Cyndy McKee

With major Breeders' Cup prep races all in the books, this past weekend's stakes action focused on state-bred and -sired programs in West Virginia, Maryland and Louisiana. It wasn't difficult to find three standout horses who turned in headline-worthy efforts for smaller-scale outfits whose perseverance and accomplishments routinely fly beneath the radar. Leading the charge at Charles Town was breeder/owner/trainer Cyndy McKee's Beau Ridge Farm, which won four of Saturday's night's 10 Breeders' Classic stakes for West Virginia-breds, and ran second and third with two other entrants. "It felt like...

The West Virginia-bred filly Direct the Cat (Redirect), who was profiled in TDN earlier this month after winning six straight races by a combined 58 3/4 lengths, had her year-long, huge-margin win streak stopped Saturday night when she ran second at Charles Town in the $75,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial S. for state-bred 3-year-old fillies. The 1 3/4-length defeat was administered by the 12-1 upsetter and second choice in the wagering, Overnight Pow Wow (Fiber Sonde). The two gray fillies are both owned and trained by Cyndy McKee, who, along with...

What do you get when you breed a mare who is by a sire who never raced because he crashed through a fence to a stallion who also never made it to the races because he, too, tried to run headlong through a fence? If you're Cyndy McKee and her late husband, John McKee, of West Virginia's Beau Ridge Farm, the answer is the 3-year-old filly Direct the Cat, who on July 4 won a seven-furlong, second-level open allowance at Charles Town by 15 1/4 lengths as the 1-to-10 favorite....