By Bill Heller
The hits just keep on coming for Joe and Anne McMahon’s McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. At Monday’s New York-bred awards dinner, the McMahons’ stallion Central Banker was named the 2024 New York Sire of the Year, and one of his sons, Bank Frenzy, was named the 2024 New York-Bred Older Male Dirt Champion. And the McMahons’ son John, the farm’s manager, was named Farm Manager of the Year.
It’s incredible that Joe and Anne McMahon started their farm a full decade before there was a New York-bred breeding program.
“What I saw the other night, when they accepted those awards, I got to witness my parents show a room full of people what grit does,” the McMahons’ daughter and co-office manager Jane said. “They made it through blood, sweat and tears. It’s not complicated. It’s very simple. They didn’t take vacations and they didn’t spend any money on themselves. They scratched it out. We understand, more and more with every passing year, what they did.”
Her brother John said, “They wanted to raise a family on a farm. The business has paid them rewards for their trust and faith that everything would come along fine. They did it through a lot of hard work.”
John and Jane, who runs the office with her sister Tara, are just part of the family behind McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. Their oldest brother Mike is a farm partner and its bloodstock agent. And sister Kate, who has worked for Darley for 20 years, does consulting for the farm.
“McMahon Thoroughbreds is in a far different place than we thought it would ever have been,” Joe said. “We should be the poster child for the breeding game because we didn’t have anything starting out. Everything we got, literally, we put back in the game. We continued to operate. I thought that was the purpose of the New York-bred program: to maintain agricultural land that otherwise would have been developed commercially. All we have done is build the business in New York State. With all the farms that have come and gone, it’s amazing that we’re still here. We’re proud of it. Now our children run the farm. We’re very proud of what we accomplished.”
Joe and Anne met on the Saratoga backstretch. Anne exercised Joe’s first horse, a filly who won her debut shortly after their wedding. Their wedding present from Anne’s father allowed them to buy their farm in 1970. “It was very hard,” Joe said. “Anne and I, we didn’t have any money. It was very difficult. There wasn’t any interest.”
One of their first purchases was Countess Camden, who was called “The Black Mare.” In 1971, she produced their first colt, Cider Hill, who earned $18,764.
In 1973, the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund began a state breeding program that would ultimately grow into the country’s best. But it took time. “The program had, initially, humble beginnings,” Joe said.
In the early ‘90s, the McMahons worked hard to change the original legislation that created the Fund: “The breed-back rule was part of the original legislation, that New York-breds could go to Kentucky without residency. As things got difficult in the ‘80s, there was a recession, a drop-off in breeding in New York State. I remember clients were concerned that the program would be gone.
“We realized that the business was going the wrong way. We were always getting this bad press. It was derogatory. We came up with the idea of a residency rule. We changed the breed-back rule and stiffened the residency rule. We also let mares go out of state. It made a tremendous difference. I recruited the horses for New York-bred sales. I’m very proud of that because that changed the whole business. It created a market. It was the early ‘90s. That was a real game-changer and is today. Today, we see New York-breds compete at the highest level. Anyone there at the start would be proud of where we are now.”
The horse they couldn’t be prouder of is Funny Cide. Foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Funny Cide won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness before finishing third in the Belmont Stakes. “Funny Cide was a real game-changer for the whole industry,” Joe said. “It was remarkable that a New York-bred won the Kentucky Derby. It was like an impossible dream come true. He was part of a mare-share deal with Prestonwood Farm. We had a good relationship with Doug Cauthen.”
Funny Cide’s success, which included a victory in the Grade 1 Jockey Club, solidified McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds’ legitimacy and showcased the quality of New York-breds.
In 2015, their new stallion Central Banker arrived at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and showed just how high the New York-bred program can climb. The son of Speightstown, out of Go for Gin’s daughter Rhum, has been the leading New York sire from 2021 through 2024 and shows no signs of slowing down this year, currently ranking 54th in North American progeny earnings.
“From breeding to $1,000 stallions in New York to standing the best horse outside of Kentucky, that’s a huge thing,” Joe said.
John said, “Central Banker has been a very influential stallion for our program. We’ve always worked hard to breed mares to him. He really helps all the breeders connect the dots.”
The farm’s addition in 2020 of Solomini, a son of two-time Horse of the Year and super stallion Curlin, produced immediate results.
“Obviously, we’re really proud of the farm,” Jane said. “It’s always been Joe and Anne’s big idea. We’re remarkably proud of Central Banker.”
Making their success even sweeter is that McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds is the collective result of the efforts of the whole the McMahon family. As far as the next generation goes, Jane said, “All the kids are very interested at a basic level. They all have the racing bug.”
Wonder where that came from.
