The Virginia Thoroughbred Association’s Residency program hit a new gear in 2019 as $1,357,730 in bonus monies were distributed from 338 victories at tracks in the Mid-Atlantic region. 156 different owners, who had a horse spend at least six months at a registered farm in the Commonwealth prior to December 31st of their two-year-old year, shared in the monies.
Hero’s Man won his fifth start of 2019 December 18 at Charles Town. Photo by Coady Photography.
Top bonus earnings owner was Taylor Mountain Farm who racked up $75,781 from 20 wins, all at Charles Town and all trained by James Casey. Their Hero’s Man scored five wins which accounted for $18,472 of the total bonuses. The 4-year-old Charitable Man gelding has finished in the top three in 10 of 11 career starts and has bankrolled $125,504. He started 2020 with an allowance win January 22. Taylor Mountain’s largest bonus check came via Boundtobebad, a 3-year-old Windsor Castle filly who is 3-for-4 with wins in a maiden special weight, the West Virginia Futurity and the $75,000 Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders Classic Stakes.
Tass wins November 7 at Aqueduct. Photo courtesy of Adam Coglianese.
Second leading bonus earning owner was Matthew Schera with $54,952. His 4-year-old fillies include Tass, a Temple City Kentucky-bred and Zonda, a Scat Daddy Maryland-bred, who bagged three wins each and scored maximum bonus checks of $10,000. The former prevailed in the $125,00 Maryland Million Ladies Stakes while the latter connected in a $90,000 allowance test at Aqueduct. Both fillies are trained by James Lawrence. Schera collected nine wins total and those came at 7 different tracks.
Zonda captured the Maryland Million Ladies Stakes at Laurel October 19 and earned a $10,000 Certified bonus check. Photo by Jim McCue.
Larry Johnson’s ten wins and $49,087 in bonus earnings put him in third spot among owners. Maryland-breds Sky Magician, Thatsthewaytodoit and Never Enough Time each connected twice. The former is a 4-year-old Street Magician gelding who competed just three times in 2019. Overall, the Mike Trombetta trainee has three wins and four seconds from nine starts and earnings of $132,540. Johnson bred the trio who were all raised at his Legacy Farm in Bluemont.
The training track at Legacy Frarm on a recent winter morning.
Melinda Golden’s six wins all came from a single horse and translated into $34,723 in bonus monies. Parisian Diva, co-winningest Virginia-Certified horse in 2019, scored the double hat trick at Charles Town. The 4-year-old Freedom Child West Virginia-bred filly bankrolled a $8,943 bonus check from the Tourism Office Breeders Classic Stakes and $7,500 paydays from the Sylvia Bishop Memorial and Its Binn Too Long Stakes. Stacey Viands trains Parisian Diva who has accumulated $242,170 in earnings.
Parisian Diva wins her sixth race of the year October 12 at Charles Town. Photo by Coady Photography.
Rounding out the top five was Pewter Stable who earned $34,080 from seven scores. Pennsylvania-bred Word on a Wing reached the winners circle three times at Parx in respective maiden special weight and two allowance efforts. The 4-year-old Windhill gelding has earned $97,310. Maryland-bred Adreamgoesonforver had been winless in her first six starts but connected back-to-back late in the year at Penn National. The pair are trained by Kathleen Demasi.
Fish To Fry wins her third of six races on May 4 at Penn National. Photo courtesy of BND Photography.
Owners O’Sullivan Farms, Erin McClellan & Judith Barrett, and David Bloom all eclipsed the $20,000 mark in bonus winnings. O’Sullivan’s $28,611 came from nine wins. Nico, Firebird and Unruly Julie won two each between the Mountaineer and Charles Town ovals. The McClellan/Barrett combo rode their Pennsylvania-bred filly Fish To Fry to six wins, which tied her for most Certified victories with Parisian Diva. The daughter of Well Spoiled captured the six-pack at Penn National and accumulated $21,135 in incentive monies. Bloom parlayed six wins into $20,017. West Virginia-bred Chiefs Kingdom prevailed on four different occasions at Charles Town while Berry Strong won twice.
Nico wins December 6 at Charles Town. Photo by Coady Photography.