Barn Tour: On an upswing, Stidham updates on 15 horses

Michael Stidham has been a trainer for nearly 45 years, and it wasn’t until 2010 that he broke the $3 million mark in earnings. He topped $4 million in 2019, and he’s about $50,000 away from $5 million this year. And he’s achieving this growth with fewer horses.

“Just running better horses in bigger purses,” Stidham told Horse Racing Nation this week. “And actually, we're running less than we have previously, but we're running in bigger-money races with a little better-quality horse, so that adds the money up quicker.”

That quality boost is coming from owners such as Godolphin and Pin Oak Stud.

“All of our clients supply us with pretty nice-quality horses,” Stidham said. “And that definitely raises the bar for us. That's the most important thing. It's just like anything, whether you'd be a horse trainer or a coach of a football team or basketball or baseball teams, it's the players that you're playing with that determine how well you do.”

One notable absence from his barn is Proxy, the multiple graded-stakes winter and Godolphin homebred who was retired after finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“He was the star of the show after Mystic Guide left. Proxy was certainly the big boy,” Stidham said. “And he made us proud right to the end and ran a huge race in the Classic. Ran third but was coming again at the end like he always did, and we're proud to have him standing stud and hope to get some of his babies down the road.”

Stidham has plenty of others who could fill the void. He provided an update on 15 of them, including lots of juveniles, for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Catnip. The 4-year-old gelded son of Kitten’s Joy came off a six-month layoff to win his first three starts of the year, including the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes. Then he was second in the United Nations (G1) and eighth last out in the Arlington Million (G1) “Catnip is back now. He went out for a little break. He was out after the (Arlington) Million. He went out for a little break. Had some little issues behind, nothing major but enough where we felt like it was a good time to get him freshened up for hopefully next spring and summer. He's going to be ready fairly quickly, and there's an outside chance that we would even consider the Pegasus Turf (G1). If he's ready. That's not a definite, but we would have our eye on that if he's ready for it.”

Dream Shake. The 5-year-old gelded son of Twirling Candy won the Connaught Cup (G2) in July and is 0-for-3 since, finishing third in the Kennedy Road (G3) last out. “After his last race he went out. And they're planning on bringing him back for kind of like the same program that we did with him last year, where we have him ready to run up at Woodbine again next summer.”

Ready to Venture. The 5-year-old daughter of Kingman also has been at Woodbine winning the Seaway (G3) in September then finishing sixth in the Ontario Fashion (G3) and eighth in the Bessarabian (G2). The owner and breeder, Lael Stables, are “going to make a decision on her whether she's retired as a broodmare or they bring her back, and they haven't decided that yet.”

Tufani. Unraced at 2, the 3-year-old Distorted Humor filly has a record of 6: 3-1-0 this year. “She already won a race here at the Fair Grounds, second day of the meet. And there's a 3-year-old race called the Pago Hop hop that we've won several times down here. And that's where we're pointing her.”

Catiche. The 4-year-old Arrogate filly had only two starts this year finishing second in an optional-claiming allowance at Woodbine in May and winning a Turfway Park stakes on Saturday. Scott Mawaka bought her for $445,000 at the July Fasig-Tipton horses of racing age sale, “with the intention of running her a few times, trying to make her a stakes winner, which we were lucky enough to get that done the first time we ran her. And now they're contemplating not breeding her and maybe keeping her around. They've got her booked to Into Mischief, so it's kind of a tough question whether they keep going with her or go ahead and breed her to Into Mischief. But we're definitely planning on probably running her back in about a month back there at Turfway. And there's a stake about five weeks from that race. So we're definitely going to run her there and then they'll decide whether they want to keep her in training or breed her after that.”

Mo Bills. The 3-year-old Uncle Mo filly was second or third in all four of her starts as a 2-year-old and came back in August to win her first two starts before finishing fourth in an optional-claiming allowance on Nov. 1. “She's also going to run in the Pago Hop. She broke her maiden at Delaware and then came back and won the allowance at Kentucky Downs, one of the first conditions. She'll run in the Pago Hop also.”

