Minnesota Power Couple
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Midwest /Canada CANADA ILLINOIS INDIANA IOWA MICHIGAN MINNESOTA NEBRASKA NORTH DAKOTA OHIO SOUTH DAKOTA WISCONSIN Rick and Joyce Osborne at their farm near Cambridge, Minn. Minnesota Power Couple Osbornes fully BY JENNIFER MORRISON PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOYCE OSBORNE embrace the THE BUSINESS PLAN that works for Rick and Joyce Osborne at their farm lifestyle farm near Cambridge, Minn., also happens to be the lifestyle they choose— a hands-on approach to the small stallion operation, breeding farm, and sales prep business. While it can add up to long hours of work, the Osbornes enjoy the farm life. ADVERTISERS’ INDEX INDIANA HORSE RACING COMMISSION ......79 INDIANA STALLION STATION ............................73 www.in.gov/hrc/tb.htm www.indianastallionstation.com IOWA THBRD, BRDRS./OWRS. ASSN .............. 81 RAIMONDE FARMS ..............................................77 www.iowathoroughbred.com [email protected] MINNESOTA RACING COMMISSION .............. 75 www.MNBreedersfund.com 72 / BloodHorse.com / FEBRUARY 1, 2020 / TheBloodHorse / BloodHorse BLACK YELLOWMAGENTACYAN BH5-72.pgs 01.27.2020 16:36 TheBloodHorse BLACK YELLOWMAGENTACYAN BH5-67.pgs 01.27.2020 11:01 TheBloodHorse “We do all the breeding, foaling, wean- ing, sales prep ourselves,” said Joyce Os- borne. “Then we go to the sales, sell our MIDWEST/CANADA foals, have a little bit of downtime in No- vember and December, and in January we’re right back at it. It’s a lifestyle.” And for the Osbornes that lifestyle has provided enjoyment for more than a de- cade while they’ve built their operation to be a significant player in the Minnesota industry. It has been a little more than 15 years since the Osbornes took over the 50-acre farm from Rick’s parents, D. John and Vera Osborne. Their opera- tion now accounts for about 15% of Min- nesota’s foal crop, and a Canadian classic winner has brought excitement to their stallion program. Eye of the Leopard, a 2009 Canadian champion 3-year-old male and Queen’s Plate winner by A.P. Indy out of 2004 Ca- nadian champion Eye of the Sphynx (by Smart Strike), will have his first Minne- sota-bred yearlings land in the Minne- sota Thoroughbred Association yearling sale this fall. Eye of the Leopard was a The Osbornes’ daughter Ellie with her daughter, Immy, takes a look at the horses homebred for Sam-Son Farm, which also bred Eye of the Sphynx. and Joyce, 56, busy. That lifestyle was in breeding. His grandparents ran horses in The 14-year-old stallion is one of some the blood of both. North Dakota and D. John and Vera were 30-40 horses that call the Osborne farm Rick Osborne has a long-reaching fam- both jockeys. home at any given time, keeping Rick, 64, ily history in Thoroughbred racing and “Growing up in North Dakota, Rick’s dad rode in the hully-gully racing, the fall fairs where anything went. And D. John and Vera were really passionate about horse breeding. They would sit and study the Keeneland sales.” D. John and Vera relocated to Minne- apolis about 60 years ago and, in 1965, to rural Cambridge. The Osbornes, one gen- eration or the other, have been breeding horses since. 2019 MINNESOTA SIRES BY WINNERS Sire ....................Rnrs ....... Wnrs Kela ..................... 31 .......... 16 Eye of the Leopard ......... 20 ...........7 Matt’s Broken Vow .......... 14 ...........4 Magic Cat ................ 13 ...........3 Law Enforcement ........... 9 ...........3 Joey Franco ................ 6 ...........3 Ford Every Stream .......... 7 ...........2 Stallion Eye of the Leopard, the 2009 Canadian champion 3-year-old male Sam Lord’s Castle ........... 7 ...........2 74 / BloodHorse.com / FEBRUARY 1, 2020 / TheBloodHorse / BloodHorse BLACK YELLOWMAGENTACYAN BH5-74.pgs 01.27.2020 16:36 TheBloodHorse For daily updated sire lists 2019 LEADING SIRES IN MINNESOTA visit BloodHorse.com BT Rstrct Cumulative 2020 Rnrs/ SWnrs/ SW/ 2019 Stks A-E Comp R a n k Stallion (Foreign foaled), (YOB,Sire), Where Stands Stud Fee Wnrs Wns BT SW (Chief Earner, Earnings) Earnings Foals Wnrs Index Index 1 KELA (98, Numerous), Stillwater Equine N/A 31/16 0/0 0/0 (Blue Eclipse, $53,880) $556,854 *284 3 0.90 0.90 2 EYE OF THE LEOPARD (06, A.P. Indy), Osborne Farm $1,500 20/7 1/1 0/1 (Eye of a Jedi, $95,130) $341,710 42 1 0.52 1.97 3 LAW ENFORCEMENT (05, Posse) Died, 2017 9/3 1/1 0/1 (Fireman Oscar, $76,239) $219,624 21 1 1.20 0.67 4 MATT'S BROKEN VOW (05, Broken Vow), Dove Hill Farm $2,500 14/4 0/0 0/0 (Facing North, $34,160) $142,399 