Ten Strike Racing Manager Liz Crow was recently featured in the BloodHorse. Below is the article:
Ten Strike Racing’s I’m a Looker ran down the field in the Saylorville Stakes on July 6th at Prairie Meadows to finish 2nd by a length.
The 5 year-old daughter of Henry Hughes settled four lengths behind the leader in the back of the pack in this six furlong Stakes race. Turning for home, I’m a Looker sat patiently and waited for her gap. Once asked by jockey Corey Lanerie, I’m a Looker swallowed up the field but unfortunately the post came a length too early.
This was a promising run and Ten Strike Racing with co-owners China Horse Club and Head Of Plains Partners now have several summer possibilities including the Shine Again Stakes at Saratoga in early August followed by the G1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga over seven furlongs in late August.
This was I’m A Looker’s first start for trainer Brad Cox since being purchased privately in late 2016.
I’m a Looker has 21 starts, 4 wins, 5 places, 2 shows and career earnings of $293,634 including a G3 win in the Winning Colors at Churchill last year.
Growing up a couple blocks from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., horse racing has enthralled trainer Brad Cox since early childhood. Working his way up through the industry, however, it didn’t take him long to discover the commerciality driving the sport’s brilliant excitement.
“It’s a business, for sure,” said Cox, 37. “It really takes a lot of organization (to be a trainer); I have lists on top of lists and I have to be really on top of each and every horse in my stable. I’ve also learned to appreciate all the people who work so hard to keep this operation moving forward every single day.”
The current stable star is Abdullah Saeed Almaddah’s Green Mask, recently an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes at Woodbine. Victory in the “win and you’re in” race earned the 6-year-old Mizzen Mast gelding an all-entry fees paid, automatic berth to the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar in November, a race in which he finished fifth in 2016.
“I think the five furlongs at Del Mar will suit him a lot better than the 6 ½ downhill at Santa Anita,” Cox said. “He’s really a very consistent horse, and he is performing very, very well right now. It’s just a matter of keeping him happy through the rest of the year.”
Cox’s stable has experienced both growth and decline since the trainer took out his license in 2004. Midwest Thoroughbreds, the gargantuan racing operation of Richard and Karen Papiese, entrusted Cox with a significant number of horses early in his career. Twice, however, the owners made the decision to shift their horses to other trainers – perhaps because of Cox’s determination to remain in Louisville for much of the year – and left the young trainer’s stable struggling.
“I learned a lot during my time with Midwest,” he said. “They claimed a lot of horses so I had the opportunity to practice the management of those horses, but ultimately it is a business decision.”
That same determination carried Cox through the time of crisis; the trainer re-built his stable from just three horses up to the multi-location operation it is today.
“We just made small goals every week, and worked really hard to achieve them,” Cox said. “First it was to pick up an owner or a new horse each week, then it was to win a certain number of races at Keeneland or at Churchill. When we reached those goals, we set new ones, and that’s the same concept that has carried me to this point of my career.”
Stewart, himself a disciple of Cox’s idol, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, taught Cox about stable management. For nearly five years, Cox absorbed every modicum of information he could, from the communication with owners and racing officials to the level of detail required to provide each horse the best chance of success. He was rewarded with the opportunity to ride along as Unbridled Elaine won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and to follow the colt Dollar Bill through the Kentucky Derby trail.
“I’m very grateful to Dallas,” Cox said. “He gave me a chance when he didn’t have to, and the lessons I learned working for him are a major part of my success. I got to work with a lot of really nice horses.”
Organization is easily the most important lesson Cox picked up from Stewart, he explained, especially in terms of managing horses at four or five different racetracks. He spends a great deal of time on the phone each day, talking to owners, racing secretaries, and with each of his assistant trainers.
The process of rebuilding his stable left a permanent impression on Cox, and he is determined to continue to expand and improve his operation through those same organizational skills. While some trainers might be content with a relatively small number of horses, Cox enjoys continually pushing himself toward the next goal. Even his favorite hashtag on Twitter and social media displays his desire for success: #trainingwinners.
Cox laughs when he suggests wanting to train the next Triple Crown winner, but gives the impression that he isn’t entirely joking.
