In looking at the entries for the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint Stakes (G2T) Sept. 5, the biggest question will be who will win this $1.75 million test that has drawn a full field and carries a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In spot in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T).
The second-biggest question is the story behind the name of one of the runners: Town & Country Horse Farms' homebred Mondogetsbuckets. OK, it might not be the second-biggest question surrounding the race, but the tale behind the 5-year-old Omaha Beach gelding's name points to changing times in sports and sports business.
According to farm CEO Shannon Potter, Town & Country has an NIL deal with the University of North Carolina athletic program and it allows participants in that program to vote on a name for the horse. The winning entry refers to former North Carolina basketball center Armando Bacot, who averaged in double figures four straight seasons ending in 2023-24.
Town & Country Horse Farms is owned by the Courtelis family and Kiki Courtelis serves as president. Potter noted that Mondogetsbuckets has been a fun horse to follow for the entire farm and he's out of a farm favorite mare in My Miss Chiff, by reigning seven-time leading sire Into Mischief .
From just the fifth crop of Into Mischief—before his run of leading sire titles when his stud fee stood at just $20,000—Louisiana-bred My Miss Chiff counted a victory in the 2017 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint Stakes among her two stakes wins and she also placed in the 2017 Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course. She is one of the farm's initial success stories.
That put all eyes on Mondogetsbuckets from the start.
"It's been great watching him progress every step," Potter said of Mondogetsbuckets, who was born in 2021 at the farm near Georgetown, Ky., raised there, and received some initial training from assistant farm manager and yearling manager Martin Deanda. "He looked like a runner from the start and we were thrilled with what we saw out of him."
Mondogetsbuckets was offered at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale where he was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, but did not meet his reserve on a top bid of $165,000. While that plan didn't fully come together, Town and Country Racing enthusiastically turned to Plan B: racing him.
Potter noted that Mondogetsbuckets took a bit of time to mature ahead of his first starts in 2024 at age 3. After a pair of races to start his career for trainer Brian Lynch, Mondogetsbuckets was sent to trainer Chris Block ahead of his 4-year-old season last year. On the main track, he posted a victory in the Robert S. Molaro Memorial Stakes at Hawthorne Race Course.
He has been a consistent runner, earning a stakes win and five other stakes placings in 17 starts over three seasons of racing. This season, Block has exclusively targeted turf sprints with Mondogetsbuckets, who earned a close third in the Shakertown Stakes (G2T) in April at Keeneland—just 1 1/4 lengths behind winner and fellow Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint runner My Boy Prince.
The feeling at the farm is that while the big win hasn't yet arrived, Mondogetsbuckets has proved competitive in nearly every race. They know that score could be just around the corner. Saturday would be a good time for it to arrive, with a purse of $1.75 million and a fees-paid entry to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
"He's run into some tough customers in this division in horses like Usually Wrong (also entered Saturday), Doncho, and Joe Shiesty," Potter said. "But he's always right there.
"We put the investment into these horses, into the right people at the farm, into the right people in early training, and the right people at the track. That's how you get the best out of a talented horse and then, you also need some luck."
While Potter and the farm are focused on Saturday's outcome, should Mondogetsbuckets win or run well enough to punch his ticket to this year's Breeders' Cup at Keeneland, the turf at the Lexington track would feel right at home for their runner. Mondogetsbuckets' third-place finish in the Shakertown Stakes was on the Keeneland green at the same 5 1/2-furlong distance as this year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
A Breeders' Cup start at Keeneland also would provide good vibes for Town & Country. In 2015, Stopchargingmaria captured the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at the track. Town & Country privately purchased Stopchargingmaria in 2014 after the filly failed to reach her $3.15 million reserve at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale. She was consigned to the auction by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of owner Mike Repole, who raced her throughout her 2- and 3-year-old campaigns.
"That Breeders' Cup was special and it capped off a special season," Potter said.
While Mondgogetsbuckets doesn't figure to be among the favorites in Saturday's 6-furlong test on the undulating Kentucky Downs course, he's a horse who has seemed to be on the precipice of a big win. While they know the Kentucky Downs race will provide a high hurdle, should that big win arrive, suddenly they'll have one of the top turf sprinters in the country and a spot in the Breeders' Cup.
It all could kick into gear Saturday with a horse that has been with Town & Country from the start. Should he earn a Breeders' Cup trip to Keeneland, the connections know the way.
