In a matter of two years, bond trader Patrick Lewis went from a stable of one to a budding barn of 29. A racing enthusiast since his childhood, Lewis formed Upland Flats Racing, named for his family farm in Tennessee, and dove into the world of horse ownership but never imagined he would one day be on the Kentucky Oaks (G1) trail. A partnership with Bo Bromagen of Ashbrook Farm and taking a chance on a spunky flash of a filly two years ago has now landed Lewis in the category of a graded stakes winning owner. Lewis and Bromagen's Red Carpet Ready, a daughter of turf star Oscar Performance , has continued to defy the odds and skeptics at every turn, and continued her winning ways with a dazzling performance in the Forward Gal Stakes (G2) Feb. 4 at Gulfstream Park.
Lewis spoke with BloodHorse MarketWatch about his partnership with Bromagen, his venture into horse ownership, and the thrill of owning a potential starter in this year's Run for the Lillies—with his first-ever yearling purchase.
MarketWatch: How did you get involved in horse racing?
Patrick Lewis: I had been going up to the races at Keeneland for the spring and fall meets. I've been a horse racing enthusiast since I was a kid and I grew up going to Kentucky Downs, which is 45 minutes away from me in Tennessee, when it was called Dueling Grounds. Of course, the idea of owning a horse was sort of beyond what I was really thinking about until five or six years ago. I bought into some small pieces of horses but, fast forwarding to 2021, I spent a lot of time focusing on racing and I decided to claim a horse to be a jumper.
My family grew up foxhunting so I grew up around steeplechase culture. The Iroquois, one of the biggest steeplechase races of the year, takes place right outside of Nashville. I started going to that race as a kid. I claimed a jump horse without a whole lot of thought behind it except that he would come down and run in a maiden race on Iroquois day. I ended up in Saratoga with that horse in non-winners of two steeplechase and I connected with Bo (Bromagen) up there. The Saratoga Select Sale was going on at the time.
MW: What has drawn you to racehorse ownership?
PL: I work in finance and trade for a living so I'm always analyzing data. I love data, and you can get a lot of statistics off of Equineline and BloodHorse. I've pulled all these spreadsheets and paired through this stuff. I look for little nuances where you can buy yearlings cheap but end up having high degrees of success per earnings per runner or a high black-type percentage. I use more of a Moneyball approach. It would be hard for me to go out there and spend $190,000 every time, so I'll buy them as cheap as $10,000 and as expensive as $80,000 in that range. You get creative. So the idea of searching through data and trying to find patterns in buying horses that meet our budget is kind of like a drug to me. That's kind of how I really took it to the next level. As big of a fan I am though, I walk through the sales with Bo and my bloodstock agent Joe Miller and I couldn't tell you much looking at a horse. I need these guys to help me, and I just soak up the information. I love learning from these guys.
MW: What's the story behind your involvement with Red Carpet Ready?
PL: I met Bo five years ago just through friends in Lexington. I just immediately latched onto Bo. He's been such a good partner and mentor to me. He's been so fair. He's been more than fair, and he didn't need to be. You don't see that in many pockets of the world.
I bought in on the filly three weeks after she sold at the select sale. I told Bo I hadn't bought a yearling before and I know it's going to take time, but I couldn't think of a better partner than him.
MW: Were you familiar with Red Carpet Ready's sire, Oscar Performance?
PL: From a handicapping perspective, I spent a lot of time looking at horses and pedigrees, and Oscar Performance has probably been one of my favorite horses. I wanted to find a horse with distance and turf ability. Those jump races can go 2 1/2 to three miles so I was looking for my first horse to be a distance turf horse and somehow, I ended up with a dirt sprinter—though hopefully a miler, mile and an eighth horse. I bought into two yearlings actually at the time—I figured I would have two swings at it.
I had also bought an Oscar Performance yearling with (trainer) Jamie Begg at the 2021 New York-bred sale. In 2022, Oscar Performance had a monster year as a sire.