“From what I’ve learned, no business is ever stable,” he said. “It’s either growing or shrinking, and I definitely prefer to be growing. I think the ultimate goal for a trainer is to be able to develop a 2-year-old into a really good racehorse—to take it from the beginning all the way to the top of the sport. We have a good group of babies this year, and we’re hoping several of them will jump up and take us to the next level.”
He may be driven, but he doesn’t forget those who work hard every day to keep the operation afloat. Most of his dialogue is littered with “us” and “our” pronouns, as opposed to “I” and “me.” And it isn’t just those in his employ: his family is also a part of that collective unit working toward the next goal.
Cox’s wife, equine veterinarian Livia Frazar, shares the trainer’s passion for the sport as well as each animal in the barn. His two sons, 19-year-old Bryson and 16-year-old Blake, are also a major part of the business, spending much time around the barn and learning about the sport. Cox wouldn’t dream of discouraging them from entering the industry.
“They both seem to really enjoy it,” he said, pride shining through his words. “I think they both want to work in the industry, and I will try to help them be as successful as possible in any way I can.”
For now, Cox is hoping to take his sons on the same journey he enjoyed with Stewart: a victory in the Breeders’ Cup. Green Mask has been recording some of the best performances of his career in recent months, and has not finished worse than second in his six starts since December.
“Right now, I think he definitely represents our best opportunity to get a Breeders’ Cup win,” Cox said, then smiled. “Of course, I’d like to have a couple of juveniles heading out that way to join him in November!”
by Chelsea Hackbarth | 07.12.2017 | Paulick Report
Read more here on www.paulickreport.com
While ending up in the winner’s circle is ultimate goal for Thoroughbred owners, one partnership tries just as hard to find homes for former charges once their racing days are over.
Ten Strike Racing—which is run by Marshall Gramm and Clay Sanders, plus 25 other partners—campaigns graded stakes placed Allied Air Raid and already counts more than 80 wins since officially combining operations under the Ten Strike umbrella in early 2016. The group strives to find good homes for their retired runners and hopes to set an example for other owners.
“We love to win races, but we love to make sure these horses are cared for when they are done (racing),” said Liz Crow, stable manager for Ten Strike Racing.
“We do make sure it is known (to the partners) that aftercare is very important to us, and that these horses will find a home, one way or another, when they are done racing,” she said.
Since the outfit mostly runs claiming horses, with approximately 25-30 running at one time, Crow said tracking their runners is key to make sure they end up in good homes when they retire. Tracking claiming horses can be difficult, but the group makes an effort that has already paid off for one horse.
A 4-year-old gelding named I’mdrinkingdoubles was quickly claimed off of Ten Strike after running at Oaklawn Park and was shipped to Emerald Downs. Since Crow kept tabs on him and noticed he was vanned off the track in his last start, she made some calls to see what could be done to get the horse retired.
“I called the trainer and owner and asked if I could help him retire the horse,” she said. “(The trainer) was blown away that I would be calling him for that, and was really nice about it. We ended up retiring him out in California and donated money to get him retired. He was so blown away that someone cared enough to call him.”
Also knowing that she could turn to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) when looking for a legitimate retirement facility on the West Coast was another key for Crow.
“A lot of times these horses retire up at New York, or Parx, or California, and you don’t want to ship them all the way across the country to a facility, so what’s nice about the TAA is you can call them up and say, ‘I have a horse in Texas, or California, do you have an accredited farm nearby that we could use?’ And (the TAA) gave me five options, and one of the farms had a spot.”
To show their appreciation for the TAA’s efforts, Ten Strike recently helped raise awareness through the sponsorship of a race at Oaklawn Feb. 20 and a check presentation. The group hopes they caught the attention of other racing owners to encourage them to think about aftercare.
“I explained (how the TAA helped retire I’mdrinkingdoubles) to Clay and Marshall and they said, ‘We should really do something at Oaklawn that helps show that we’re a big organization (and) we care about aftercare.’ So we did a big presentation with the hopes that maybe a few owners at the races that day would see it and think (about it).”
While the group hasn’t been officially incorporated long enough to have too many of their horses in second careers yet, knowing that their horses are well cared for off the track is satisfaction enough.
“The reason that we’re in this game is because we love horses,” Crow said. “They’re such amazing animals and without them we don’t have anything.
“I think that it’s so important to make sure that we treat them well and make sure they have retirement homes. I think it’s something that our industry is getting better about, but we still have a long way to go.”
