Must-Have Filly Takes Owners to Breeders' Cup

One man has been to the Breeders' Cup World Championships before. The other is here for the first time. Dean Reeves and Randy Hill are collaborating in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT) with Spain Burg, a €1.5 million ($1,686,000 in U. S. funds) acquisition that nearly got both in trouble with their wives.

Reeves won the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) at Santa Anita with Mucho Macho Man  , and he is always on the lookout for a good equine acquisition. Jay Stone, the Gulfstream Park morning line maker, has brought horses to Reeves' attention in the past. 

A week before this year's Arqana Arc Sale Oct. 1 in France, held in conjunction with the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I), Stone alerted Reeves about Spain Burg, a 2-year-old French-bred daughter of Sageburg—Spain Blues, by Anabaa Blue. The filly had won four of five races, with one second. In her most recent outing, the Shadwell Rockfel Stakes (Eng-II) at Newmarket, she came from nearly last to post a victory under Frankie Dettori. That gave her a "Win and You're In" berth to the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Reeves and his wife, Patti, had just traveled from their home in Atlanta, Ga., to the Turks and Caicos Islands, not far from the Bahamas.

"We had only been there two days, and we were supposed to stay there all week," recalled Reeves. "I said, 'I need to go to Paris.' She looked at me and said, 'Have you lost your mind?' The sale was Saturday. I left Wednesday, went back to Atlanta, repacked, left Atlanta on Thursday afternoon, and got to Paris Friday morning."

After relating that story, Reeves was quick to point out that his wife is very supportive of their overall equine endeavors.

Once he saw Spain Burg before the sale, Reeves focused on her, even though he had also been considering a daughter of Frankel named Toulifaut, who ultimately sold for €1.9 million.

"I liked the way Spain Burg carried herself," said Reeves. "This filly has such a good mind."

Once Reeves completed the deal, he brought in Hill as a partner. Hill then had to tell his wife, Marina. When he told her what Spain Burg cost, Hill recalled Marina saying, "We're not going in on her." Randy had to admit that the deal was already done.

"I'm asking for forgiveness; I'm not asking for permission," Randy said he told Marina. "But now she's all excited that we're in the Breeders' Cup—she's all in."

The partners turned Spain Burg over to trainer Kathy Ritvo, who had done such a splendid job with Mucho Macho Man. Hill has never had a Breeders' Cup starter and has never attended the World Championships.

"I didn't want to go until I had a horse in it," Hill said.

Dettori will be back aboard Spain Burg, who is the 5-1 third choice in a full Juvenile Fillies Turf field behind multiple European group winner Roly Poly and JP Morgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (gr. IIIT) winner La Coronel. Spain Burg, with post four, drew better than those two—Roly Poly in post 13 and La Coronel in 14.

Despite Spain Burg having such a good chance in the Breeders' Cup, Reeves maintains he didn't buy her for this race.

"There is tremendous upside," he said. "This filly as a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old, I think, could have a spectacular career."

Hill jumped in, saying, "I love Dean's ideas. He's thinking about going to Ascot next year."

Reeves is also contemplating sending Spain Burg back to France for next year's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, Fr-I).

The owner isn't afraid to think big. He purchased a slot in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Invitational (gr. I). Unlike some of the buyers, such as California Chrome LLC, Reeves didn't have a specific horse in mind. He's hoping in a few years that an offspring of Mucho Macho Man could compete in the Pegasus—he has five weanlings from the stallion's first crop.

Spain Burg, of course, has potential as a broodmare, and the possibility exists that Reeves and Hill could breed her to Mucho Macho Man. Reeves said he hadn't looked hard yet at whether the two pedigrees meshed, probably because he also has his eye on top European sires.

"I did check on Galileo," he noted.