Page 36 - August 2015

World Champion, Whosleavingwho, also ran. Catchmeinyourdreams went off at 25:1 and won it! That year he went on to do great things.”
The grey 1999 gelding, then trained
by Chris O’Dell, won the Los Alamitos Invitational three years in a row, won the Go Man Go Handicap and ran in the Champion of Champions three times, finishing second in 2003. He also tallied five Champion titles and surpassed $1 million in earnings.
Although many in the horse industry believe mares become less productive as they age, says Kirk’s longtime friend and associate Phillip Stewart, manager of Bob Moore Farms in Norman, Oklahoma, Kirk made a good case for the fact that you
can take those older mares and get some good babies out of them. In 2003, Kirk’s 20-year-old Dash For Cash broodmare, Dashing Phoebe, produced the Corona Cartel son Furyofthewind. The colt earned graded stakes winning status and was very talented, but Kirk says he had soundness issues that kept him from being a superstar on the track. Furyofthewind, however, went
on to become a superstar in the breed- ing shed as a leading stallion as well as a Champion sire.
In 2004, Kirk bred Dashing Phoebe to Feature Mr Jess, producing Heartswideopen, who won the All American Futurity in 2007 and placed second in the 2008 All American Derby after earning the fastest qualifying time. “I really liked that horse and she taught me a lot about racehorses,” Kirk says. “I sold her as a yearling; I didn’t own her when she won the All American. She was probably the fastest female horse I’ve ever seen in my life and she had the heart that makes a racehorse. She taught me that if you like a horse, you should keep it!”
Dashing Phoebe’s 2008 foal, Heartswideopen’s full brother Flyingwitheagles, stands in syndication
at Southwest Stallion Station in Elgin, Texas. The facility’s owner, Dr. Charlie Graham, says Kirk achieved his success by parlaying his business success into horses. “He buys the best mares he can buy and uses his God-given talent to breed to good
stallions. He knows what a good horse is, and about good conformation. He knows how to breed them to bring consistency. He’s just an encyclopedia of genetics and conformation.”
RAISING VERSUS BREEDING
Not surprisingly to those who know Kirk, he says the best horse he ever owned was his unraced 1987 buckskin mare Princess Sarah Lee. “She taught all eight of my kids how to ride, and probably 50 boy scouts, too, when
I was scout master. No other horse in my life have I cried as much as I did when she died,” he says. “With horses and me, it’s just not
all about racing. I love racing, don’t get me wrong, but they become a part of the family and a part of your life.”
And although he and Barbara have bred their share of accomplished runners, Kirk says, “It’s not really important for me to say I’m the breeder of such and such a horse, but it’s real important to me to say I raised them. I take pride in being involved and hands-on.
“Being a breeder is one short day in time and one decision to breed this mare to that stallion,” he adds. “But, between that and the All American Futurity are about 1,300 days that can destroy your ability
to make it there. So, making the right decisions every day, from your feeding program to making sure they have good pastures to run in, a vaccination program and having their feet trimmed every four weeks — that attention to detail is really, really important. The first thing I do every day is look at every horse on the ranch,
and the last thing I do every evening is look at every horse on the ranch. As in any business, the businessman who watches over everything is the one who has success. Those who consistently raise good race horses are those who pay attention.”
And Kirk and Barbara pay attention to every aspect of their horses’ careers. “I probably spend eight hours a day with the
Kirk still has 5−time Champion Catchmeinyourdreams, who today is a riding horse for Kirk’s grandson.
34 SPEEDHORSE, August 2015