Sweet Tea Carries on Fox Hill Farms Legacy

Oaklawn Park's final race in January carried added significance because it featured the final horse solely owned by famed Fox Hill Farms of the late Rick Porter.

And Sweet Tea , like so many Fox Hill runners the last two decades in Hot Springs, Ark., delivered in the maiden special weights sprint for fillies and mares, flashing across the finish line first under Luis Quinonez. 

Sweet Tea races for Porter's widow, Betsy, following his death June 6 from a recurrence of cancer. The bow-tied Delaware automobile dealer was 80.

"He has some family, but it was never in the plans for anyone in the family to continue on with Fox Hill," said Rick Porter's longtime executive assistant, Victoria Keith. "She is the last solo one. In talking to Betsy, of course, it was brought up that we certainly wished Rick was there to see her win."

A North Carolina native, Keith named most of Fox Hill's horses in 17 years as vice president. She said sweet tea, a southern staple, is one of her favorite drinks and believed the name was appropriate for the 4-year-old daughter of super sire Into Mischief  . 

Sweet Tea is among only three horses Fox Hill still owns. Sweet Tea and Salute the Flag , a 4-year-old Curlin   filly, are at Oaklawn with trainer Larry Jones after both horses were withdrawn from Keeneland's November Breeding Stock Sale. Royal Ship is a grade 2 winner for Southern California-based Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella. Fox Hill owns Salute the Flag and Royal Ship in partnership with Anthony Manganaro's Siena Farm. Siena Farm bred Salute the Flag.

Porter launched Fox Hill in 1994 and kept 25 to 30 horses in training during peak years, Keith said, with its reach stretching from coast to coast. 

Eclipse Award winners Havre de Grace  and Songbird , Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner Round Pond , grade 1 winners Hard Spun  , Omaha Beach  , Joyful Victory , Jostle , and Eight Belles , second against males in the 2008 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1), are among the most prominent horses to carry Fox Hill's familiar red and white silks. Havre de Grace , in 2011, became the third consecutive female to be crowned Horse of the Year.

"If you look at Fox Hill Farms' numbers on how many horses they've had versus what they have done in the business, it's at the top of the game," said Jones, who began training for Fox Hill in 2006. "Mr. Porter was very blessed. He put a lot of time and effort and research in it and it paid off. They did a good job."

Porter was already downsizing his racing operation because of his illness. Following his death, Keith said one Fox Hill horse was claimed, a couple were sold privately, a few others were retired and rehomed, and still others went through sales at Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton. 

On the recommendation of noted bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, Fox Hill purchased Sweet Tea for $300,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Sweet Tea, still unraced, had been with Mandella in Southern California earlier in 2021 before she joined Jones. 

Following Porter's death, "We sort of decided we were going to keep two partnership horses," Keith said. "And this one (Sweet Tea), with Larry liking her, we didn't believe that she would go through the sale and bring as much as our opinion of her was. We decided to keep her and run her for Fox Hill ... crossed our fingers that Larry was correct."

Sweet Tea, as the favorite, finished sixth in her Nov. 26 career debut at Churchill Downs after breaking a step slow. Favored again in her 4-year-old debut, Sweet Tea ($5.40) led at every point of call in her one-length victory Jan. 30 at Oaklawn. Both races were six furlongs.

"I think she wants to be more of a sprinter," Jones said. "We thought she would win easy at Churchill the first time we ran her."

With Fox Hill's numbers dwindling, Sweet Tea is only its third solely owned winner since Porter's death. 

Sweet Tea represented Fox Hill's 36th Oaklawn victory. It has four more in partnership, notably 2008 allowance winner Kodiak Kowboy , who captured an Eclipse Award as the country's champion sprinter the following year. 

Jones, who met Porter through one of his former trainers, John Servis, has trained the bulk of Fox Hill's solely owned Oaklawn winners (22). 

Fox Hill has 16 stakes victories at Oaklawn, the latest coming with Windmill  in the $150,000 Dixie Belle for 3-year-old filly sprinters last February. In addition to Havre de Grace, Jones trained Hard Spun, Eight Belles, and Windmill.

"It was really good," Jones said of his run with Fox Hill. 

Illustrating the quality Fox Hill has unleashed at Oaklawn, 35 of its 36 solely owned winners have come in stakes, allowance, or maiden special weights company.

"Oh, he loved Oaklawn," Keith said, referring to Porter. 

Jones already had one victory at the 2021-22 Oaklawn meeting with a former Fox Hill horse, Wings of an Angel , a 4-year-old Quality Road   filly who won her Jan. 7 debut. She now races for owners Frederick Hertrich III and John Fielding in the ninth race Feb. 12, an entry-level allowance sprint for older females.

Jones said he "definitely" intends to run Sweet Tea again before the Oaklawn meeting ends May 8.

"Hopefully, her and Wings of an Angel, since they've kind of gotten staggered. hopefully, Wings of an Angel can keep moving through her conditions and leave room for her," Jones said. "Hopefully, they don't have to run against each other."

Salute the Flag is entered in the first race Feb. 13, which will mark her two-turn debut.