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00:00Mill Ridge Farm is riding high after a successful year with Oscar Performance, who was the leading
00:08sire of turf two-year-olds in 2022. Now, they're adding a second addition to their stallion roster
00:14and Breeders' Cup champion, Aloha West. Eclipse, their partners are, you know, our friends and
00:22clients we hold in the highest regard. And Aaron Wellman and his team are as good as any at
00:28identifying talent. And we'd had a long conversation over, you know, a year or so about this horse,
00:35you know, and about his story, about how he came to be part of the Eclipse franchise. Certainly,
00:40their motto is Believe Big, and he certainly achieved the highest result for their partners.
00:47He was a brilliant racehorse. He had great, you know, precocity at two, although he didn't run
00:52it two. He was tough and fast and wanted to get to the finish line first. And so, you know, you win,
01:00you run nine times as a four-year-old coming into the Breeders' Cup sprint. It's like, wow,
01:04this is a really serious racehorse. So, in the Breeders' Cup, in his win, you know, against
01:10Jackie's Warrior and, you know, Dr. Chevelle and these, you know, good, good horses. And he was
01:15certainly kind of the, you know, the talking horse going into the Breeders' Cup. You knew
01:19kind of from his past performances and previous races that he had a big shot,
01:23and then for him to do it in the way that I think you had to win the race.
01:39I think physically he's beautifully balanced. Hardspun is a, you know, is a son of Danzig who
01:46is as influential a sire line as there exists. And I think the Spicetown side has really,
01:52you know, I don't know, balanced him, polished him up. I mean, I think he's a beautiful horse.
01:56I think he's, I like his, you know, I like the shape of his leg. I like his hip. I like the
02:02way that his neck ties into his shoulder. So, he's, you know, from the family of Fapiano.
02:08And then within that, you've got Spicetown who is, you know, son of Gone West, out of a Stormcat
02:14line. And so, this is a different way to kind of pull that, to pull that Spicetown into families.
02:20People have been booking seasons and, you know, buying shares, and it's been very,
02:24it's been very good. Last year, we just came through our 60th anniversary, I guess. We're now
02:2861 years in and have been blessed throughout it. But at the, at the moment, I feel so fortunate.
02:35We've got an incredible team. You know, we've expanded the farm and that's allowed us to grow
02:40our client base. You know, we've got great new clients, great clients we've had for, you know,
02:46decades. And then you've got Oscar Performance who has, I think, certainly overachieved.
02:53Certainly the, the phone calls and the quality of breeders who are calling to breed Oscar
02:57Performance this year is better than it's ever been, you know. And so, it's a lot of hope. And
03:02then you pull Aloha West who is, as a, for me, as exciting a sire, certainly in this price point
03:09coming out this year. We certainly believe and our clients believe and,
03:14yeah, Eclipse always believes big. So, we're hopeful that we can get lucky together.