Pierce Trains Tampa String for Sam-Son, Pin Oak

Malcolm Pierce is 59, and like many in the business, he's seen a lot of things in racing come full circle during his career. The Malcolm Pierce story just happens to be one of those "full circle" tales.

Pierce went to work for Sam-Son Farm at age 23 and that began a long on and off relationship with one of Canada's most successful and well known racing and breeding operations. Pierce has a string at Tampa Bay Downs for the first time this winter and his two clients are Pin Oak Stable and Sam-Son Farm, two top names in Thoroughbred racing.

The horseman took some time during a dark day to talk about his training career as well as a relationship with Sam-Son that has spanned 35 years.

"It's funny how things work out in this business sometimes," Pierce said. "I mean, I started with Sam-Son and worked for them for just about 17 years. Then in 1998 I ventured out on my own, started my own public stable, and did that for about 15 years. We did well during those years, I was lucky to have some great owners to train for, people like Gary West, Live Oak, and Frank Stronach. We were lucky enough to have some really nice horses."

Those horses included Points of Grace, a grade 2 winner Pierce trained for Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation. Points of Grace, a Topsider mare from the Point Given mare Fateful, made 16 starts and won seven races including the 2009 Dance Smartly Stakes (G2). Graded stakes winners in 2016 for Pierce included veteran Up With the Birds, winner of the Nijinsky Stakes (G2) and Ontario Fashion Stakes (G3) winner Southern Ring.

Training Up With the Birds for Sam-Son became possible after Pierce and Sam-Son's paths crossed again in 2013. 

"The children have carried on the tradition and Rick Balaz, the husband of the late Tammy Samuels Balaz, is Sam-Son's president and general manager. They asked if I'd come back to the organization and train the horses and I was happy to accept," Pierce said. "They're still committed to doing things the right way. They breed the best to the best and one of the main reasons I was happy to work with the organization again is their philosophy of not pushing their young horses and giving horses the time they need to mature and come into their own. That's exactly how I approach training and always have."

Conditioned by Pierce, Up With the Birds won four of six starts in 2013 including the Jamaica Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park, securing Canada's Horse of the Year honor.

Sam-Son Farm's Southern Ring finished third recently in the Minaret Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in her first career dirt start. While Pierce felt she ran well enough, he's going to send the graded stakes winner to the farm for a while. "She's got several spots for her later this year so we'll freshen her up for Woodbine," he said.

Pierce has 18 2-year-olds being prepared at Sam-Son's Ocala farm. Like any Canadian in the business, there is always the dream of winning the Queen's Plate or Canadian Oaks. Pierce has a Malibu Moon   colt named Malibu Secret, who in his debut finished second in last year's Vandal Stakes (G2) at Woodbine; and a Giant's Causeway   filly named Mythical Mission and both Sam-Son homebred 3-year-olds have their trainer excited about this season.

"We ran Malibu Secret in a stake in his first start which was a bit ambitious on our part but he had shown so much in the morning we felt he deserved a shot," Pierce said. "Then after that race he came up with a bit of a shin, so we just stopped on him and gave him some time."

Mythical Mission won her first two starts last season and in her stakes debut in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes in November at Woodbine, she finished third.

"With her pedigree we think she's going to get nothing but better with more distance," Pierce said. "Both (Mythical Mission and Malibu Secret) just came back to the track and Malibu Secret just had his first breeze a few days ago. We're looking to bring them back to the races later this spring. It's a long way to the Plate and the Oaks, but from what these two have shown so far I really think they've got the talent. Now we'll just have to wait and see."

Asked about his fondest memories of Sam-Son and the horses he has worked with, Pierce didn't hesitate.

"Dance Smartly," Pierce said, "No question about it. She was far and away the best horse I've ever been around." 

Dance Smartly won the Canadian Triple Crown and was only the second filly in Canadian racing history to win both the Canadian Oaks and Queen's Plate. She won the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), was voted the Eclipse Award as the top 3-year-old filly and won 12 of 17 lifetime starts, earning more than $3.2 million in purses in her Racing Hall of Fame career. She, of course, also would go on to rank as one of Canada's top broodmares.

"She was such a special horse, just a total professional in every way," he recalled, "You knew when you were around her that you were in the presence of greatness."