2009 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes winner
March 22 -Winchester
Winchester was raced by Bert and Diana Firestone. Bert was a top-level show jumper and their daughter, Alison, rode with the USA Olympic team for many years after beginning to ride with them at the age of 18.
Bert loved to tell stories and he told them the way I like to hear them; the facts are real but bent in such a way to make the story as entertaining as possible. Here is one of my favorite Bert stories. At the center of the story is a young horse trainer that was just getting his feet on the ground as he launched out on his own; the trainer was Billy Mott. He was the wonder boy that had learned his craft at the side of the master Jack Van Berg. Billy was a peach fuzzed faced young man that looked like the cover boy of a Boy Scout magazine. The Firestones loved Billy like a son, so when Billy wanted to race his own horse in his own name, there was one problem. Billy the Kid didn't have any silks for his jockey to wear. Bert was more than gracious and let Bill wear a set of their silks. You know, the silks were made famous by none other than Genuine Risk when she became only the second filly to win the Kentucky Derby. Yep, those green and white silks with the white diamond on the chest.
This is where I can't tell how much Bert was pulling my leg, but Bert said something to the effect that he only intended for Bill Mott to only use his silks until he could come up with some of his own but 40 plus years later and Bill Mott is still sporting the Firestone green and white silks. As a matter of fact, any racing fan that goes out for the morning work seeing dozens of horses sporting the green saddle cloth with a white diamond and can tell it's a Bill Mott horse.
Knowing that piece of racing history, I love needling people such as the group at the Keeneland yearling sale. They were young guys all in their 20s and they were wearing those green hats with white diamonds. The devil made me do it. I had to ask whose hats those were. Of course, they quickly answered pridefully that those are Bill Mott's and looked at me as if I was an idiot. Ok, maybe I am an idiot and idiots don't know when to quit, so I continued my faux-stupid act and replied, "Dang, I could have sworn those were the Firestone's colors." To which they again corrected me that they were Bill Motts and I needed to take horse racing 101. I ran out of stupid things to ask (well, you're as shocked as I am by that statement) so I just smiled and nodded. I'm so easily amused. And I'm so glad that Bert told me that story and for those of you playing along at home and didn't read this whole post, Winchester in this painting is wearing the Firestone silks and not Bill Mott's. Trust me - nobody would have loved this story more than the late Bert Firestone as you could tell he took pride in playing a role in success of Billy the Kid.
Winchester was a wonderfully consistent turf horse who reeled off Grade 1 wins year after year for one of racing's most distinguished ownership groups. He was foaled in 2005, a son of the great turf sire Theatrical. He raced for Bertram and Diana Firestone, the longtime international racing family, and he was conditioned by Christophe Clement, the patient French born horseman whose feel for grass runners is among the best in the business. Cornelio Velasquez rode him in his biggest moments.
Winchester had been originally based in Ireland, where he ran in races like the Irish Derby before being sent to America. The change suited him beautifully. As a three year old in 2008, he came over and captured the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park, beating top sophomore turf males in commanding style. The performance announced him as a top class American grass runner, and he kept right on rolling through his older years for Christophe Clement.
The 2010 season was his finest. Winchester captured the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap at Belmont Park during the spring, then traveled north to Saratoga in the summer for the prestigious Sword Dancer Invitational Stakes. There he came from last to first under Cornelio Velasquez in a thrilling stretch drive, drawing off to win by three quarters of a length over Rahy's Attorney. The win was extra special since his sire Theatrical had himself won the Sword Dancer years earlier. Father and son had each captured the same historic Saratoga grass race.
Winchester ended his career with multiple Grade 1 wins on the lawn and earnings well into seven figures. He retired to stud after his racing days, where his Theatrical sire line and turf prowess made him a useful prospect for breeders. Winchester is remembered as one of the finest American campaigned grass horses of his era, the kind of consistent stayer who showed up every summer at Saratoga and Belmont and delivered for the Firestone silks. The Sword Dancer Stakes has since been renamed in honor of his trainer Christophe Clement, a fitting tribute to the partnership they built around runners like Winchester.
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