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 HOME-BREDS
HAVEN: Doubletree Farm scores big in 2011 - By PETE
HERRERA for SureBet Racing NewsFebruary 2012 - There was a time when Texan Sam Stevens was running horses from coast to coast with iconic Thoroughbred trainer D. Wayne Lukas. It wasn’t that long ago that New Mexico native Steve Prather was pulling a daily double — running an oilfield service company in Lea County and breeding racehorses at his Doubletree Farm outside of Hobbs. A little fate perhaps and the proximity of Stevens’ farm in Lamesa, Texas, to Prather’s place — 70 miles more or less — made it inevitable that the two would end up in a partnership that has evolved into one of the top Thoroughbred breeding and racing operations in New Mexico. That was certainly in evidence at this year’s New Mexico Horse Breeders Association awards banquet in Albuquerque. The Prather-Stevens connection won four of the prestigious awards for 2011, including Stevens being named the recipient of the “Julep Cup” that each year goes to the outstanding Thoroughbred breeder in New Mexico. Stevens and Prather also had the top freshman sire in 2011 with The Way Home. The two are part of a partnership that owns the 8-year-old sire whose first crop of foals consisted almost entirely of New Mexico-breds. Of the 15 babies sired by The Way Home, nine were starters in 2011 and included two stakes winners and one stakes-placed starter. Among them was E Bar Way, winner of the Eddy County Stakes at Zia Park and Prather’s My Homey, winner of the Totah Futurity at SunRay Park and the Mountaintop Futurity at Ruidoso Downs last summer. “Big numbers for a freshman sire,” says Prather. Stevens’ That’s Who was named the top 2-year-old Thoroughbred gelding of 2011. Sired by Quinton’s Gold, That’s Who never finished out of the money in seven starts last year, with four wins, a second and two thirds for earnings of $220,770. His victories came in the New Mexico Classic Cup Juvenile for colts and geldings at Zia Park and in the Red Hedeman Mile at Sunland. The dam of That’s Who, Rama Lassie, also is owned by Stevens and she was named the top Thoroughbred broodmare for 2011. While there is a definite generation gap — Prather is 54 and Stevens 83 — the two are on the same page and path in their efforts to upgrade the breeding within New Mexico’s Thoroughbred ranks. “With the purses the way they are and the breed program, we like New Mexico,” says Stevens. “There are other places we could go, but it so happens this is just right. We can cross with their studs at Hobbs and we’ve had tremendous luck. We had Lefty Who a few years back, and he won five races and more than $300,000 as a 2-year-old.” Stevens currently has some three dozen broodmares at Doubletree, a 160-acre farm that at times is home to as many as 200 horses. The addition of The Way Home to a stud stable that already had Quinton’s Gold gives Doubletree a potent duo. Prather purchased The Way Home in a private sale in Pennsylvania, and later took on Stevens and fellow horsemen Bryan Ritchie and Larry Strain as partners. Prather had no doubt he was buying a stud that could produce one crop of winners after another. “He was family,” says Prather. “He’s by Giant’s Causeway, who has been a leading sire in the world the last few years. His dam (Home Wrecker) produced seven graded stakes winners. It’s as good a breeding as you can get.” And even though it’s just one crop, Prather says The Way Home is showing the ability to sire both speed and endurance. My Homey showed considerable speed in winning three times and earning $141,000 in his first year of racing before suffering an injury that will likely sideline him until late this year. Besides his wins at Farmington and Ruidoso, My Homey won his trial for the 4½-furlong Copper Top Futurity at Sunland by seven lengths but was apparently sick when he ran third in the finals. “He’s very, very fast but he had mucus and all kinds of crud after he ran in the Copper Top. I’m sure he would have won it if he hadn’t been sick,” says Prather. The Way Home-sired E Bar Way, meanwhile, was able to win at a mile in the Eddy County Stakes. “That’s the thing about The Way Home,” said Prather. “It looks like he can throw the speed, and he can throw the distance too.” Like so many others, Stevens started out as a racehorse owner and eventually became a breeder as well. Back in the ‘80s, he and Lukas raced horses in California, New York and Florida. Before that, Stevens had been part of a group that at one time owned Ruidoso Downs and Sunland Park. Stevens wasn’t part of New Mexico’s horseracing scene for about 10 years, but with the arrival of slots and the bigger purses they triggered, decided it was time to get back into it. “We have a home in Ruidoso and it’s nice to be able to go to the races. It’s fun trying to beat your friends and having them trying to beat you. It’s a business, but it’s also fun. You’ve got to enjoy it or you’d be doing something else.” Prather says his connection with Stevens took off after the purchase of The Way Home. “He had started breeding at (Doubletree). Then we bought The Way Home and now he’s breeding big time,” said Prather. We’re going to breed 30 mares for him this year.” As an owner, Prather has 21 of his Thoroughbreds in training this year. Prather grew up in the small Lea County community of Eunice and attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. He returned home to work with his dad in the oilfield service business, which they sold in 2006. He has owned horses for about 25 years and has been involved in the breeding end of it for about 18 years. Prather is confident the New Mexico-bred program is on solid footing and has a bright future despite the recent downturn in horseracing across the country. “I don’t see any reason for it to change,” said Prather. “With what we have in place, I see everything clicking right along.” | ||
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