Two years ago owner WellSpring Stables and trainer Phil Serpe debuted an Outwork filly July 20 in a maiden auction race at Saratoga Race Course.
For horses that qualify, owner and trainer continue to enjoy using that entry path to start a young horse's racing career.
That 2022 debut runner was Leave No Trace, a filly who cost $40,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale. Serpe elected to run her in a maiden special weight restricted to horses that had sold or been an RNA for $50,000 or less in their most recent sale.
Leave No Trace won that debut race by 2 3/4 lengths and next out won the Spinaway Stakes (G1), before placing in both the Frizette Stakes (G1) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). Now 4, she has earned nearly $750,000 and this year captured the Vagrancy Stakes (G3) in May at Aqueduct.
On Aug. 31 this year Serpe and WellSpring, the name for Dr. Robert Vukovich's racing operation, were at it again. They debuted a 2-year-old gelding named Executive Order (by Unified ) in a 2-year-old race at the Spa with the same sale-restriction conditions, and the result was the same, but with an even greater winning margin. Executive Order romped by 7 3/4 lengths.
Said the ever-frank Serpe after the race, "No, I didn't expect that performance. We don't crank our horses. If they win the first time out, they do it on their merit. I just want them to run a good race and develop our horses."
Vukovich paid $18,000 for Executive Order as a weanling at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale. He was bred in Maryland by Dark Hollow Farm.
"I have an unusual way of selecting horses at auction," said Vukovich. "Here's my philosophy: A commercial stallion isn't going to be commercial unless he can run, so I don't focus on the stallion. I look at the mare. If she can run and has the quality that I think we need in a racehorse, I use that as a predictor. I've done some studies, and the correlation between progeny wins and the stallion fee is very poor."
"He has this formula he uses," said Serpe. "It's very complex, and it has to do with the mares and algorithms and all this other stuff. I have no idea. I just train them."
Executive Order is out of the Cuvee mare Red's Round Table, a multiple stakes winner who earned $269,000. Executive Order is her second winner from five starters.
"I really liked his dam," said Vukovich. "She had a lot of speed. She ran in 19 races and had a record of 8-3-1. She was a stakes winner. What's not to like?"
A son of Candy Ride, Unified won three graded stakes races and was a neck away from winning the Carter Handicap (G1) when upset by Green Gratto, who paid $110 to win. He began his stud career in 2017 at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky, and last year was purchased by David Tillson and partners. He stood in 2023 and 2024 for $3,500 at LACER @ Aztec Equine in Louisiana.
Unified led Louisiana sires in 2-year-old winners last year with 10 and is the second-ranked stallion by earnings in Louisiana and the Southwest. This year, he has 72 winners from 137 runners, a 53% strike rate.
Leave No Trace was most recently sixth in the Bed o' Roses Stakes (G2) at the Belmont at the Big A meet. Vukovich and Serpe have given her 60 days to recover from some bone bruising, and she's expected to return to the races.
"These races are great," said Serpe of the conditions that launched both Leave No Trace and Executive Order. "When you're buying moderately priced horses, for $40- or $50- or $60,000, you come here, to the premier meet in North America, and you're up against the best-bred horses and $3 million purchases.
"You've got a horse that's working good, and you don't want to put them in for a tag because everyone up here is claiming like crazy, and maybe the horse isn't quite good enough to run in a regular maiden special weight.
"Races like this give our horses an opportunity to win."