Thoroughbred Daily News article by: Lucas Marquardt
As the son of two economists, and an economist himself, Marshall Gramm was always going to have a knack for numbers. Now the 43-year-old is using his analytical skills to develop one of the most promising young stables in America…and to take a shot at the National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas.
Gramm didn’t make the cut for Sunday’s final round at Treasure Island, but will compete in the consolation tournament. He is the co-owner of the racing partnership Ten Strike Racing, which maintains a 60-strong stable primarily with trainers Brad Cox and Juan Carlos Guerrero.
“I’m a horse owner and horse breeder because I was a player first,” Gramm said Saturday from the auxiliary room at Treasure Island. “Really, it’s made my career. I got tenured and became a full professor because of my research on horse racing.”
Gramm, an economics professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, is the son of Phil Gramm, the longtime Republican senator from Texas. Growing up in Washington DC, Gramm didn’t have any family connections to racing, save for an uncle who bartended at Longacres for a time, and would put down Derby bets for Gramm.
“Like all boys, I got into sports when I was young,” he said. “But we didn’t have cable [TV]. So my access to sports was reading the paper. There was a whole page with the racing charts, and I just really got into it. Andrew Beyer was our sports writer, so I bought all his books, and that led to reading other books on racing. By 10 or 11, I was hooked.”
Gramm’s favorite horse as a youngster was Timely Writer, the claimer turned four-time Grade I winner.
Racing and handicapping remained a passion through his college years, and he took a unique view to racing through the lens of an economist.
“I have 12 to 15 papers directly related to horse racing, using racing tangentially to look at economics,” he said.
Next semester, he’s even teaching a new course at Rhodes on the economics of racetrack wagering markets.
“As of today, I have 34 enrolled, so it’s going to be one of the biggest classes at Rhodes,” said Gramm. “It’s basically going to be a handicapping class. Imagine teaching a class of students who don’t know the difference between an exacta, furlong and gelding. I’m really excited about it, and I hope that spills over to my students.”
As Gramm became established in the world of academia, he began to think about owning horses himself. In 2008, he tracked a filly named Aunt Dot Dot (Gulch) who was dropping into the claiming ranks. “She was bred by a guy I knew, Courtlandt Farm’s Don Adam, and I was at a wedding a saw an old friend and said, ‘Hey, we should claim this horse.’”
Gramm won a three-way shake for the filly at $5,000 and was immediately offered $10,000 for her. He declined, and bred the stakes winner Aunt Ellipsis (Successful Appeal) out of the mare, who is from the family of Chris Evert and Winning Colors.
Gramm’s involvement snowballed from there. He began claiming more, though initially had limited success.
“I went 1-for-51 with my first starters,” he laughed.
Gramm ramped up by forming a partnership with two friends called Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Investments, and then launched another partnership called High Point Thoroughbred Partners. The latter was a huge success. In 2013, High Point was the ninth-leading owner in the nation by wins, with 82 wins from 196 starters-a 42% strike rate. They were also the leading owner at Parx that year. High Point sent out to Claiming Crown winners, Goodtimehadbyall (Quiet American) and J B’s Unc (Cactus Ridge).
On Jan. 1, 2016, Gramm formed another partnership, Ten Strike Racing, along with Clay Sanders, a Memphis-based bond trader originally from Arkansas.
Ten Strike picked up right were High Point left off. Last year, Ten Strike won 69 races, and again was the leading owner at Parx. Ten Strike’s runners included the SW & MGSP Allied Air Raid (Midshipman), a Brad Cox-trained 5-year-old who ran second in the GIII Salvator Mile S. The 4-year-old Red Dragon Tattoo (Bellamy Road) was another stable standout. The gelding won his first three races for Guerrero by a combined 10 lengths before a last-out fifth in the Native Dancer S. at Laurel Jan. 21.
Recently, Ten Strike also privately purchased the Grade III winner I’m a Looker (Henny Hughes) with China Horse Club and Head of Plains; the filly will be trained by Cox.
Ten Strike has been active at the yearling and 2-year-old sales–Allied Air Raid was a $50,000 OBS June buy–and employs the Lexington-based Liz Crow as its racing manager and bloodstock advisor. (Crow also works with Brad Weisbord’s BSW Bloodstock.)
