Meadows notebook: Key re-enters racing with million-dollar horse
By John Sacco
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
It came at a big price but Patty Key knew who she wanted Monday at the opening session of the Lexington (Ky.) Selected Yearling Sale at the Fasig-Tipton Pavilion.
Key, the widow of Robert Key, wants to re-enter the racing competition. She is operator of Winning Key Farm in Worthington.
She ponied up $1 million to purchase Dejeuner, a daughter of Walner out of French Cafe, who became the highest-priced yearling filly ever purchased at auction.
The late Bob Key was a significant owner and his stable was a force at The Meadows and nationally for many years. Key also owned a horse, American Winner, stabled at the North Strabane Township racetrack, who became a Hambletonian champion.
Earlier this year, Key and American Winner were enshrined in Goshen, N.Y. as harness racing immortals.
“We picked out five that we liked and she’s totally the one that I wanted,” Key said. “I wasn’t sure how much she was going to go for but I gave Noel (Daley) a figure.’
Daley, a well-known trainer, is an agent for Key.
“The bidding went fast and I got into it and then he hit the $500,000 mark. I thought I wanted her and that’s when I decided I was going to get her. I kept tapping Noah until we got to $1 million, and I didn’t think I got her because it seemed like they wanted to go further. I said to stop at $1 million. He told me we got her.”
Key had her reasons.
“I have been trying to rebuild my farm and reinvent it and we have been going after the most lucrative pedigrees for our broodmares and basically my main interest is in breeding. It always has been since day one. I’ve always been in love with the yearlings and the whole process of running out of breed farm.
“After my husband passed away, I really didn’t want to get into racing anymore because he was the cheerleader for all of us and he got us all revved up. He just brought everybody along and then after he died, the sadness, of course, that develops when you lose someone who is larger than life. It just didn’t seem like the same. It was hard to bear for me so I said I was done racing and I think it was two years. We came down to Lexington and I started to get the feeling again. … I said ‘I’m ready to buy two-year-olds.’ I said let’s have a little fun racing and if she turns out well then you know we’ve got a good broodmare. I’m mainly interested in buying trotting fillies.”
Hambo moving?
With the conclusion of the $1 million Hambletonian 100 celebration, which set industry-wide handle and attendance records Aug. 2 at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., the Hambletonian Society Board of Directors is looking to the future of the sport’s most prestigious harness race.
Formed in 1924 to sponsor the Hambletonian, the Society has, for more than a century, overseen the event’s format and venues. The race was initially awarded to the New York State Fair in Syracuse, where rainouts disrupted two of the first three editions. In 1930, the Hambletonian found a long-term home at Good Time Park in Goshen, N.Y., where it remained for 26 years. The Du Quoin State Fair in Illinois then carried the Hambletonian forward until the opening of the Meadowlands racetrack, which has hosted the event for 44 years.
Under Society by-laws, the Hambletonian is opened annually to prospective host-track bids unless already secured under a multi-year contract. The Meadowlands is contracted to host through 2026, however, the track did not exercise its exclusive right of renewal, which expired Sept. 1.
According to a Hambletonian Society source, proposals to host the race beginning in 2027 is in process. All tracks can bid if Society by-law requirements are met.
Down the stretch
The Meadows returns to racing today at 12:45 p.m. The track moves to its fall schedule, with racing each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. One remaining Friday evening card, on Oct. 10, will be a special Pink Out night.
* Time Of The Season, trained by Tim Twaddle for owner Birnam Wood Farms, returns to The Meadows today for a non-winners pace, in the third race.
Note: The Meadows track announcer Jeff Zidek contributed to this story.