McGaughey lauds Point of Entry; Marketing Mix nearing end
of racing career
Phipps Stable’s
Point of Entry galloped 1 1/2 miles for his return to action in Saturday’s Turf after
a five-month layoff.
Point of Entry suffered a non-displaced condylar fracture
of his left-hind cannon bone June 8 after winning the Manhattan, in which he
returned victoriously from a four-month layoff.
“I just think he’s such a talented horse. He loves to train
in the morning. He’ll do what I want him to do, and he loves doing it,” trainer
Shug McGaughey said. “He obviously loves the afternoon — he has a pretty good
race record.”
Point of Entry has won seven of his last eight starts,
suffering his only loss in a second-place finish behind Little Mike in last
year’s Turf at Santa Anita.
“That’s why I’ve said he’s one of the best I’ve had,
because he’s so good in the morning and he’s so good in the afternoon,” the Hall
of Fame trainer said. “He’s the whole package when it comes to a racehorse.”
Another runner-up from the 2012 Breeder’s Cup, Marketing Mix, is seeking to
go one better in the Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday. The five-year-old mare is
nearing the end of her racing days.
Glen
Hill Farm, which was founded as a racing and breeding operation in 1966 by
Leonard Lavin, has been rebuilding and will be reloading when Marketing Mix is
retired to broodmare duty next year.
Marketing Mix, who has earned $1,955,893, was
purchased at auction during lean times for the breeding end of the business in
recent years. The hope is that her success on the track will translate into her
second career when next year she joins the band of good young broodmares on the
farm who carry the Glen Hill bloodlines.
“The goal is to be self-sufficient and to have the right
mares who are capable of being good producers so that we may continue to do
well,” said Glen Hill President Craig Bernick, the grandson of Lavin, who
celebrated his 94th birthday this week.
The current crop of yearlings includes many with six
generations of Glen Hill genes, including those of the deceased One Dreamer, who
won the 1994 Distaff.
“Some of the mares are descended from my grandfather’s
original mares,” Bernick said. “We keep them not for sentimental reasons, but
because they are good producers.”
Hap Proctor, the brother of trainer Tom
Proctor, is retiring after decades as the farm manger. Their uncle was his
predecessor, and their father, Willard Proctor, trained the Glen Hill horses
before his death.
“For over 50 years, when the babies are born, someone in the Proctor
family has been taking care of them at the farm and on the track,” Bernick said.
“It’s a big advantage when you know the family and the family
knows the horses and their tendencies so they know how to train them when
they’re ready. When you buy horses at auction, you don’t know their history.”
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