Coal Creek Farm in Bellevue, Wash. has been within the sport since 1981, however the sport runs deep within the household veins. The Ratcliff household’s connections have spanned a number of generations. Now Rick Ratcliff manages the 4 racehorses barn along with his mom, Barbara. He’s on the high of the checklist Una Palabra . 3 yr outdated mare McCraken and outdoors dayjur mare one for you He began his racing profession nicely, going 2-2-0 in 4 begins Grass Paradise. He was nominated on March 19 for the Sunland Park Oaks, which was scheduled for March 26 and is on the Highway to the Kentucky Oaks (G1). Rick shares how his household began elevating and racing Thoroughbreds and the outstanding mare nonetheless producing at 22.
Market Monitoring: How did the household begin horse racing?
Rick Ratcliff: It is a bit of a two-way road. My grandfather had horses when my mom was in her early 20s. And after that my father and mom rode horses. It was the early ’80s and he acquired his first horse at Longacres, Washington, after which went from there to assert just a few extra horses. After which my dad was all the time the one to get issues executed, so he went from proudly owning horses to purchasing a small dairy farm and turning it right into a horse-riding horse farm. Then he went to Florida and acquired just a few mares and introduced them again to Washington and basically began the breeding operation. And we simply left from there. And after my father handed away, we had a number of racehorses and stud mares. And my mother actually saved it up. After which he moved the cultivation to the place we now do all our cultivation in Kentucky. We went from Washington to take the mares again to Kentucky, they keep there and we do all our breeding there.
MW: Not many individuals consider associating Washington with Thoroughbred horse racing. What challenges do you face whereas away from heat beds?
RR: There may be not a lot issue. The breeding trade right here was a bit sturdy at one level. Even then, we’d ship the mares to Kentucky, increase them as Kentucky stallions, after which carry them again right here and take the foals out. After which basically run the Kentucky bloodlines in Washington and on the West Coast.
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MW: Inform me extra in regards to the operations.
RR: The mares are actually in Kentucky. We have shrunk within the final 5 – 6 years, however now we’re down to only three mares in Kentucky, and actually, it simply will depend on the place the enterprise goes. Additionally, we’ll name it attrition. So the mares acquired outdated and will not produce. And that is what we did. So we saved just a few mares there. We increase them and promote a number of the infants and generally we hold them, all of it relies upon. So Una Palabra was a kind of who went on sale in Kentucky and did not carry the backup, so we introduced her residence and determined to race her.
MW: You talked about Una Palabra. It has a severe benefit. You realize he was 2-2-0 in his 4 begins. What has been the important thing to your success to this point?
RR: The important thing to his success, I’d say, is that we have been very affected person after we introduced him with us. All that household, the One For You mare turned out to be a wonderful producer. All however certainly one of his horses went to the races and gained. However we realized with that household that it is only a matter of timing and it would not should run them at 2. Then they don’t seem to be fairly prepared. So Una Palabra is an ideal instance. We retrained him in February of final yr, in February 2022. And we skilled him as much as 5 furlongs after which we gave him 4 months off after which we despatched him to Vann Belvoir in Phoenix in Turf Paradise. So I stated to him, “We’ll wait. We’ll begin him at 3:00.” And it was working nice there, and I believe there was a race simply earlier than the primary day of the yr (an optionally available virgin, December 15). So we ran him there and he is in second place. We introduced it again and it simply moved from there. So it is actually only a matter of taking your time and letting the horse inform us the place it must be.
MW: What did his success imply to you and your mom?
RR: Certainly one of our newest guess winners. It has been a very long time since we have been a guess winner (2018, devoted to you ). That is why it was so enjoyable to see him go this far and get this far in such a short while. And with it, we’re excited to see what’s good. As a result of it actually took off. And it was somewhat sudden. We did not know what to anticipate from him when he was 2 years outdated and even when he began his 3-year-old profession. It was identical to letting him inform us what he wished to do alongside the best way. I imply, it seems prefer it might have an amazing benefit. We’ll simply should see what the following race brings.
MW: You talked about One For You and you realize he wasn’t essentially the most profitable on the monitor, however as you stated he produced some very nice runners. What’s mistaken with him?
RR: This household itself has an amazing coronary heart that goes all the best way again to goddamn Katherine Jean, a Temperance Hill mare. I imply, he simply produced the runners, and we saved that household going, she. And One For You was a twin. So it is known as One For You. After which his twin brother And One For Me . That is why we put them collectively and One for You, One for Me. So we have bred And One For Me just a few instances and their infants have not been as profitable. I imply, it produced some winners. They have been decrease degree claimants. However One For You has been very constant. He is an excellent dam; She is an excellent mom for infants. And I imply, she gave start to a different colt three days in the past. modernist son- Uncle Mo . It’s over 20 years outdated however continues to supply.
He and all his horses besides one took first place on the monitor. What wasn’t there was what we hid. He acquired injured in coaching, (we) went forward and skilled him. He continued his breeding profession and was badly injured throughout a coaching occasion.
Turf Paradise celebrates Una Palabra’s connections after Arizona Oaks
MW: Once I spoke to Vann, he could not assist however rave about not simply Una Palabra, however One For You and the entire household for that matter, and his abilities on the monitor.
RR: Vann was an enormous a part of it. He skilled many of the horses produced by that mare. At one level she developed them at age 2 after which took them to the race or we despatched just a few of them to her somewhat later of their profession, however she skilled or gave start to virtually each single certainly one of her infants.
MW: What evokes you to maintain doing this? What do you want that motivates you within the trade?
RR: A part of the motivation is that you just all the time aspire to go to the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders’ Cup by competing within the greatest race. However within the meantime, there’s a variety of enjoyable available in basically proudly owning your individual sports activities franchise. As I informed my associates, I’ve tried to get lots of people into this enterprise over time. So I informed them, you realize, you go to a soccer sport and watch the sport, you win otherwise you lose, you might have enjoyable on the sport and also you go residence and it has no impact in your life. You purchase a racehorse and basically grow to be the proprietor, supervisor, speaking to the coach or coach. You’ll be able to speak to gamers and jockeys. And on the finish of the day, you are financially invested and taking pictures on your quarter-hour of fame, and there aren’t many different sports activities or actions that may present that. And there is nothing like profitable a race. It doesn’t matter what race, you are sitting on high of the world when this occurs.
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