Jubilee Bridge. The 5-year-old daughter of Flintshire has a 7: 3-2-2 record this year and has not raced or worked since finishing third in a Kentucky Downs stakes in September. “Another one that's having a break right now. And she'll have 90 days before she comes back in.”

2-year-olds

Central Avenue. The Street Sense filly, a Godolphin homebred, won her debut and then was second in the Frizette (G1) and third in the Golden Rod (G2). “She's here at the Fair Grounds, and we're planning to run her in the preps that lead up to the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2). And then the goal obviously would be to make the Kentucky Oaks (G1) with her. … Because she had run second to Just F Y I, who was the winner of the Breeders Cup (Juvenile Fillies), we had thought about the Breeders Cup for her. But we just felt like she probably needed a little more time. She's a real big, growth-y kind of a 2-year-old that always looked like she was going to be a better 3-year-old than 2-year-old just because of her size and the need for more distance. And so we skipped the Breeders' Cup and went to the Golden Rod, figuring that, give her a race over the track at Churchill because we'd like to have her around for the Kentucky Oaks.”

Record Time. The Not This Time colt is 2-for-2 after winning an optional-claiming allowance at Turfway on Dec. 1. Pin Oak Stud bought him as a yearling for $410,000. “We're real excited about him. There are plans to eventually try him on the dirt, which we haven't done yet. He's only run on synthetic. But eventually, we will probably try him on the dirt just to see if he can make that transition. But in the meantime, there's races at Turfway that lead up to the Jeff Ruby (Steaks, G3). And there's a good 3-year-old program there for him coming up next year.”

Phantom Speed. Bought by Pin Oak as a yearling for $700,000, he was a close second in his only start, at Fair Grounds on Nov. 24. “We like him quite a bit. … We've got a maiden race picked out for him, and that'll be going long. He ran six furlongs in his first start. We'll run him long next time in his maiden. And then if he runs as well as we think, good chance that he'll be running in some of the preps for the Louisiana Derby (G1).”

Candy Corn. The son of Twirling Candy broke his maiden on Oct. 23 but hasn’t raced since. “We're planning on running him here at Fair Grounds on the turf in an a-other-than. We've got some pretty high hopes for him.”

Maycocks Bay. The Speightstown colt, a Godolphin homebred, broke his maiden in September and is 0-for-2 since. “He's been a little bit of a difficult read for us. When we got our 2-year-olds from Godolphin, he was near the top of the list of the 2-year-olds that we liked. And he broke his maiden in his second start. And then his last two have been a little disappointing. He got a really bad trip in his last start and never really got clear and then didn't finish well at all. So he's still kind of a work in progress, let's put it that way. We like him quite a bit, but we're trying to figure him out.”

Righthere Rightnow. The Not This Time colt finished second in both his starts, most recently at Turfway on Dec. 1. “He was second in his first start to Record Time. And then in his second start, he was very unlucky. He was the last to load of 12 or 13 that day, and before the horse or the rider was ready, they sprung the gates. He got off bad and then was flying at the end and just got beat a nose, I mean a dirty nose, but was really running on at the end. So we like him quite a bit. And he's at Turfway.”

Golden Era. The Godolphin homebred, a son of Uncle Mo, “only ran one time at Colonial this summer and had a minor injury that sent him out. But he was third, beaten three quarters of a length, in his only start. And he'll be coming back for next year in the spring.”

Linzer. The Street Sense colt and Godolphin homebred finished second in his first three starts and then fourth last out at Churchill Downs on Oct. 29. “He's at Turfway, he's going be starting there. He's still a maiden. But he ran second to the winner of the (Hopeful), Nutella Fella. He was second to him in his first start. He's been three seconds, and we think he's got a pretty good future.”