Mo Donegal Sparks Derby Dreams for Crawford & Donegal

To say that Jerry Crawford has a lot on his mind these days may be the understatement of Kentucky Derby week.

Not only does the CEO and founder of Donegal Racing need to be laser focused about every little thing happening with the syndicate's Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) starter Mo Donegal , but he's also been working with Churchill Downs officials to accommodate the needs of a horde of more than 300 Donegal partners and their family and friends that will be in attendance.

Suffice it to say, should Mo Donegal defy breaking from the rail and his 10-1 morning-line odds for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and prevail May 7 in the 148th edition of the Run for the Roses, a rather quick expansion of the winner's circle will be required.

"We're working with Churchill Downs trying to figure out how we get 300 people in the winner's circle," said Crawford, who also finalized a deal last week to sell a minority share of Mo Donegal to Mike Repole, original owner of the 3-year-old's sire, Uncle Mo  . "That's a challenge in and of itself, but it's the type of challenge you love to have."

The number of active and enthusiastic partners in the Donegal syndicate is one of the prominent elements in a popular and thriving business that has overachieved on a regular basis.

Even though Donegal has bought about 100 horses in its 13 annual offerings, which are called Derby Dreams, three of them in the last 12 years have already raced in the Kentucky Derby, with two of them finishing third, and Mo Donegal is poised to make it a foursome Saturday under the Twin Spires.

Numbers like that underscore why Crawford was able to enlist the 54 partners for Donegal's eight-horse Derby Dreams XIV package topped by Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) winner Mo Donegal, with most of the investors veterans of past stable offerings.

For one them, Jackie Zachmeyer, a 55-year-old Illinois resident, Saturday will mark her eagerly awaited first trip to the opening leg of the Triple Crown as the owner of one of the runners—and it could not have come at a better time in her life. Now involved in her third Donegal package, she is back in good health after a heart-lung transplant a year ago and looking forward to a magical weekend in Louisville.

"After what I've been through, it's a dream come true to have a horse run in the Kentucky Derby and to experience as an owner something you've seen all your life. I consider this my return to public life," said Zachmeyer, who worked for John Deere before her retirement. "I grew up with horses, I have horses, and my dad was involved with Quarter Horses. I enjoy being near the horses and that's a big aspect of this for me."

For John Buckley, an attorney in Connecticut, this will be his second Kentucky Derby experience with Donegal. He joined the partnership in 2014 along with his friend, Ralph Durante, for Derby Dreams VI. That initial buy-in gave them a share of Keen Ice  , who was seventh in the 2015 Kentucky Derby but recorded one of the sport's most famous upsets when he beat Triple Crown champion American Pharoah   in the Travers Stakes (G1).

Like many of his Donegal partners, Buckley is heading to Churchill with a large compliment of family and friends.

"I'll have 10 or 11 people with me," Buckley said. "You do this a few times with everyone and it adds up, but that's the enthusiasm that Jerry creates. Jerry is a wonderful person and he works hard to create a relationship with everyone in the group. He gives us tremendous leadership." 

The scene at the Wood Memorial could be an omen of things to come Saturday as a Donegal contingent of more than 120 was on hand April 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack for Mo Donegal's neck victory that secured his spot in the Kentucky Derby field. The result was an overflow crowd in the winner's circle and a lengthy stream of people who walked up and then down the paddock staircases to be part of the post-race festivities.

Even Repole, who has been known to bring more than 50 guests to his horses' major races, tipped his cap to the Donegal turnout.

"In my 15 years of racing, this will be the first time I am partners with someone who has a bigger entourage than my own," he said.

The incentive for all these trips and frequent flyer points rests with Donegal's oversized accomplishments from such a relatively small group of horses and a purchasing format that requires a partner to buy all of the eight or nine horses in each Derby Dreams venture, not some of them.

To date, Donegal has owned a share of more than 25 stakes winners while buying just eight or nine yearlings per year, and some of them have proved to be quite profitable.

"We spend a fraction of what most people spend buying horses," said Crawford, an attorney and respected Democratic Party leader in Iowa. "When you go to the sales, you're going to see horses who look like they are ready to be led over for the Kentucky Derby. We can't buy those horses. We don't even try to buy them."

That business model is illustrated in the purchase prices of the four horses from Donegal's 13 Derby Dreams packages that have or will start in the Kentucky Derby. The four (Mo Donegal, Keen Ice, Dullahan , and Paddy O'Prado ) were bought for a combined $725,000 (an average of $181,250 each) and have earnings of more than $7.4 million (an average of $1.85 million) heading into Mo Donegal's Saturday engagement in the $3 million Run for the Roses.

Aside from them, Arklow , an 8-year-old son of Arch  who is a grade 1 winner on turf, was the star of the Derby Dreams VIII package with earnings of $2.96 million that helped push Donegal's lifetime earnings past the $13 million mark since its 2009 inception.

Bundling those horses was another wise move.

"What I like about Donegal is that you get all of the horses they buy that year," Buckley said. "You don't have to worry about not getting the big horse in the group and missing out on the Kentucky Derby or Breeders' Cup horse."

The 72-year-old Crawford, who was described in a 2015 Washington Post story as the "political guru" of Des Moines, has been around horses most of his life, dating back to growing up on a farm.

"My paternal grandfather loved horses. They weren't racehorses because we didn't have 10 cents to our name back then, but that's where I inherited a love for the animal," Crawford said.

When he turned 21, Crawford began to attend the races at the now defunct Ak-Sar-Ben and years later, as his law career spun upwards, in 1991 he paid less than $10,000 for a filly named Native Boat, a daughter of Native Royalty out of a Sauce Boat mare. She won nine races, including two stakes, and earned close to $200,000 through 1994.

