Amermans Hoping for Best 'Performance' in BC Turf

It's been some 20 years since Jerry and John Amerman started their own stable of Thoroughbreds, and not only have they achieved lasting success, but they have also managed to adapt and change the operation along the way without compromising their results.

Allied with trainer Bobby Frankel, the couple scored multiple grade 1 victories early this century with imports Happyanunoit (NZ) and Lido Palace (CHI). With Dave Hofmans they won the 2003 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) with Adoration, had multiple grade 1 winner Balance (a half-sister to Zenyatta), and won a stakes with the Theatrical mare Devine Actress.

When the Amermans decided some years back to reduce their shopping for yearlings and concentrate instead on establishing their own breeding factory, Devine Actress played a key role. In successive years, to the cover of Kitten's Joy , she produced Oscar Nominated and Oscar Performance, thus putting the Amermans up into the rare air of having bred two horses that were pre-entered for the Nov. 4 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Del Mar.

In an unusual move, the owners of Kitten's Joy, Ken and Sarah Ramsey, claimed Oscar Nominated away from the Amermans and won a couple of graded stakes with him. But the Amermans have held tightly onto younger brother Oscar Performance, who last year won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) and has followed that up with 2017 victories in the Pennine Ridge Stakes (G3T), the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T), and the Secretariat Stakes (G1T).

With his older sibling not drawing into the Turf field when entries were taken Oct. 30, 3-year-old Oscar Performance will carry the banner for both his family and connections in the 1 1/2-mile test. On the heels of his third-place finish when he faced elders for the first time in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T),  the bay ridgling has a shot at joining a rare group of horses that have won two different Breeders' Cup races.

"It's a different way of handling the industry," John Amerman said of the couple's emphasis on racing homebreds. "For many years we went to the sales and finally we decided to take things into our own hands. But it takes a few years to develop a good group of broodmares. We believe we're there now, and we're pleased with our position."

The Amermans keep their mares at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington. John, who became the Mattel toy company's CEO in 1987, and Jerry started in Thoroughbred ownership through various Team Valor partnerships, and owned a piece of multiple graded stakes winner Star of Cozzene. Today, their 14 broodmares include their grade 1 winner Coffee Clique and Miss Chapin, who broke her maiden by daylight in her only lifetime start, for Frankel. Balance, who produced a Kitten's Joy filly the Amermans will retain, is being sold in the Keeneland November sale as Hip 200 in foal to Uncle Mo .

"Breeding is a wonderful part of the sport," Amerman noted. "You have to have some good winners, and we've been fortunate in that."

Two weeks before the Breeders' Cup, the Amermans journeyed to Lexington to see their foals, yearlings, and mares at Mill Ridge. They stopped by Keeneland to check in on Oscar Performance, who was prepping for the Turf under the tutelage of trainer Brian Lynch, who spent several years as an assistant to Frankel.

Under Lynch, Oscar Performance has grown from an immature 2-year-old who looked ready to scatter the paddock patrons at Saratoga Race Course in the summer of 2016 to a professional top-tier racehorse. He finished in front of eight older horses in the Turf Classic, and was nosed out for second by Arlington Million XXXV Stakes (G1T) runner-up Fanciful Angel behind Million winner Beach Patrol. His speed makes Oscar Performance dangerous, and he will receive four pounds from most of his older foes in the Breeders' Cup. He has won six of 10 starts and $1,787,632 to date.

"He's in great form," noted Amerman, "But you've got the defending champ (Highland Reel) in there along with Beach Patrol and on and on down the list. There are a lot of good horses, but we're ready to fight and we have a good opportunity. He's really matured into a terrific 3-year-old."

Longtime residents of Southern California, the Amermans are looking forward to the Del Mar Breeders' Cup as Oscar Performance is apt to be one of the day's stars. He has already rewarded the Amermans for their boldness in doing the Thoroughbred business their own way.