Caroline St. Beat 'Everything' Goichman Ever Dreamed of

Races from Kentucky Downs can be challenging to watch and evaluate as they unfold on the esoteric course, even for an experienced eye. But as New York-based breeder Lawrence Goichman watched on television as Caroline St. Beat raced through the long stretch and the uphill grade of the Franklin, Ky., turf course in the Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes (G2T) Sept. 5, all he knew was that the chestnut colt appeared to be getting bigger and closer to the screen. "Watching this thing, and the head-on, this horse that's a favorite began to look smaller, and this guy kept getting bigger," Goichman said. "It was the weirdest, weirdest sensation." New York-bred Caroline St. Beat's sire and dam were also foaled in the Empire State, as Goichman paired his homebred Myhartblongstodady with grade 1 winner Tiz the Law, standing at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky. The result was this colt, now trained by Miguel Clement for Madaket Stables and Steven Bouchey. Although the $3 million advertised purse for the Nashville Derby included money for Kentucky-breds from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, Caroline St. Beat, who has never finished worse than second, still pushed his earnings past millionaire status with the hefty payday. "He was everything that I ever dreamt of when it comes to planning a pedigree," octogenarian Goichman said. "Myhartblongstodady is pretty special, but you're trying to come up with someone who has stamina, class, versatility, ability, and boom, Tiz the Law was just perfect." Even more meaningful, Goichman, who entered Thoroughbred ownership in 1989 and has had success racing homebreds such as graded stakes winners J'ray and Scythian, has bred multiple generations of this family. When he began dabbling in importing horses, the first mare he imported from Europe in 1997 was the unraced Quiet Rumour, from a Juddmonte family. She foaled the Elusive Quality filly Elusive Rumour in New York in 2009. Racing in Goichman's colors, she won twice from 14 starts, while also finishing third in the 2012 Yaddo Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, and third in both the You Go West Girl and Mount Vernon Stakes the following year at Belmont Park. Retired to Goichman's New York broodmare band, Elusive Rumour produced Myhartblongstodady, by Scat Daddy, in 2015. She was even more talented than her dam, putting together a consistent career record of 6-3-3 in 15 starts and earning nearly half a million. She won the 2020 Yaddo and Ticonderoga Stakes, and the 2021 John Hettinger Stakes at Belmont, in addition to finishing on the board in three other stakes. Caroline St. Beat, by Tiz the Law, is the mare's first foal. Goichman foals his mares out in upstate New York before sending them, with the foal at heel, to the former Indian Creek Farm, now Heartwood Farm, near Paris, Ky. The mares are bred back to Kentucky sires and eventually travel back to New York to foal into a state-bred program on the rise. Foals that may eventually be sold remain with the program in Kentucky to be prepared for yearling sales. Caroline St. Beat was offered at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the late Hall of Fame trainer Christophe Clement selected him for $100,000. Following that, the mare's Essential Quality colt did not meet his reserve at the 2025 New York-bred sale before selling earlier this year in Florida. Named King of Legends, he is still unraced but is breezing in Florida. Meanwhile, Caroline St. Beat got on the track in 2025, winning his debut and finishing second in the Notebook Stakes. Splint issues sidelined him for the first half of his 3-year-old year. He returned from a long layoff in July for Miguel Clement, who assumed duties in the stable following the death of his father in 2025. After a fine second in the Rick Violette Stakes in July, Caroline St. Beat won an allowance race Aug. 29 at Saratoga. Entries for the Nashville Derby had closed one day prior. "Plenty of bone, plenty of depth, and he's tough," Miguel Clement said. "We entered him on Friday, the day before he ran at Saratoga. I was able to convince the connections; they were very bold and game to do so. A lot of credit deserves to go to them; not all connections would say yes, let's go for it. (In the week between races), he trained well, he ate up, he was full of life, full of energy." Goichman was not surprised the colt had the attributes to wheel back in a week, saying toughness is a common characteristic of the dam's foals. "They're all solid," he said. "They're all built solid like brick, hickory." Even before the graded stakes win, Caroline St. Beat's early performances had elevated the stock of his family. Rather than going in the New York-bred sale, Goichman put Myhartblongstodady's yearling colt by Constitution—sire of Tiz the Law—against "open company" in the boutique Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale. The result was a $575,000 purchase by D. J. Stable. Clement, keen on the family, said he was an underbidder. Myhartblongstodady delivered a Maxfield filly this year, and is currently in foal to Vekoma. Goichman said that he would eventually like to breed her to Tiz the Law again, and, while "you got to run this thing like a business," he hopes to eventually retain some fillies out of the mare to keep in his generational program. But regardless of what the future holds, he is thrilled to own such a mare. "You go back to Tesio, and you look at breeders who have, for years and years, tried to improve what they're doing," he reflected. "They see it as a trade. And it's not easy because you really have to make some decisions on culling and keeping, and that's tough. Even if you say, 'Yeah, I'm in this for the long term, and I want to be in this long, long term,' most of the time, a mare will develop, and she will throw foals, and you have to say, 'Can I keep them all?' And you have to make those decisions. "And this is one time I made the right decision in keeping Myhartblongstodady. She could have been somebody else's, and you could have been having this conversation with somebody else, and this is very lucky for me."