Leading 2007
West Virginia Sires

	By number of 2007 winners
	By percent of 2007 winners from starters
	By number of 2007 stakes winners
	2007 progeny earnings by freshman sires
	2007 Juvenile Winners by Freshman Sire
	2007 Juvenile Wins by Freshman Sire
	2007 Average Earnings Per Starter
	Leading Sires by WEST VIRGINIA State-Bred 2007 Progeny Earnings
	West Virginia General Sire List by 2007 Earnings

ALL 9 TABLES

PRINTER
FRIENDLY

Randy Funkhouser

New prize: Former Central Kentucky - and New Zealand - based stallion Prized, sire of Grade 1 winner and 2007 stakes winner Brass Hat, stands for $3,500 at O'Sullivan Farms

Focus on quality
Owner Funkhouser believes able runners
are needed to continue Mountain State's racing success
courtesy THOROUGHBRED TIMES/January 12, 2008 by Frank Angst

First the visitor walks O'Sullivan farms' 200 acres in the scenic Shenandoah Valley, pausing to check out a modern, 12-stall barn that in 2008 will serve as home to nine stallions.

The barn includes a pair of Breeders' Cup World Championships winners in 1991 Horse of the Year and Breeders' Cup Classic (G!) winner Black Tie Affair (Ire) and '89 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) winner Prized.

In the paddock, stable star Confucius Say is relaxing before another planned campaign as a ten-year old. Winner of the 2001 and '02 editions of the West Virginia's Breeders' Classic Stakes, Confucius Say notched the ninth stakes victory of his career last season.

Farm owner Randy Funkhouser will answer the most obscure pedigree questions about any of the stallions, 41 broodmares, and 60 younger horses on the farm, which twice finished as leading consignor by average price at yearling sales in Saratoga Sprngs, New York, in the 1940s. His wife, Clissy, makes sure finances add up and keeps the computers working while his son, John, serves as farm manager.

A prototype for a family-owned Thoroughbred breeding farm, O'Sullivan Farms is located in Charles Town, where Charles Town Races has enjoyed a resurgence since the addition of alternative gaming in 1996. As sirens' call of the video lottery terminals' nonstop bells and whistles lured customers, the track's purses have been pumped enough to attract quality from throughout the region.

Nearby competition
But, with ever-changing political whims in the Mountain State and new gaming competition from Pennsylvania, Randy Funkhouser believes it is more important than ever for West Virginia Thoroughbred farms to breed quality horses to ensure the health of the industry in the state. Funkhouser, who also serves as president of the Charles Town Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, believes the state should not rely solely on the attraction of casino gaming.

"The state has certainly put a big emphasis on the table games and the slot machines," Funkhouser said. "On the other hand, the commitment to racing ... has varied a lot."

Funkhouser is concerned about state cuts that have resulted in a 7% drop in average daily purses at Charles Town last year to $182,994 and a 14% decline in average daily purses at Mountaineer Race Track to $141,601. Purses have declined because the state has claimed a percentage from horsemen to fund a workers' compensation program for $11-million annually. Also, West Virginia reduced the slots revenue percentage committed to purses and breeders' funds after gross profit reached the revenue total generated in 2001.

"We roughly earned 8.18% last year after starting with a statutory of 14%," Funkhouser said. "Some of it goes to workers' comp, the other goes to the state and the track. The workers' comp doesn't even deal with this industry; that's the sad part."

Funkhouser would like to see the state commit more money to breeders' incentives, purse money for West Virginia-breds, and even toward starting up farms. While most of the state's current Thoroughbred farms are based near Charles Town, Funkhouser sees no reason why similar farms could not be started near Mountaineer.

"The farms are in Charles Town because they have traditionally been here and it's some good limestone here," Funkhouser said. "I've tried to paint a larger vision to the Legislature, but I'm not sure it makes much difference to them. I'm sure there would be people willing to stand stallions up at farms near Mountaineer and breeding farms around the state should not flourish."

Attractive stallion roster
If some new farms should start, the state's oldest Thoroughbred farm certainly could provide a blueprint. Funkhouser has put together an attractive stallion roster at O'Sullivan, founded in 1939, and he believes steady progress can improve the quality of the state's Thoroughbreds.

