BREEDERS OF RIVAL FILLIES ARE LONGTIME FRIENDS

COURTESY OF AQHA RACING.COM

BREEDERS OF RIVAL FILLIES ARE LONGTIME FRIENDS



August 31, 2007 – While prospective buyers were reviewing horses the day before the start of the Ruidoso Select Quarter Horse Yearling Sale, Dr. Janis Spencer Murray was sitting near her MJ Farms consignment with another consignor, Kirk Goodfellow, sale catalogs in hand.


Murray and Goodfellow have known each other for some 30 years since they raced horses in Utah – but, wait a minute, each also bred the rival fillies in Monday’s $1.9 million All American Futurity (G1).

With her husband, Mac, Murray bred undefeated Wild Six in the name of the couple’s MJ Farms at Veguita, New Mexico. Goodfellow bred fastest qualifier Heartswideopen. The two fillies will start side-by-side in the All American in the most anticipated match-up of the year in American Quarter Horse racing. Needless to say, the breeders are nervous and excited about the race.

“I want them to come in second and for me to win, and they want me to come in second and for them to win,” Goodfellow said.

Wild Six’s fourth dam is Synchrocept, a stakes-winning daughter of Zevi (TB) that raced in the Intermountain region and at Los Alamitos. Synchrocept founded a family that has produced MJ Farms’ most successful runners, including Grade 1 winner Champagne Lane and her Grade 1-winning son, Kendall Jackson. Wild Six’s second dam, the stakes-winning Dash Ta Fame mare Famous Chapelle, is the dam of the Murrays’ homebred 2001 All American Futurity finalist, Love That Chapelle, by Blushing Bug.

MJ Farms sold Wild Six, a daughter of Tres Seis, at last year’s Ruidoso sale for $32,000. On Sunday, they will sell the filly’s half sister Wildside, a member of the first crop of foals by deceased Grade 1 winner The Down Side, during the final session of the sale.

Goodfellow, who moved to Texas in 1999 and lives in Nacogdoches, sold Heartswideopen, by Feature Mr Jess, for $60,000 at last year’s Ruidoso sale. On Saturday, his Dreams Come True Ranch will sell Heartswideopen’s half sister by champion Mr Jess Perry. That same night, Goodfellow also will sell a Shazoom colt who is a half brother to his multiple champion, Catchmeinyourdreams.

In 2000, the Murrays relocated their breeding operation from Utah to New Mexico after the introduction of slot machines at the state’s racetracks promised a lucrative breeding and racing program. Successful stallion Dash Ta Fame stands at MJ Farms, which this year also stood Goodfellow’s Grade 3 winner Furyofthewind, a son of Corona Cartel who is a half brother to Heartswideopen. Furyofthewind is currently in training at Los Alamitos and raced in the August 25 Bank of America California Challenge (G2).

With all the connections between MJ Farms and Goodfellow, the All American Futurity is a celebration among friends who have reached lofty heights as racehorse breeders.

“We’re real happy for each other,” Goodfellow said. By Amy Owens