This year for a 2-year-old training sale in Midlantic Fasig-Tipton, Brick City Thoroughbreds brought a draft of six selected individuals to the sale in Maryland. The company founded by JR and Katie Boyd in 2012 prides itself on the quality of horse-appropriate training, integrity and honesty. Based in Williston, Fla., Boyds has three daughters and all who work for the shipper are considered family. After seeing one of their daughters graduate from high school on the same weekend as Preakness, JR Boyd sat down with BloodHorse MarketWatch, along with his wife, Katie, over the phone to share more about the activity. their actual store.
Brick City Thoroughbreds’ JR Boyd Looks Like Hip 80, Composed By Tapwrit Coming For A Show At Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale
MarketWatch: How long have you been in business, and how did you meet?
Katie Boyd: We’ve been in business for over nine years with Brick City Thoroughbreds, but JR is the third generation rider in the industry for over 30 years. His stepfather, Robert, and his late mother, Mary Harris, run the Harris Training Center, a longstanding crime-solving and training facility.
JR Boyd: We actually met in a gas station. Katie is 17 years old and I am 20 years old. We dated for a while and then we both went our separate ways. Twelve years later, we met again, and the rest is history.
MW: What makes Brick City Thoroughbreds different from similar bankruptcy/training/shipping operations?
JR: We try to establish a big bottom in the horses, giving them a solid foundation for the future. Our record of horses that continue to race successfully after our program is a very high rate.
KB: We cater to individual horses, it’s not a cookie cutter program for us, and we’re young. We start the same horses but then see what each horse needs. Some need more while others need less; We continue with what the horse tells us.
JR: Honesty… sometimes it hurts us, and sometimes it helps us. We are just sincere, honest people. Sometimes, when people ask us for our opinion, it’s not what they want to hear. Everyone thinks their horse is special.
KB: We really love the horses; Most of the horses in our stall will be kissed on the nose daily. Some even learn to return the kiss. We familiarize the horses and then tailor their training; Not one method works for all. We are practicing; we live on our farm and stay in the barn every day — morning and evening checking the horses and hanging out with them. They are very much loved. Most of them even get a warehouse name.
JR Boyd at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale
MW: What are some of the highlights of Brick City Thoroughbreds graduates, and what do you see for your future?
JR: Bodexpress he is the 1st winner of Clark bets presented by Norton Healthcare at Churchill in 2020 and contested the Kentucky Derby 2019 presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1). Gunmetal Gray winner of Sham Staking (G3) in 2019, and Cacaro second runner after Law Tiz in 2020 Travers Shares (G1). But I honestly think our greatest success was in raising our three daughters and sending them to school.
KB: Ten years from now, we’d say we’ve got a Derby winner; That’s the dream we’re chasing. We don’t want to be a big operation, just one that sells nice, fast and strong horses. We would like to have a few more customers to train horses or just for races or for sales.
We are moving into more shop farms where we don’t have that many high numbers but are selective about the horses we train and raise. For that, we’d like to get some more sales horses for the shipment.
MW: What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
JR: Stay humble. I grew up in this game and saw the highs and the lows; You have to try to maintain the level. Don’t go too high when it’s going up, and don’t go low when it’s falling, because this industry will make you go down quickly.
KB: But the flip side of that, this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike , prove anything is possible. We have big dreams, we set high goals and hopes, but we also have a good connection with reality. We know where it all comes from because we are big believers.
JR: My mother always said, ‘You have to crawl before you can walk’, and now that I’m older, that makes a lot of sense.
