Lifelong Nebraska horsewoman Judy Pryor couldn't be more excited about her latest stallion acquisitions because she believes their arrival are harbingers of better days ahead for the state's struggling Thoroughbred racing industry.
She's added to her stallion barn for 2021 five-time grade 1 winner Court Vision, the sire of 2-year-old champion Storm the Court, and multiple grade 2 winner Giant Expectations, who is entering stud this year.
"Court Vision has changed the attitude in our state," said the owner of Pryor Ranch, which covers 400 acres just outside Omaha. "Owning this horse is like having a rock star in the barn."
In November, Nebraska voters approved legalizing casino gaming at six licensed horse tracks, finding success after four previously failed attempts. The latest ballot initiative coincided with Pryor's own mission to acquire a Thoroughbred stallion with a substantial pedigree and a glowing race record.
She's already had substantial success with a 15-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid named Gold Schleiger, who she acquired for free when injury derailed the horse's racing career before he became a winner. Pryor owns a number of Thoroughbred mares she acquired over the years by walking the shedrows of racetracks looking for big, scopey mares that were too slow, so trainers were happy to give them away.
"I bred these mares to my Quarter Horse studs, which is how we got a lot of our hunt seat world champions and jumpers," Pryor said, who stood renowned Quarter Horse stallion Deck of Stars, who sired multi-breed World and Reserve World champions, a Supreme Champion, AQHA champions, an AQHA Reserve High Point, Superior Halter horses, and Superior Performance horses in multiple events.
Now with a Thoroughbred stallion, she decided to dabble in breeding Thoroughbred racehorses. Pryor is no stranger to the racing world. Her cousin Derron Heldt is vice president of racing at Prairie Meadows, and Heldt's parents were trainers that raced at Prairie Meadows, Oaklawn Park, and Omaha's former Ak-Sar-Ben Racetrack, which closed in 1995. Pryor also used to take in layups and freshen horses stabled at Ak-Sar-Ben.
Her experiment with Gold Schleiger resulted in three non-black-type stakes winners in his first substantial crop: dual stakes winner P R Girl Crush, P R Gold Markets, and P R Kipling's Gold. To date, the stallion has sired 12 winners from 26 starters, which include seven non-black-type stakes performers. Raced exclusively at purse-challenged Nebraska tracks, Gold Schleiger's runners average nearly $9,100 per starter. He stands for $500.
"I got hooked on (Thoroughbred racing) but then people would say, she just takes those so-so horses and they aren't much," Pryor said. "I went to Keeneland with my mind set on buying a famous horse."
Pryor spent two weeks in Lexington last November, visiting farms and sitting through every session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. She would get leads on stallions for sale and then the deals fell through, one after the other.
"I did not come home with a horse. It was too heartbreaking," she recalled.
Back in Omaha, Pryor began working the phones, calling farms directly and working through bloodstock agents. She got connected with Justin Border, co-founder of Exline-Border Racing, who was looking for a home for Giant Expectations.
"I was impressed that Justin had gotten into the business in 2012 and already had two Breeders' Cup winners and two champions," Pryor said, referring to 2016 champion 2-year-old filly Champagne Room and 2019 champion 2-year-old colt Storm the Court. Exline-Border co-owned the champions with several partners. "I started researching his Breeders' Cup winners and found they were both by sires I like, so I knew we liked the same types of horses."
Pryor found Court Vision particularly attractive because he was a multiple grade 1 winner that had sired a grade 1 winner and champion. The stallion also is by Gulch, who she knew as a "war horse that was sturdy and never gave up," and Court Vision's dam Weekend Storm is a full sister to Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Summer Squall. The family produced leading sire A.P. Indy, too.
David Tillson with Acadiana Equine@Cooper Crowne in Louisiana, where Court Vision had stood since 2016, said he got a call out of the blue from Pryor. They talked, both took a night to mull Pryor's proposal to buy the stallion, and the next day made a deal.
"David told me, 'I really can't sell the stallion for less than X.' I said, 'Sold. I'll take him,'" Pryor recalled.
"It's truly been an honor to be associated with such a great horse," Tillson said. "Everything about him spoke to excellence. It was also great to be able to sell him to someone who will give him a lifetime home. The horse deserves the best of care and Judy will give it to him."
Pryor said she did have some concern about buying a 16-year-old stallion, but she also noted she bought Deck of Stars when he was 14.
"My vet is very comfortable we can breed 40-70 mares. I don't think Nebraska will support 40-70 but we have had calls from out of state," Pryor said, who added that she sees Court Vision proving to be a valuable cross with her Quarter Horse mares, too.
"I was a barrel racer, and I think this horse will sire some very famous barrel racers. He doesn't get into the ground, he stays on top of it and is light of foot," she said. "Giant Expectations also has a lot of potential for both breeds. He is big and the interns I have at the ranch, they love him for hunter/jumpers."
"Everyone in the state has worked so hard to get us back to the good ole Ak-Sar-Ben days," Pryor said. "It seems now that it all fits, these steppingstones to a future Ak-Sar-Ben, and by having these nice stallions, well, we might be on the way."
