Owner Rupp Ready to Roll in Preakness

While he's only been in the game as a Thoroughbred owner for four years, Jim Rupp will get a lifetime shot at winning a classic race May 18 when his Owendale enters the starting gate at Pimlico Race Course for the May 18 Preakness Stakes (G1).

Rupp, retired from the oil business and a resident of Bay City, Mich., has always had a love for the horse and when he ventured into ownership struck a gusher right off the bat with 2015 Commonwealth Turf Stakes (G3T) winner Almasty. He co-owned the son of Scat Daddy with his son-in-law John Wentworth's GenStar Thoroughbreds.

Wentworth, who formerly owned and trained Standardbreds, started with Thoroughbreds by claiming Chocolate Ride with the help of trainer Brad Cox. Chocolate Ride won four stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots including the 2015 Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Handicap (G2T). When Wentworth claimed Almasty for $30,000 a few weeks before the Muniz score, Rupp jumped in.

At the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale, Rupp met top bloodstock agent Mike Ryan and Rupp asked him to pick out a horse. Ryan selected a colt from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment by Into Mischief —Aspen Light, by Bernardini , that was hammered down for $200,000. The colt, Owendale, will go in Saturday's Preakness off a 1 3/4-length score in the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3) April 13 at Keeneland. The Lexington runner-up was fellow Preakness hopeful Anothertwistafate.

"I just met him at the September sale (in 2017) and he asked me to buy him a horse, and I did," Ryan said. "It was Owendale. He's a big horse, atypical of Into Mischief; I think there is more influence from the dam side there; his broodmare sire is Bernardini. We sent him down to Niall Brennan's place to be broken and trained early at 2. He was always high on him."

Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Ownedale debuted last summer in late July going 6 1/2 furlongs at Ellis Park, then broke his maiden two starts later going one mile September 22 at Indiana Grand.

"I was kind of surprised they ran him at 2 at Ellis Park, but once he got to two turns he really came into himself," Ryan said. "I don't think he'll have any limitations with the distance. He'll get a mile and a half."

Wintering in New Orleans, he ran second in a two-turn allowance-optional claimer, then won at that level. Tested in the Feb. 16 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2), he never got going and finished eighth.

"Brad was high on the horse from the get-go," Rupp said. "He always had talent, and then he started to improve. He had a tough race in the Risen Star. Brad called me two weeks later and said, 'Let's push the reset button here.'

"We wanted to come back in the (TwinSpires.com) Louisiana Derby (G2), but he didn't deserve to go," Rupp continued. "Brad suggested we run in the Lexington and he gave me the reasons why and what he thought the horse could do. It was just a great move.

"Winning the Lexington was unbelievable. I give Brad all of the credit in the world. He tells you what you need to know, not what you want to hear. He tells you the way it is."

Rupp remembers attending the races at the old Detroit Race Course at an early age and that his father owned a few horses along the way.

"He had a love of the game," Rupp said. "He and a group of his friends would travel to the Breeders' Cup every year. That is where my interest came in."

Rupp's interests now are focused on the Preakness. Although he's never been to Baltimore before, he's looking forward to visiting Pimlico and having a few crab cakes along the way.

"The closer you get, the more excited you get," he said.

"He's very appreciative to have a horse of this caliber," Ryan said. "He is very genuine and very sincere. I told him I'd like to pick out another horse for him."