TOBA October Member of the Month

It’s rare for a breeder to have two graded stakes competitors on one card. Robert Slack of Stoneriggs Farm is an exception. On Aug. 29 at Saratoga, Stoneriggs-bred runners competed in the DraftKings Travers Stakes (G1) and H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1). Emerging Market ran fifth in the Midsummer Derby, defeating grade 1 winners Baby Vino and Renegade. Meanwhile, Local Knowledge finished third to rising star Englishman in the Jerkens. A native of northwest England’s Lake District, Slack is honoring his forefathers with Stoneriggs Farm. His family has raced horses “on a small scale” there since the nineteenth century.” And the nursery’s name even pays homage. He recalled, “My father had a very small farm, 36 acres, and its name was Stoneriggs, and he went there in 1939. And my brother still lives on the same farm and it's passed to his grandson after his day. So, it’s going to stay in the family for over a hundred years.” Slack came across the Pond, living in California and then owning a farm in Florida; he sold that nursery and bought a property in Kentucky. On his Bluegrass property, Slack currently has about 70 mares. Stoneriggs consigned Emerging Market to the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling sale, where he fetched $185,000 from Cayuga Capital. Slack recalled that “Emerging Market is a chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail, which almost turns some people off because of the flaxen mane and tail. We sold him as a yearling and Mike Ryan bought him with a view to him going to Chad Brown and when they saw that he had a flaxen mane and tail, they were inclined to change the mind and put him in a two-year-old sale. “However, he worked so well on the farm when he was being broke that they said, ‘No, I want to keep him and run him. He had a few little issues as a two-year-old, and so he basically didn’t run till he was three, and he won the Louisiana Derby [G2] in his second start. In the Kentucky Derby [G1] and the Belmont Stakes [G1], unfortunately, he lost his shoe in both of those.” Stoneriggs bought Emerging Market’s dam, Wild Empress (by Empire Maker), for $85,000. Slack explained, “We buy mares who don’t necessarily have a huge race record but tend to be good individuals and a fairly nice page. She was an exceptional individual and she was half to a filly [She Be Wild] that won the [2009] Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies [G1]. She had enough family there, even though she was not a very good racehorse, and anyway, we were quite happy to get her. She’s a fairly big mare, so we wanted to breed something a little typey, a little smaller. Candy Ride (ARG) fit the bill, and we’ve been very fortunate.” Another Slack-bred top three-year-old is July 31 Amsterdam Stakes (G2) hero Local Knowledge. The speedy son of Yaupon sold for $260,000 in 2024, then was pinhooked for $625,000 the following year. After breaking his maiden in fall 2025, Local Knowledge made his stakes debut in the Amsterdam, where he bested Solitude Dude by a head in the 6 ½-furlong stake for Spendthrift Farm. This triumph marked jockey John Velazquez’s 800th graded win in North America. Not to be outdone by sophomore colts, three-year-old filly Forced Entry also flashed onto the 2026 Kentucky Oaks (G1) trail earlier this year. Sold for $375,000, the daughter of Charlatan won the March 8 Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3). Next time out, in the April 4 Santa Anita Oaks presented by Surfside (G2), Forced Entry was pulled up. Slack said, “Well, I don’t like to bug Bob [Baffert] too much, but last I heard she was actually at Churchill and having a bit of a rest and just working quietly. Mike Smith pulled her up out of the gate in the last race down there, but they got her back to the barn. They couldn’t find anything wrong with her at all, and so they just gave her a bit of time off and she’ll be coming back later in the year or will be in there next year.”