Barn Tour: 12 for Brian Lynch include Oscar Performance colts
Mention the name Brian Lynch, and the name of one particularhorse comes to mind right away. Oscar Performance is not just a triumphantmemory from the 2016 Breeders’ Cup. Now he is siring prospects in Lynch’s Kentuckystable.
“The oldest are 3,” Lynch said, referring in part to lastweekend’s Ellis Park Derby winner Tumbarumba. “But I have a nice arsenal of his2-year-olds. They have different owners. A few came to me because I trained thedad, some have owners that bred their mares to him, and some of them have beenpurchases that I’ve just bought.”
Those foals sired by the stallion who won the 2016 Breeders’Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita could be future standouts in Lynch’s barn. Hehas more than a few older ones, too. At a sports bar this week to help promotethe upcoming meet at Kentucky Downs, Lynch offered a snapshot of his stable inthis Horse Racing Nation Barn Tour.
Tumbarumba. The two-time allowance winner stepped up toa stakes challenge Sunday when he and Rafael Bejarano turned a mid-pack run upthe backstretch into a three-quarter-length victory in the Ellis Park Derby. Lynchsaid Jerry and Joan Amerman’s colt probably will stay in the company of3-year-olds. “He’s either headed for the Oklahoma Derby or a stake at Churchill,”Lynch said, referring to the Harrods Creek. “It’s a seven-furlong stake,$300,000 on the dirt Sept. 23.” The Oklahoma Derby (G3) goes 1 1/8 miles Sept.24 at Remington Park.
Oscar Eclipse. Another 3-year-old son of Oscar Performance,he won by 6 3/4 lengths in an “a other than” allowance mile on the dirt Sundayat Ellis Park. “He ran just under a 90 Beyer,” Lynch said. “He’ll be headedtoward a stake at Churchill.” Owned by Rene and Lauren Woolcott, Oscar Eclipsefinished out of the money twice in turf starts last summer before havingsurgery. “We took a chip out of his hind ankle at the end of his 2-year-oldseason,” Lynch said. “He’s come back great.” After nine months off, the colt wasswitched to dirt. He broke his maiden at Churchill Downs and then finishedthird in a photo finish at Ellis Park before he won last weekend.
Hot Beach. Owned by Dutch Bros. Coffee CEO TravisBoersma, the 2-year-old filly who cost $400,000 as a yearling just broke hermaiden on second asking by winning Sunday’s seven-furlong Ellis Park Debutante.It may be too early to suggest she is a Kentucky Oaks (G1) candidate, but Lynchis not lowering the bar. “She’ll be pulling us towards the Pocahontas,” Lynchsaid, talking about the Grade 3 race Sept. 16 at Churchill Downs that will bethe first points prep for the 2024 Oaks. “She was the first stakes winner forOmaha Beach. We’re hoping that she’s potentially in the Breeders’ Cup JuvenileFillies, so we’re working backwards from there.”
Two of a Kind. He was a juvenile-stakes winner whowon his first two races last year. After a nearly seven-month break, the Overanalyzecolt bred and owned by K and R Racing Stable and Town Branch Racing consistentlyputs his number on the board, but he has yet to win in six starts as a3-year-old. Last month in the slop at Saratoga he finished a weakening third inthe 5 1/2-furlong Quick Call. Before it was moved off the main track, the racewas supposed to be Two of a Kind’s third consecutive turf start. The grass iswhere Lynch plans to go for a 6 1/2-furlong sprint next month. “We’re going tothe Franklin-Simpson at Kentucky Downs,” he said. The Grade 2 race has a$600,000 guaranteed purse with another $400,000 thrown in for Kentucky-bredssuch as Two of a Kind.
Highway Robber. He was a debut winner on the dirt inSeptember at Churchill Downs and an allowance winner his first time on the turflast month at Ellis Park. Jim and Susan Hill’s 3-year-old Hard Spun colt stretchedto 1 1/8 miles Aug. 5 and missed a 14-1 upset by just a head in the KentuckyDowns Preview Dueling Grounds Derby. “He’ll run in the mile-and-five-sixteenthsstakes at Kentucky Downs,” Lynch said, specifying the Dueling Grounds Derby(G3) on Sept. 3 that has a guarantee of $375,000. Since Highway Robber was bredin Kentucky, he also would be eligible for his share of another $375,000 thatwould be added to that purse.
Anglophile. Get ready for some déjà vu. Owned by LFGRacing, the English Channel colt finished third in the same Kentucky DownsPreview Dueling Grounds Derby as Highway Robber took second. At 12-1 odds,Anglophile lost by only a neck despite running into traffic in his rally from 10thplace. “He’ll run in that mile-and-five-sixteenths race down at Kentucky Downs,”Lynch said, again targeting the Dueling Grounds Derby. And still again, Anglophileis a Kentucky-bred, so for all intents and purposes, the purse is $750,000 forhim, too.
Fast as Flight. Jim and Susan Hill own the 5-year-oldAir Force Blue mare who won July 2 in the Anchorage Overnight, a black-type,one-mile turf stakes that was moved from Churchill to Ellis. “We’re giving hera little breather,” Lynch said. “She’s heading towards the Keeneland meet. There’sa number of stakes she’s going to be nominated for. She’s run through all herallowance conditions, so she’s Grade 2, Grade 3 going a mile to amile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf.” The Keeneland fall stakes that comes closestto fitting that profile is the First Lady (G1). In her only graded start, Fastas Flight finished fourth March 4 going a mile in the Honey Fox (G3) atGulfstream Park.
F Five. This 4-year-old Not This Time gelding hasraced only four times, going 2-for-2 at Churchill Downs and 0-for-2 elsewhere. Ownedby the Ferro family trust, Larry Connor and Bruno Deberdt, F Five’s most recentvictory came in May when he stalked the early lead and finished first in a$127,000 allowance race covering 1 3/8 miles on the turf. “He runs in a ‘twoother than’ at Ellis Park this weekend,” Lynch said. “He’s a Not This Time that’sjust getting better with time and age.”
Quaternion. Sold as a yearling for $190,000, the3-year-old Union Rags colt owned by Keith Plaisance is a maiden winner who finishedthird to his stablemate Oscar Eclipse in that allowance race Sunday at EllisPark. “He’ll run back at Churchill in another ‘a other than,’ ” Lynch said.
Hammerstein, Oscarworthy and Silent Heart.About those Oscar Performance babies, namely a pair of 2-year-old colts whohave yet to make their racing debuts. The Amermans bred Hammerstein out oftheir Chattahoochee War mare Memorial Wall. Lisa Lee was the breeder ofOscarworthy, who is out of the City Zip mare Loya. “Hammerstein is one to lookfor,” Lynch said. “So is Oscarworthy. And I’ve got a Heart to Heart, a coltcalled Silent Heart who looks like he can run, too.” Silent Heart is anotherunraced colt. He was the result of Heart to Heart being bred to Terry Hamilton’sSilent Name mare Mega Monster. All three of these juveniles have had a steadydiet of weekly breezes this summer at Ellis Park, each firing a bullet work atone time or another.
Lynch split his horses this summer between his stables at Churchill Downs and Ellis Park, so he has gotten more than a littlefamiliar with those 130 miles of Interstate 64 between Louisville and the trackjust south of Evansville, Ind.
Remembering his days growing up in Australia, he said, “Twohours? We used to go that far to get a carton of milk in Wagga Wagga.”
