The sun is just rising on Positano Sunset’s career as a racemare. The five-year-old Goldencents daughter annexed her first grade 1 victory on April 8, taking the Madison Stakes at Keeneland, prior to a sixth-place finish in the May 3 Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs. Bred by Dr. John Seiler, Randy Bloch, Trish Henson, Brad Stephens, and Dave Hall, Positano Sunset is owned by Stephens’ Six Column Stables, LLC, Bloch, Seiler, and Hall.
An orthopedist and hand surgeon, Seiler is based in Atlanta, Georgia. He and Bloch, a partner and vice president at Horsemen's Track and Equipment, both grew up in the Louisville, Ky., area. “But Randy and I have had an interest in the breeding side for 20 years,” Seiler said. “And so we’ve been breeding our own horses. We are breed-to-race kind of people; we don’t sell very much. We like to try and develop our own horses, which has been a good policy for us. And we learned a lot about breeding strategies, basically from talking to people that were a lot smarter than we were about the practice of Thoroughbred breeding.” That meant teaming up with experts, including the late Bob Manfuso and current trainer Ian Wilkes.
“Originally Kathy and I just owned a horse or two and really didn’t have a formal program and just took a shot in the dark every once in a while, when we had some extra cash as we were starting our family,” Bloch recalled. “And then once Clint Goodrich, who was training for us at the time, retired, he handed us off to Carl Nafzger. One of the first things Carl did was help us put together a long-term plan, and that’s what we’ve been doing probably for the last 20, 25 years with Carl and now Ian and we really enjoy it.”
Bloch and Seiler’s involvement with Positano Sunset’s family goes back four generations. Nafzger bought Essen of Roy (by Roy) for $22,000 at the 1998 Keeneland September Yearling sale. She remained unraced, but Phil Milner and Bloch bred her winning Distorted Humor filly, Humorous Gal, who raced for Milner, Bloch, Seiler, and Keith Basso. Sent to Consolidator, Humorous Gal foaled Gigglin’ Gal, dam of Positano Sunset. Bred to Hard Spun , Humorous Gal yielded multiple grade 3 winner Island Town. Gigglin’ Gal is also the dam of four-year-old Bernardini gelding Bourbon Society and two-year-old More Than Ready filly named More Carats. The group boards their broodmares at Seclusive Farm in Lexington and Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa in Paris, Ky.
After an up-and-down season at three in 2023—winning the Audubon Stakes and then suffering a hairline condylar fracture—Positano Sunset took time to heal and mature. She won her 2025 debut, a March 9 handicap at Tampa Bay Downs, before the Madison Stakes. “All the credit goes to Ian,” said Bloch. “As you know, he was under Carl for a lot of years, and I guess surprisingly he has Carl’s patience with horses and making sure that they take the time and listen to the horse. Ian told us that she seemed a lot more mature this year and we were like, ‘Well, she wanted Tampa, but kind of surprised us there.’ Then when he said, ‘Well, let’s come back and run in the Madison,’ we’re like, ‘You know that’s a grade one, don’t you?’ We were a little bit surprised; Ian’s a little quiet and keeps things close to his vest when he is playing cards and he was, I guess, probably higher on her than we realized.”
The Madison win was very rewarding for both Seiler and Bloch. Bloch noted it was the group’s first grade 1 triumph, saying, “We’ve gotten a taste of it, but we’ve never crossed that finish line first before in the grade one. We hugged and high-fived a lot of people that day.” Being able to celebrate with partners and friends made the win that much more special. Seiler explained, “We have a really good group. Our group is very positive. Everybody loves Thoroughbred racing. Everybody loves the horses. Everybody is very like-minded in what the program requires, that we’re going to be patient, we’re not going to get out over the tips of our skis. Brad Stevens has been a great partner. Dave Hall’s been a great partner. We all kind of have the same mindset and I think that’s really been one of the most enjoyable parts of the arrangement.”
