Gavin O’Connor, then working with young Purebred dogs at WinStar Ranch, had just had a crush on a gulf son who was the 2012 Kentucky Derby runner-up. Bodemeister . He decided that after years of working to identify rough diamonds for his boss’s clients, perhaps it was time for him to bet such a horse on his own.
That horse is Actuator 2nd pick 7-2 in Saturday’s $300,000, 3rd Indiana Derby at Indianapolis horseshoe. 5-2 favorite is Rattle N Roll a student who won last year’s 1st grade who in his last start won Churchill Downs‘America’s off-court Derby a week ago.
The 1/16-mile Indiana Derby will be Actuator’s first start against Jake Ballis’s Black Purebreds, who bought 75% interest after Actuator’s first 7 1/4 win on 8 June at Churchill Downs after 8 months of layoffs. It was a “wow” performance, made even more surprising by the Actuator’s original purchase price: $2,200 by O’Connor and his partners.
O’Connor, a sixth-generation equestrian from Ireland who now runs Grantley Acres, said: “We did the weaning process at WinStar, and I brought in a bunch of cubs. my barn. Actuator is one of them.” “There was something about Actuator that really caught my attention from the very beginning. I followed him and he just kept looking at me over and over again. I felt like I had to do something because I love horses. much. I’m tired of being someone who has to call many times before really good horses, and I wanted the chance to name myself a good horse that I trust.”
When WinStar put the youngster on Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s 2020 winter mixed sale, O’Connor called his friend Rick Howard, saying, “Listen, Rick. I think we have something special here. I’m not sure what we’ll pay him.”
Howard has allocated $20,000 to try to buy the pony. O’Connor was unable to sell and asked another friend, Margaux Farm’s ranch coach, Dermot Littlefield, to bid. It proved a short piece of work: for a bargain price of $2,200, the collaboration of Howard, Joe Ragsdale’s Rags Racing and O’Connor got the pony O’Connor so loved.
Howard said: “Gavin had inside news. “He always thought the horse was something special. He’s out there talking to him every day when (Actuator) is on the ranch. This is his baby… It’s just blossomed since a 2-year-old into a beautiful child, tied a 3-year-old.”
Out of the mare Charlie India Indian Missiles , Actuator’s name was the result of a Google search by Littlefield’s wife, Danielle, for words that communicate with rockets. The actuator is one of the components that make the rocket work.
With a third on the pitch in Indiana last year, Actuator made the rocket analogy stand out in his first start for coach Michael McCarthy a month ago.
“I’d say half of Louisville heard me roar,” O’Connor said of watching the race with McCarthy’s Churchill Downs assistant Justin Curran. “It’s been an emotional, unbelievable roller coaster ride.”
Chris Pipito, watching the race on television from Lexington, also thinks it’s hard to believe. He immediately called Ballis, a former University of Houston basketball player who now plays horse racing full-time, including his Black Mixer.
“I was sitting at home at my desk,” Ballis recalls. “I was in the race, but I wasn’t paying attention. My friend Chris Pipito was a racing agent, he was very responsive and knew every horse in the country. He called me and said, ‘ Hey, did you just see this horse McCarthy ran?’ I turned around and watched the instant replay.
“We have a 2-year-old with Michael, and I’ve been in a relationship with him for a long time, back when he worked for Todd Pletcher. I sent him a congratulatory message. and said, ‘Hey, do you think something can be done with this horse?’ He said he would let the owner know, and I made him an offer on the night of the race. race. The deal is done within 24-36 hours.”
Although undisclosed, the purchase price is one hundred times higher than what the original owner paid in February 2020.
Ballis said: “They fought a run home. “They bought a really great horse. It’s a big, beautiful horse. When people buy privately, the first thing they do is go back to see someone has paid. They think they have I can’t value a horse that way, I don’t, because the market two years ago, three years ago was different than it is today Just because someone paid $2,000, $5,000, for me it doesn’t reflect their value today. It’s as if they paid $500,000. The changing market, and the way he did it, has, to me, demanded a substantial increase over what they were supposed to be. pay.
“Tom Brady was put in the sixth round and he’s arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. Same thing with Michael Jordan. all time. There are so many horses that people miss, they don’t like. This problem and that problem I don’t know if he had the problem he always wanted but he didn’t have any problems when we bought it I feel very, very lucky Good luck getting a horse.”
If Black Type has to dig deep in the pocket, consider that Ballis’ partnership doesn’t need to go through many slower horses to get to him.
“Our program is geared towards equity races,” he said. “When you buy ponies 2 years and older, you don’t know what they’ll be like. But when you buy off the track, yes, we think this horse is a Saturday horse. And their counterparts. me, that’s what they want. And you don’t have to wait too long to get the partner to act. So there’s a value in buying privately, where you only have to wait three, four, five weeks to get it running.
“This has been a lot, even though we haven’t run in a race.”
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