59 0 0.47 0.81 5 JOEY FRANCO (99, Avenue of Flags) Died, 2018 6/3 0/0 0/0 (Wannaplaybigchief, $45,305) $79,501 86 2 0.47 0.67 6 FORD EVERY STREAM (99, Seeking the Gold), Nightmare Stables $1,000 7/2 0/0 0/0 (Carriage, $51,030) $72,804 154 1 0.54 0.79 7 MAGIC CAT (95, Storm Cat) N/A 13/3 0/0 0/0 (Derbys Moneymaker, $24,533) $61,266 275 10 0.62 0.88 8 SAM LORD'S CASTLE (98, Carson City), Boehlke Farm $1,000 7/2 0/0 0/0 (Shez Just Crusin, $40,702) $60,502 50 0 0.58 0.76 9 LOVANGO (04, Capote) Died, 2017 5/1 0/0 0/0 (Clickbait, $41,400) $58,993 11 0 0.39 0.42 10 TIMBER LEGEND (99, Storm Cat) N/A 7/1 0/0 0/0 (Mrs. D's Concerto, $25,120) $50,162 65 1 0.43 0.48 Rick’s parents stood stallions at Horse pleasure horses in Duluth, Minn., and Thoroughbred) for their kids to ride their farm, the last one being Charg - left horses to raise two children from a in shows. ing Through, a multiple stakes-winning previous marriage and work as a flight “I went up to a sale in North Dakota son of Native Charger who raced for his attendant. She met Rick again in the late and there was this Thoroughbred stal - breeder Frances Genter. Rick and Joyce 1990s at a cutting horse show in Minne- lion, Late Edition,” said Joyce. “He was took over farm operations in 2002, a few sota and found that they were a lot more by Cryptoclearance and from Starlet years after they were married. compatible. They soon were married and Storm, so he was a half brother to cham- “It’s a funny story about how me met,” had a child of their own. pion 2-year-old filly Flanders. He was not said Joyce. “Rick is a farrier, and we met When Charging Through died in overly big but was beautifully balanced. I when he was shoeing horses for my dad 2002—the year they took over the op - couldn’t believe he was in the sale.” when we were teenagers. We were like oil eration of D. John and Vera’s farm—they While racing at Minnesota’s Canter - and water back then. It would be many initially looked for a Quarter Horse stal- bury Downs had been shut down for years before we met again.” lion to breed in order to raise appendix three years in the mid 1990s, the track Joyce, who grew up showing Quarter horses (a cross between Quarter Horse had re-opened and was showing growth. Special Note For Sire Lists: For stallions that stand, will stand, or stood (deceased) in the states featured in this section (stallions that are dead or exported prior to 2015 are excluded), and have runners in North America. Listed below are all avail- able statistics for the Northern Hemisphere through December 31, 2019. As supplied to BloodHorse by The Jockey Club Information Systems Inc.,include adjusted money from Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Adjusted earnings are put on par with average North American earnings from the previous year. For example, the average North American purse in 2018 is $23,755 or 50% of the 2018 average purse in Japan. To put earnings on par, all Japanese progeny earnings are multiplied by 50% before being credited to a sire’s progeny earnings. Hong Kong earnings are adjusted by 15%; Singapore by 66%. Current year stakes winners include all Northern Hemisphere black-type stakes results from all available countries. *Foal counts include Southern Hemisphere. Cumulative stakes winners include all countries. (A ¶ indicates a sire represented by his first crop to race). *AVERAGE-EARNINGS INDEX and COMPARABLE INDEX: Lifetime AVERAGE-EARNINGS INDEX indicates how much purse money the progeny of one sire has earned in relation to the average earnings of all runners in the same years; average earnings of all runners in any year is represented by an index of 1.00; COMPARABLE INDEX indicates the average earnings of progeny produced from mares bred to one sire, when these same mares were bred to other sires. Only 32% of all sires have a lifetime AVERAGE-EARNINGS INDEX higher than their mares’ COMPARABLE INDEX. FEBRUARY 1, 2020 / BloodHorse.com / 75 BLACK YELLOWMAGENTACYAN BH5-75.pgs 01.27.2020 16:36 TheBloodHorse MIDWEST/CANADA Osborne Farm is spread over 50 acres The Osbornes bought the stallion and lowed by Most Useful and Bubbly Bubbles 2019 OHIO SIRES proceeded to purchase “seven or eight completing the trifecta. The sweep tied BY WINNERS mares” to breed to him. together generations as Storybook Doll Sire ....................Rnrs ....... Wnrs Late Edition, who had twice placed in was bred by D. John and Vera Osborne Itsmyluckyday ............. 88 ..........48 graded stakes as a 3-year-old racing for and Bubbly Bubbles was bred by Rick and Biondetti ................