Improving Patriot Spirit Stirs Breeder Blue Heaven Farm

Broadway shows often open out of town to get the kinks out before hitting the Great White Way. And until now, trainer Michael Campbell has been keeping multiple stakes winner Patriot Spirit at racing venues in Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, Virginia, and Kentucky. The 4-year-old will try to make it in New York, however, when he contests the $200,000 Vosburgh Stakes (G3) Sept. 27 at Aqueduct Racetrack. The seven-furlong Vosburgh is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race, and the winner books a fees-paid berth into the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). Patriot Spirit may not be as well known as some of his eight Vosburgh opponents, but he enters with all cylinders firing in search of his first graded stakes win. His previous start resulted in a 4-length triumph at Colonial Downs in the Reigh Count Stakes, in which he negotiated 7 furlongs in a snappy 1:21.01. He also is versatile enough to have won last year's Illinois Derby going 1 1/8 miles, mimicking the exploits of his dam. While racing for owner Paul Reddam, Patriot Spirit's dam, Mistical Plan, proved talented enough to take the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) going two turns in 2007 and the Princess Rooney Handicap (G1) sprinting the following season at Calder Race Course. Blue Heaven Farm privately purchased Mistical Plan shortly after securing 190 acres near Versailles, Ky., to start a breeding operation in 2010. "She is the type of horse we've had success with over the years," Blue Heaven co-owner Adam Corndorf noted. "A talented, versatile racehorse. Good-looking and tough. Her sire, Game Plan, was not a top stallion, but he does hail from the Danzig line." Blue Heaven Farm sent Mistical Plan to Constitution and got Patriot Spirit, a medium-size colt with strength and power. He sold for $95,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale to Kaden Clary and Brad Walker, who pinhooked him in 2023 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and received a winning $235,000 bid from current owner George Mellon. After earning his maiden win going 7 furlongs at Colonial, Patriot Spirit was put to two-turn tests and has been pinballing back and forth since, although he seems to have found a home sprinting. Patriot Spirit has hung a line of 5-2-1 in 14 starts and has banked $421,210 to date. Although a boutique operation by size, Blue Heaven consistently has come up with Saturday runners as both breeders and owners. It has its origins in patriarch Sy Baskin, who bought a few horses with friends from Chicago. They ended up with Ocean Drive as their first yearling purchase. Bought for $160,000, Ocean Drive in 2004 annexed the Ballston Spa Breeders' Cup, Noble Damsel, Gallorette, and Eatontown handicaps (all G3T). She earned better than $800,000. Nothing like beginners' luck. Sy's daughter Bonnie Baskin, founder of several biotech companies, agreed to join her father in Thoroughbreds, and SyBon Racing was formed. Bonnie convinced her father to branch out into breeding, and they launched that division with the help of Taylor Made Farm. The third generation joined in when Corndorf, who is Bonnie's son, gave up his career as a corporate attorney and immersed himself in Thoroughbreds, taking jobs with trainer Todd Pletcher and then with Taylor Made Farm to learn the business. They moved their mares to their own piece of land in 2010, christening it Blue Heaven after a song that Sy used to sing to Bonnie when she was a child. Sy Baskin passed away at the age of 100 in 2021. From a band of 13 broodmares, Blue Heaven has bred Patriot Spirit; grade 1 winners Grace Adler (2021 Del Mar Debutante Stakes) and Tappan Street (Florida Derby); grade 3 victors Pyrenees, who they also campaigned, Cafe Americano, and Dynamic Impact; and co-bred grade 3 winners Getaway Car and Mo Strike. In addition to Ocean Drive, Blue Heaven owned Starship Jubilee when she defeated males in the 2020 Woodbine Mile (G1T); and earned wins in the 2019 E. P. Taylor (G1T), 2019 Canadian (G2T), 2020 Hillsborough (G2T), 2020 Ballston Spa, and 2020 Suwannee River (G3T) stakes. "We're grinding along and usually end up with eight or nine foals a year," Corndorf said. "Our strike rate is good. For the last couple of years we've had one or two graded stakes winners. Tappan Street is the only horse to have defeated Sovereignty this year, so we're proud of that. Hopefully, Patriot Spirit can get to that next level as well. With an opportunity in a Win and You're In race, it gets exciting that we could have another one get to the Breeders' Cup, as Getaway Car did last year." Corndorf has enjoyed following in his family's footsteps. "I was drawn to the horses in the same way my mom was. Being close to my mom and grandfather and seeing what they were doing, it seemed like a lot of fun," Corndorf said. "I've always been a big sports fan, and horse racing is a logical avenue for the competitiveness. We have concentrated on quality over quantity, preferring to send our mares to top-shelf stallions in order to produce sale horses that fit buyers' preferences." Given Blue Heaven's record, it would not be a shock if Patriot Spirit shines under the bright lights of New York.