Juvenile Fillies Winner Notes
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Gary Barber Born: In 1957 in Johannesburg, South Africa Residence: Los Angeles Family: Wife Nadine; Three daughters Education: Earned a B.S. in accounting at Witwatersand University in South Africa while on a soccer scholarship. Business: He was the chairman and CEO of MGM Studios in Hollywood for eight years until March 2018; Chairman and CEO of Spyglass Media Group • Barber’s dance card is packed for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, with as many as eight contenders for various races, owned individually or in partnership. Many of them earned their way onto the card with “Win and You’re In” berths. • Barber’s runners are typically trained by Mark Casse or Peter Miller. • Gretzky the Great, an Ontario-bred named after hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, picked up a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) after winning the Summer Stakes (G1) at Woodbine Sept. 20. The colt from the first crop of sire Nyquist – himself named after a hockey player – comes into this year’s Breeders’ Cup on a three- race winning streak, having also won a maiden special weight and the Soaring Free Stakes at Woodbine. Gretzky the Great is owned in partnership with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and is trained by Mark Casse. • Get Her Number, by Dialed In, locked down a “Win and You’re In” spot for the Juvenile (G1) with a triumph in the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) Sept. 26 at Santa Anita Park. Peter Miller trains the colt, who made his first start on dirt in the American Pharoah. • Channel Maker, another Ontario-bred owned in partnership, earned his “Win and You’re In” spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf with a 5 ¾-length victory in the Sword Dancer Stakes (G1) Aug. 29 at Saratoga. The Bill Mott-trained English Channel gelding followed that effort with a front-running win in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1) Oct. 3 at Belmont Park. • C Z Rocket scored two “Win and You’re In” berths for the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile (G1) and Sprint (G1) when he won the Pat O’Brien Stakes (G2) Aug. 29 at Del Mar and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) Sept. 27 at Santa Anita, respectively. He is owned in partnership with Madaket Stables and Tom Kagele, and he is trained by Peter Miller. • War of Will is pointing for the Dirt Mile or Mile (G1) this year after proving to be a multi- talented runner. Last year’s Preakness Stakes (G1) winner, the first Classic win for Barber, was moved to the turf for his 4-year-old campaign and he won the Maker’s Mark Mile Stakes (G1) in his second start of the year July 10. The Mark Casse charge also finished third in his most recent start, the Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1) the turf on Sept. 19. • Got Stormy has been one of Barber’s most ambitious runners, as a filly regularly taking on male competition, and she will shoot to do so again in the Turf Sprint (G1). After finishing second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile, the Mark Casse-trained daughter of Get Stormy picked up momentum later in her 2020 campaign with a second in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1) at Saratoga, followed by wins in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes (G3) Sept. 12 at Kentucky Downs and the Franklin County Stakes (G3) Oct. 9 at Keeneland. • Vequist, a first-crop daughter of Nyquist owned with Wachtel Stable and Swilcan Stable, points for the Juvenile Fillies (G1) following a win in the Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on Sept. 6 and a second in the Frizette Stakes (G1) Oct. 10 at Belmont Park. Robert Reid Jr. trains the filly. • Rounding out Barber’s group of hopefuls is Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) contender Wyfire. The Peter Miller-trained Dominus colt most recently finished second in the Speakeasy Stakes (G2) Sept. 26 at Santa Anita Park. • His stable has an international flavor as well as being prominent in North America, scoring big wins in France, Ireland, Australia and his homeland, South Africa. He has owned a number of horses in partnership with Team Valor International, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Altamira Racing, Kevin Tsujihara and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. • Among his outstanding runners: Wonder Gadot, multiple graded stakes winner and 2018 Sovereign Award Horse of the Year/Champion 3-year-old filly; Lexie Lou, multiple graded stakes winner and four-time Sovereign Award winner including 2014 Horse of the Year; In Lingerie, a winner of the Spinster (G1), Black-Eyed Susan (G2) and Bourbonette (G3); Sisterly Love, a graded stakes winner in Canada and Comma to The Top, a multiple graded stakes winner in Southern California. • After numerous tries, Barber captured his first Breeders’ Cup victory when Catch A Glimpse, whom he owned in a partnership, won the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) in 2015 at Keeneland Race Course. Catch a Glimpse was a three-time Sovereign Award winner, including 2015 Horse of the Year, and she sold for $3 million to Japanese interests to begin her broodmare career. • With Adam Wachtel and WinStar Farm, he won his second Breeders’ Cup race with Tourist in the 2016 Mile. • Barber added another Breeders’ Cup winner in 2019 when Belvoir Bay (GB) won the Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in a track-record time of :54.83 for five furlongs. The British-bred daughter of Equiano was imported to the U.S. from Europe in 2015 by Barber and Team Valor International, and Barber bought out his partner in the horse at the 2018 Fasig- Tipton November sale. Peter Miller trained the filly. • Belvoir Bay was missing for three days in the aftermath of the 2017 fire at the San Luis Rey Downs Training Center in California that left more than 50 horses dead. She was found with lacerations and burns on her legs, and infection in her hocks. She was treated with antibiotics and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and she returned to the races less than four months later, coming back on a three-race stakes winning streak. At the end of her career, Belvoir Bay was sold as a broodmare prospect for $1.5 million. • Barber worked as a chartered accountant in South Africa and as a certified public accountant in the United States before moving into the film industry. He came to the United States in 1982, following his brother, Cecil, who came in 1979. Gary became a U.S. citizen in 1998. • Co-founder, along with Roger Birnbaum, and CEO of Spyglass Entertainment, which has produced such motion pictures as “Seabiscuit,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “The Insider,” and “The Sixth Sense.” The original Spyglass shuttered when its co-founders went to work at Metro-Goldwin-Mayer in 2010. He has been the executive producer of more than 50 movies. Together with Lantern Entertainment, he relaunched Spyglass Media Group in early 2019 as a content distribution company. • Barber’s highest-grossing film as a producer was “The Tourist,” a 2010 film starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, which brought in nearly $280 million worldwide. • As the CEO of MGM, the company financed “Skyfall,” a film in the popular James Bond series that grossed $1.1 billion. • Spyglass Media Group owns and controls a library of more than 250 Academy Award- winning films, box office hits, and television series including “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist,” “The Upside,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Inglorious Basterds,” “Django Unchained,” “The Hateful Eight,” “Hellraiser,” “Scream” and “Project Runway.” .