Page 15 - The Game August 2006

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, August 2006 15
Wendover Stables Positive Advancement
It has been slightly more than one year since Wendover Stables opened its barn doors for business and the positive advancements at the farm have kept the owners very busy indeed.
Owner operators, Melanie and Paul O’Sullivan (married last October) along with Melanie’s father Eric MacDonald have added a new indoor training arena, a new 60ft. round breaking pen, a new roof to the existing Odyssey Performance Trainer, as well as a new 11 stall barn which features double dutch doors on the 12 x 10 ft. stalls.
Construction is also scheduled to begin in October on a new 1/2 mile training track which will feature the all weather polytrack surface. The track, which will be nestled in the valley behind the
arena, will also feature an inner
turf training surface.
Wendover Stables is gearing up to be the place for quality breaking and legging up for thoroughbred race horses.
Working with thoroughbreds is nothing new for Melanie and Paul, in fact both have made careers out of galloping horses at Woodbine although Melanie is now grounded at the farm with the arrival of the couple’s first baby expected shortly.
The first tell-tale sign of their experience is in the name they chose for the farm, Wendover Stables, as in Wendover Lad, the
first horse that (then apprentice jockey) Paul rode in Stockton on Tee in England in 1979.
Paul was born in Liverpool, England and enrolled in apprentice school in 1978 at age 15 and served his four year apprenticeship before becoming a work rider for Henry Cecil for 10 years where he galloped the likes of Indian Skimmer, Old Vic and Diesis.
In 1992 he crossed the pond to the US to work for Jimmy Baker in Kentucky, at which time he had galloped Kentucky Derby winner Mahogany Hall.
After 3 years Paul began working with the babies for pinhooker Morris Miller and during their six year span together they produced the first million dollar sale topper as well as the first 2-year-old in training to go ten flat.
He then spent a half dozen years with trainer Bob Baffert on the Kentucky circuit while galloping and breaking babies as well as running horses for other trainers such as Neil Drysdale and Roger Attfield before jetting off to Brazil to break and train two-year-olds for Stud TNT.
In 2002 Paul came to Canada to work for trainer Roger Attfield and was the exclusive exercise rider for millionaire Perfect Soul.
Experienced horseperson, Tova Morgan, has also joined the staff at Wendover and is the barn manager who oversees the day to day care of the horses.
For more information call Wendover Stables at 905-939-2625.
News in Review
Champion 2-year-old colt in 2002, Added Edge will begin his stallion career at Special K Stables in Runnells, Iowa in 2007.
Ray Muck has acquired a majority interest in the now six- year-old son of Smart Strike with Team Valor and Robert Wilson retaining the remaining interest.
Added Edge was the winner of all four of his starts as a two- year-old which included the Gr3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct and the Swynford and Silver Deputy Stakes at Woodbine.
He has a total of six career stakes wins including a win in his final start, the 2005 Gr3 Razorback Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Oaklawn Park.
He retires with a record of 8 wins in 19 starts and more than $550,000 in earnings.
The Game
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