by Cynthia McFarland
Ask a group of horsemen to come up with a clever
way to make a charitable donation and they are
bound to think of a way to include horses.
When Hip 736, a Performing Magic colt named Trinity
Magic, brought a final bid of $50,000 on day three
of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. spring sale
of two-year-olds in training, the purchase meant
a generous donation check would soon be written
to Blessed Trinity Church of Ocala.
Several years ago, Ciaran Dunne of Wavertree Stables
came up with the idea of selling a two-year-old
in training to benefit the church. Niall Brennan
Stables, Leprechaun Racing, Eddie Woods Training
Stable, and Scanlon Training Center all pitched
in with Wavertree Stables on the effort.
“There are a lot of fund raising things
at the church, but we’re all so busy and
we thought we could do a lot more by applying our
training efforts than by going over and cutting
the grass,” explained Mike Mulligan of Leprechaun
Racing. “We all donate the training expenses
and everything over the purchase price is donated
to Blessed Trinity.”
The latest purchase was a colt by the Gone West
stakes winner Performing Magic, bought by the group
for $5,700 at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern
fall yearling sale. The horse was trained at Leprechaun,
but all of the partners pitched in to cover the
horse’s expenses. Aptly named Trinity Magic,
the chestnut colt is out of the Pine Bluff mare,
Miz Pickens. He worked an eighth-mile in :10.40.
Agent Mike Shannon signed the ticket on
behalf of Jim Donnan, a Texas client of trainer
Steve Asmussen.
“He’s a nice horse, and Steve [Asmussen],
being the good Catholic he is, wanted to help the
church all he can,” Shannon said.
“This is the fourth year we’ve done
this,” Mulligan said. “There has been
a total of $119,000 over the last three years donated
and this year another $44,000 from the sale of
this horse. The Diocese of Orlando matches all
the contributions we give, so it’s a win-win
for Blessed Trinity.”
Of the three horses sold at past sales as part
of the Blessed Trinity charity project, all are
winners. Greg’s Lassy won a $46,000 allowance
race at Aqueduct on April 20 by 9 1/2 lengths.
West Point Thoroughbreds bought Greg’s Lassy
at the 2006 OBSC spring sale for $70,000.
Cynthia McFarland is a Florida-based
Thoroughbred Times correspondent
