By Nancy Jaffer
September 8, 2018
When Heronwood Racing Partners set out to buy a thoroughbred who would run under the stable’s colors, members of the group already were thinking of a way to make sure the horse would have a new job after he finished at the track.
Mark Bellard, the partner of hunter/jumper trainer Rachel Rosenthal, is in the group with Julia Greifeld of Whitehouse Station, a director of Mane Stream therapeutic riding, and Anthony Sileno of Mendham, who revealed “I’ve wanted to buy racehorses since I was about five years old.”
Like Anthony, Julia said, “I’ve always loved the thought of a racehorse. I’ve been approached many times over the years, but I wanted to be with people who would be interested in an end-game plan for the horse. I could never sell any kind of horse down the road.”
The group invested in Street Fighting Man, a son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and a great-grandson of Native Dancer. Street Fighting Man, who raced at Woodbine in Canada as a two-year-old, is known around the barn as Jagger after Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, who sang the tune for which the horse was named.
Mark Bellard, Julia Greifeld and Anthony Sileno with Rachel Rosenthal and Street Fighting Man. (Photo©2018 by Nancy Jaffer)
When Heronwood took on Jagger after his time in Canada, he contracted pneumonia within the first week.
“It was a long road back,” Mark recalled, but the flashy-looking black with a come-from-behind technique finally was ready for the New York racing scene, breaking his maiden with odds of 19-1 at Aqueduct on Rachel’s birthday in 2016.
“I can’t wait until he’s my jumper,” Rachel exclaimed, to which Mark responded, “Hold your horses.”
Street Fighting Man kept running for another year. By the time he finished the 2017 season as a five-year-old, having won a little more than $80,000 in 22 races, it was decision time.
(To see Street Fighting Man in action at the track, click on the video below and watch the number 3 horse with the jockey in the red cap.)
“The risk at that level is that you have to put them in claiming races. The trainer spotted him in places he thought he wouldn’t get claimed,” said Mark. But the fact that Jagger was a turf horse made the next step easy. At the end of 2017, the partnership was faced with laying him off for six months until racing on grass began again, or retiring him.
Retirement won, and it was on to the next step for Jagger.
“We always knew we’d need a plan, and fortunately, with Rachel, we had one,” said Mark, discussing Jagger’s future. After chilling out in upstate New York for a few months, Jagger came back to Heronwood, Rachel’s barn in Bedminster, for training in his new vocation.
As Julia mentioned, “I liked the fact that he’s being trained by a professional for his next step in life.”
At the track, Jagger was under the guidance of trainer Nick Esler, who rides his own horses.
“He put some good miles on this horse,” Mark noted. “As soon as Rachel got on him, she knew it wasn’t like starting from scratch.”
Heronwood’s big goal is next month’s Thoroughbred Makeover, presented by the Retired Racehorse Project. Jagger will be among hundreds of off-the-track thoroughbreds who have 10 months or less of retraining. Competition involves 10 different disciplines, with entries seeking a share of the $100,000 in prize money. At the end, according to the organization, there will be one overall winner, “crowned America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred.”
It won’t be Jagger. The Heronwood group is under no illusions, considering that Jagger doesn’t have a lot of mileage in jumping and only seven months of retraining.
Rachel Rosenthal jumping Street Fighting Man. (Photo courtesy of Mark Bellard)
“It’s not about going there to win,” explained Rachel, who does feel Jagger will be prepared well enough to put on a decent performance.
“It’s about showing the community what you’ve got,” she continued, saying, “We’re going there to represent.”
Mark is as enthusiastic as the other partners about the Thoroughbred Makeover concept and Jagger’s appearance in Kentucky.
“It’s such a great exit plan for all the thousands of thoroughbreds that are looking for a second career. I think it’s gained a lot of traction with all the trainers and owners. It gives them more options what to do with their horse, sooner rather than later.”
Julia reminisced about how thoroughbreds once ruled the show ring, and then fell out of favor as the warmbloods took over. Thoroughbreds are making a comeback now through initiatives such as the Makeover and Thoroughbred Incentive Program at many shows.
“This re-purposing is a relatively new thing,” Julia pointed out. Anthony believes “the whole movement has reached almost everybody” and those at the track are more aware of the options for horses that have stopped racing.
Even though Jagger is pursuing a different profession now, racing is still in the partners’ blood.
“It gives us a lot of fun and takes us on some nice journeys,” said Mark. While Heronwood has no racehorses at the moment, it does have a mare in foal to 2008 Derby winner Big Brown. The partners also are looking for a filly who can race for them and then become a broodmare as her end game.
As for Jagger, “Right now, we’re interested in re-purposing him and giving him the best start,” said Rachel.
Lots of flat work is part of Street Fighting Man’s program for his new career. *Photo©2018 by Nancy Jaffer)
“We’re just trying to set him up for whatever his next stage might be. Had we not given him this training, he would have very few options,” Julia pointed out.
Anthony said a horse like Jagger probably would have wound up running in $10,000 claiming races at Mountaineer, a track in West Virginia.
“He would have been asked to run every couple of weeks until he broke down,” said Mark. But this horse has a different destiny, and Rachel is confident he has star quality, noting how much she likes his temperament.
“That’s the number one thing you look for in any horse,” she mentioned.
“He’s so sensible. I take him out in the woods and down the road. I think he’s really athletic; he’s been so easy to train. He gets it, and gets something new every day.”
