Alfred Nuckols Jr. is a fifth-generation horseman who manages Hurstland Farm in Midway, Ky. The 2013 Farm Manager of the Year has carried on his family's legacy of breeding great racehorses for more than a century. Hurstland has bred and/or raised more than 220 stakes winners, and nearly 60 years later, Nuckols will head to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this August to see the induction of 1956-57 champion sprinter Decathlon, who was bred by the Nuckols Brothers, into racing's Hall of Fame.
This year, Nuckols brings a consignment of two horses to this year's Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearling Sale, including a filly (Hip 221) by Practical Joke , who is a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner Get Smokin.
Nuckols sat down with BloodHorse to discuss the July Sale, his family's legacy, and the impact of the Thoroughbred industry on his life.
BloodHorse: Tell me about Hurstland Farm; how many horses do you have?
Alfred Nuckols: Right now, I'm down to about 30-some odd head altogether—mares, foals, and yearlings. I had seven yearlings this year, and nine mares with foals, and about five or six barren and maiden mares. I have some pensioned horses; I have about seven or eight pensioned horses, three of which belong to Old Friends. I helped Michael (Bowen) get started (Hurstland was the original site of Old Friends), and I have a little leftover crowd from him. It fluctuates during the boarding season; I have some seasonal clients, and I'll get up to around 50 total head.
BH: Has the farm always been in your family?
AN: I'm the fifth generation, and my son and daughter are the sixth generation. It was started by Dr. Alfred Hurst in the late 1800s. It eventually became my grandfather's—Charles Nuckols. Then Charles had three sons who were known as the Nuckols brothers: Charles, Hiram, and my father Alfred, who was known as "Hoss." My father came along when the commercial breeding was really starting to take off.
Back in the mid- to late- 1960s and 70s, it really took off. We were up to about 1,100 acres, selling a lot of horses every year. They bred some very, very nice horses. I mean, they had champions; Charles Englehard got Habitat (1969 English champion miler) from us. Mr. Leader was foaled there and went on to become a successful sire. Typecast, she was the only mare to ever beat the males in the 100 granders back then, they're all grade 1, mile-and-a-half turf races. She was a champion (1972 Champion Handicap Mare). Since then, I had Truth of It All. My father and I bred Truth of It All; he was the 2-year-old champion of Canada in 1992. I just lost him last year; he had been pensioned. He just about made 35, but he passed in his sleep. I loved that old guy.
Then we've had a couple of other nice horses. Certify was the most recent champion I've had that was bred in partnership, a foal share with Darley. They bought her out and she went on to be champion 2-year-old filly in Europe that year (2012). So that helped set me up for her half sister (Bijou), that was a Street Sense filly that topped the 2013 Keeneland January Sale. She brought $1.45 million and topped the whole sale. I felt really good about that. She went to Japan, and she's a producer over there now.
BH: Tell me about Hip 221, the Practical Joke filly who is a half to Get Smokin, whom you also bred.
AN: Practical Joke is probably the best sire I've bred the mare (Hookah Lady) to. I was trying to upgrade the pedigree, and Practical Joke was a nice cross. I liked the way certain things in the pedigree fit in there, especially going back four or five generations. I foal them all myself; she was an easy foal and filly, and I've been around her ever since day one. She's been a pleasure to watch grow up. She's had a good head on her shoulders since she was a baby. She would come right up to you in the field, and not all of them will do that; she's been very level-headed. Mentally, very positive. Hookah Lady stamps her foals. She puts the same body on every foal I've ever had out of her. She's been a real pleasure to have as a broodmare.
Hookah Lady just keeps having nice foals. This is the nicest foal the mare has had. The mare gives me a very balanced, nice, good quarter on them, beautiful shoulder. They're all balanced and walk well.
BH: You tried to sell Hookah Lady as a yearling and she RNAd. That worked out pretty good?
AN: Yes. My old college roommate Jamie Green (co-breeder and owner of Hookah Lady), we went to Penn together for four years, we go back a long, long way. We've been very good friends for years, and he's been a big supporter of me and helped me through thick and thin with the horse business. He's always been a solid rock for me. We've had a lot of fun.
We bred Rosalind (grade 1 winner) together, who was a nice horse for (trainer) Kenny McPeek. We also bred Heart of Destiny, who is the dam of (graded stakes-placed) Destino d'Oro. We had a lot of fun with her. Her last foal was Destino d'Oro, who hopefully will be a Breeders' Cup quality filly this year. That's some of the good horses.
BH: You bred Get Smokin (multiple graded stakes winner and earner of more than $2,000,000) too. What was he like as a foal?
AN: Get Smokin, he is by Get Stormy. I had a lifetime breeding right. I really liked the cross of that. There were some real good families back in there, and they were all interspersed throughout the pedigree, so I thought she (Hookah Lady) was a natural for that.
I sold him for next to nothing—$11,000. Phil Hager loved him and bought him for Mary Sullivan. Tom Bush started out as the original trainer. Before Ms. Sullivan died, her children dispersed her horses, and that's how she ended up with (trainer) Mark Casse. Mark's done an absolutely wonderful job with him. We didn't get rich off him, but Jamie (Green) and I are actually still getting breeders' awards for him, so it was fun.
BH: What's your favorite part of the industry? What keeps you going?
AN: The horses. I've just always loved the horses. I learned to fool with them ever since I was a kid. Ever since Dog Blessed had a filly by the name of Bless the Bride. When I was a kid, I'd go out in the field and lay down on her. She was the dam of Decathlon (champion sprinter 1956-57 and 2025 Hall of Fame inductee) and (multiple stakes winner) Prince Blessed. He topped the July Sale for my father and uncles in 1958 for $77,000, a whopping big sale back then.
But I've always just loved the horses, and I've always wanted to work with them. I convinced my father to let me start working with them when I was 12. They didn't want me showing horses at the sales, but I finagled to where I was actually showing horses at 12. So, that was fun. My father tried to run me off the farm for a little while, that lasted about four years, and I came right back to the horses again. The sales, I really like. I enjoy the people I've met, so many good people through the industry. It's just fun. I love getting off the farm and coming to the sales because I see people that I only see four or five times a year; it's always fun to catch up.
BH: What are your thoughts on the July Sale and the rest of the sales season? What are you expecting?
AN: Last year, the yearling sales turned out OK. It was pretty much top-end heavy. I mean, the median wasn't as good as I would've liked to see it last year for the yearling sales. The top end of the market has been just unbelievably outstanding the last several years and this year. With the 2-year-old sales this year, the median finally caught up with the top end of the market a little bit. I thought it was a better overall sale for the 2-year-old sellers than it has been in a while. I think with the way the 2-year-old sales went, the declining foal crop that we have, and the increase in purse values, I hopefully think that the July Sale will be the harbinger of what's to come for the rest of it, which should be a pretty strong sales season.
