Horse Creek Thoroughbreds

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Stakes Winning Geldings Filling The Barn at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds

High class race horses are making their way to the Great Plains Thoroughbred Advantage program in Newell, SD. Developed to give race geldings a new career after the track, this program exposes horses to plenty of room to run at liberty, plus new skills under saddle that become useful in any discipline of riding. Our newest program participant is stakes winner, Crested(GB), a son of Breeders' Cup champion, Fantastic Light. Crested(GB) earned nearly a half-million dollars, but his owners didn't think he was ready for complete retirement. When they heard about the neat things we're doing with Thoroughbreds off the track, they inquired about enrolling him in our gelding program. We look forward to giving them updates about Crested(GB), as he gains confidence under western tack. Crested(GB) hails from the immediate family of stakes winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly runner-up, Grace Hall, both of whom were bred by Darley.

Crested(GB) joins other stakes winners, Love Abroad and Tally Up, as ranch horses at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds. Love Abroad was a stakes winner in New York and has shown plenty of talent as a cow horse and english riding prospect. Tally Up was a multiple stakes winner on the Chicago circuit, and has logged a lot of miles in the big cow country of South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. Additionally, he's handy in the arena, serving as a flag horse and on ranch rodeo teams. While not all the geldings in our program boast such stellar exploits on the track, they all end up winners as graduates of the Great Plains Thoroughbred Advantage!

Crested Breaks Out in Fitzsimmons
Odds-on choice Crested, dropping out of grade I company for trainer Wally Dollase, swept to victory in the Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile Handicap on the grass at Phoenix's Turf Paradise Jan. 5.

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Top Eventing Stable Selects Matty For Newest Star

Supreme ranch horse, Royal Mr. G, found a new home and career with successful eventer, Kristi Radosevich of Laramie, WY. A big, heavy-boned Seattle Slew decendant, "Matty" spent the past year as one of the main ranch and rope horses at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds, giving him the skills necessary to make him a top choice for upper-level eventing. His exposure to all kinds of situations on the ranch will make his transformation as a "3-Day" horse a stress-free experience for both owner and horse. Under the coaching of Christian Eagles, we anticipate big things for "Matty", as this owner/trainer combo recently scored a high placing at the CCI Event in Temucula, California, with another off-the-track Thoroughbred, "Run for the Border". Producing top prospects from retired race geldings is what the Great Plains Thoroughbred Advantage is all about.

Reckless Capote Continues His Winning Ways

Successful race gelding, Reckless Capote continued his winning style in the show-ring this fall with his new owner, Lindsey Walczak, of Rapid City, SD. A graduate of Horse Creek Thoroughbred's gelding program, "Great Plains Thoroughbred Advantage", Reckless Capote easily made the transition from race horse to ranch horse to show horse over the past summer, thrilling his amateur-owner, who is looking forward to showing over fences in future competitions. This royally bred son of Belmont Stakes winner, Empire Maker, is a well-tempered, eye catching individual, who has won more than just ribbons, but also a lot of fans. Congratulations to Lindsey and her new partner.

Zappo Wins MSW

Zappo won a Maiden Special Weight race at the Nebraska State Fair Meet in Lincoln, Nebraska. Zappo is a four year old gelding by Finn McCool, bred by Horse Creek Thoroughbreds. He is the first foal out of a winning daughter of Carborundum, and is from the family of New York stakes winner, Back Bay Barrister.

Horse Creek Connection to Illinois Derby Winner

The winner of the $300,000 TVG Illinois Derby (Gr.III), Joe Vann, hails from the immediate family of Geste, a stallion prospect recently sold by Horse Creek Thoroughbreds. Joe Vann made his stakes debut in April 9th's feature of the Hawthorn meet, possibly punching his ticket into the Kentucky Derby in May. Joe Vann is by Silver Deputy out of Polish Flower, by Danzig. Bred by Monticlue Farm of Kentucky, Joe Vann's dam is a half-sister to Geste. Joe Vann races under the colors of Zayat Stables with trainer Todd Pletcher. The Illinois Derby was the colt's third win, boosting his earnings to $217,615. He was purchased for $150,000 as a yearling at Keeneland.

