Giant Gizmo), who upped his record to four-for-four after an ultra-game front-running success on the stretch out in Woodbine's restricted Kingarvie S. Nov. 28.

Ami's Mesa, a half-sister to Ami's Holiday who hails from a family that Dalos has been developing for generations, ran to odds-on favoritism in her seven-furlong unveiling in Etobicoke Oct. 12 (video), showing off a jaw-dropping turn of foot en route to an eight-length score. She backed up that effort with another impressive tally in the Nov. 21 Glorious Song S. (video) over the same track and trip.

“She really showed us a lot of promise from the very beginning,” said Carroll. “She was very impressive in her debut, but I thought even more so when she got herself in some trouble and was pretty bold through horses and then just drew off.”

With the Woodbine meet having concluded Sunday, Ami's Mesa has joined Carroll down at Palm Meadows, where she will be freshened before gearing up for a sophomore campaign.

Gamble's Ghost, meanwhile, earned her 'Rising Star' moniker after an 8 1/2-length drubbing Aug. 14 (video). She followed up with a distant second-place run behind subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Catch a Glimpse (City Zip) in the grassy GII Natalma S. Sept. 12, and made the grade after extricating herself from a jackpot in the GIII Mazarine S. back on the Polytrack at 8 1/2 panels Oct. 4 (video). Under consideration for the Breeders' Cup, she instead contested the restricted Princess Elizabeth S. back at Woodbine Nov. 1, and had to settle for second after being left with too much to do behind a slow pace.

“She will probably be coming into Palm Meadows within the next couple of weeks,” Carroll said. “She's been out for a month, so I've got her all freshened up. We'll start planning her campaign shortly.”

Gamble's Ghost hails from the extended female family of Irish highweight and G1SW Bluebird (Storm Bird).

Amis Gizmo, who is out of a full-sister to the dam of Ami's Mesa and who is a half to this year's GI Florida Derby third and GII Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Ami's Flatter (Flatter), overcame a rough start to break his maiden the hard way first up in Woodbine's Simcoe S. Sept. 2 (video). He added clear-cut victories in the Bull Page S. 25 days later (video) and Frost King S. Nov. 4 (video), and had every right to quit after being hounded through taxing fractions in the Kingarvie (video).

“For the moment, we're really thinking more Queen's Plate with him [as opposed to the American Triple Crown trail],” Carroll noted. “He's going to get turned out for a month–he's in Ocala at [Ciaran Dunne's] Wavertree. Then we'll bring him in and make some decisions. He had such a strong campaign with those four races and he certainly deserves a little breather.”

When asked about Dalos as an owner and breeder, Caroll said, “He's a very, very patient man who always puts his horses' interests first. I think that's one of the keys to his success… I think he's really building a very, very strong base for his breeding. He devotes a lot of time and a lot of thought to it. I'd say in the last few years it has really started to pay off where we're really seeing some very nice horses for him. Not only the ones that I have, but some that he has sold have been very successful.”

The most noteworthy horse Dalos has bred was none other than Victory Gallop (Cryptoclearance), the 1998 Triple Crown spoiler who was named American champion older male the following season. He was a $25,000 Keeneland September graduate.

“That was a fluke as far as I'm concerned,” said Dalos humbly. “I had a theory it should work, but the fact that it worked as well as it did kind of blew me away. I certainly wasn't expecting it. I was expecting to get a decent horse, but I wasn't expecting to get a champion.”

Both Ami's Mesa and Amis Gizmo are out of Victory Gallop mares.

Dalos says he currently owns approximately 20 broodmares and has a similar number in training. He generally sends his mares to Kentucky to be bred and brings them back to Ontario to foal in order to take advantage of lucrative breeders awards.

Tall Oaks also bred the highly regarded Conquest Enforcer (Into Mischief), a $210,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling who broke his maiden for Mark Casse by 6 3/4 lengths in the Cup and Saucer S. at Woodbine second out in October.

“I used to buy horses because I was trying to develop a broodmare band, so I would try to buy fillies and sell all my colts–Victory Gallop ended up being sold because he was a colt,” Dalos said when asked if he also shopped the sales. “But I got to a point where I looked at the horses for sale that were within my means financially, and I felt that I could breed better than what I could buy for the money that I had. So I've stopped buying and breed everything now.”

The secret to his breeding success?

“The success comes from doing a lot of studying,” he said. “I wasn't born into the horse racing industry and I didn't even know what a racehorse was until I was in my forties. When I finally did get into it, I'm the type of individual that when I get into something I really dive in and try to learn as much as possible about it. So I got hundreds of books about different periods of breeding, watched a lot of races, talked to people much more experienced than I am–listened to a lot of advice, sometimes taking it, sometimes not. Slowly I developed my own ideas of what makes what and what makes things tick.”

Both Carroll and Dalos himself pointed to patience as a cornerstone of the Tall Oaks operation, and hinted that there were more promising young homebreds still in the pipeline.

“I don't push 2-year-olds,” Dalos said. “As far as I'm concerned, if they show you that they're capable of doing it, I let them… But other ones, either because of their size or their development, they're just not ready to race early, so I have a number of 2-year-olds that haven't gotten to the races yet this year. I feel that they're not at the stage yet where they'll be competitive and do well, so I'll wait until they're 3-year-olds, and if they're 3-year-old starters, so be it.” —@BDiDonatoTDN