BY SARAH WELK BAYNUM

Dr. Charles Kent Cantrell’s exposure to Thoroughbreds was minimal until his senior year at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. That is when a fortuitous clinical experience sparked an interest in the breed and ultimately helped mold his professional specialization.

“My initial interest in Thoroughbred racing began during my senior year at the University of Florida’s veterinary school,” Cantrell said. “Growing up on a cattle ranch with Quarter Horses in central Florida, I had little exposure to Thoroughbreds, other than the Triple Crown races I’d watch. Prior to that, I didn’t know anything about Thoroughbreds until I encountered a large caseload of them from Ocala at the University. That experience sparked my passion for lameness and sports medicine.”

After graduating in 1997, Cantrell pursued that interest, joining a predominantly Thoroughbred practice at Ocala Equine Hospital (OEH).

“At the time, we worked with about 50 percent broodmares and 50 percent in training Thoroughbreds, so I started out very young working with Thoroughbreds in veterinary medicine,” Cantrell said.

“Today, I’m a managing partner and we have 13 veterinarians total at Ocala Equine Hospital— we also still primarily work on Thoroughbreds. It’s probably 75 percent Thoroughbred racehorses we care for and 25 percent horses in other disciplines.

His primary veterinary interests are lameness and sport related injuries with emphasis on juvenile Thoroughbreds. His practice includes other aspects of general practice such as broodmare management and overall wellness. 

“Most of my cases are sports medicine and lameness. One of my biggest passions is working with these horses to help them progress, get to the racetrack and—if they come back home—rehabilitate them. We’ve invested so much time, effort and money into advanced imaging diagnostics at our Equine hospital—MRI, CT scans, PET scans—because we’re deeply committed to understanding how to help these horses recover, return to racing sounder, and extend their racing careers.”

Cantrell also personally become involved in Thoroughbred breeding and ownership early, coinciding with his veterinary career. 

“My wife, Beckie Cantrell, and I have been actively involved as Thoroughbred owners since 1998,” he said. “We got into the business pretty quickly after I finished vet school, starting with pinhooking on a limited basis. One of my first ownership partners was with Brett Brinkman, who is now a trainer in Louisiana. That partnership lasted close to 10 years, and during that time, we also started developing and acquiring our own broodmares.”

The Cantrell’s continued to own and breed Thoroughbreds through the years and have produced some successful runners. 

“We still have a small breeding operation and we’ve even had a couple mares that have produced stakes winners over the years,” Cantrell said. “One of them was Rahy’s Wish, a 1999 mare sired by Rahy out of the Beau’s Eagle mare Anniversary Wish. She ended up being a multiple stakes producer.”

Rahy’s Wish produced Florida-bred stakes-winners Lindsey’s Wish, by Trippi; and Wildcat Wish, by Wildcat Heir; and Florida-bred stakes-placed runner Saint Jude, by Eurosilver.

Lindsey’s Wish won the $50,000 Goldfinch in 2008 and was third in the $50,875 Prairie Rose in 2009, both at Prairie Meadows. Wildcat Wish won the $75,000 Sam’s Town in 2016 at Delta Downs in a career that spanned 78 races with 11 wins and earnings of $287,813.

However, it was a few mares they had early in their breeding operation that still hold a special place in their hearts. 

“One of our early mares was Pleasant Wendi—a stakes-producing mare that we really loved. We kept one of her foals and raised her—her name was Pleasant Ballerina, which my daughter named when she was very young. Unfortunately, about 60 days before her due date, Pleasant Wendi fractured her pelvis. We had to bring in a nurse mare to help raise Pleasant Ballerina. We kept Pleasant Ballerina as a broodmare, however, and bred her multiple times—although she wasn’t the best producer. But her dam, Pleasant Wendi, did produce a couple of stakes horses.

“But it was those two mares, Pleasant Wendi and Pleasant Ballerina, that we were fondest of. My wife especially formed a strong bond with them since they lived on our farm. We’re very hands-on with our horses—it’s either us feeding them or, at the time, my father-in-law, who was working with us. We had them for years, and those two got us hooked on owning broodmares.”

Today, despite a full-time caseload of horses and being a managing partner at Ocala Equine Hospital, Cantrell still owns and breeds a few broodmares.

“We just have two right now—over the years, we’ve had as many as five and as few as two.”

The Cantrell’s raise their foals in Florida then most often send them to local auctions as yearlings. They do not breed to race, but occasionally change course depending on the market, intuition or simply because of a fondness for an individual.

“We’ll sell them at the October or the January sale at OBS,” said. “We’ll even keep and race one if we decide to, if we didn’t get what we wanted from it on the commercial market, or if we like them. We did that with Pleasant Ballerina, because she meant so much to us and we just didn’t want to sell her.”

His affection for individual Thoroughbreds extends beyond those he and Becky have bred, including several Grade 1 winners he has treated.

“I’ve really grown attached to some of them. One horse I particularly enjoyed working with and following was Catholic Boy.”

An earner of $2,134,000 Catholic Boy won the 2017 With Anticipation (G3) at Saratoga Race Course in his second start and later the Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct in his juvenile year. As a 3-year-old, the son of More Than Ready won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational and Pennine Ridge (G3) at Belmont Park and the Dixie (G2) at Pimlico the following year.

 

“He was in and out of Bridlewood Farm throughout his racing career and I worked closely with his trainer, Jonathan Thomas. It was a fun ride watching him succeed—winning as a 2-year-old and then becoming a Grade 1 winner on the turf as a 3-year-old.”

Cantrell also worked with one of the more popular Thoroughbreds in recent years—Cody’s Wish—a two-time winner of the Grade 1 Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2022-’23 and a dual Eclipse Award winner in 2023 as the Horse of the Year and Champion Older Dirt Male.

“Another special horse I was around from when he was young was Cody’s Wish, who graduated from Bridlewood and went on to be… …Champion Older Male, 2023 Horse of the Year and had more Grade 1 wins at a mile on dirt than any other colt ever,” Cantrell said.

 

But the Cody’s Wish story extends far beyond his accomplishments on the track.

Bred and raced by Godolphin and trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Cody’s Wish was named after the late Cody Dorman, a Kentucky native born with Wolf-Wirschhorn syndrome. Confined to a wheel and forced to communicate with a table, Dorman met Cody’s Wish as a foal at Godolphin through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Dorman developed a long lasting relationship with the horse, frequently traveling with his family to watch Cody’s Wish run. Several times their story was the subject of media features including national telecasts on NBC Sports and FOX Sports. 

 

“Being part of his journey and witnessing his incredible story was truly inspiring. I think stories like his are what make Thoroughbred racing so special. If more people saw them, I believe more people would be drawn to the sport.”

Return to the March 11 issue of Wire to Wire