Texas Breeder Hangs His Dreams on Whiskey Echo

Whether due to luck or divine intervention, graded-placed winner Whiskey Echo  seemed destined to become the first stallion Glynn Parent Jr. would stand at his 40-acre farm southwest of Houston.

Parent had just started building a modest broodmare band and, after going through a breeding season of boarding bills and stud fees, decided owning a stallion might make sense for a homespun operation.

He started his stallion prospect search in the $7,500-$10,000 claiming ranks at Lone Star Park but got the notion during his research to look in the $20,000-$30,000 price range, figuring the limited amount of racing offered because of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic might makes some higher-class horses more affordable. Parent's instincts led him to Whiskey Echo, a 4-year-old son of Tiznow  out of the unraced Stormy Atlantic  mare Atala, whose female line traces back to Broodmare of the Year Courtly Dee.

"When I saw he was graded stakes-placed, I knew this warranted some homework," said Parent, who is an instrumental engineer for an oil refinery by profession but grew up with horses and cattle. "I'm into the genetics side of this thing, and when I saw his family, I felt like his pedigree was more than worthy. Once I found him, my brain could not turn him loose."

Don Alberto bred Whiskey Echo in Kentucky and sold him as a yearling for $225,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale to Ron Winchell, who put the colt into the hands of trainer Steve Asmussen. At 2, Whiskey Echo broke his maiden at first asking and in his next start finished third in the Sanford Stakes (G3). He finished his juvenile campaign with a second in the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes. The colt didn't maintain his form at 3, however, and slid into the claiming ranks by the fall of his sophomore year. He would be offered as a racing prospect at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, where he sold for $30,000 to KDE Equine out of Gainesway's consignment.

Whiskey Echo wound up at Oaklawn Park where he got claimed by trainer Ingrid Mason on behalf of owner Rock City Stable, who owned the colt when Parent spied him in a $15,000 claimer June 2 at Lone Star. Unfortunately for Parent, he didn't have everything lined up to put in a claim when Whiskey Echo ran that day, and the colt got claimed by Ronnie Cravens for Jeffery Hoffman. Parent didn't want to pursue the horse privately because he was concerned his enthusiasm might make the price go up. So he waited and patiently watched the entries.

Whiskey Echo showed up in a claiming race on the turf, and Parent went to work setting up and funding a horseman's account at Lone Star in order to put in a claim. Then heavy rains forced the colt to be scratched.

Another opportunity came July 28 in a $15,000 claimer again on the grass. Parent made the five-hour drive from his farm to Lone Star to put in the claim only to be told when he got to the racing office that heavy rain had forced the race onto the main track and Whisky Echo had been scratched again.

"That made no sense to me because he had been running on dirt, and Equibase still had him in the entries," Parent recalled. He asked someone in the racing office to double-check on Whiskey Echo's status one more time. As it turned out, the colt had not been scratched so Parent put in his claim and acquired his first stallion.

"I had almost driven back home," said Parent. "So many things steered me toward Whiskey Echo. I think God meant for me to have this horse."

Whiskey Echo will enter stud next year at Parent's Fastest Time Wins Farm near the small community of Guy, which is about an hour drive southwest of downtown Houston and immediately south of Rosenberg in Fort Bend County. He'll stand for $1,500.

Parent had not previously owned or bred Thoroughbreds before he began acquiring broodmare prospects a couple years ago, but he's had a long fascination with racing and he knows horses. He grew up in rural Louisiana where he competed in rodeos, so he understands athleticism. He also has several family ties to horse racing—both with Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. His uncle Jorda Young bred, sold, and raced Thoroughbreds and cutting horses, he has a cousin who rode as a jockey in Oklahoma, and his son is an exercise rider primarily at Lone Star and Remington Park with aspirations of becoming a trainer.

Parent understands, too, that making a stallion with five mares is a longshot, but he said he cannot ignore the potential he sees in Whiskey Echo.

"I follow the nicking and all my mares go from B to A+ on TrueNicks with Whiskey Echo," he said. "He will be the only son of Tiznow standing in Texas, and I really see this guy being able to straddle the fence between Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. He was graded placed at 2, and in one race at Churchill Downs he went an opening quarter in :21.53.

"Is it realistic that he makes it? Probably not. But if it doesn't happen I won't be disappointed," Parent continued. "In the meantime, I have the dream of it being possible. I just want to have a stakes winner. It doesn't even need to be a graded winner, just a state-bred stakes winner. If I do, I'll have to learn how to do a back flip at 57."