BY SARAH WELK BAYNUM
Charles Weston, owner of Weston Thoroughbreds in Anthony, Fla., worked for some of the top racehorse owners and trainers before he started an operation of his own.
But while horses run in Charles’ blood, he was raised in a much different horse world than the Thoroughbred industry in which he now works.
“My dad was a cattle rancher in Texas and we were Quarter Horse people,” Weston said. “I was training Quarter Horses in Louisiana when I met John Franks and I became his stallion manager in Louisiana. We had a horse we were standing called High Echelon, who won the Belmont Stakes (Grade 1) in 1968.”
One day, John Franks’ general manager came to the farm where Weston worked. However, Weston didn’t know who he was when he arrived.
“He asked where the manager was and I told him he was at his house. He seemed surprised since it was 10:00 a.m., and I said, ‘oh, he’ll get up at 10:30.’ But again, I had no idea who the guy was. So, about an hour later, they let the manager go. Then, he asked me, ‘do you think you can manage his farm instead?’ I said, ‘sure, no problem.’
“I was there managing the farm for three years and then Mr. Franks put me on an airplane in 1988 and I headed to Ocala, Florida. I was only 28 years old when I came to Florida to run his operation here,” Weston said.
However, Weston did end up going back to Texas in 1994.
“I had kids, and at the time, I thought they would be a little bit better off school-wise going back to Texas. I then went to work for Joe Straus. We had some good luck in Texas at that time and we had horses like Bwana Charlie, by Indian Charlie, that I sold there that made about $500,000.”
Weston said Bwana Charlie has been among his favorite and most accomplished horses.
“At the time, when Indian Charlie was just coming around, we paid $14,000 for [Bwana Charlie] and wound up selling him for $250,000. But watching him come around and run like he did, running fourth in the Breeders Cup that year, was very special.”
Then in 2007, Weston once again made his way back to Ocala.
“It was a place to be and I always liked Florida,” he said. “In Florida, not only is it a beautiful place, but you can also raise horses here as good as anywhere else in the world. I think Florida has an advantage, though, because when babies are born, you can kick them out to the pasture the next day. I know Kentucky has bluegrass and everything, but there are days [in Kentucky] they need to stay in the barn because it’s too cold to get them outside.”
Weston later began his own Thoroughbred operation, which started when he bought Queenie’s Pride for $1,000 in a private sale at OBS.
“It’s a funny story, because I didn’t pick the mare—my wife did. They got no bid on her, she was barren at the time, and she was a weaver. She hated the stall—hated it. We were walking by, and my wife asked what was wrong with the mare. I told her that she just wanted to get out of the stall. My wife told me to see how much they want for her and to get her out of here.” Weston said.
Weston bred Queenie’s Pride to Anthony’s Cross and produced his first Florida home-bred—Joy’s Rocket.
Joy’s Rocket sold to Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen for $47,000 at the 2020 OBS March Sale but would continue to make money for Weston indirectly after winning the CA$101,200 My Dear Girl at Woodbine in her second start.
“We got several phone calls for her dam, that little $1,000 mare. So, we sold her, and then she had a sister we sold for $75,000. So, that little $1,000 mare ended up making us about $400,000,” Weston said.
Weston and partner Troy Johnson also recently won the $95,000 Sharp Susan with the Florida-bred filly Win N Your In, a daughter of Ocala Stud’s popular first crop sire Win Win Win. Weston selected her for Johnson at last year’s OBS Winter Mixed Sale and purchased her for $12,000.
“We bought that filly from Summerfield at OBS and she’s been trained by Carlos David. She’s had three starts now down at Gulfstream. She ran third her first time out and came back to break her maiden by seven-and-a-half [lengths]. Somebody asked if we are going to sell her now, but we really don’t want to sell her. After that stakes race, my wife got a trophy and that’s her first go around in the racehorse business. So, she was happy as anybody—she’s got a trophy now.” Weston said.
Win N Your In is expected to be among the favorites in the $100,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Desert Vixen at Gulfstream Park on Sept. 7. A victory would provide one more success story for the Florida horsemen, who is a long way from that cattle ranch where he grew up in Texas.
