Global Campaign Providing Thrill for Sagamore Farm

After securing one of the biggest wins to date for co-owner Sagamore Farm, Global Campaign  will try to move forward again when he starts in the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

Campaigned by breeder WinStar Farm and Sagamore, Global Campaign enters this year's 1 1/4-mile test off a front-running, 1 3/4-length victory over Tacitus in the Woodward Handicap (G1) Sept. 5 at Saratoga Race Course. The victory is one of the biggest for Sagamore since Kevin Plank took over the historic farm near Glyndon, Md., in 2007.

"He's everything that you would want in a racehorse," said Sagamore president Hunter Rankin. "He's super-talented, he's got a great mind, and he loves to train. It's beautiful. He's the kind of horse that makes you want to go to the barn each day that much more.  

"You love them all but I just really appreciate that elite level of talent."

Once owned by Alfred G. Vanderbilt II, Sagamore was home to Hall of Fame horses Native Dancer, Bed o' Roses, and Discovery. Plank has added a few more chapters to that book. In 2010 Shared Account prevailed in a three-horse photo to post an upset victory in the $2 million Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) at Churchill Downs, giving Plank his first Breeders' Cup win as an owner.

Shared Account would then provide the farm its first Breeders' Cup victory as a breeder when her daughter, Sharing, drew clear in the stretch for a 1 1/4-length victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T). Sharing, by Speightstown , is campaigned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable. 

It's been a year of changes at Sagamore, which has sold off some horses in 2020. More changes are likely around the corner, but Global Campaign certainly has everyone's attention. Plank, CEO of the sports-fitness apparel giant Under Armour, plans to travel to Lexington on race day to watch the son of 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Curlin  compete in this year's Classic.

Rankin wasn't at Sagamore in 2010 for Shared Account's Breeders' Cup win but knows it was a huge thrill for the farm. Still, having a horse win the Woodward and now entered in the Classic has provided new thrills. 

"When you have a colt, not that having a great filly or mare is not special—it is, but most people who get in this business dream of winning the Kentucky Derby. They dream of winning the Breeders' Cup Classic—and really just to have a horse able to compete in those races," Rankin said. "It sounds cliché but it's just an honor to see what your horse is able to do against the best older horses in the world. That's pretty awesome."

Sagamore purchased Global Campaign from his breeder, WinStar Farm, through the Select Sales consignment for $250,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Rankin said he asked WinStar president and CEO Elliott Walden if they would like to stay in on him and he agreed. Rankin said the partnership with WinStar has been great. The son of Curlin—Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy, is a half brother to two-time grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro  and two-time stakes winner Sonic Mule.

Global Campaign went to Ocala Stud for his initial training. Rankin said they did a great job with him and then he came to Sagamore to train as a 2-year-old.

Stanley Hough had retired from training in 2012, but he was pulled back in to help out Sagamore. Initially that help included going to sales to assist Rankin but when trainer Horacio DePaz had to step back a bit, Hough helped out with training—including Global Campaign who will be Hough's sixth Breeders' Cup starter. Hough notes that DePaz still deserves a lot of credit.

Hough had conditioned horses for Hunter Rankin's parents, Alex and Sarah Rankin of Upson Downs Farm. Alex Rankin has served as chairman of Churchill Downs Inc. since 2018.

"Hunter was just—I don't even think he was in high school when I first met him," Hough said. "Anyway, I retired. And I was retired five years or something. But we still remained friends so when he got the position with Sagamore, he called me and asked if I would like to come and help him."

Other than that retirement that didn't take, Hough, 72, has been training since he was 18 years old. He has thoroughly enjoyed this return engagement.

"We've done everything (Kevin Plank) wants to do. We have a great relationship. I've trained for a lot of people … and this has been the greatest," Hough said. "This is by far the best. Sagamore really is like family. And I've just really enjoyed it."

Rankin agreed with that.

"The treatment that we receive as a team is second to none," Rankin said. "You can't treat a group of people any more fair or any more benevolently than he does. And that's not just in our business but in all of his businesses, I believe."

On the track Global Campaign didn't get started until January of his 3-year-old campaign, but by winning his first two starts by a combined eight lengths, the connections thought the colt deserved a shot on the Triple Crown trail. In his next start Global Campaign finished fifth in the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), where he severely grabbed a quarter.

"He not only tore a quarter, he went in and took part of the foot with it," Hough said. "So we really had to take some time there."

While Global Campaign didn't compete in the Triple Crown races, he did win the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) May 11 at Belmont Park then finished third in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga. 

After nine months away—resting and training at WinStar Farm—Global Campaign returned this year with a clear victory in a seven-furlong allowance race at Gulfstream Park in April. He then finished sixth in the Blame Stakes May 23 at Churchill Downs before winning the Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3) in July and the Woodward in September.

Hough noted Global Campaign has had about two months between each of his most recent starts and that has helped him. Off another two-month layoff, he thinks Global Campaign potentially could put together his best race to date in the Classic and certainly believes he deserves a shot.

"He's doing good," Hough said. "It's going to be a tough group of horses for sure, but I think it's where he belongs, and we hope that everything goes his way."