“Clay and Liz focus on racing prospects and purchases, and I focus on the claiming operation,” said Gramm. “But we all talk about it. We’ve spent more money recently, and we’ve bought a few horses with Sol Kumin. It’s great to have that connection through Liz.”
Asked about what sort of horse Ten Strike typically targets at the sales, Gramm explained, “Like everyone else, we want to buy routing dirt horses. We focus on Oaklawn, and look for horses that can be successful there. Most of our partners are from Arkansas, and we want to win at Oaklawn.”
Gramm also targets Oaklawn as a handicapper during the spring, and focuses on Saratoga in the Summer. “I’ll play every day when they run,” he said.
Sitting among the hundreds of horseplayers in Las Vegas, Gramm echoed a common sentiment that there is too big a disconnect between the breeding and racing industry and handicappers.
“It was hard to watch the Eclipse Awards, because I feel like people lose site that it’s the gambling that drives the sport,” he said. “And that’s where we need to grow the sport. I worry more about things that affect me as a gambler than I do about some short-sited views in the sport. I worry about new source-market fees in Ohio, Minnesota and Michigan, all of which will hurt horseplayers, and all for short-term gains for the tracks. My college students, they’re too smart to play a game with a 25-30% takeout. It’s a bad parallel, but it’s like raising the tax on cigarettes. The people who are old and addicted pay, but no one starts because it’s unaffordable. I think that’s the problem we have right now.”
If Gramm talks like an economist, he shows, too, that the humorless reputation that the “dismal science” is saddled with is undeserved. An example:
“Wesley Hawley has an owner named Smoot, and they claimed a horse off me,” he related. “I tweeted about it and said, ‘Former Ten Strike filly She’s Acting Single is now trained by Hawley and owned by Smoot. Anyone get it? Anyone? Anyone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhiCFdWeQfA).’”
Ten Strike got off to a fast start opening weekend of the Oaklawn Park meeting on January 14th – 16th.
On Sunday, January 15th Ten Strike sent two runners to post in Allowance and Maiden Special Weight events. Homebred Mountain Home (3yo f. by Successful Appeal), named after a small city in Arkansas where two of our partners Gary and Linda Pitts live, she did not disappoint the large crowd there to watch her debut. She set a :22.05 opening quarter under Jon Court followed by a quick :46.06 half mile. She was nailed on the line by Dutch Parrot and finished 2nd beaten a neck. Dutch Parrot had a start under her belt and took advantage of a fast early pace. Mountain Home should be tough to beat next out.
Click here to watch the race replay (She is #7)
Next up was Divine Elegance (4yo f. by Uncle Mo) making her second start off the claim for trainer Randy Matthews. She sat in second position throughout and took over the lead turning for home to pull away by four lengths in the end under Glenn Corbett. The N1X Allowance was a $74,000 race and was Ten Strike’s first win of the 2017 Oaklawn Park meeting.
Click here to watch the race replay (She is #4)
On Monday, January 16th Ten Strike sent out Game Time Decision (4yo f. by Put It Back) owned in partnership with GenStar Thoroughbreds. The filly was claimed for $50,000 on Thanksgiving at Churchill Downs and really flourished under the care of Brad Cox. She sat in fourth position through the opening quarter over a sloppy Oaklawn track. Turning for home she made a strong rally down the lane to win by a neck. This was another N1X Allowance with a $74,000 purse.
Click here to watch the race replay (She is #4)
Congratulations to our partners on a great start to the 2017 Oaklawn meeting!
Red Dragon Tattoo won by 6 3/4 lengths yesterday to make his career record three wins from three starts lifetime for Ten Strike Racing and trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero. He was purchased by Ten Strike at the 2015 OBS October Sale for $37,000.
In his debut on September 27th, 2016 he went off at 17-1 odds, dueled down the backstretch and pulled away to win by 1 3/4 lengths. He earned a 78 Beyer and 7 Thoro-Graph at Parx Racing.
Click here to view a race replay
Next up was an N1X Allowance on October 25, 2016 race going 7 furlongs on the dirt. He broke sharp once again and was challenged down the backstretch losing his lead for a few strides. He rebroke and pulled away with ease in the stretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths. It was another impressive performance with a 73 Beyer and 5 Thoro-Graph.
