TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1056824
doing," he said. "That was a really big deal for us, and it was fun to do it in the backyard I grew up in." Hard Not to Like went on to win the GI Diana Stakes at Saratoga while setting a new course record and toppling future legend Tepin. That fall, with the broodmare sales approaching, the Speedway team had a major business decision to make with their star flag-bearer. "K.C. and I thought, if we were going into the breeding business and this horse is worth $2 million, would we start with one $2 million broodmare?" Fluor said. "The quick answer to that was no." Hard Not to Like hammered for a cool $2.2 million at Keeneland November, but when it came time to make the same call on Leigh Court, not worth nearly as much on the market, the pair waffled. "They kept their first filly because she's, as Peter calls her, 'their first child,'" Farrell said. "They did the right things with their entree into racing and now we've accu- mulated a few beautiful and successful fillies." Fluor is less charitable to his initial broodmare strategy. "We didn't know what to do, so we didn't do anything," he said. "That's how we got into the breeding business." Today, Speedway Stable is a broodmare band at Stone Farm in Kentucky; it's a consistent presence at the high end of 2-year-olds in training sales; it's horses in Australia with Gai Waterhouse; it's a GI Pacific Classic winner in Collected, who recently sold to Airdrie Stud with Fluor and Weiner maintaining interests. At its core though, Speedway is an avenue for Peter Fluor to honor his father—to pick up where he left off after devoting so much of his life to the game. And now he's in a position to pass the sport on to Lacey, who manages the stable's day-to-day affairs. It started with a few donuts to entice a kid onto the backstretch. There was a long detour to get back there, but that's the good thing about horse racing: it can always make you feel young again.