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A Trip to the Dentist, I Mean to the K. Gillespie Barn
Original article written by Jack Meyer posted 9 years 4 weeks agoTo keep with the trend, in this piece I will be profiling the Kasie Gillespie barn. Kasie has a unique way of running her barn, from the way she names her horses, to the way she trains them up, and we are here to find out the story behind the madness that goes on within the Gillespie Barn.
Kasie has been a player in the SIM since mid-year of Year 25, she got her 500th win at the tail end of the last SIM year joining the 500 win club. She really likes All-Weather runners with about a quarter of her barn consisting of AW horses; the only Mixed Breeds in her barn are a few Paints, so the majority of Kasie’s focus is on the Thoroughbred ranks.
I had one burning question that I needed to start off with, and I’m certain I wasn’t the only one. Kasie has a lot of little ones in her barn named after Teeth Products or Dentistry terms, I figured there had to be a reason behind the madness, I just had to know what it was, "I’m a Dental Hygienist, or as my patients state, 'I clean their teeth.' I tend to name my horses after what’s going on in my life. One year, all my horses were named after a dental term. Now I only try to reserve dental terminology for my top horses, easier to keep track of my top prospects." So, you can get a good idea of the mood that Kasie is in, or what life is throwing her way by the names of her horses, such a unique way to go about naming your horses.
As a SIM player who absolutely loves All-Weather racing myself, I became curious when I saw one particular runner I remembered when I first began playing the SIM retired and pensioned before he was 14. I remember the rivalry between The Elder Wand, Time Turner, and Perfect Sunday, they met up several times in Year 35 and Year 36, and The Elder Wand was my favorite of the three because I loved his name. I saw that he pensioned before the age of 14 and wondered what was going on, so I asked Kasie, “He didn’t nick very well, B/C was all I could get from him. Then I galloped his baby’s and was not impressed. I didn’t want to have a stallion that couldn’t produce, so I pensioned him”. Though I hated to see one of my first memories of the SIM already gone from the breeding shed, I could totally understand the reasoning; I’ve done this myself with a sire or two of my own.
As I searched through Kasie’s barn, I noticed a mare by the name of Agnola, she did very well on the track, though she isn’t homebred by Kasie herself, I wanted to get the inside scoop on how she was doing after her successful racing career, and if there were other mares in her barn that didn’t perform as well on the track, but are making it work in the shed, “As a racehorse, Agnola was my favorite but I’m disappointed so far in her as a broodmare, she hasn’t produced anything spectacular. I don’t consider myself a Great Breeder either – Eric Nalbone bred her, I just happened to buy her. I’m supper excited about my little filly Now Gold, out of four foals; she has produced one Hard to tell, One Stakes and Two scary good foals”. Two Scary/Specials in 4 years, which is what I call amazing, we will delve a little deeper into both of those two in a bit.
Kasie’s two talented colts have already begun their racing careers, we will first focus on her talented 3YO Listerine. Listerine took the North State Futurity last year over the talented King Of Egypt capping off a really nice 2YO campaign, he has slipped a bit this year as a 3YO, and I wanted to know what Kasie’s thoughts were on him, “I’m frustrated with him, he was my very first scary good galloped colt. I tried to give him an easy spot in a small stakes that I created, but he lost, so I’ll put him away for the year and start next year in an allowance – in hoping to build is confidence." Listerine seems to be on the shelf for the final two weeks of the year, I hope this talented colt can rebound next year, and I think an allowance race to build hid confidence is a nice way to kick things off.
Next I ventured into Kasie’s 2YO barn where I found a filly by the name of Colgate Whitening, the other Scary galloper out of Now Gold. Colgate Whitening scored 2 wins in 3 starts, including the restricted Bestofmyheart Stakes, the best thing about the results of this race is that 4 of the 7 rivals Colgate Whitening faced were winners, or came back and won after that race. Guanyin is a very highly touted filly that Colgate Whitening beat in that race; she was a Stakes winner entering the race, so the field was quite good. I asked Kasie her thoughts on Colgate Whitening, and where she was planning on taking her in the future, “She has surprised me, she is a half-sister to Listerine out of my favorite mare Now Gold. I almost scratched her out of the Bestofmyheart Stakes, because of Guanyin, glad I didn’t. I have no plans for her yet, once the year turns over – I’ll map something out next year. I really want to win a Stewards Cup Race, which could be a year end goal for next year." It looks like the Steward’s Cup is a goal for both Kasie and Colgate Whitening at the end of Year 40.
Now that we covered the past and present, I wanted to know about the future of the Gillespie barn. I talked to Kasie about her crop of yearlings, I wanted to know what hidden gems can we expect to see shine over the next couple of years, “I’m super excited for A Equalizer, who is a half-sister to Listerine and Colgate Whitening. She galloped Scary Good and I can’t wait to unleash her, especially if Colgate Whitening is doing this good." It looks like the entire group of babies that came from Now Gold are sporting a nice gallop comment bringing the hopes and dreams of one Kasie Gillespie with them every year.
To finish things up, I wanted to know about the distant future, the foals that are flooding the Gillespie barn. We all know how this works, we pin our hopes and dreams on foals every year, I wanted to know what foals Kasie was pinning her hopes and dreams on, “Anything out of my mare Now Gold – which produced a Shadowless Colt. I’m hopping my only Stallion Colt, who has been nicking B+ can give me something good. I’m still waiting for a Good AW Horse, have a lot of Stakes gallopers who are having a hard time breaking there maidens." Now Gold is front and center again for Kasie, that mare is something special. I also see a lot of focus on AW for Kasie since she puts the time and effort into making her AW barn as solid as possible.
As I stated in that last paragraph, we all pin our hopes and dreams on foals every year, we do the research, hypo the sires to our mares, it’s all there, we just rely on the random slide and a little luck to make our hopes and dreams come true. It’s that thrill that makes the SIM fun and exciting, the thrill of galloping our babies in week 1, most are disappointed, but it’s those few and far between babies that carry those hopes…those dreams.