Geste is a speedy son of Coronado's Quest that has 5 wins to his credit, earning $107,609 and lighting the board in 15 of his 21 lifetime starts. He won at ages 3-6, breaking his maiden at Woodbine, going 7 furlongs, wire to wire, in a special weight. He scored additional wins at Turfway Park in a 1 1/16 allowance, Churchill Downs at a mile, wire to wire and Ellis Park in a 6 1/2 furlong allowance. In 2010 Geste won at Turfway, going a mile in another thrilling wire to wire victory by 9 lengths, earning a 100 Beyer speed rating in the process.Bred in Kentucky by Monticule Farm, the breeders of Kentucky Derby winner, Big Brown, Geste is by Coronado's Quest, stakes winner of 10 races, earning over $2 Million and a son of Champion Forty Niner. In 2010, Coronado's Quest was the broodmare sire of earners of $3.8 million, including Boys at Toscanova, stakes winner of $562,060.

Northern Hills Horse Wins Casting Call for Disney!

Rapid City Journal September 9, 2009

Cyclone Larry, a 3-year-old Thoroughbred bred and raised near Newell, has beaten out a stable of Kentucky bluebloods to play the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat in an upcoming Disney film set for release next summer.

He was born at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds and raised by partners Dorothy Snowden and Dale Simanton until Heather Benson of North Dakota Horse Park in Fargo bought him.

Cyclone Larry's sire is Finn McCool, a big, chestnut thoroughbred who is as at home on the ranch as he was on the racetrack.

Larry inherited Finn's size, coloring and disposition, which helped him land the role of Secretariat, his breeders say. The markings on Larry's face aren't exactly the same as Secretariat's, but "they make makeup artists for that," Snowden said.

Several horses will play Secretariat during filming. Larry went to a training center in Bowling Green, Ky., in late August, along with the other horses that will be in the movie. From there, they will go to Lexington, Ky., to film some of the racetrack scenes this fall. Disney Head Wrangler Rusty Hendrickson, who worked on "Seabiscuit," is in charge of the training.

"He's a big, strapping horse, almost 17 hands, and Secretariat was big," Snowden said. "The thing that sold Larry was his disposition. All Finn's babies are really laid back."

Simanton said the calm disposition of the horses doesn't interfere with their racing abilities.

"They don't have to be idiots to run," he said.

The Thoroughbred that sired Cyclone Larry has a remarkable story of his own.

Finn McCool is living the life of a stud - and ranch horse - at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds.

Simanton and his partners were able to buy Finn when he fractured a small bone in a back leg at age four. Finn's bloodline has ties to Secretariat a few generations back. Simanton said the day he bought him, the horse's dam, Joying, sold for $190,000.

Finn has his own claim to fame as a racehorse. He came in second in Virginia in a stakes race, as did Secretariat. Finns' winnings when he retired from racing after just two years were $56,960.

As a first-time runner, he was a first-place winner. In six starts, he placed first or second five times. He placed second in the W. Meredith Bailes Memorial Stakes after a six-month layoff, was a wire-to-wire winner at Arlington, and an allowance winner at Arlington, Pimlico and Colonial Downs.

His first full foal crop hit the track in 2008. His foals sell for an average 11 times his stud fee, and average earning per starter is 22 times the $1,000 stud fee.

Foals sired by Finn inherit his naturally good disposition and the ability to run, his owners say. A number of his offspring are making their mark in racing circles. One of his daughters, a 2-year-old filly, M'Lady McCool, won the 2008 Chippewa Downs Futurity in track record time.

It took two years after he bought him before Simanton felt Finn was sound enough to ride. But the former racehorse turned out to be a good ranch horse, too.

"He's kind of the 'go to' horse when someone needs to drag a cow out of pen," he said.

Currently, none of his chestnut offspring are for sale at Horse Creek Thoroughbreds.

"We are sold out. But there's always the next batch, and we have a waiting list," Snowden said.