West Point, Gunpowder Team Again on Breaking Lucky

When West Point Thoroughbreds bought into Gunpowder Farms' Canadian classic winner and Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) horse Breaking Lucky, it marked a pleasant return for the former partners.

After starting in Thoroughbred ownership through partnerships, including a successful run with West Point Thoroughbreds, Tom Keithley and his wife Ericka DeVinney began buying horses on their own as Gunpowder Farms. The first horse they purchased with bloodstock agent Josh Stevens was Breaking Lucky, who went on to win the 2015 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie Race Track.

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Going into this season, partners in West Point were considering upgrading their handicap division and Breaking Lucky caught their eye. With the unique stakeholder setup of the Pegasus encouraging some added wheeling and dealing, West Point reached an agreement to campaign Breaking Lucky with Gunpowder, R. A. Hill Stable, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, one of the 12 stakeholders who purchased a million-dollar slot in the Pegasus.

West Point president Terry Finley said the group never wants to see one of its good partners move along, but when those owners continue to be involved in the sport, it's a good feeling to know they enjoyed the experience enough to go out on their own.

"We're proud of the fact that people come into the business with West Point Thoroughbreds and have enjoyed it enough to go out on their own and do very well," Finley said. "That's the power of a partnership."

Keithley and DeVinney bought six or seven horses with West Point and enjoyed success with 2013 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) runner-up Flashy Gray, who was injured just days before a planned run in the Kentucky Oaks (G1). They also were in on West Point's Ring Weekend, winner of the 2015 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.

Out on their own as Gunpowder Farms, success came quickly for Keithley and DeVinney. Not only with their first purchase, Breaking Lucky, who is now a grade 3 winner, but the farm also picked up its first grade 1 win when Divisidero scored last year's Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on the Churchill Downs turf.

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Breaking Lucky didn't race at age 2, but Keithley said the son of Lookin At Lucky   showed potential from the start.

"From the first day in the barn, we thought we had a different cat," Keithley said. "Everybody wants that big 2-year-old who puts it all together from the start. Breaking Lucky wasn't that, but he's always done what we wanted him to do. It's just happened when he wanted to do it."

In the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, Breaking Lucky rallied from seventh and edged Queen's Plate Stakes winner Shaman Ghost—who also is entered in the Pegasus—by a neck. Keithley and DeVinney both enjoy racing and shared that moment together at Fort Erie.

"We had our hopes up going into the race, then he was back early but when he came barreling down the stretch, that was something," DeVinney said. "We were both cheering and they hit the wire together and we were thinking 'Did we win it?' We're thinking, 'This is our horse. Did he just win it?'"

Keithley said entering the ownership world through West Point was an excellent way to get started.

"It was definitely a good experience and we had a lot of fun owning horses together," Keithley said.

The new Breaking Lucky ownership team also includes R.A. Hill Stable, as well as stakeholder Dean and Patti Reeves' Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, which has brought in a new owner in Eric Young. Young is a partner in commercial contracting company Reeves Young. He heard enough stories about the races from Dean Reeves to raise his interest and thought the stakeholder idea was a unique opportunity.

Young said hopefully it's like a Masters (golf) ticket, that once you have it for five or 10 years someone will want to come in and buy it.

Dean Reeves said there were some anxious moments when he didn't have a horse in place, but everything worked out with Breaking Lucky.

"A couple of weeks ago, it was pretty tough, but overall it's turned out to be a great experience," Reeves said. "We kept watching the horse, watching his works, and he seemed like a horse who was coming into the race in good order and that's what you want this time of year. We kept coming back to him, and finally pulled the trigger and got the deal accomplished."