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Homebred Concert Tour Puts Spotlight on Wests' Program

Preakness (G1) hopeful from same breeding program as Life Is Good, Maximum Security.

Concert Tour walks to the track for morning May 13 at Pimlico Race Course

Concert Tour walks to the track for morning May 13 at Pimlico Race Course

Anne M. Eberhardt

In mid-March, Ben Glass looked at the cover of BloodHorse magazine and beamed with pride as he admired a picture of Life Is Good  winning the San Felipe Stakes (G2).

When the next edition of BloodHorse arrived, Glass, the racing manager for Gary and Mary West, gushed even more at a cover showing Concert Tour taking the Rebel Stakes (G2).

Preakness entrant Concert Tour on track for morning exercise at the Pimlico Race Track Thursday May 13, 2021 in Baltimore, MD.
Photo: Skip Dickstein
Concert Tour gallops May 13 at Pimlico Race Course

"When you see those two horses that you bred on the cover of a magazine like BloodHorse, it doesn't get any better than that," Glass said. "When you have success like that, it means a lot to me. A lot of hard work goes into it, but when it pays off, it's not so hard at all. When horses you bred win those kind of races, there's such great satisfaction. Other than what you experience with your family, there's no better feeling."

For Glass and the Wests, the 3-year-old class of 2021 has only accentuated some highly noteworthy success by their prosperous breeding operation in the last few years.

The Wests' bred both Life Is Good and Concert Tour from a sizeable collection of about 60 mares they keep at Dell Ridge Farm in Kentucky, adding those colts' names to a stellar group of their recent alumni that also includes the 2019 Eclipse Award-winning Maximum Security  and the grade 1-winning Fighting Mad.

"We've had better luck with our homebreds than horses we bought at an auction. It's a small sample and it probably involves a lot of luck, but I'll take it," Gary West said. 

Owners Gary and Mary West accept the award for two year old colt Game Winner, 2018 Eclipse Awards
Photo: Leslie Martin
Gary and Mary West at the 2018 Eclipse Awards

The undefeated Life Is Good, a son of Into Mischief  out of the Distorted Humor mare Beach Walk, was sold to China Horse Club and WinStar Farm's Maverick Racing for $525,000 from the Paramount Sales consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

For a while, he was considered Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's leading Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) candidate, but a March 20 hind leg injury ended those hopes and sent him to the sidelines.

Concert Tour, a Street Sense  colt out of the Tapit  mare Purse Strings, was kept by the Wests and sent to Baffert to race in their hot pink and black colors. He inherited Life Is Good's lofty role in Baffert's all-star barn until he ran third in the April 10 Arkansas Derby (G1) as a 3-10 favorite, suffering his first loss in four career starts. 

Kept out of the Kentucky Derby, which Baffert won with Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit, Concert Tour will return in the May 15 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course, where he figures to be the main obstacle in his stablemate's bid for the Triple Crown.

"Thank God for horses like them," Glass said. "This is a tough racket, and I give Gary a lot of credit for sticking with it. He's like a Timex watch. He keeps ticking. He's the best at handling the ups and downs of the game. He's as good of an owner as you can get."

Ben Glass at Nelson Jones Farm in Ocala Fl; March 20 2019
Photo: Joe DiOrio
Ben Glass is the racing manager for Gary and Mary West

While Gary West has built a substantial breeding operation to complement his expansive racing stable, Glass knows money alone does not guarantee success, either on the racetrack or the breeding shed. It surely helps, but a variety of important factors must come together in perfect harmony to thrive a challenging endeavor such as breeding.

"It's not a magic breeding formula but we'll stick with the one we use," Glass said. "I haven't found a better one so we're not going to change."

Thanks to racing three consecutive champions/stallions in West Coast , Game Winner , and the homebred Maximum Security, West has been able to upgrade his breeding operation and improve his chances of turning out graded stakes winners, though he also knows there are no guarantees in the mating game.

"I've had an evolution where we've had the resources to breed to better stallions and buy better mares. I think starting out with good stock gives you a better chance of getting lucky than if you are dealing with cheaper bloodstock, but anyone who can say a certain mating will definitely produce a grade 1 winner knows a helluva lot more than me," West said. "Ben and I can't do it."

In assessing what's involved in finding the kind of pairings that can hopefully produce Saturday afternoon stars, Glass noted the considerable amount of work that goes into it.

"We work hard and burn the midnight oil. It's tough to get more than one good one out of a mare but you keep trying," Glass said. "We work hard with the nicking program and Des Ryan does a great job at Dell Ridge with the mares and foals. After that, you want to be lucky. I'd rather be lucky than good."

Glass' role involves assessing the physical attributes of the mares and stallions to find the proper fits.

