Breeder McDonald Eyes Sport's Pinnacle with Fulleffort

Fulleffort 's 2 1/2 length win in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park gave the Brad Cox-trained son of Liam's Map   his first graded stakes win and earned him a Kentucky Derby (G1) berth. For his owners, the journey to the winner's circle began at the Fasig-Tipton's 2024 The Saratoga Sale, when two groups, St. Elias Stable and Starlight Racing, agreed to combine forces rather than bid against one another. The sale was also where Reiley McDonald, Fulleffort's breeder, began his professional journey 47 years earlier.

"Fulleffort was beautiful from start to finish," McDonald remembers, "and interest in the yearling was strong."

McDonald—who operates Eaton Sales and breeds horses under the nom de farm of Athens Woods—explained that "the most notable thing about this horse was that there was nothing to note. He was good from the day he was born. Physically, he was a dream horse. He never required any special attention."

"When we got to Saratoga," McDonald recalled, "he was very popular with the lookers. I knew St. Elias representatives liked him; they liked his father. And I also knew Jack Wolf and his team landed on the colt, so going into the auction, we knew there was real interest. What I didn't know was that the two prospective bidders banded together and formed a partnership. But I couldn't be more delighted. These are two organizations that buy nice horses and know how to do well by them."

Another factor driving interest at the sales that year was the graded stakes performance of Fulleffort's half sister, Power Squeeze . The filly's graded stakes wins that year helped drive her sibling's bidding up to $425,000. Two weeks later, Power Squeeze further improved the family pedigree when she prevailed in the Alabama Stakes (G1) at the Spa. 

Both Fulleffort and Power Squeeze are out of the winning Awesome Again mare Callmethesqueeze. However, McDonald says the mating that resulted in Fulleffort was not determined by deep pedigree analysis. 

"Why this cross?" McDonald explained. "So many factors can be involved. I could quote dosages or all the other methods that have developed to try and catch lightning in a bottle." 

In this case, McDonald remarked, "Sire and dam were both big, well-balanced individuals that seemed to complement each other. Sometimes, the stars align, and the mating results in the individual you envisioned all those years before."

Where It Began

McDonald's long association with Saratoga began when he was a teenager. 

"I first went to Saratoga in 1979,"  he explained. "I had been exercising horses at the track near my home in Maryland. Eventually, I was getting too big to successfully continue. So when my neighbor, Laddie Dance, asked if I would prep two yearlings and then accompany them to the 1979 Saratoga Select Sale, it seemed like a good way to get a glimpse into the business side of horses."   

Dance was an auctioneer with a long association at Fasig-Tipton, who saw potential in the incipient young horseman's abilities. 

As McDonald related, "I prepped Laddie's two colts, one by Hoist the Flag and the other by Blade, and then rode with them on the van to Saratoga." 

McDonald was dazzled by what he saw as he got off the van. He remembered, "It was so exciting to be suddenly thrust into this temporary enclave devoted to a summer of racing. It's cliché that everyone falls in love with Saratoga on their first visit." 

McDonald acknowledged, "but so did I."

McDonald was a one-man show for his two charges. 

"I would get to the barn before sunup, muck out the stalls, then, after grabbing breakfast, get the horses groomed," he said.

The Hoist the Flag yearling ended up bringing $550,000, and the Blade colt, $100,000. "Those were good prices at the time," McDonald remembered.

"It was during this sale that I first met (former Fasig-Tipton president) John Finney," McDonald said. "Finney was as brilliant a mind as I have met in this (or any other) business. We talked for a while, then he flew me to visit him at his home in Rhode Island." 

Finney offered McDonald a position at Fasig-Tipton. 

"When I graduated from Cornell that next spring," he recalled, "I headed down to start at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky, at the newly built pavilion on Newtown Pike."

McDonald led a somewhat itinerant life for the next few years. Fasig-Tipton, in addition to selling horses in New York and Kentucky, conducted auctions in other states as well. But it was another conversation that he had in Saratoga that changed the trajectory of his life. 

"I revered Lee Eaton," McDonald explained. "His innovations as a consignor, his attention to detail, changed how horses were prepped and offered at auction. I held him in the same regard as I did John Finney. At that time, I was director of sales at Saratoga, so naturally, we talked often. I was also the sales announcer at Saratoga. I suspected I wasn't the best person for that job, so when Mr. Eaton, apropos of nothing, politely agreed with my assessment, I listened. I fired myself and hired sportscaster Tom Hammond for the last year I was there." 

Apparently, this act impressed Eaton, McDonald explained, "as I not only didn't take offense but actually acted on his suggestion. So Lee asked if I would be interested in buying into Eaton Sales, which I did." 

McDonald noted, "Taking Lee's suggestion to heart was a no-brainer to me; having watched Lee for 10 years, and having seen how he operated, this was a great opportunity to up my game." 

"I learned a lot from Lee, and then bought him out of Eaton Sales three years later," McDonald said.

Now, almost 50 years since he started as a groom rubbing yearlings at Saratoga, McDonald has a live contender in the Kentucky Derby. 

"I like Fulleffort's chances," he said of the colt in the May 2 Run for the Roses. "He is trained by one of the smartest guys in the business. Brad Cox came up with a long-term plan, and so far, it has just about worked to perfection. Fingers crossed he makes it to the race and comes out of it well."