"After that, I thought I must be good at this and then I spent the next three years in the wilderness trying to make it happen again," he said.

The seed for Donegal was planted about a decade later through Crawford's inability to pick a Kentucky Derby winner.

"In 2003, my son Conor and I tried to figure out why we always picked the wrong horse to win the Kentucky Derby. So we worked with some numbers and genetic markers and came up with an algorithm that didn't pick a winning horse but told us who couldn't win. So instead of picking one horse out of 20 we were picking one out of four or five," Crawford said.

As time passed, Crawford started cashing more bets on the Kentucky Derby and a thought popped into his head.

"I told my wife (Linda), 'I'm going to take $300,000 and go to the Keeneland September Sale and buy a horse who fits the pedigrees we had been analyzing and see what happens.' Then the stock market crashed and when that happens people stop buying boats, racehorses, and I ended up buying eight horses for $410,000," he said.

With a string of horses rather than a single yearling, Crawford's mind began to race.

"I was flying home wondering how I was going to avoid alimony when I told my wife I bought eight horses, but I had a number of friends, most of whom will be here at the Derby this weekend, who had told me if I buy a horse they would go partners with me," Crawford said. "Fortunately for me, they were good for their word and we put together Derby Dreams I and Donegal Racing was off and running."

Derby Dreams I featured Paddy O'Prado, who was third in the 2010 Kentucky Derby and became a grade 1 winner on turf with earnings of $1.7 million. In 2012, Derby Dreams III included Dullahan, who was also third in the Kentucky Derby and won the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and TVG Pacific Classic (G1) for trainer Dale Romans to earn $1.7 million.

Keen Ice, a son of Curlin   bought for $120,000, raised the bar for excitement in 2015 with his shocker over American Pharoah in the Travers and rang up in $3.4 million in earnings before heading to stud at Calumet Farm.

"The Travers was a spectacular day for Donegal," Crawford said. "I am so thankful that (owner Ahmed Zayat) brought American Pharoah there because if not for him, who would remember who won that race?"

Now Mo Donegal is the standout in Derby Dreams XIV, though there has only been 13 ventures since, like the lack of a 13th floor in some buildings, Crawford did not want to tempt fate with an unlucky number.

"Why tempt fate?" Crawford said.

All of the variables that came together for the syndicate's past Triple Crown runners once again came to the fore in buying Mo Donegal, a son of the Pulpit mare Callingmissbrown bred by Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables. He was a $250,000 purchase from the Ashview consignment at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

"I thought he was in between a growth spurt at the sale," said Crawford, who noted that Mo Donegal has Sauce Boat in his extended family. "He was high on his rear flank and low and close together on his front end. I thought he could develop into the kind of horse we look for and that's exactly what happened. He developed the right way and is an absolute specimen at this point."

Mo Donegal was third in his Sept. 30 career debut at 6 1/2 furlongs and then responded with a 1 1/2-length victory when stretched out to 1 1/16 miles by Pletcher.

In his next start, he won the Remsen Stakes (G2) by a nose over Zandon , the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, after a heated stretch duel in which jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.'s controversial ride on the winner led to a foul claim that was dismissed by the stewards and a subsequent appeal of that decision that was not heard.

His 3-year-old campaign has featured some consternation. After starting 2022 with a third in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park, there was some reluctance to run back in the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at the Hallandale Beach track. A brief fever made that a moot point and led to Pletcher opting for the Wood, where Mo Donegal would need a first or second to secure a spot in the 20-horse Derby field.

"I have to give Todd enormous credit. He wasn't worried about the points. He felt 'Mo' would run a big enough race in the Wood to earn our ticket to the Derby," Crawford said. "My position as the managing partner with 54 partners who are telling me we need to run in point races, they are conflicting pressures. But we did it Todd's way and we have a fresher horse than if we ran in the Fountain of Youth and everything has gone right so far."

The neck victory over Early Voting  in the Wood punched that ticket and even convinced Repole to join forces with Donegal.

"Mike has tremendous energy. He's enormously entertaining. Of course, he owned Uncle Mo, the sire of Mo Donegal. And he's a client of Todd Pletcher and he loves Irad. It's like someone reached out and put the marriage together," Crawford said. 

With the Donegal and Repole crews joining forces that figure of 300 people wanting to be in the winner's circle figures to be quite conservative—and it could be a real problem since Mo Donegal has been training in solid fashion since the Wood and seems capable of handling Saturday's 10-furlong distance with aplomb.

"Todd's happy and as I tell our partners, 'When Todd's happy, we're all happy,'" Crawford said. "We try not to be arrogant about our chances, but we feel Mo Donegal has as good of a chance as any horse we've brought to the Kentucky Derby. I think the added distance will not only be no problem for him, but it will be an enormous asset to him because it's going to take him some time to work his way through a large number of horses, even though Irad is a master at finding a seam. That extra distance could be the difference.

"And if it is, I will be happiest for our partners. The most exciting thing is that I can reward their loyalty with such a huge win. They are so excited and good to work with. Sure, I want to win the Derby for myself and my family, but that's secondary to wanting to do it for our partners."

All in all, while a victory by Mo Donegal will not send the kind of shock waves throughout the industry that Keen Ice did at Saratoga Race Course, it will achieve something else monumental for Crawford and his enthusiastic partners.

"Keen Ice gave us the biggest thrill I thought we could ever have," Crawford said, "but today, when I think about the weekend, I'm thinking otherwise."