Concert Tour<br>
Horses during Preakness week in Baltimore, MD, on May 13, 2021.
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Concert Tour
at Pimlico Race Course

"We spent a lot of time studying the genetics a lot, and Ben looks at the physical part of the stallion and the mare," West said. "Distorted Humor, for example, has long pasterns and if you bred him to a mare with long pasterns you've going to get a foal that will look as gangly as a giraffe. Your chances of getting a runner are probably not very good. If the foal comes from a good-looking mom and dad, the foal should look good. I don't know if they will be fast, but they will look like a runner."

On the pedigree side, Glass works with Roger Lyons and Sid Fernando at Werk Thoroughbred Consultants.

"We study the nicks because we know the horses' history and history doesn't lie," said Glass. "Roger Lyons has a method that we go by a lot and it's usually on target. Sid Fernando and Roger are the only guys I go to. Gary is only looking for classic horses so they will rule out the sprinters for me and make my life easier. It's an in-depth service that goes back five generations on the dam side, not just the sire side."

Ryan, the farm manager at Dell Ridge, believes an attention to detail, long hours of research, and a willingness to bring in new stock have been a hallmark of success for West and Glass.

"They are always upgrading their mares. They are buying fillies at the sales with pedigrees that hopefully will go on and do well at the racetrack, but at the very least they have good pedigrees for their broodmare band. They've enjoyed some very good success from doing that," Ryan said. "It's a team approach for them and they deserve to do well. They have put a lot of money and energy into the game, and it's good to see people like them do well. They've been in it for the long haul and it's paid off."

The dams of Concert Tour and Life Is Good are similar in that both of them have quickly struck a jackpot by producing a highly promising graded stakes winner with their second foal.

Purse Strings, a 2011 foal out of the Mt. Livermore mare My Red Porsche, posted her only win in her 12th and final start, but still managed to earn $105,960. Her first foal, Catholic Guilt, a Hard Spun  gelding, has won 2 of 10 starts and was followed by the multiple graded stakes-winning Concert Tour.

She also has a yearling Lookin At Lucky colt and a weanling filly by American Freedom , who raced for the Wests.

Beach Walk, a 2013 foal from the grade 1-placed, stakes-winning Mineshaft  mare Bonnie Blue Flag, was winless in five starts, but produced a three-time winner in her first foal, Approved. Life Is Good took that pedigree page into the stratosphere by winning the Sham Stakes (G3) and San Felipe.

Her two most recent foals are a yearling Blame  filly and a weanling Candy Ride  colt.

During the 2021 breeding season, Glass and West will try for a few more home runs as they will reunite Beach Walk with Into Mischief and Purse Strings with Street Sense with the ultimate goal of harvesting full brothers/sisters to Life Is Good and Concert Tour.

"We started breeding more than 10 years ago, and we were pretty stupid in the beginning, but we've learned a lot since then. We've changed a lot of things around, like the quality of our stock," West said. "Racing is an expensive sport and so is breeding. There's no cheap part of horse racing. You can go through money quickly if you make mistakes. And even if you make the right moves, you get bad outcomes. That's the nature of the game and if you can't admit that, you'll get into trouble down the road. I try to recognize my mistakes and learn from them, but I know 19 of 20 matings do not make money financially and are an economic failure. That's the nature of the beast."

Maximum Security's dam, Lil Indy, was sold by West to Summer Wind Equine for $1,850,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale from the Lane's End consignment, but sadly died last month while foaling a Curlin  filly.

West's racing stable dates back to 2005 with 579 wins and earnings of $37.2 million (through May 11) and sales have played a key role in adding horses such as Game Winner, West Coast, and New Year's Day, the 2013 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner and sire of Maximum Security. After years of trial and error, West says he does his shopping only at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

"We've never had any luck at 2-year-old sales. If you pay $1 million for a horse who runs a nine-second furlong, after two races you usually want your money back. That's the game. Some people think working a fast eighth-of-a-mile translates into that horse being good down the road, but I'm not sure if I agree with that," West said. "You usually have to give a 2-year-old a rest because the amount of training they had to do to run that nine-second furlong."

Concert Tour Saddle Towel<br>
Horses during Preakness week in Baltimore, MD, on May 13, 2021.
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Concert Tour's Preakness saddle towel

For now, the focus turns toward Baltimore where the Wests' breeding program will try to add the exhilarating thrill of a classic victory in the Preakness with Concert Tour after one slipped through its hands in 2019 when Maximum Security was disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby.

"Breeding is an aspect of the game that fascinates me. It's like putting together a puzzle. Occasionally the pieces fit and occasionally they don't," West said. "Having success with a homebred is special because you know you put the mating together, you raised the foal, you picked out the trainer. You did everything from A-Z. It's a great feeling for you, especially when you succeed at the highest levels."