Terry Finley, President and CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds, did some calculations on August 20 to predict what would be the key events for his organization on August 21.
West Point representatives and family members gather in the winners’ circle at Racecourse Saratoga after the second race. Ghost smoke a 4-year-old son of Ghostzapper was taking a photo of him after winning the 5 1/2 race on Mellon turf.
And so are the West Pointers, who are celebrating their 1,000th career win.
“That’s a good number,” Finley said. “When I do my calculations, on average every 11 days over the past 31 years, we have the honor of standing in the winner’s circle.”
Phantom Smoke, who was ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr and trained by Christophe Clement, broke into the gate before the race started and was brought back and loaded. He didn’t seem to mind the distraction as he made his gate-wiring and won with a 7-5 favorite.
West Point owns Phantom Smoke in partnership with New Phoenix Stable, Steven Rocco, and Daniel Burke.
“We’ll keep going,” Finley said. “We will not stop.”
Finley recalls West Point’s No 1 win just like it was yesterday. He doesn’t have an exact date, but it was August 1991. The horse’s name was Sunbelt and he won at Philadelphia Park (now now). Racing Parx).
“I’m still in the Army and I’m on temporary duty on the west coast,” Finley said. “Race is a $5,000 claimant. It’s crazy when you think about it. But when you really think about it, this business and the horses have given us all so much. I’m the luckiest person in the world to be in this sport and enjoy waking up every morning.”
West Point, which has about 600 partners, has 122 horses in training around the country.
