Everett Dobson and Ed Gaylord partnered on many horses over their three decades of friendship, some good, some bad, yet their association waned a bit in recent years.
Dobson, the managing partner of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA with a passion for racing, wanted to keep his friend involved and hatched a plan almost a year ago to the day of Wednesday’s Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
“He and I have been friends since we were in our 20s and we’re not in our 20s anymore,” Dobson said with a laugh Wednesday. “We’ve been friends for 30-plus years, we’ve owned racehorses together, we’ve owned mares together but we haven’t done a lot together in the last few years.
“I was talking to Ed last year about this time, going into the Keeneland September sale, and said, ‘What do you think about buying just one more horse together?’
Gaylord, whose family enjoyed a long association with the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and remains a majority shareholder in the publicly traded company, agreed and the two men set an amount they were looking to spend at the September sale.
Gatewood Bell, who operates Cromwell Bloodstock in Lexington, found a colt by multiple Group 1 winner Declaration Of War that was slated to sell midway through the sixth session of the sale. They bought the colt for $180,000, toward the top end of the session’s most expensive lots and significantly more expensive than the day’s average price.
“We got lucky and got the right one apparently,” Dobson said Wednesday, moments after the subsequently named Opry overcame a slow start to break his maiden in the $150,000 turf stakes for 2-year-olds.
Dobson and trainer Todd Pletcher, who also saddled Azar to a maiden-breaking win in the 2015 With Anticipation, didn’t feel lucky watching the start of this year’s edition.
To read the rest of the With Anticipation recap, download Thursday’s digital edition of The Saratoga Special presented by EasyFix Stable Solutions.
