Laue’s Luck
January 16th, 2005by Jude T. Feld
Gun Salute’s Forerunner Victory
Bill Strauss Photo
Brant Laue has been around quality cattle and Quarter Horses his whole life. A third generation rancher, who is a family partner in Laue Charolais Ranch, a 2000-acre spread in Washington County, Kansas, Laue recalls sitting around the dinner table as kid, discussing the matings of the ranch’s champions.
“The family franchise is breeding fine animals,” Laue said. “The satisfaction you get from breeding a good one is hard to put into words.”
The 44-year-old lawyer credits the great Cigar’s amazing winning streak with piquing his interest in Thoroughbreds.
“I followed Cigar closely in the media,” he said. “And ultimately attended the race at Arlington Park when Cigar equaled Citation’s record of 16 straight wins.”
Following that exciting experience, Laue immersed himself in everything racing, including subscribing to Blood-Horse and attending a three-day TOBA breeding seminar in Lexington, Kentucky.
“The TOBA experience taught me a lot,” Laue stated. “It was a good way to meet people in the business. Soon, I began purchasing shares in horses through Centennial Farms. I sampled several aspects of the business including yearlings, two-year-olds and broodmares. I used the partnerships as a tutorial. I had several useful racehorses during that time and the experience of selling a $1 million yearling at the Keeneland September Sale.”
Leveraging his lifetime of experience with pedigreed livestock at the ranch, Laue is in the early stages of a modest breed-to-race program.
“I select the horses and the matings on my own,” he said. “Including all the pedigree research and confirmation evaluations. Fillies are selected at the sales with an eye toward their ultimate breeding value after a racing career. I work the sales myself, although prospects are screened by a veterinarian.”
Laue has assembled a team of professionals to handle his string. Hurstland Farm in Midway, Kentucky works with the breeding stock and yearlings. New Episode Training Center in Ocala, Florida gives the juveniles their breaking and early training. It’s not surprising that Cigar’s trainer, Hall of Famer Billy Mott conditions the horses at the track.
Although Laue is a relative neophyte, his program has had magnificent success. His first homebred runner, Gun Salute, also became his first stakes winner and is now on the road to the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at Belmont Park on October 29.
Hail Roberta, a daughter of Roberto, was purchased privately by Laue after she failed to reach her reserve at the 2000 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
“One thing that the cattle business taught me is that a lot of good, old, solid pedigrees get lost in the wave of commercialism,” Laue said. “I loved the fact that she was by Roberto and I thought I could move her forward by breeding her to the right stallion. My pedigree analysis showed that the Danzig line would be a favorable nick. I inspected all the Danzig stallions within my price range, standing at stud in Kentucky and ultimately selected Military. My mare is average sized and I was looking for a stud with a little more substance to compliment her.”
The resulting foal was Gun Salute, who has now won six races and nearly $700,000 in his 10-race career.
“Before he ever ran, Bill Mott and I would often talk about Gun Salute and how he was doing. Bill always thought he could run, but you never want to get too excited until they prove themselves on the racetrack.”
Finishing second in his debut running a mile on the turf, Gun Salute followed the promise he showed in that race with a victory 10 days later. It really wasn’t until his colt won an allowance race at Keeneland, that Laue thought Gun Salute could really be something special.
“He beat Rey de Café in that Keeneland allowance race and he is a pretty nice colt,” Laue said. “That was a big race for us, but when he won the Forerunner at Keeneland, that was a very special day – one I’ll always remember.”
At this writing, Gun Salute has reeled off three straight victories, taking home the chrome in the American Derby (G2) and Secretariat Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park and the Hawthorne Derby (G3). He now has his sights on the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1).
“The Breeders’ Cup really wasn’t in the original plan,” Laue said. “One of the dangers of going to law school is that you become really good at research. I’ve been studying the charts of past Breeders’ Cups, all the past performances and even the weather patterns for the next two weeks. I talked to Bill about running and we made the final decision late Monday afternoon.”
The great Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Good luck Breeders’ Cup Saturday Brant Laue.
