Blue-Collar Two Dot Slew Gives Arnold BC Contender

There was nothing remarkably fancy about Two Dot Slew when owner Rick Chastain decided to sell her privately at the end of her racing campaign in 2004—but Doug Arnold of Buck Pond Farm saw potential.

Stakes-placed on dirt and turf, the Evansville Slew mare only won four times but made 47 starts in a five-year span. Arnold, who stood Evansville Slew at Buck Pond from 2004-05, respected that form. 

"When I bought her, it was not a huge price; she was just a hard-knocking mare," Arnold said. "She's not a real big mare, even though her sire was good-sized. I didn't know much about the female family. I just bought her because I thought she was a good racemare who hadn't won a stake but had really been very sound and had danced every dance.

"I kind of wish she was a little younger." 

The wistful note in Arnold's reference to his 21-year-old resident is understandable in light of the Oct. 6 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (G1T), which was won by Two Dot Slew's Archarcharch gelding Next Shares. The mare's first grade 1 winner, who qualified for a Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) berth through the Breeder's Cup Challenge series with his win at Keeneland, also would be the first Breeders' Cup starter bred by Arnold and his wife, Karen.

"We've nominated almost every one of our horses, so maybe it's time for us to get some of our money back," Arnold said. "I was going to go anyway, but this makes it extra special."

That Next Shares even exists, let alone made it to this level, is testament to the perseverance of Arnold and his staff, with assistance from reproductive specialist Dr. Hernando Plata-Madrid. Two Dot Slew produced a foal every season from 2007-09, including the stakes-winning, grade 3-placed Sharp Humor mare Angelica Zapata, but then there was a gap until her next foal was born in 2012. Next Shares was foaled in 2013, and five seasons passed before the mare produced again—a Conveyance  filly born this year.

"We concentrated on trying to get her cleaned up (between foals)," Arnold said. "Hernando Plata is a very good vet, and he helped significantly. I've had some mares do that and then have three or four foals in a row. We didn't get her back in foal, unfortunately, but we'll try again. Maybe she's got one or two left in her."

Next Shares was an $87,000 purchase by Michael A. Foster from Buck Pond's consignment to Fasig-Tipton's The October Sale in 2014. After his racing career had started, he was purchased three seasons later by David Meah for his current connections from ELiTE for $190,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

"We were hoping he would be high-class," Arnold said of Next Shares. "To bring $87,000 at that sale in October is a pretty good number. He's been good for everybody that has had him, and she's been a good mare for us. From a genetic standpoint, Two Dot Slew ran turf, dirt, short, long, and she just stayed sound. Angelica Zapata and this colt were the same way. They stayed sound and just got better when they got older."

Arnold hopes to see the same from the Conveyance filly, who he joked "is living in the house with us," a nod to the challenges of keeping young foals from harm.

"She's very nice," he said. "I've had a couple people interested in knowing if I would sell her, but no serious offers. We'd sell her now or we'd sell her later. Conveyance is our new stallion, and his yearlings have sold really well. I've got nine in the sale at Fasig-Tipton (The October Sale), and I'm excited about it. Everybody likes them. They're big, strong, athletic kinds of horses, so being that she's by Conveyance might not be that bad of a deal."

Arnold is still riding high on Next Shares' recent success.

"We were thrilled at that," he said. "I've had my share of good things happen, and each time it does happen, it's wonderful. We all work so hard in this game, and when you succeed, you usually deserve it. It's a great honor to have friends in the business, especially people who have been in the game a long time, come up and congratulate you, because they realize what a sincerely monumental task it is. And when I win big, it gives everyone the thought that they could win big. 

"That's what makes our game so special. You can experience that same thrill on every single level. The little things kind of add up to big things. It's a thrill to breed a grade 1-winning, million-dollar earner, and it's also a thrill to win a $5,000 claiming race or to sell a horse for good money. I relish every aspect."