Birsh Hits the Big Stage with Tencendur

By Lenny Shulman

BloodHorse.com

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt Phil Birsh

It should come as no surprise that talking with Phil Birsh is great theater. The quick-witted New Yorker has continued his family’s business of running Playbill magazine, distributed at theaters On and Off Broadway.

Birsh’s self-deprecating humor is playing all week at the Broadway of racing— The Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) at Churchill Downs. Did Birsh expect to be participating on racing’s biggest stage? Probably not, since he calls himself the “accidental tourist of horse ownership.”

But here he is with his New York-bred Tencendur, most recently second in the Twinspires.com Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) to . That effort earned the Birsh camp enough points to take its show on the road and bring some Empire State straight talk to the Heartland.

Birsh isn’t completely accidental when it comes to raising good horses, however. His lovely farm west of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., near the town of Galway, is managed by longtime Birsh associate Mike Tobin. Birsh owns a half-dozen broodmares and puts a couple of horses in training each year.

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt Phil Birsh and farm manager Mike Tobin

“Mike Tobin and I are pretty much all we got,” said Birsh from his Playbill office. “We’re in the car and kind of drive. Mike is a terrific horseman who’s been at it 25 years and it’s a joy to share this with a great friend like him.”

At the 2005 Keeneland January mixed sale Birsh gave $17,000 for a Hennessy mare named Still Secret, in foal to Boundary. Birsh bred her to Mayakovsky, a Matty G colt he purchased to stand at stud, and she produced Mother Russia, who won seven stakes for New York-breds and earned better than a half-million bucks, though not for Birsh.

“I showed my horsemanship by not thinking much of her and selling her (as a weanling for $21,000),” Birsh said. Mother Russia has gone on to produce the colt Golden Barows, who has earned nearly a half-million dollars and is a stakes winner in Japan and graded stakes- placed in Dubai.

Birsh did, however, keep the Warrior's Reward colt he bred out of Still Secret.

“My deep research into that breeding was listening when David Hagar of Idle Hour Farm suggested the mating and I said, ‘OK, Dave, sounds good.’ That was the total of my brilliance that brought forth this horse (Tencendur),” Birsh said.

Tencendur was the name of King Charlemagne’s war horse, and since Birsh is married to a woman of French descent, he selected the lofty moniker. Asked if the colt was special from the start, Birsh continued on his roll.

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt Tencendur at Churchill Downs

“From the get-go we thought he was not very bright, and he has proven throughout his life to be a big, lovable lug who invents ways to lose races as he goes along,” Birsh said. “He was a most impressive-looking youngster until we weaned him. He then instantly became the biggest baby you’ve ever seen. He was depressed, dragging his nose on the ground for days until he finally picked his head back up and began growing at such a rate he had us wondering when this giraffe would start growing spots.”

Sent to Kentucky horseman Wayne Mackey, Tencendur started to bloom, and Birsh turned down several generous offers for him. Although he usually races fillies, Birsh decided to hold on to the 17-hand giant. Sent to trainer George Weaver in New York, Tencendur ran third behind the highly regarded Far From Over in his only race at 2. He broke his maiden in January, then ran fourth in the Withers Stakes (gr. III) and fifth in the (gr. III) before the Wood.

“He’s doing great,” Birsh reported. “He reminds me of my son, who was 6’4” and 200 pounds when I dropped him off at college. This horse is remarkably physically impressive, the LeBron James of horses.

“Has he come around mentally? Not completely. He changed leads once in his first four races. Then in the Wood he changed leads, made the front, and then slowed down because he didn’t know what to do. If the light goes on, we’ll have something really fun to watch.”

Just like any great actor, Birsh said that Tencendur does very well in a crowd. He seems comfortable running in and among horses, which is crucial for a big effort in the 20-horse Derby field.

“I’m very excited for him, for me, for George, and for my family. It’s great to be part of the Derby. It’s a true privilege and joy. It’s what you dream of, and dreams happen. It’s George and Mike Tobin who got us here. I’m just a necessary evil, the Henry Blake of the operation,” Birsh said, referring to the clueless colonel in “M*A*S*H*.

Tencendur may be a fortuitous surprise, but Birsh is anything but clueless. And no matter where the colt finishes Saturday, his owner will add a welcome dose of humor and showbiz bright lights to the theater that is the Kentucky Derby.

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt Tencendur's saddle cloth