For two decades, Patricia Grimes and her husband Michael have bred and sold racehorses from their Classic Run Ranch in Webster, Florida. Last spring, the couple decided to see what it was like to race on their own. They bought a daughter of Frosted (hip 722) in OBS April sale for $30,000 and name her Platinum Gems. The fat man – only the second to wear Classic Run Farm colors – could have gotten himself a head start in the holdings following a pair of impressive wins at the Tampa Bay Downs in December for the coach Maria Bowersock.
“We’re amazed and appalled at what she’s doing right now,” said Patricia Grimes. “She’s incredible and Maria has a great feeling.”
Platinum Gem opened her career with a third place finish at Delaware Park in October before a resounding 5 1/4 maiden length victory 11-1 (videotapes) in Tampa on December 4 She returned to score a victory that allows two lengths (videotapes) on Christmas Eve the Oldsmar oval. This winning pair is likely to give a good start to the Gasparilla S.
“We hope to continue with her as long as she remains healthy and in good spirits,” Grimes said. “Of course, we want to take a stake with her, and Gasparilla is what Maria is thinking of.”
Grimes credits trainer Michael Stidham for choosing the Platinum Gem from the OBS sale, even though she initially opposed his choice.
Grimes explains: “We weren’t even at the sale that day. “We went to see some horses with him the other day. The next day, he was still there and he picked her up. He called me and I told him, ‘I really want a pony’. He called twice more. And the third time – while I was talking to my husband, Michael about it – and finally I said, ‘Okay. Pay for her. ‘ And we got her.”
A race veteran, Grimes and her husband gradually got into the breeding industry, buying mares right after the race. Gion (Meadow Monster) is a solid member of the band. The now retired mare produced stake winner Luke of York (Put It Back).
“When Gion had the last pony, we decided to keep it,” recalls Grimes. “His name is Miami Smuggler. We gave it to Maria and it was the first horse we ever raced. He did a pretty good job for us. Between Tampa and Presque Isle, he made $80,000, I think. He’s won a few races and 80% of the time he’s got the money.”
The mother hen band Classic Run currently has only one mare, 7-year-old Racey Reecey (Congratulations).
“I watched Racey Reecey for two or three years,” Grimes said. “She is from the same family as Gion. Gion is retired, but I followed Racey Reecey and I finally got her. She is a big, kind mare. We’ve got her on the pony for Soul Search and we’ll see what happens. It took a long time to get them into the races.”
While the Grimeses are in the business of trading their ponies, they expect to race for supplies in the future.
“For 20 years we have been breeding and selling,” says Grimes. “We only have one or two ponies a year, most have only one, and we sold them. They all attended the races and they all won. We don’t own any of them except Miami Smuggler. We’re not famous or anything like that, but we have quite a few winning shots.”
Expect the pair to return for the OBS sale next spring.
“We’re getting older and it’s easier for me and my husband,” Grimes said of buying 2-year-olds. “[With breeding] you have to raise the baby out and you have to take care of the mother and the baby and you have to wean him. That’s why it’s better to just go to the sale. They were broken. We started to wonder, “Why didn’t we do this all these years?”
Platinum Gem’s two recent wins have attracted offers to buy the promising stuff, but Grimeses is happy to see where the ride will take them.
“We had calls, but we turned them all down, so they dropped the calls,” Grimes said. “We are enjoying this. Who knows how far she will go, right? But we are enjoying the moment.”
