by Dave Briggs

Twenty-five years ago, Jimmy Ladwig was in his first year working for Winbak Farms when, on Halloween, the famed nursery sold what Ladwig remembers as a “little brown horse” for $65,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling auction in Harrisburg, PA.

A quarter century later, that horse is the leading stallion in standardbred history with total progeny earnings exceeding $355 million. That’s some $125 million more than the next closest sire.

Ladwig, who has long been the yearling manager at Winbak, says he remember Bettors Delight from that 1999 auction.

“Maybe that’s just wishful thinking in my memory,” he said. “I was so green, I was just happy that the day ended.”

He laughs when he’s asked if selling Bettors Delight in his first year with the farm guaranteed him a job for life.

“Exactly,” he said. “Then we sold Rainbow Blue, Muscle Hill and a few others.”

Now that Bettors Delight has stopped breeding and the stallion has just a few more crops of yearlings to sell, Ladwig said the thought of producing and selling another Bettors Delight, “is what keeps the dream alive, right there.”

Winbak — long the nation’s number two breeding operation behind only perennial top dog Hanover Shoe Farms — has built its reputation on mixing quality with volume. Ladwig knows that better than almost anyone. He’s instrumental in preparing some 300 yearlings to sell each and every year.

“That is a lot, but I’ve got a good team that knows what it takes,” Ladwig said. “And we’re actually a little less than 300 these days. We’re probably more around 280. We’ve been selling some weanlings in the fall and wintertime, so by the time the sale comes around we’re probably at 260. We’re slowing down a little bit — not too much, though — don’t tell anybody.”

With that Ladwig laughs. He says there are three keys to surviving long sales like the one in Harrisburg.

“Have a few pairs of good shoes, don’t pick that weekend to quit drinking and keep your sense of humor,” Ladwig said.

“We have a great team, which makes it so it can be that way right from the start. Our grooms, our group of guys that are getting the horses ready – they make it so it’s not a stressful event or environment. Then, we just keep it going.”

Winbak, which is second in all-time progeny earnings with $412.5 million, will sell some 70 yearlings in Harrisburg this year — 50 in the yearling sale and 20 more in the mixed sale that are predominantly Delaware-sired.

As for specific Winbak yearlings he wants to highlight, Ladwig mentioned:

• “A real nice American Ideal colt out of Bet On Chrissy [Hip #363 Odds On Marshall].”

• “A Cattlewash colt out of Flibbertigibbet [Hip #457 No Hard Feelings]. I really like that one.”

• “An Archangel filly out of New Leaf [Hip #580 Lily Rein] is a good one… for our Canadian friends.”

• “Our McWicked—B So Lucky colt [Hip #755 Wick Of Luck] is good-looking also.”

• “Our Courtly Choices are really good. I like them a lot. The Ashleeswayrhighway colt [Hip #749 Highway Find] is a real good colt.”

Speaking of Courtly Choice, his offspring will benefit from major improvements to the New York Sire Stakes program, including the ability to ship semen out of state and an increase in purses.

“All of that is huge,” Ladwig said. “That’s helping us and we’ve seen that bump a little bit and I think we’ll continue to. [Our New York farm manager] Noelle [Duspiva] has done a good job in New York making it happen. I give everybody credit up there who has made it happen. It’s been a long time coming, but they’ve finally made some good progress.”

As has Winbak Farm in the 25 years since it sold Bettors Delight.