Aron Wellman Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast, presented by Keeneland
By: TDN
Aron Wellman, the president and founder of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, has had big days, buy maybe nothing quite like the one he had last Saturday. Horses owned in part by Eclipse won the GI Santa Anita Handicap, the GII San Felipe and the GIII Herecomesthebride Stakes. And while that was going on he was putting the finishing touches on an agreement for his Big Cap winner Locked (Gun Runner) to stand at stud at Gainesway.
With many subjects to cover, Wellman was this week’s guest on the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland. He was this week’s Gainesway Guest of the Week.
To run in the Big Cap, Locked’s owners turned down an invitation to run in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup. Wellman said that at the end of the day they considered all factors, and the purse was just one of them.
“How did we resist the temptation to go to Saudi Arabia for $20 million?,” Wellman said. “I’m really fortunate to have some incredible partners under the Eclipse umbrella, Walmac Farm, Gary Broad, and of course the whole team at Gainsway were involved in this decision. And it really boiled down to the fact that he had run such a huge race in the Pegasus, even though it was in defeat. It would require him to travel all the way across the world within a three-week time span, run back within a month against the likes of the two Asian horses, who are exceptional. It’s not that we don’t think that Locked could have run with them, but it just wasn’t the appropriate spacing to keep him on top of his game like we thought we needed him to be in order to make that endeavor.
“The second layer to that is, there’s so much prestige associated with the Santa Anita Handicap. Obviously, California has fallen on hard times, but it’s incumbent upon all of us as stewards of the game and ambassadors of the sport to try to do our best to support these jurisdictions that might be struggling right now, like California, and to try to bring bona fide Grade I horses to races that need to preserve their Grade I status.”
As far as Locked’s future goes, Wellman was delighted that he will be going to Gainesway.
“We’re really thrilled to be able to announce that he will be standing stud at famed Gainesway farm upon retirement from his racing career,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of success with Gainesway, the Beck family, Brian Graves, their whole team there. So hopefully Locked still has a lot of running left to do, but we’re excited for him to potentially prove that he’s a generational talent in the breeding shed when the time comes.”
The Eclipse team won the San Felipe with Journalism (Curlin), whose victory over the favorite Barnes (Into Mischief) moved him to the top of the list of California-based horses eyeing the Kentucky Derby. It was a huge effort for the 3-year-old as he not only beat a top horse in Barnes, but ran a 108 Beyer in doing so.
“We never take anything for granted,” Wellman said. “From age two to three the biggest question mark is whether they’re going to translate that brilliant form into their sophomore campaign. So you have your guard up a little bit going into these races, especially since he hadn’t run since mid-December. We also had a little setback with him after he got sick from a vaccination. So you always go in with cautious optimism that they are going to perform up to your expectations because Journalism is a horse that from the moment we started breaking and training him down at our partner, Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, he exhibited the type of physical talent and mental constitution capable of indicating that he was going to be an elite exceptional performer.”
In our “Fastest Horse of the Week,” segment, which is sponsored by WinStar, we went over the many reasons there are breed to WinStar stallion Independence Hall. The fastest horse of the week was Locked, who earned a 109 Beyer in his Big Cap win.
Click here to watch the podcast or here to listen.