Derby Winner's Ownership Came Together Organically

The connections who own Country House, awarded the 145th Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) May 4, came together after the colt broke his maiden Jan. 17 at Gulfstream Park in his third career start.

A son of Lookin At Lucky  produced from the War Chant mare Quake Lake, Country House was bred in Kentucky by J.V. (Jerry) Shields Jr. and is owned by his widow, Maury Shields, her nephew Guinness McFadden Jr., and LNJ Foxwoods, which is owned by Larry, Nanci, and Jaime Roth.

Ninth in his debut on turf, Country House was a close-up second at a mile in maiden special weight company before his maiden triumph.

"This horse broke his maiden at Gulfstream in very impressive fashion, (and) I called Guinness after he crossed the finish line and I said, 'Guinness, your phone is going to be ringing off the hook,'" trainer Bill Mott said. "When people see that in a horse's 3-year-old year, it's like everybody wants to be part of a good horse and has the possibility of going to the Kentucky Derby."

McFadden said he had 10-12 offers on the horse "and our goal wasn't necessarily to sell the horse (but) Jerry always told me that it was never my business to own horses that valuable."

Alex Solis Jr. and Jason Litt, who represent LNJ Foxwoods and also had a business relationship with McFadden, were among those who contacted McFadden, and a deal was eventually worked out.

"We took less money to partner with the Roths, and they are a known quantity," McFadden said. "Nothing about the other people was bad. We just knew what to expect from them, and I had known them for five or six years and it's been great."

"It happened very organically," Nanci Roth said. "It just was very seamless, and we were submitted with an opportunity to buy a piece of a Kentucky Derby champion now. There were a lot of things to like about the horse. After he won that race at Gulfstream, he was very impressive and we were all in. It's been awesome."

Solis said that when he was advising the late Jerry Shields, the colt and a filly were both entered in the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and McFadden asked his advice.

"I said sell the filly and keep the colt," Solis said. "I talked to Jason, my partner, and he said, 'Yeah, this is a really nice colt.' We met in the lunch area at Keeneland, and Jerry was like, 'Sounds good.' There was no fight. I was expecting a fight."