10 SHs - 3 GSHs
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The Hidden Brook team takes great pride in our ability to spot a quality horse with racing potential, and with the upcoming two-year-old sales fast approaching, we'd like to reiterate our commitment to a selection process that has continually hit the mark.

Since 2007, we have purchased 52 two-year-olds at public auction, with 17.3% going on to become stakes horses, and 11.5% going on to be graded stakes horses.

On February 20th, Hidden Brook purchase Happy My Way saw victory in an Allowance at Gulfstream Park, bringing his lifetime earnings up to $197,185. He has received triple-digit Beyer scores in each of his last three starts. Hidden Brook purchased Happy My Way as a two-year-old for just $23,000, making him the most recent Hidden Brook success story in a long line of outstanding two-year-old purchases.

BIG BROWN-G1

One of our most prominent success stories is the April 2007 two-year-old purchase Big Brown, who was hammered down for $190,000, a modest price considering his eventual Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes victories, four G1 stakes wins and lifetime earnings of $3,904,569. In addition to dominating in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, he also nabbed victories in the Florida Derby (G1) and Haskell Invitational (G1).

ALPHA BETTOR-G2

Additional notable Hidden Brook purchases include:
Alpha Bettor, purchased by Hidden Brook as a two-year-old for $27,000, went on to earn $660,914, with an average earning of $25,420 per start. The colt is a 2013 Sovereign Award Finalist for Champion Older Horse as well as a multiple G2 stakes winner. Sovereign Awards will be announced in April.

Cigar Street, a Grade 3 stakes winner who has now earned $182,138, was originally purchased as a two-year-old by Hidden Brook for $130,000.

The filly Inny Minnie has placed multiple times in Graded stakes, and has earned $186,610 since being purchased as a two-year-old in April 2011.

Both Dubinsky and Zapparition are Grade 3 stakes performers who have gone on to earn $186,695 and $183,030, respectively.

Our selection team covers all of the major training sales, including the following:  

* March 10-11 - Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Selected Sale of Two-Year-Old in Training in Ocala, FL

* March 24 - Fasig-Tipton Florida Selected Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale at Adena Springs, Ocala, FL

* April  9-10 - Keeneland April Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in Lexington, KY

* April 21-24 - Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training in Ocala, FL

* May 19-20 - Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in Timonium, MD

Please let us know how we can help you achieve your racing goals or if you have any questions about Hidden Brook's program.

Hidden Brook has had impressive results with runners bought for its own racing partnership. In 2013, the racing partnerships earned $563,352,000 in purses and boasted a 61% in-the-money stat.

Our 2013 crop of two-year-old racing partnership offerings include a handsome colt, Duly Noted (Majesticperfection - Thoughtful); and two gorgeous fillies, Whodattcat (Super Saver - Dattcatsgotrhythm), and Wave Bye Bye (Congrats - Wave On) currently undergoing their early schooling with Randy Bradshaw in Ocala, Florida. All three are galloping handily on the track and beginning to develop strength and stamina in their training regimen.

 



Please contact Dan Hall if you have an interest in any of our Hidden Brook Racing opportunities or would like to learn more. (859) 621-0526 | danhall@hiddenbrookfarmky.com 

Birthday: July 23, 1965.

Residence: Bear, Delaware.

Family: Wife, Carol, married 10 years.

Education: University of Delaware.

Primary Business: Founder and CEO, Newark Recycling Center, Inc.

Tell us a little about your recycling business: What we actually do is we are buyers of scrap metal and processors. So we will go ahead and purchase different grades of scrap metal, and that material will have to be processed-it will be baled, boxed, and handled in any manner in which that particular item calls for to be ready to be delivered to warehouses for holding. The other processing we do, we have several large hydraulic pieces of equipment that we will cut, and actually get the equipment-especially steel-and we'll get those to a stage that are mill ready to be set into the furnaces and re-melded.

Probably as a child. My father had a small stable of race horses when I was a kid, and I can remember every weekend during school helping out at Delaware Park with the horses at a young age. I kind of got stuck mucking the stalls and simple things of that nature, and as I got a little older, I would actually take the horses to paddock for them and hustle around, so I had a little bit of an introduction from my family at an early age, and that never really left me. Obviously, you start making your own way, and finally you have the opportunity and funds available to get involved in the race industry, which never leave you once you get introduced to it, it seems.