Click here to view a race replay
Yesterday he checked off another condition winning his N2X Allowance with ease. Once again he cleared the field, set moderate fractions, and pulled away nicely down the lane. He earned his biggest Beyer yet with a 91.
Click here to view a race replay
All three starts the son of Bellamy Road was ridden by the promising young jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. He will likely point for a Stakes race next at Aqueduct.
I’mdrinkingdoubles ran two times for Ten Strike Racing at Oaklawn Park in the spring of 2016. Both were off the board efforts and he was claimed away in his second start. He was kept on tracking by the Ten Strike team as they watched him drop to the bottom of the claiming ranks. He ran for a $5,000 tag at Emerald Downs and did not complete the race on September 27th, 2016.
Ten Strike contacted owner and trainer Josh Liber to offer assistance in finding the horse a forever home. Through the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Ten Strike was able to find him a sanctuary in California where he will live out the rest of his life. He was dropped off at the facility on October 15th.
Here is a link to the website of the farm he is located: https://www.
Owner/trainer Josh Liber was very appreciative of the help. Here is a text he sent stable manager Liz Crow:
Just wanted you to know he’s (doubles) all set to ship tomorrow and I really appreciate what you and your clients are doing for doubles. In all my 32 years in the thoroughbred industry I’ve never been fortunate enough to meet anybody who has gone out of their way and been so selfless as to ensure the proper home for a horse that didn’t even belong to them. You have given me hope that there are still good people in this business and truth be told I hope that I can be as good of a person as you and your clients some day. You had a profound impact on me and I’m very grateful to your for that!!! May all your photo finishes be winning ones. Thanks for being such a good example!! – Josh
Ten Strike is very committed to ensuring the longterm safety of our horses that we enjoy racing so much.
Dot Matrix won the nightcap at Belmont Park on October 8th making it his second win in a row.
He broke sharply under Eric Cancel and took the field wire to wire for the 1 1/16th turf Allowance race. He broke his maiden at Belmont on September 17th in the same fashion for trainer Abigail Adsit.
Click here to view the race replay
The three-year-old son of Freud is a Ten Strike Racing homebred. The mare Aunt Dot Dot was one of the first horses ever owned by founding partner Marshall Gramm. She has proven to a be a very productive mare with all five of her starters being winners. Stakes winner Aunt Ellipsis (Successful Appeal) has been the highest earner with $204,386 but Dot Matrix is close behind with $118,508.
He is pointed for an N2X Allowance race next month at Aqueduct and will look to make it three in a row for Ten Strike!
Allied Air Raid capped a memorable afternoon of racing at Louisiana Downs for trainer Brad Cox on Saturday, when he stormed to a four-length win in the $75,000 Unbridled. It was Cox’s second stakes victory on the card following Royal By Nature’s win in the $75,000 Sunday Silence.
The races were among four stakes supporting the featured Grade 3, $400,000 Super Derby won by Texas Chrome.
Cox had a total of seven horses running around the country Saturday, and overall won three races and had two seconds. His biggest victories came at Louisiana Downs.
“It was a good day,” he said.
Allied Air Raid ($6.80) was making his turf debut in the Unbridled, and he settled off the pace as Berniestrike was pressed through fractions of 23.75 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, 46.90 for the half-mile, and 1:10.87. Allied Air Raid forged to the lead into the stretch and powered home to cover 1 1/16 miles on firm ground in a swift 1:40.54.
“It was very impressive,” said Cox.
Joe Bravo was aboard for Ten Strike Racing. Bravo also captured the $75,000 Happy Ticket with the Joe Sharp-trained Majestic Gale.
It was also Ten Strike Racing’s first Stakes victory since forming in January.
Cox long had expressed an interest in running Allied Air Raid on turf, and even entered him in a grass race last fall, but the horse was excluded. He has since placed in a handful of main-track stakes races, between tracks such as Monmouth and Mountaineer.
“We wanted to try him on the turf last fall,” Cox said. “He came back doing well on the dirt so we just stuck with the dirt. But we kind of felt something was missing with him. He worked so well, and while he was running well, we felt there was a little more there. The grass unveiled it.”
Cox said he will not rule out running Allied Air Raid back on dirt, but his next start will likely be on turf. He said no decisions have been made on the next start with Allied Air Raid.
Allied Air Raid earned $45,000 for owners Ten Strike Racing. He is a son of Midshipman and was bred in Kentucky.
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