Bob and Bonnie Roth's Majestic View Farms in Gardiner, N.Y. has seen a number of talented horses foaled and raised on the property, but has reached a new milestone as the breeder of Talk to Me Jimmy, winner of Friday's Listed $200,000 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack. Talk to Me Jimmy is tied for fourth on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with his 20 points earned for the 11-length romp for trainer Rudy Rodriguez.
"We were shocked when we saw him win like that," said Beth Sickler, assistant farm manager. "We've had a few horses from here that have gone on to win stakes races, but when he turned for home, he did it for fun."
Talk to Me Jimmy became the first stakes-winner for his sire Modernist, and is out of the 10-time winning Trippi mare Prairie Trip, who passed away in April 2024. Talk to Me Jimmy is her last foal, but the farm has a half-sister to the colt named God Still Loves Me, whose first foal is a yearling filly by Solomini named Walk in Faith.
"I foaled him, and that mare was special," Sickler said. "Talk to Me Jimmy got stepped on during the race, but he still ran a massive race, and I know where he gets it from because that mare was tough right up until the day she died."
Sickler said the then-first-year stallion Modernist, a son of Uncle Mo who stands at Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky, was an attractive offering as a graded stakes-winner both as a sophomore and 4-year-old.
"We saw Modernist standing his first year and thought to give him a shot," Sickler said. "We like to breed proven mares to beginning stallions. He complimented this mare, and I knew she would bring the durability, but she would tend to throw smaller foals, so he [Modernist] added the size to it."
The result was a foal that immediately flashed his class to Sickler and the entire Majestic View Farms team.
"Out of all the foals - and I'm not just saying this because he's on the Derby trail - he was by far the nicest," Sickler said. "You could tell right away how smart he is. His second day with a halter on, he was all business. You would walk him, and he was special. He was by far the best-put-together foal from the mare. He came out as perfect as you'd want and just got better and better."
Talk to Me Jimmy went on to sell to Rodriguez for $31,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and graduated at second asking, scoring by 5 1/2 lengths in a state-bred maiden in November at the Big A ahead of his Withers score.
As a New York-bred, Talk to Me Jimmy has plenty of options going forward, both in open company and in the lucrative series of state-bred stakes on offer on The New York Racing Association (NYRA) circuit. Sickler said the New York program is the best offered in North American racing.
"It's by far a huge benefit to be in New York. We get half the breeders' awards for him [Talk to Me Jimmy] because he's by a Kentucky stallion, but even so, it's a monstrous amount of money compared to other states," Sickler said. "You can't beat the New York program, and that's why we were excited Rudy bought him at Keeneland - we knew he would bring him back to New York."
Sickler said Talk to My Jimmy's performance caused a buzz around the farm that still hasn't quieted days later.
"My boss always says we're kind of the underdogs compared to some of the bigger farms in New York, but he said, 'see, we're going to come out of nowhere and surprise everybody,'" Sickler said. "It's been very special."
Majestic View Farms currently stands two stallions privately: Shatak, a 16-year-old Grade 3-placed son of Cryptoclearance; and Hangover Kid, a Grade 2-winning son of Lemon Drop Kid who produced multiple stakes-winner Miss J McKay. The farm is also the foaling site of dual Grade 1-winner Diversify, Grade 3-placed Vacation Dance, and stakes-winners A Bit o'Irish Sass and Wait a Minute.
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