O’Meara, Milestone and Mancini
January 12th, 2005by Jude T. Feld
Famed California horseman and frozen pie king Elwood Johnston was fond of saying, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” “Pieman” would have loved John O’Meara.
Up before the chickens every day, the Irish native has never been afraid of work. Arriving in the U.S. in 1982, O’Meara spent two breeding seasons at Spendthrift Farm and Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky before hiring on with Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Carl Nafzger.
Being Nafzger’s assistant lead to a private training job with Arlington Park owner Richard Duchossois for the 1987 and 1988 seasons, but farm life held more appeal for O’Meara than the racetrack, so after stints at Audley Farm and Country Life Farm in Maryland and Prestonwood Farm in Kentucky, he returned to Spendthrift Farm as manager.
O’Meara’s self-confidence coupled with his excellent work ethic allowed him to take a chance on himself and roll the dice with his own farm.
“I left every place I worked with more knowledge and know-how,” O’Meara said. “So in 1996, I decided to strike out on my own. I leased a small farm near Lexington and Tri County Stables gave me three mares to board. They gave me my start and they are still with me today.”
In September of 2002, O’Meara purchased 165 acres of the old 505 Farm on Russell Cave Road in Lexington, naming it Milestone Farm.
“I went to the auction and when the hammer fell, I had 72 stalls, five houses and all this land,” O’Meara stated. “It was swim or sink.”
With a devastating ice storm in 2003 and a tornado that ripped through the farm in 2004, it seemed as though O’Meara would “find a watery grave,” as Peter Alice would say. Undaunted by those setbacks, he continued building his farm, making repairs, planting trees and taking care of his client’s mares, often working 18 hour days.
“The farm is coming around,” O’Meara said humbly. “Everyone knows how hard it is to have a farm. There is always work to be done, but it is a life I love.”
O’Meara boards mares for “a few select clients” and keeps a nice broodmare band of his own at Milestone Farm.
“My clients’ mares basically pay the day-to-day bills,” he said. “I make my money buying and selling.”
Another way O’Meara hopes to add to the Milestone Farm coffers is with his stallion sensation, Mancini. By Mr. Prospector from the Cozzene mare Trolley Song, the dam of Unbridled’s Song, Mancini has been on the Blood-Horse freshman sire charts in virtually every issue during 2005.
A $525,000 Coolmore weanling purchase, Mancini’s career was shortened by a racing injury. When offered the stallion, O’Meara found a lot to like.”
“Coolmore bought him right after Unbridled’s Song was retired and bred his first book of mares,” O’Meara said. “They had the right idea, but unfortunately Mancini was just beginning to prove himself on the racetrack when he was hurt. Unbridled’s Song, is by Fappiano who is by Mr. Prospector. I loved the fact that Mancini was by Mr. Prospector. I figured it was great to be going right to the source.”
It is always hard to get mares to a first year stallion unless they have gained some national or international prominence and even the tenacious O’Meara could only muster up a handful of mares for Mancini’s first crop.
“I had to beg, borrow and steal to get mares the first year,” he said. “That’s why he has such a small first crop. And believe me, those mares were pretty much just manes and tails, but I had confidence that if he was good enough, he’d make it as a stallion.”
That confidence was validated when Whatsitgonnatake captured the $50,000 Prairie Gold Lassie Stakes at Prairie Meadows on Saturday, July 2. The daughter of Mancini and the Demaloot Demashoot mare Are You Kidding beat a field of eight other two-year-old fillies to the wire, running five furlongs in :58.07 under a perfect ride by Greta Kuntzweiler.
“That was the filly’s second win this year and obviously a big one for us,” O’Meara said. “I sold her after she broke her maiden at Hawthorne. I’m happy for her new owners and even happier for Mancini.”
Bred for speed, Mancini’s foals are tough, sound and smart. They look precocious and have been very well received at sales, with three hip numbers averaging $20,000 at the Keeneland January Sale and seven averaging $10,000 at the OBS Sale.
“They have a great hip and are correct in front,” O’Meara stated. “That’s tough to find with any stallion, but extremely rare at a $3,000 stud fee. People like the pedigree he adds to their foals and the confirmation he provides. It all adds up to an early winner. I think that’s why his book has gotten larger every year.”
From nine foals in 2003, Mancini covered 45 mares this year. Including several stakes winners and stakes producers. Now the sire of a stakes winner, the pride of Milestone Farm has attracted international attention.
“I’ve had people call about shuttling him to the Southern Hemisphere,” O’Meara shared. “There’s been a couple of offers to buy him outright as well, but I’m not in love with sending him to another country just to make a few bucks. I might not see him again. He’s got some grand-looking yearlings and a lovely crop of weanlings, so I’m not looking to jump ship.”
More Mancini stakes winners on Milestone Farm’s horizon…that’s music to John O’Meara’s ears.
