A Claim to Fame Eludes O'Neill, Windylea Farm

There has never been a $16,000 maiden claimer like the 10th race at Gulfstream Park Dec. 20, 2018. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

The vast majority of maiden claiming races melt away into oblivion. Yet this one has become the sport's Maltese Falcon. It is the stuff of dreams.

Anyone who ever has scribbled their name on a claim slip has no doubt fantasized about paying a modest amount of money for a claiming horse and watching in wonder as it wins a stakes race. That can happen on occasion, but it's rare at best.

"Pretty much when you claim something it usually is what it is," trainer Kathleen O'Connell said. "The only time you can strike what I call gold is when you have a horse going short who should be gong long or he's on dirt when he should be on turf. Otherwise, as a trainer, I'm happy if they are worth what you claim them for."

All of which explains why there will almost assuredly never be a $16,000 maiden claimer to match that aforementioned December day when two of the juveniles in the race who could have been bought for $16,000 would become winners of $1 million grade 1 races at 3.

One of them even crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), only to be disqualified and placed 17th.

That, of course was Gary and Mary West's Maximum Security, who made his career debut in that race, won by 9 3/4, and was never associated with a claiming tag again, winning the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) and the TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) this year.

"If there was a buzz about Maximum Security that day, no one listened to it," trainer Kelly Breen said about an earner of $1,279,400 receiving no interest at the claiming box as the 5-2 third choice in his first start.

Just producing Maximum Security would give the Dec. 20 race a permanent spot in racing trivia, but more recently the third-place finisher in that race, Math Wizard, captured the Sept. 21 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., giving the maiden claimer seemingly untouchable status with a second winner of a grade 1, $1 million race.

While the son of Algorithms ' victory at 31-1 odds at Parx Racing and his humble roots had most observers shaking their head in disbelief, a handful of people were more profoundly impacted by the unexpected twists of fate since winter.

At the top of that list you'll find 53-year-old Kip O'Neill and his family-run Windylea Farm, which is owned by his 81-year-old father, Phil. 

As racing manager for Windylea, Kip O'Neill was at the forefront of a chain of events that could haunt someone for years. He claimed Math Wizard through trainer Paul Kopaj for $16,000 out of the colt's next start after the Dec. 20 race and then lost him to Joseph via claim after one start for Windylea.

Yet his saga does not end there. After losing Math Wizard, O'Connell claimed Guerreron for him for $16,000. The same Guerreron who was the 6-5 favorite in the Dec. 20 race and finished second, beating Math Wizard by a length and finishing 9 3/4 lengths behind Maximum Security.

With that type of running line, it would figure that Guerreron also proved to be a bargain. But in a reminder of just how maddening and frustrating horse racing can be, in his second start for Windylea and second start off a five-month rest, Guerreron ran third in a $10,000 claiming race.

Talk about having "what ifs" forever race through your mind. 

That kind of experience could easily send new owners scrambling to find a new means of spending their money, but with more than three decades of experience in the sport, Kip O'Neill has learned how fickle, and cruel, fate can be.

"I followed Math Wizard's path because being in this game for 30 years I have seen almost everything. In the claiming game you do not want horses to haunt you and if Math Wizard doesn't haunt me, nothing ever will," O'Neill said. "I'm fine with what happened. I applaud Saffie Joseph and the work of his team on the progress of the horse and wish them nothing but the best."

Windylea is hardly a small operation. It has about 130 horses, with 60 of them in training and the rest at farms in Bennington, Vt., and Hoosick Falls, N.Y., and a re-entry center in Naples, Fla.

The stable has yet to win a graded stakes and O'Neill did not expect to find a graded stakes winner Jan. 6 at Gulfstream Park when he spotted Math Wizard running in another $16,000 maiden claimer. The newly turned 3-year-old had been claimed out of the Dec. 20 race by trainer Antonio Sano and was again facing Guerreron in the six-furlong sprint.

"We liked Math Wizard and Guerreron, but based on Math Wizard's pedigree, we thought he was more of a sure thing," O'Neill said. Indeed he was, as Math Wizard whizzed to a decisive 6 3/4-length victory over Guerreron and the colt bred by Lucky Seven Stable went to Windylea as the only outfit to put in a claim for the $16,000 claiming tag.

After that, it was decision time for O'Neill. The two options were a starter race, the protected route the Wests and trainer Jason Servis took with Maximum Security after the Dec 20 race, or a claimer.

They opted for a $25,000 claimer Jan. 31, and O'Neill watched in amazement as Math Wizard opened a 5 ½-length lead after six furlongs in the one-mile race en route to a blowout 18 1/2-length victory in a fleet 1:36.50.

