Page 77 - December 2021

Bomb Cyclone winning his Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity Trial.
“I loved the racetrack, so my thought was to go to vet school and end up right back at the racetrack. But I got out of vet school and ended up on a breeding farm.”
– Steve Burns
pioneers in non-surgical embryo transfer. The Burns team has long included Jose
Pantoja, who is the ranch manager. Steve and Jo’s adult children, Cade Burns and Kristin Eller, are now also involved. Cade is a veteri- narian, and Kristin is instrumental in running the office.
Burns Ranch performs embryo transfers not only for the Burns broodmare band and many other Quarter Horse breeders, Steve’s clients also include breeders of Arabians, warmbloods, and several other breeds. The ranch maintains a large band of recipient mares, who spend time with clients as they foal and raise their babies and then return to Burns Ranch after weaning, resulting in the mares producing foals every other year.
As an additional bonus, Burns Ranch provides a good second career for mares whose bloodlines might not make them valuable, especially from the Thoroughbred industry.
“It’s a good life for those mares,” said Jo. “They get to be moms, foal every other year, and get the best of care.”
Embryo transfer enables talented race fillies to continue competing and still begin
their producing careers with the help of these recipient mares. Especially with horses at Los Alamitos, which is about 65 miles west, Burns Ranch offers an easy way to pull embryos from a filly and send her back to the track without too long a disruption.
Once a mare they own retires from the track, Steve and Jo usually let her carry one or two foals herself.
“We think that’s important for their fertil- ity,” said Jo.
“For some reason, if a mare has a foal, her cervix tends to function a little bit better later in life,” said Steve. “The old maiden mares are the most difficult ones to be successful with.”
Though most of the embryo transfers Steve performs are for clients, he also does them
for the Burns Ranch broodmares. That band includes mares acquired after racing, such as Remember Me Rose, and ones they bred and raced themselves.
Tahma Hawk is a Burns homebred who
is doing well as a producer. Her foals include 2020 Governor’s Cup Futurity-RG1 winner Constituent, multiple graded stakes winner Oldsmobile Hill, stakes winner Stel Hawk, and
five stakes-placed runners.
Stakes-placed Babe On The Fly, on the other
hand, already had several foals before Steve and Jo acquired her. She has produced 2014 Ruidoso Derby-G1 and All American Gold Cup-G1 winner Rock You, 2015 Golden State Million Futurity-G1 winner Little Talks, six other stakes winners, and four stakes-placed runners.
Little Talks is by Favorite Cartel, and sev- eral of Babe On The Fly’s black-type runners are by Walk Thru Fire. The latter stallion was a major sire standing at Burns Ranch, though he is now pensioned.
Fly Thru The Fire, a stakes-winning son
of Walk Thru Fire and out of Babe On The Fly, stands at Burns Ranch. The Burnses tried breeding Remember Me Rose to Fly Thru The Fire for a 2022 foal, but that foal resorbed.
Such are the vagaries of embryo transfer and equine reproduction in general that there is never a guarantee. After five Remember Me Rose foals in 2020, the mare only has one 2021 foal, a Favorite Cartel filly. But she has three Favorite Cartels percolating for arrival in 2022, which could mean another banner sale year for the Burnses in 2023.
Fly Thru The Fire, a stakes-winning son of Walk Thru Fire and out of Babe On The Fly, stands at Burns Ranch.
Steve and Jo’s children Kristen Eller and Cade Burns, with his wife Kristen Burns.
SPEEDHORSE December 2021 75
Scott Martinez, Los Alamitos
William Zuazo, Speedhorse
Scott Martinez, Los Alamitos