Reeves Thoroughbred Racing is enjoying a fantastic summer in Saratoga as they near the top of the list of top midway owners in the famous competitive racing meeting. So far, they’ve celebrated in the winner’s circle alongside three stake winners and an impressive first win minor.
Dean Reeves, a native of Atlanta and co-owner of a commercial contracting company in Georgia, founded Reeves Thoroughbred Racing with his wife Patti in 2009. The pair have lobbied for a host of Class I performers. since then.
The Reeves were at the Oklahoma Stadium with a smile on their face and coffee in hand the morning after their most recent win this week.
“It was crazy,” he said of their success at Saratoga. “We had a great start right into the first weekend and we thought it was great, how can we continue?”
Man City (Mucho Macho Man) had the ball rolling for his owner on opening weekend at Spa with his ultimate win in GIII Forbidden Apple S. Trained by Christophe Clement and owned in partnership with Peter and Patty Searless, The New York-bred 5-year-old has made at least one bet win a year since his junior season, but Forbidden Apple has marked his first graded bet score.
Double special win as Man City is son of hero GI Breeders’ Cup Classic 2013 by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing Mucho Macho Man.
“Man City is one of my favorite horses,” admits Reeves. “We bought him when he was 2 years old and he just keeps getting better and better. I think right now, he’s at the top of his game. He’s a great individual and has really shown a lot of talent Mucho Macho Man can provide them. “
Two days after Reeves ducked down in Saratoga with Man City, the Grand Invasion (Declaration of War) replicated his classmate’s success with another Class III score in Quick Call S. Second-year boy are on a brilliant winning streak this year. After breaking his first tournament at Gulfstream in February, he racked up 3 straight wins before moving on to work for a rating agency in Saratoga.
“Big Invasion seems to have a lot of talent,” said Reeves. “He was the kind of horse that looked as if he could go from five and a half to seven hairpins. He seemed to be able to go at any speed and then he still had that hit late in the game. That makes him quite dangerous.”
Earlier this week, Reeves went to the winners’ circle with a third Saratoga bet winner. After winning a bet at Hawthorne, Isolate (Mark Valeski) leads to the wire gate to claim Tale of the Cat S. six feet long.
Reeves said he felt confident entering the race after seeing the 4-year-old’s work in: 46 units – the best of 128 – two weeks ago.
“He is practicing really well,” he noted. “We need to break well and Tyler [Gaffalione] got him out of the gate and into a great position. He still has a lot of left turns to get home. “
Isolate’s win is cause for celebration on some accounts as it marks the 4,000 markorder win for his coach Tom Amoss.
“It’s so special and it’s neat for it to be in a stake race in Saratoga here,” said Reeves. “It couldn’t have gone any better. Tom did an excellent job on Isolate and it’s exciting to see him win.”
Reeves hopes that their hot streak will continue as their steady besters prepare to return to the Saratoga starting gate.
This weekend, Big Invasion will compete in a seven-man field at the 5-and-a-half-year-old Mahony S. on Sunday. If all goes well, Reeves said they are eyeing a trip to Keeneland for their grass-court sprinter this fall.
“We’re really looking forward to Sunday’s race,” he said. “I think he will be a good competitor. Along the way, there are possibilities of a race at Keeneland that we want to do against the Breeders’ Cup. It’s hard to put a 3-year-old in there against those really top horses, but we’ll play it by ear. I have a lot of confidence in him.”
While Reeves hopes to cheer on Man City in the GI Fourstardave H. this weekend, he said they have chosen to send the pitch specialist to West Point H. August 26, where he will defend the title. its 2021.
“We were in the middle of a rock and a hard place,” Reeves explained. “We didn’t have enough time to go back and catch [the Fourstardave]. The financially smart decision was to wait and run when we could give him more time for West Point, which has good pockets. As the owner, I wanted to run at Fourstardave, but fortunately, Christophe and [assistant] Miguel has us in the right place. “
Reeves said he has a habit of relying on his coaches when mapping out his athletes’ race schedules. He’s quick to admit his bias as an owner and explains that his coaches remind him of the bigger picture when it comes to the bottom line.
“It helps us as owners have coaches think in terms of dollars and cents,” he said. “These types of coaches are very helpful when they can be honest with you about your stock. With Christophe, a lot of times right after we finish a race he already has in mind what he wants to do next. They really thought hard about what they planned to do with each horse for it to be a success. “
Last summer, Reeves bought a ranch in Micanopy, Florida outside of Ocala. Managed by Nellie and Chetley Breeden with Jimmy Gladwell, Nellie’s father, the ranch allows Reeves to participate in the recruitment of future members of their racing team at weaning and oversee their early days for until they start training. Isolate, Keeneland’s $70,000 November weaning, was one of their first purchases as they started focusing on weaning shopping.
Dean Reeves and Christophe Clement | Sarah Andrews
“I can go in there and get a lot of value,” explains Reeves. “Patti and I went to Saratoga to sell our New York hybrid weaner. There is tremendous value and then we can include them in our program, bring them back to the farm and spend time with them. It gives us an advantage to really get to the horses earlier and see how they progress. “
“We have been involved in the New York breeding program for the past few years and it has really helped,” he added. “It was a great program. The wallet was there and we were able to buy some very nice New York hybrids. “
As their racing stable continued to expand, the number of people Reeves deemed essential to its growth.
“Our success is due to so many people who have worked hard,” he emphasized. “We have won a lot of big races, but the main thing is that we are there to have fun. Do we want to strive for those big races? Sure. Everyone is working hard and I think we will have some more of them in the future. “
GI Breeders ‘Cup Classic with steady star Mucho Macho Man will always be an irreplaceable highlight for the Reeves, but he says there are a few races they still dream of.
“Patti wanted to win the Arc and the Kentucky Derby, so I said, ‘Okay, great. We’ll put those two on the list and we’ll try to win those. ‘ We were really lucky. The point is, we’re having a lot of fun. Win, lose or draw, we’re enjoying it. It takes a team, and we’ve got a great team. “
