by Murray Brown

Just think of the production: Downbytheseaside ($2,179,538), Tall Dark Stranger ($2,020195), Sportswriter ($1,566,460), Windsong Jack ($1,039,173), Swinging Beauty ($893,368), Precocious Beauty ($838,004), Whichwaytothebeach ($761,838) and Soto ($617,115). Those are only the $600,000-plus winners that trace to the amazing mare Dominique Semalu.

One only has to imagine that the very best one tracing to her is only a 3-year-old, but what an amazing 3-year-old he appears to be. By design of his connections, Captain’s Quarters raced only five times at 2. He still managed to capture the Metro, the richest race for 2-year-olds, earn $389,143 and take a record of 1.49.3. He is now 3 and ready to qualify. He is fully staked and prepared to take on all comers in 2024.

Jim Avritt, Sr. bought this “Blue Hen” mare for $18,000 at the Harrisburg mixed sale in 1995. Asked whether he anticipated she would have such an impact on the entire industry and more specifically to his Meadow Creek Farm that she has, he said, “Of course not. That kind of mare comes across once in a lifetime, if at all. When I bought her, I thought she was a nice mare who exhibited talent on the racetrack and came from what I believe to be one of the great maternal pacing families. I had bought her full sister Catherine Semalu the previous year for roughly the same amount of money. With both mares I felt that I was raising the overall quality of my broodmare band by their addition.

“If you are breeding horses, especially if you are a market breeder, that has to be a continual goal. If you don’t improve, you are going backwards. Dominique was a better individual than her sister. If I were asked the question back then, I likely would have guessed that Dominique would have become the better producer, just because I felt she was the nicer individual and would likely produce better looking foals. In fact, she turned out to be a far better producer than average. She had 11 foals. They all raced. They were all winners. They were good racehorses, but not really special. However, it was in the production of her daughters, granddaughters and hopefully great granddaughters that she became a mare for the ages.

“She had five daughters. They have all been stakes producing broodmares. That might be equaled somewhere, but someone would need to show me where. We still have her Precious Beauty [the dam of Sportswriter ($1,566,460) and Precocious Beauty ($838,004)], who is now 22 years old and is in foal to Sweet Lou.”

I first came to know Avritt when I was on the road evaluating yearlings for the Standardbred Horse Sales Company’s Harrisburg sale. Of all the places I visited on my travels there were three venues that I most looked forward to visiting. In no particular order they were Avritt’s Meadow Creek Farm, Carter Duer’s Peninsula Farms and the McNiven Family’s Twinbrook Farms.

Of all the places I went to there were none that exceeded Meadow Creek in beauty and outstanding yearling preparation. The amazing thing to this observer was that it was basically a one man show. Other than one full-time employee, all the work, building, maintenance and horse care was administered by Avritt. Moreover, this same Avritt had a full-time job running a law office in Lebanon, KY.

We’ll begin on that theme. How did you manage to do it all?

“If I had to use one word, I suppose that word would be gradually. There’s that old saying that ‘If you enjoy what you are doing, it isn’t work.’ I’ve been blessed to have thoroughly enjoyed my life both with the horses and the legal profession. Initially I was a lawyer. The law firm paid the bills. I started small with the horses and grew gradually. I like to think that I’ve continually improved my offering at the yearling sales. I’ve enjoyed all of it from digging holes for fenceposts, to mowing the fields, to foaling the mares, to prepping the yearlings for the sale; every little bit of it. It has been a labor of love.”

You are known primarily as a breeder with a small, but select group of broodmares. However, through the years that is not all that you have done with harness horses.

“I like to think I’ve pretty much done it all. My uncle Thomas was a horse trainer. I grew up on a farm and have been around horses all of my life. I bought my first horse at the Delaware Ohio sale in 1963. I trained her myself. I always had one or two horses that I’d train and even occasionally drive, mostly at county fairs. I actually have one pari-mutuel driving win. I won a race at Latonia Raceway sometime back in the 1970s. Of all the things I’ve done in my life, I can’t think of anything more thrilling than sitting behind a horse when the starter says go.”