"I love the pedigree part, the choosing of stallions and mares and helping clients mates their mares to get the best out of their matings," Funkhouser said. "That's been a love of mine since I was a kid."

This year, Funkhouser is excited about the first crop of foals from Black Tie Affair's first season at O'Sullivan reaching racing age.

"There will be some very important foals from this crop in West Virginia racing and beyond, in the Mid-Atlantic region for sure," Funkhouser said. "His stature as a broodmare sire continues to rise. For a number of years he has been among the top 100 broodmare sires in the world, so we're looking forward to and certainly plan to keep some of his better daughters."

Funkhouser also expects success from Prized.

"In moving back and forth to new Zealand, perhaps some of the bloom went off the rose with Prized in Kentucky, but I think moving him here to West Virginia and giving him access to the Mid-Atlantic region has given him access to more mares and better mares," Funkhouser said. "We had some very nice foals last year. We're looking forward to racing them."

Prized is the sire of Grade 1 winner Brass Hat and the broodmare sire of Grade 2 winner Inca King.

"The Kris S. Roberto line has always matched very well with the Mr. Prospector-Raise a Native line. There certainly is a plethora of that blood here in the Mid-Atlantic. He also does pretty well with the Northern dancer line," Funkhouser said.

Funkhouser believes O'Sullivan could be closing in on a breakout horse in the region, or nationally.

"We had the nicest collective group of foals that we've ever had here," Funkhouser said. "They're a stellar bunch. I wish we could have a group like we had last year, every year."

The stallion roster also includes the Rahy sire Bop, who won six stakes races and set three course records for turf sprinting during his career; Meadowlake sire meadow Monster; Mr. Prospector sire family Calling; Danzig sire Makin; Capote sire Inner Harbour; Storm cat sire Prints of Peace; and A.P. Indy sire Race on Green.

Funkhouser believes many of those stallions will have success with two and three-year-olds.

"There are a lot of opportunities here in West Virginia for a horse who has success with two-year-olds and three-year-olds," Funkhouser said.

O'Sullivan sells about half of its foals, mostly privately. The farm has campaigned about 14 to 18 foals and, with plans to offer syndicated racing partnerships, could increase that number to about 24 in the coming years.

[O'Sullivan Farms]

"I look each year to keep one or two good colts and one or two good fillies, particularly fillies that could go into the broodmare band," Funkhouser said. "The rest are for sale. I try to get them into good hands.

Looking ahead
Funkhouser believes an improved racing surface at Charles Town would help racing in the state.

While Mountaineer has added table games, Charles Town failed to pass a referendum that would have allowed their addition. Funkhouser said horsemen were disappointed when the track committed only to look into the possibility of adding a synthetic surface if table games were approved. Without a commitment to a new racing surface, horsemen did not take on the referendum.

Funkhouser said precipitation typically causes an unsafe surface.

"You have riders putting their lives on the line and we had a bad spill the other night ... I'm not a track maintenance guy, but I shouldn't have to worry and other trainers should not have to worry about their horses coming back in one piece any time they run on an off-track. It's not fair to our horses and not fair to our horsemen, " Funkhouser said.

Funkhouser laments that sometimes it seems track ownership has put is emphasis on gaming instead of racing. He said horsemen have conducted studies that show gaming revenue increases during live racing. He believes Thoroughbred racing needs to be the focus as the state experiences added racing and gaming competition.

"As long as racing and breeding can continue to elevate its quality, I think we will hold our own. There is a pouring of horses into Pennsylvania right now - as well there should be with the increased awards and purses. I'm sure we will loose some people. Certainly in Virginia, I don't think anything is going to happen there, and this is their home track as much as Colonial Downs is.

"Maryland, I think, is up in the air. They will probably eventually get slots. If they do, I think they'll probably be able to turn that industry around. If they don't get it, there will probably be a mass exodus of people, many going to Pennsylvania and a few coming here to West Virginia.

"As far as us, we're going to continue to upgrade our horses, little by little, " Funkhouser said.

Frank Angst is senior writer for THOROUGHBRED TIMES
[This article and the following tables have been modified to fit the format of O'Sullivan Farms' website]