Albaugh Not Letting Go of Talent This Time

From a business standpoint, Jason Loutsch can look back at the one and only horse Albaugh Family Stable ever sold and tell himself they made the right call.

When one puts a son of Unbridled's Song into the commercial marketplace and gets $800,000 for the offering, it would take something extraordinary for such a result to spark seller's remorse— something along the lines of that $800,000 baby developing into 2015 Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) winner and current Lane's End stallion, Liam's Map.

It was a decision that could hardly be called a mistake, but it was enough to make the Albaugh Family Stable's team weigh the emotional pros and cons that go into taking some money off the table. So when Taylor Made Sales inquired last season about whether Loutsch and his father-in-law, Dennis Albaugh, were going to offer their homebred half brother to Liam's Map at the yearling sales, the response was emphatic.

"After seeing what Liam's Map did last year, they wanted to put him in the sale, and we said, 'Not this time, we'll keep him,'" recalled Loutsch, general manager of Albaugh Family Stable, which also campaigned multiple grade I winner's Brody's Cause.

With that, Albaugh Family Stable had a name for the horse who may yet provide their first Breeders' Cup triumph as owner.

Trainer Dale Romans can be famously loquacious in talking up his prospects. Even for the Eclipse Award-winning conditioner, the adjectives about trip over themselves when he speaks about Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) contender Not This Time, the 8 3/4-length winner of the Iroquois Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill Downs Sept. 17.

ANGST: Not This Time Overwhelms Iroquois Rivals

Three starts into a career isn't much of a sample size, but it has been enough to get the Albaugh team thinking about what might be if Not This Time's early brilliance ends up being the tip of the iceberg. When Romans put jockey Robby Albarado on the dark bay colt for his debut at Churchill June 30, he told the regular rider of such champions as Mineshaft   and Curlin  , "I'm legging you up on as good a horse as you've ever rode."

Even after Not This Time crossed the wire fifth that day, it wasn't a sentiment Romans immediately retracted. And when the son of Giant's Causeway posted a gate-to-wire, 10-length win going a mile next time out at Ellis Park Aug. 12, Romans said Albarado called him to let him know he shouldn't eat his words just yet.

"Robby has ridden a lot of good horses and he's an astute horseman," said Romans, who continued to rave after Not This Time worked five furlongs in a 1:01 3/5 at Santa Anita Park Oct. 29. "For him to even pick up the phone and call, and want to talk about a maiden winner at Ellis Park driving back is pretty impressive.

"He's a homebred that may have been the sales topper at Keeneland if they had run him through the ring. His brother ... ended up winning the Breeders' Cup and is standing stud and you can't get to him. This horse, to me, is every bit the same horse. He's a truly special horse."

When Not This Time recovered from an awkward break to run his rivals into the ground in the Iroquois, he put himself in position to continue what has become a Breeders' Cup family tradition.

His dam, Miss Macy Sue, was purchased by Dennis Albaugh for $42,000 at the 2005 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s June 2-year-olds in training sale and proved her worth well before she became a top producer. She gave the Albaugh family its first taste of graded stakes glory when she won the 2007 Winning Colors Stakes (gr. III) and took them to the Breeders' Cup for the first time when she finished third in that year's Filly & Mare Sprint at Monmouth Park.

In addition to Liam's Map and Not This Time, Miss Macy Sue counts stakes winner Taylor S. among her four offspring to race. She is the unabashed queen of the Albaugh's modest six-horse broodmare band, with her most recent live foal a Bodemeister   colt born in 2015.

"To think we paid $42,000 for her is one of the best deals that has ever happened to us in the horse business," Loutsch said. "She took us to places we had never been before. She took us to our first Breeders' Cup, she was our first graded stakes at Churchill, and she just keeps producing. We can't thank her enough."

A year ago, a Giant's Causeway colt gave the Albaugh team their first top-level victory when Brody's Cause reigned in the 2015 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (gr. I) en route to running third in the Juvenile. This time, they are heading back to the two-day World Championships with an even greater level of confidence and a deeper appreciation for the twists and turns that got them back to this stage.

"Dennis said the other day, 'To think where we started a year ago, when we won the Futurity, to where we are today, it's been an unbelievable year,'" Loutsch said. "Horse people understand, but outside people don't understand how tough this business is and how tough it is to find quality racehorses. It takes a lot of luck and a lot of hard work by our team to find the right race horses and ... we're so thankful and honored, because we know how tough this business is."