You are also active as an owner.

“I’ve had horses with the McNairs, Gregg and Susie, for about 40 years now. They are both dear friends as is their son Doug, now a world class driver. We’ve been together all that time and we have never had a cross word between us. They usually have one or two fillies who are destined to become members of our broodmare band. They are now training a Captaintreacherous filly out of Precious Beauty and a full sister to Tall Dark Stranger for us.”

You appear to have always done well with your yearlings in Lexington and Harrisburg. However, in recent years you seem to have done extra well beginning with Tall Dark Stranger at $330,000 followed by a few other six figure yearlings.

“Yes indeed, it’s been a pretty nice run. Tall Dark Stranger was a very nice foal. As a weanling I thought there was a chance that he would grow up to become a six-figure yearling. But I knew better than to get too excited and then be disappointed. He grew up to be a drop-dead gorgeous yearling. At the sale I felt reasonably confident that he would bring six figures. But it’s a horse sale. Who knows what might happen. He, of course brought $330,000 and that price turned out to be a real bargain. I was pleased, but more importantly so were the people who bought him.

“Two years ago, we sold his brother Total Stranger for $425,000 and then at last year’s sale Readyforprimetime brought $500,000. I’m hoping that they and all the yearlings we sell turn out to be good buys for their owners.”

After you sell your yearlings, do you keep in touch with their new connections?

“For sure. Not only the new owners, but also their trainers. Usually after the first of the year, once the horses are on the go, I’ll reach out to the new connections. I do it not because it is good business, but much more importantly because I care about their progress. When you’ve been around a horse all of its life, you have great interest in seeing how it is doing as it progresses. If you don’t care, then you are probably in the wrong business.”

What is the present makeup of Meadow Creek Farm?

“The farm consists of 125 acres. We have one stable with 16 stalls. I consider that to be as big as we are ever going to get. We own 13 broodmares, six are pacers and seven are trotters. We have six yearlings, all fillies, and have thus far had six foals this year; amazingly all six are colts. We have four more mares yet to foal.”

We spoke earlier of Captain’s Quarters, the colt some are predicting might become a superstar this season.

“I’ll say one thing about him, he is the single toughest yearling we have ever raised on this farm. He very much has a mind of his own. However, once he learned something he understood it. We had one heck of a time getting him to load on a van. He simply would not do it. Finally, as a near last resort we backed a trailer up to his stall and put his feed in it. The next morning the feed was gone. He had gone into the trailer to get it. I suppose he thought it was his own idea. If that is what he thinks, it is alright with me.”

Thus far, all of our talk has focused on pacers. It appears that Meadow Creek Farm is now entering the trotting arena.

“When I first got into the game all I had were trotters. We then entered an era where nobody wanted them. Most importantly the racetracks didn’t want them and it became very difficult to even get a trotter raced. The market told me that people wanted pacers. So that is what we raised and offered. I can remember breeding to Saboteur, Bombs Away, Diller Hanover, Spectator, Storm Cloud, Worthy Boy and Something Special. Now the wheel has turned to some degree and there is also a demand for good well-bred trotters. We have dived into that pool with both feet. Among our trotting broodmares are Bella Dolce, the dam of Bella Bellini, also a yearling sister to Bella Bellini, a Father Patrick half-sister to Bella Bellini in foal to Walner and Swanky Hanover, a full sister to Manchego which we bought at Harrisburg last fall for $450,000. She was just pronounced in foal to Walner.”

Things appear to be going swimmingly in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

“That might even be an understatement. There was a time, not that very long ago when we were on life support. The breeding industry in the Commonwealth was dying on the vine. The thought was how can we possibly survive, forget about making a profit or even thriving. We are now living in the promised land. Kentucky is where it’s at!

“There are many trainers who are not interested in buying yearlings that are not dual eligible, especially if one of the states is Kentucky. There has been a huge renaissance of breeding here. Farms are being bought and built. People are investing in bloodstock. I would guess that there is anywhere from a 20 per cent to 30 per cent premium on dual eligible yearlings or phrased another way if you don’t have one, you might be penalized by that percentage.”