Whitham: Sometimes Spectacular Skips a Generation

Clay Whitham said part of the excitement his family enjoyed in campaigning two-time champion older female Bayakoa was the thought of what was to come when she joined their broodmare band.

As it turned out, Bayakoa produced just one winner, but racing excitement still followed for the patient owner-breeder. 

"Obviously, Bayakoa was a great racehorse—a Hall of Famer. I'm sure that my parents were just as excited and had big plans for her as the foundation of a broodmare band, as much as what she accomplished on the racetrack," Whitham said. "It's really kind of interesting. Bayakoa had four foals. Out of those foals, only two ever made it to the racetrack, and one of them won one race. Maybe there's something about leaving it all on the racetrack. ... She was a great race mare, but as a broodmare, she wasn't successful as a dam.

"But out of the two mares that she had that went into our broodmare band, they have both produced grade 1 stakes winners. In this business, you look at patterns and think, 'Oh, that must be the trick.' So maybe with a really good race mare, it's her next generation that'll be pretty good."

Whitham, who runs his family's racing and breeding operation with his mother, Janis, outlined his racing and breeding operation as the keynote speaker at the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association convention March 14 in New Orleans.

The Whithams have about 10 broodmares, representing three families, and typically have about 10 horses in training. Whitham said they take pride in a team atmosphere at the farm, training center Lambholm South, and on the track.

"People say it's all about the horse, and I understand that. But we like to think our operation is about people who are all about the horse," Whitham said, a point backed up by his introduction from trainer Ian Wilkes and the attendance of jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., who rides many of the Whithams' horses. "I really do think of it as a team. We want feedback from people and their insight of what's going on."

Whitham said their operation is fueled by graded stakes wins, which add value to their mares, their families, and future foals.

"For our organization, it's important to have some goals on what we're trying to accomplish with our stable operation," Whitham said. "To have an effective team, it's important that everybody understands what those goals are and can adopt those goals. Our goal with our racehorses is to win graded stakes races."

That formula has helped the Whithams enjoy longtime success. Frank and Janis Whitham campaigned Bayakoa. Janis Whitham is owner-breeder of 2012 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Fort Larned , who is out of a daughter of Bayakoa, Arlucea, by Broad Brush. The other successful Bayakoa daughter is Trinity Place, a daughter of Strawberry Road who produced multiple grade 1 winner Affluent, by Affirmed.

Whitham noted those two grade 1 producers were sent to stallions who enjoyed success as older horses on the track.

"I think the idea is, those stallions were tough racehorses—Broad Brush and Strawberry Road. We try to remember that," Whitham said. "It's easy to get excited about the latest 2-year-old champion to be retired and forget about the good, tough racehorses."

Whitham said it would be tough to keep the operation going without the added value created by breeding. 

On a closing note, Whitham encouraged horsemen to support aftercare.

"We've raised some really nice graded stakes winners, but you can see that we've also bred a lot of horses that are not graded stakes winners," Whitham said. "As much as these horses help us, it's important we do right by them and try to find them a second home."