Lyon Rides Wave of Breeding Success Toward KY Derby

Jane Lyon is riding the crest of breeding success that she wryly points out only took her 23 years to build. Yet here she is, grateful to watch the years of trials and errors, near misses, and heartbreaks grow into a swell of grade 1 winners, led by champion and prominent Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) contender Game Winner.

"All of my grade 1 horses, with the exception of Chasing Yesterday, were out of mares I had that were older, like McKinzie's mother, and most people would have given up on them. Or they were out of mares I bred on the farm and raised them and raised their babies," Lyon said. "That is immensely satisfying. It's made me feel like I had been doing something right after all."

The recent wave of success began building in 2017 when Lyon's Summer Wind Farm breeding operation celebrated its first grade 1 winner with Moonshine Memories, who won the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) and the Chandelier Stakes (G1). Three weeks from the year's end came a second grade 1 winner in McKinzie, who won the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity (G1).

The good fortune kept coming and crested with four more unique grade 1 winners in 2018: homebred Chasing Yesterday, 2-year-old male champion Game Winner, McKinzie with two more grade 1 wins, and Japanese stakes winner Mozu Ascot.

In all, Summer Wind-bred horses won 11 black-type stakes in 2018, seven of which were grade 1 events.

This year, Game Winner is headed toward the First Saturday in May ranked eighth on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard after runner-up efforts in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and Rebel Stakes (G2).

"I have faith in him and believe he has more experience with bad experiences that he has overcome already," Lyon said of the colt by Candy Ride  whom agent Ben Glass acquired for $110,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale on behalf of owners Gary and Mary West. "I know every time he sets a foot on the racetrack, he gives it everything he's got. This horse, he does not give up. He can be bumped, he can be last out of the gate, he can get blocked, and keeps going."

Lyon and her late husband, James "Frank" Lyon Jr., bought their farm near Georgetown, Ky., in the summer of 1995. On the site of the former Slew's Nest Farm, they set out to build a boutique breeding operation, which they fueled with top-class race mares offered through Kentucky's premier November mixed sales.

"These were the fancy mares that had won grade 1s or were grade 1 horses carrying their first foals," Lyon said. "Frankly, I did not have a whole lot of luck with that."

So Lyon said she changed her strategy several years ago and put a renewed emphasis on stakes-type mares that were already successful producers.

"For one, if a mare had done it once, they can do it again—though we know that's no guarantee," she said. "And if the mare has produced a graded-quality horse, her foals will be sought after as long as they're correct. People will be willing to take chances, and that is a big thing for a breeder."

Timing is another big thing for breeders, and Lyon has made some particularly savvy choices that have paid and will continue to pay dividends.

One key decision came in the Fasig-Tipton sale pavilion in 2014 during The November Sale, where the Yankee Gentleman mare Littleprincessemma was offered in foal, carrying a full sibling to then-champion 2-year-old colt American Pharoah . Lyon prevailed in the bidding and took the mare home for $2.1 million.

The following year, American Pharoah dazzled America by becoming its 12th Triple Crown winner, and in 2016, his full sister, Zayat Stables' homebred American Cleopatra, became grade 1-placed in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes. 

Littleprincessemma's 2015 foal by Pioneerof the Nile  was sold privately to Coolmore's John Magnier and became a grade 3-placed winner in Ireland named St Patrick's Day.

An even bigger reward still lay ahead for Lyon with the mare's 2016 foal by Gainesway's top sire Tapit . Because the foal was a filly, Lyon had already decided she was going to keep her.

"Prior to my husband's death, all the foals we had were for sale. That was the deal we had," Lyon said. Her husband passed at 74 in 2015. "Most of the horses I've ended up racing either didn't make it to a sale or did not meet their reserve. Chasing Yesterday ended up being an exception. Because I am not a spring chicken myself, I do want to keep fillies out of my best mares."

With trainer Bob Baffert, Chasing Yesterday won three stakes at 2, including the Starlet Stakes (G1). This year, the filly won the Sunland Park Oaks and was third in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1), which improved her record to five wins from seven starts, with earnings of $488,650. The filly will miss the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) because of an entrapped epiglottis and a needed break from racing.

"It has been nice having her back on the farm. I spend a lot of time in her stall, and my carrot bill has gone way up," Lyon said. 

Littleprincessemma, called simply 'Emma' by Lyon, has a 2-year-old colt by Pioneerof the Nile named Theprinceofthebes, a yearling colt by Tapit named Triple Tap, and another filly by Tapit born April 9. The mare will be bred back to Tapit.

"She has had three exceptional Tapits. They are correct and gorgeous," Lyon said. "We don't have the option anymore of Pioneerof the Nile, and there may be a year when I switch her over, but as long as she is having foals like this, I don't see a real reason."

WinStar Farm's Pioneerof the Nile died suddenly March 18 from an apparent heart attack.

One option down the road, Lyon said, might be to breed 'Emma' to 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify .

"I've looked at other options, and I think it might be interesting to breed a Triple Crown winner to a horse that has produced a Triple Crown winner, but size is a little bit of a concern," she said. "I worry about things like that."

Another opportunity wisely pursued by Lyon came to her through her farm manager, Bobby Spalding, who called her one morning in February 2018.

"I'm coming to pick you up. We're going to look at a horse," Spalding told her. The horse on the agenda was a bay daughter of Harlan's Holiday named Holiday Music that trainer Neil Pessin had claimed for $30,000 on New Year's Day at Fair Grounds Racecourse & Slots. Holiday Music is a half sister to Justify, who had just broken his maiden Feb. 18 in his first start by 9 1/2 lengths at Santa Anita, getting his first of six consecutive wins that ended with his Triple Crown title. 

"The word was out on Justify, and there was only one other daughter out of the mare. Bobby is very astute and found where she was. She is a nice mare, and so we took a chance," said Lyon, who bred Holiday Music to Pioneerof the Nile and got a filly this year named Song of Egypt.

"We were offered deals from stallion owners to breed her and offer her through a sale, but I told them I didn't buy her to sell her. The baby is very nice, particularly for a first foal," she continued.

Holiday Music will be bred to American Pharoah this year.

Plenty of heartbreak has been mixed with the blessings Lyon has savored, particularly on the path that led to Game Winner. She bought into the family when she acquired Fleet Indian privately through Taylor Made Sales Agency in 2007 after the 2006 champion older mare in foal to Storm Cat had just been bought back at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale on a final bid of $3.9 million. 

Fleet Indian produced one stakes-placed winner and one winner out of three to race before Lyon lost the mare to colic in October 2011 at the age of 10. 

Summer Wind retained only one of Fleet Indian's three daughters, a filly by A.P. Indy named Indyan Giving, who was a $385,000 buyback at the 2010 Keeneland September sale and never raced. Indyan Giving produced three foals—all males—before colic took her, too, at the age of 7. The mare's last foal is Game Winner. 

Lyon has learned to steel herself against the hard times and appreciate the blessings when they come.

"This is not a short-term game … and my goal has always been the same from the beginning—to raise some really good horses," she said. "Yes, to have a horse that at times has been favored for the Derby and was the 2-year-old champion has to be your goal if you're a breeder. My only hope is that I can continue to breed horses of the caliber and the chance to be where Game Winner is right now."