"At the three-eighths pole, I realized if we didn't lose him, we had a real nice horse," said O'Neill, who also owns the 2-year-old Overanalyze  filly Talk You Out of It, who was third in the Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park for trainer Bruce Brown in June. "And if we did lose him, we took too big of a shot. The starter was an option that was out there, but based on the way he was training, it was the logical distance and spot. He was just coming off a maiden win and horses can certainly bounce off that, but he didn't. He kept moving forward."

It turned to be "too big of a shot" as seven people put in claims for Math Wizard and the shake went to Joseph and owner John Fanelli.

In retrospect, considering how Windylea made $9,000 off the claim and $16,800 in purse money in 25 days off Math Wizard, it was an ideal scenario for any claiming stable. Especially, when prior to the race, only H. G. Wells with his time machine could have known there were grade 1 laurels awaiting the colt.

"In the short time we had him, there was nothing that said he'd be a grade 1 winner. If we had seen that, we would not have taken a shot in a claimer," O'Neill said. "But you turn the page and move on in the claiming game. That's up until the time he's getting his picture taken in a million dollar race and then you have to look at it and say a lot of this game is timing. We've claimed horses getting better and claimed horses who are declining. It's a mixed bag, but if you are in the claiming game, you have to be ready for anything and we are."

O'Neill brushed off losing Math Wizard and put the money from the claim to work by claiming Guerreron on Feb. 27 from Breen, who had claimed the Revolutionary  gelding out of the Flatter  mare Flatter Lil for $16,000 out his runner-up finish in the Jan. 6 race.

"He had run in some high-quality 2-year-old races and ran some good numbers," O'Neill said. "We felt he'd be useful as a Florida-bred."

Guerreron was fifth for $25,000 Feb. 10, but Breen was quite confident heading into the Feb. 27 race back at the $16,000 level, which would mark Guerreron's 12th career start.

"I saw the (Dec. 20) race and I thought it was a nice race. I don't claim many maidens but with a 2-year-old turning 3, it struck me as a peculiar race where maybe a few nice horses may come out of it. But I was one horse too fast. I should have claimed the third horse in that (Dec. 20) race," Breen said.

Guerreron won by 2 3/4 lengths Feb. 27 as a 7-5 favorite and Breen lost him to Windylea and O'Connell. He forgot about him until after the Pennsylvania Derby, when Breen said he searched the Internet to find out what happened to Guerreron.

"It had me Googling to find out whatever happened to Guerreron because we did like him and he ran well for us. In the first race, he got checked badly and then we won a bet on him. We had a good feeling he would run well that day," he said.

After getting Guerreron, O'Connell gave him a five-month break, and during that time Maximum Security sandwiched the Florida Derby and Haskell wins between the Kentucky Derby fiasco and Math Wizard finished second in the $500,000 Ohio Derby (G3) and third in the $500,000 Indiana Derby (G3).

"We gave him some time off because he looked so haggard and raw. Mr. Breen did a good job with him, but he was too thin and he was going through a growth spurt. Kip did the right thing to freshen him up, because he had run a lot," O'Connell said.

When the gelding returned to the races, graded stakes were just a daydream for Guerreron as O'Connell placed him against winners in a $25,000-$20,000 claimer July 26 at Gulfstream Park. He finished last of six, beaten 22 1/4 lengths.

She then put him in a $10,000 claimer at seven furlongs Aug. 31 at Gulfstream, where he was third, beaten by only two lengths.

"I love Edgard Zayas," O'Connell said. "He rode Guerreron in his last race and told me afterwards that he can't believe that the horse finished second to Maximum Security."

Like O'Connell, O'Neill believes Guerreron will improve as they find longer races for him.

"We think he'll be a useful claiming horse," O'Neill said about the gelding bred by Twin Stars Equine in Florida. "I would highly doubt he'll reach the levels of the other two, but the horse is OK. He needed some time off and is just getting back to the races. He's ready to go but he's going to be a cheap claimer."

A few weeks after that Aug. 31 race, Math Wizard won the Pennsylvania Derby and O'Connell and O'Neill enjoyed a chuckle over it.

"We were laughing about it," she said. "I guess someone had to finish second to Maximum Security and he did beat Math Wizard. What can you do about it?"

You could cry, but to his credit, O'Neill has taken everything in stride and remained upbeat.

"Anything is possible in this game. It doesn't bother me anymore. It did at first, but so much time has passed. You never know how a horse will be in one stable as opposed to another. The work Saffie Joseph and his team have done, I saw the passion he has for the horse in his post-race interview after the Pennsylvania Derby," O'Neill said. "For me, it's a lifelong investment in this industry. I look at it and say what happened with these horses is a win for the game. And I can enjoy the fact that yes, we had Math Wizard for a little bit, and he continued to improve and mature as a 3-year-old. He was good on the day we claimed him, and our placement of where we put him might have been less than stellar but we can learn from that as well."

Through it all, O'Neill also learned that dreams indeed came true, but you never know where or when you'll find them.