Summer 2015

Warren Wright, Sr., son of Calumet founder William
Monroe Wright, transformed the farm from famed
Standardbred nursery launched in 1924 to Thoroughbred
powerhouse starting in 1932—and had two Triple Crown
winners, Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation (racing’s first
equine millionaire) in 1948.
The father-and-son training team of Ben and Jimmy
Jones credited Calumet foundation sire Bull Lea with
giving them powerful classic ammunition during
Calumet’s domination from the 1940s to the 1960s. The
sire’s big guns included 1957 Derby winner Iron Liege,
Triple Crown winner Citation, and 1952 Derby winner
Hill Gail for Calumet, as well as 1947 Preakness winner
Faultless. Bull Lea also was the broodmare sire of 1958
Derby and Preakness winner Tim Tam.
Calumet’s last great Triple Crown hope was Alydar,
raced by Warren Wright’s widow Lucille and her second
husband, Admiral Gene Markey. Trained by John Veitch,
Alydar finished second to Affirmed in each Triple Crown
race, by ever-smaller margins. Tragically, after Alydar’s
untimely death in 1990, Calumet plunged into bankruptcy.
Oxbow is the first Preakness winner to stand at stud at
Calumet since Forward Pass, who won both the Kentucky
Derby and Preakness in 1968. The son of Awesome Again
was an astute purchase by Bluegrass Hall, also under
Kelley’s ownership, for $250,000 at the 2011 Keeneland
September yearling auction.
cap—sold at the farm’s 1992 bankruptcy auction, where
they brought $12,000 from Goncalo Torrealba shortly
before Henryk de Kwiatkowski bid $17 million for the farm
and $210,000 for the Calumet Farm name.
“We want to have our success on the track feed into
having a nice, viable, commercial stallion division,” said
Wilkins. “Hopefully, that will be a very strong tool for us.”
Farm trainer Joe Fernandez has been in residence
since 1998. After Kelley took over Calumet, the training
division’s population has gone from just two horses to
nearly 50 in two barns. “I love taking the 2-year-olds and
watching them develop,” Fernandez remarked. “It’s like
watching a flower grow, and then they bloom.”
Calumet’s training barns are virtually unchanged since
their construction in the 1930s and sport shedrows wide
enough to allow single-file galloping indoors during foul
weather.
Calumet advertises 15 stallions, of which eight—including
flagship stallion English Channel and new sire Oxbow—
are at the Kentucky farm. Others ply their trade in Ireland,
Canada, Florida, Arkansas, Indiana, and Ohio.
Calumet’s classic focus is reflected in the pedigrees and
records of Calumet stallions such as Point Given. By 1995
Derby and Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Thunder Gulch,
Point Given also became a dual classic winner by taking
the 2001 Preakness and Belmont.
Bull Lea, a 1936 yearling purchase by Warren Wright, Sr.,
remains Calumet’s gold standard for a Thoroughbred
stallion. Between 1940 and ’64 he was the leading
general sire five times and top broodmare sire four times.
He sired seven Hall of Fame runners—including the great
Citation and Twilight Tear, the first official filly Horse of
the Year.
English Channel, Calumet’s most expensive stallion this
year at $25,000, sired last year’s Travers Stakes (gr. I)
winner V. E. Day and recent $3.05 million CECF Singapore
Cup (Sin-I) winner Parranda.
New sire Oxbow bred 110 mares in 2014 for his first year
at stud and stands for $17,500 this season. The Awesome
Again horse is by a Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) winner
and out of Tizamazing, a full sister to two-time Classic
winner Tiznow.
Calumet runners now carry Brad Kelley’s black silks with
gold chevrons. The farm’s original silks—devil’s red with
a blue collar, two blue hoops on the sleeves, and a blue
Calumet doesn’t just breed its own future stallions and
broodmares. The farm also buys classic bloodlines. At
last year’s Keeneland September auction, Kelley ponied
up $525,000 for this son of Tiznow, a half brother to 2010
Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner
and promising young sire Super Saver.
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