'Texas' Flavor in Ocala

The comebacking 2014 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero's workout Saturday wasn't the only breeze that owner Erich Brehm Sr. was keeping a close eye on this past week.

After purchasing 18 yearlings at public auction in 2015 with prices ranging from $11,000-$120,000, Brehm and partners will send four of them through the ring at the upcoming two-day OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Nine more are slated to go under the hammer this spring at the OBS April and June sales. The remainder of the group will be campaigned by trainer Keith Desormeaux on the West Coast.

The OBSMAR quartet, consigned by Mayberry Farm, Agent V, were selected at the yearling sales by Desormeaux and April Mayberry.

The group includes:

• Hip 53, f, First Dude–Keep On Burnin, by Gilded Time. *$40,000 OBSAUG. **1/2 to Burnum (Roar of the Tiger), GSP, $230,216. ***:10 1/5.
• Hip 234, c, Majesticperfection–Seal of Approval, by Vindication. *$115,000 KEESEP. **1/2 to Paid Admission (Candy Ride {Arg}), SP, $186,918. ***:10.
• Hip 454, c, Mizzen Mast–Catchy Tune (SP, $132,470), by Bernstein. *$95,000 KEESEP. **:10 1/5.
• Hip 563, c, Hard Spun–Final Fling (GSW & GISP, $181,204), by Bertrando. *$65,000 KEESEP. **:10 4/5.

“Keith Desormeaux is really good at looking at the way a horse moves and what's in a horse's mind,” Brehm commented. “I think that's really critical. Guys like [bloodstock agent] Dennis O'Neill, and from my camp, Keith Desormeaux and April Mayberry, can really find these diamonds in the rough and pick good horses out consistently. They have that skill.”

The 63-year-old continued, “We have a great team. It's nothing I'm doing, trust me. It's all about the team. I guess maybe my value is that I have the formula. I have to decide between our six different partnerships how we're splitting the horses up. So far, it's worked out pretty well. The partnerships have really interesting people who come from all different walks of life. I'm in the cardiovascular world [as Western United States Area Sales Director at CorMatrix Cardiovascular Inc.]–we grow heart tissue–so one of my partners is a cardiologist.”

Other partners include fellow Texan Richard Rawlings of 'Fast and Loud' fame, a retired anesthesiologist, a dermatologist and a commercial real estate investor. Brehm's son Erich Jr. and a group of his friends are involved in a group as well. Each partnership typically contains about four or five people.

“My goal of the partnerships is to start with three horses and have it be a progressive thing,” Brehm explained. “We'll buy three horses, sell two and race one. My goal is always to sell the best horses. Don't let the tail wag the dog. The first goal is to make sure that the partners always feel like they have a chance financially. Right now, between all of my partnerships, we have 18 owners in the game, and for the most part, none of them were in it before. I brought them in, they're all happy and they're bringing friends in now, too.”

But who brought Brehm in? Rewind to his college days at the University of Illinois-Chicago while his close friend Wally Gorzela studied at nearby Depaul.

“Wally's grandfather taught him how to bet horses, so we started a little program of study until 10 p.m. every night, then go bet the last three races at the harness track,” Brehm commented. “We just started as degenerate gamblers. Interestingly enough, about a year into the game we started making a lot of money and we paid off all of our student loans, bought cars, took vacations…it was silly. We literally had t-shirts made up that said 'Trifecta Kids.' Me and Wally go back 30 years and he's an accountant and does finances for all of the partnerships now. The guy that got me into the game is still integral in everything that I do in it today.”

After watching subsequent 1976 GI Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Elocutionist compete in person at Arlington Park, the duo shifted their attention to Thoroughbreds. Trips to Louisville on the first Saturday in May as fans–and later as owners–quickly became the norm each spring. Some early success as an owner, however, didn't necessarily turn out to be the best thing for Brehm in the long run.

“I probably spent 20 years, honestly, just losing a lot of money, but having a lot of fun,” he revealed. “At one point, I think I owned eight horses and had a bunch of mares. Because I had a little bit of early success, I thought I knew what I was doing. I didn't know anything.”

Enter Keith Desormeaux.

“About 20 years later, I was kind of out of the game a bit, not completely, but not really in it, either, and bought a horse at a yearling sale in Texas,” Brehm said. “It was funny because everybody was telling me that, 'This is everything you look for in a racehorse. He's so good looking… etc.' The purses weren't any good in Texas, so I wanted to race in Louisiana and Keith Desormeaux was recommended to me as a trainer. I called Keith and liked him right away.”

He continued, “So, I send him the horse–I'm thinking I have this great horse. Two weeks later, he calls and says, 'Erich, I'm going to do you a favor. I'm going to help you get out of this horse. And let me help you find a good horse.' I said, 'Really? Because everybody is telling me that he's a world beater.' And he says, 'Yeah, not so much.' He was terrible and never won anything. Keith saw it right away. He never won a race and was later given away as a polo horse.”

Brehm began claiming horses with Desormeaux in 2009 and immediately hit the ground running. Shape (Arch), claimed for $15,000, was the first to net a small profit.

“We ran him, I think, maybe 20 times or so and he got us a check every time,” Brehm said. “He was very durable and won a couple of little races for us. At the end of the day, it was a positive experience.”

Buying yearlings with Desormeaux to race and pinhook quickly followed.

“I bought a Big Brown filly for $20,000 and we sold her for $60,000,” he said. “I went back to pinhook again the following year and bought a Street Boss for $25,000 and got $155,000.”

The best was still yet to come. Racing for the Brehm family, Wayne Detmar, Lee Michaels, Dr. Gene Voss and Desormeaux, the aforementioned Texas Red (Afleet Alex), a $17,000 KEESEP yearling purchase in 2013, has gone on to rack up just north of $1.7 million in earnings. In addition to his 13-1 upset in the Juvenile, the handsome bay also won last term's GII Jim Dandy S. and was second in the GII San Vicente S. and GIII Dwyer S. He was sidelined after finishing a disappointing fifth in last year's GI Travers S.

With a long-term eye on the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Texas Red is aiming for a return in a seven-furlong allowance at Santa Anita in early April. Other targets are likely to include the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita June 25 and the GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar. He breezed four furlongs in an easy :49.20 at Santa Anita Mar. 12.

“There are five people in the Texas Red partnership and two of them had never owned a racehorse before,” Brehm concluded. “He's made $1.7 million and everybody in that partnership is addicted.”