How did you discover Hidden Brook? I actually was fortunate enough to begin purchasing race horses on my own, and running under my own name. I think I started in about 2007 with an old friend of the family and he and I went partners on a couple cheap claimers that we actually became successful with. I think it was 2010 I saw a three-year-old filly I liked, we claimed her, gave her some time off, and eighty-two days after I claimed her, we brought her to the race track and won back-to-back overnight stakes with her, one at Delaware Park and one at Charlestown. I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Bryan Cross [at Hidden Brook] about the possible residual value that the filly had now gained by winning stakes races. There was just something about Bryan that, when I began to speak to him, I liked him immediately and my relationship with Hidden Brook started at that point. The horse did have some physical issues, so we were making necessary plans, and Bryan and I had forged a relationship to get this filly to Hidden Brook, send her to Gainesway, and have her bred to Tapizar. I boarded her for eight or nine months at Hidden Brook, who then did all the sales preparations and shipped her to Keeneland, and we sold her at the November sale this year.

What has been your overall experience with Hidden Brook so far? Professionalism. The ability to be surrounded by a bunch of individuals that have great experience in the racehorse industry. Very fair, very honest people. They give you the opportunity to make your own decision, but they always give you a lot of well-guided and well-educated help to make the right decision, or the best decision you can make. To be able to be with a group of people, especially the group Hidden Brook has to help guide you, they give you a foundation to build a racing stable, whether it's through partnerships, whether you want to try and claim horses and continue on your own, they arm you with all the knowledge that you could possibly want to be as successful as you can in such a high-risk business, and that is just something that's worth its weight in gold. You don't want to do this by yourself when you have a team like that you can join.

Tell us a little about your horses: We have three horses we're partnered with at Hidden Brook right now. We have two fillies that were purchased as yearlings, and they're in Ocala right now, and we also have a two-year-old colt named Duly Noted. We have Wave Bye Bye (one of the fillies), and we have another filly named Whodattcat, and I really like how these horses look. Hidden Brook has been really great about sending me photographs and keeping me abreast on how their early development has been coming along. I can't look into a crystal ball, but just by the opportunities they've been given and the way they look, you can't help but be excited for what their future may hold for us.

What is your favorite Racetrack to visit? I don't think anybody can beat Saratoga.

What's your personal most exciting moment in racing so far? Nothing was more exciting than watching that 3-year-old filly that I'd claimed, Doe, which Hidden Brook sold for me, watching her come down the stretch at Delaware Park and when they hit the quarter pole, when she turned for home and opened up by four lengths coming down the stretch, I don't even know if my feet were on the ground at that point. When she crossed the finish line, and right on down to being presented in the winner's circle, with my wife being presented the trophy, I mean, wow, I don't even know what to say.

What advice would you give someone who was interested in joining the horse business? Just be educated enough. Everybody has their own reason for getting involved, and it is a high risk business, and most people starting out at the ground floor should be aware of that before they put their first dollar down. I don't really recommend anyone to do this on their own. I'm speaking from experience, because I have done it on my own. The type of atmosphere that Hidden Brook offers you, and the knowledge that is offered, and the contacts, and the help-why would you want to do this on your own when you can join a team like that? That's what this is, it's a team, and Hidden Brook makes you feel like you're part of a team. So, I would say, get on the internet if you're a new owner, look up Hidden Brook Farm, dial some of the numbers and talk to some people, and I think you'll be on the path to success.

Favorite Sports and Teams? Well, my favorite sport is football, and I know you're probably going to laugh, but my favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys. A well-hated team. I must admit that one player from way back when, Randy White, used to go to my high school, so I've been a fan of the Cowboys ever since I was a kid. But I'm really into the outdoor sports. I enjoy hunting and fishing. My wife hunts and fishes with me. We are both involved in archery, which is probably my favorite part of shooting sports. But I'm pretty big into white tail deer hunting, and water fowl hunting.

Favorite Horse of All Time? I have a couple, but I would have to say that would be Spectacular Bid.

Favorite Foods? I am a sucker for a good piece of prime rib, but I'd have to say, ranking right at the top, sitting down with friends and family with a couple cases of beer and two or three bushels of hot steamed Maryland crabs-that's the favorite.  

Favorite movies? I'm a Clint Eastwood fanatic, so I'd have to say "Dirty Harry" ranks right up there at the top.  

Any final words for our readers? Again, if they have the opportunity to get involved in this business, do themselves a favor and get educated as much as possible, and get hooked up with a quality group such as Hidden Brook. It'll probably be the fastest and closest way to guaranteeing your success.