MW: I noticed Red Carpet Ready was a $100,000 buy-back at the OBS April Sale. What led to the decision to put her in that sale?
PL: Bo's the lead in this partnership and we talked about it and that's what he thought was best at the time. She was broke in Ocala at Mayberry Farm. They said at the farm that she was fast and quick. She had a chip in her ankle though, so she wasn't very popular in the bidding but she still went in :10 1/5 at the breeze show after jumping a shadow. I called Bo after and said, 'Look I don't know much about this and this is my first time watching this OBS show but I've been watching racing for 35 years and that is a fast horse.' We didn't get the price Bo set for her luckily. I was glad they passed. We just figured we would go ahead and race her, and she went up to (trainer) Rusty (Arnold) in Kentucky. The rest is history.
MW: Was Red Carpet Ready the first horse on the flat you've ever owned?
PL: I've owned pieces of horses with other syndicates but nothing formal, and she's the first yearling I bought into. I bought into four or five more that year. Then last year I bought three on my own—one at the Saratoga Select Sale and two at Keeneland September and one at the Fasig-Tipton Maryland Sale—I also bought into a few more with Bo. And after our success, I said I wanted to buy into a couple more this year. So I bought into a Munnings and a Churchill that was bought over at Goffs that's in Europe to be broken. I went from zero horses in March of 2021 to 29 in training or being broken right now. I've got seven jumpers with Keri Brion in Fair Hill and then one with Ricky Hendriks. I have some up in New York with Jamie Begg and then the ones I partner with Bo are with Rusty. It's no longer a bug, racing, it's an obsession.
MW: Tell me about your farm, Upland Flats.
PL: It's a 207-acre farm south of Nashville. I do not have any horses yet here but the goal would be to send the jumpers down there and turn them into riding horses. My dream is to have this farm where we can ride recreationally. I have two young boys so they could learn to ride and just have an escape from the city life in the country. We call it Upland Flats farm because the farm itself is a mile ridge at the top from point to point.
MW: After Red Carpet Ready's win in the Fern Creek Stakes last fall Rusty expressed to the media that a lot of pundits were writing her off after her maiden win because it was in the slop. What did you guys think about her debut win? Were you then surprised by her impressive performance in the Fern Creek?
PL: She had that chip so it took her awhile to get going, and Rusty really took his time with her and didn't force her. He really did an incredible job with her and was always kind of mum about how good she was. He kept his excitement a little under wraps and didn't show his cards until after she won that she was as special as he thought she was.
I couldn't make her first race because I was at a wedding. But I called Bo that morning and he told me 'I have no clue, it's in the slop but we might as well bet her with her odds.' And during the race we were just screaming to each other on the phone we were so excited. She won by 10 that day and that's not something that many horses can do.
We knew we were coming up against much tougher company in the Fern Creek. We knew Key of Life was a good horse. But once we saw (Red Carpet Ready) on the turn get a little of the pressure I was a little nervous but she then distanced herself from the field on the turn like she did in the Forward Gal. I could tell by how excited Bo was after the race—we have a great video of us jumping up and down—his face didn't look like 'Oh, she won,' it was more like, 'This is about to be a wild ride.'
MW: With Red Carpet Ready's win in the Forward Gal, she's now entered the Kentucky Oaks picture. What does that mean for you?
PL: As a kid, I used to go to the (Kentucky) Derby and Oaks every year. (The Derby or Oaks) wasn't ever on my radar screen when I got into this and the fact that I could possibly get there with the first yearling I bought into is outrageous. I'm aware of how improbable that is. I think Bo got quoted the other day that he ruined me because now I think it's easy. But I'm aware of how hard it is. There's a lot of horses that I've put money into and seen them not work out. If (Red Carpet Ready) goes on and becomes an Oaks horse that would be amazing. But she's got so much tactical speed I really feel like she could be a sprinter on the dirt or even on the turf if we went down that road. She's got so many races and such a bright future regardless of what happens here.
