BY SARAH WELK BAYNUM
David McGinn has successfully owned, bred, and raced countless horses since the early 1980s. He started with one broodmare and the birth of a foal that felt almost kismet the night she came into the world.
“In 1982, I bought our first broodmare to begin my racehorse journey. She was already in foal and had been bred,” McGinn said. “I still remember coming home from the hospital just after the birth of my fourth child, Lacey. There, under a full moon in the stall with the broodmare was our first racehorse, only one hour old when we arrived home with our daughter. We named her Moon Laces and she ended up winning four of her first six races. I’ve been racing homebreds ever since then for the last 40 years.”
In the 1990s, McGinn broke five to six horses a year for Leonard Alexander with Gena Snyder at their Elk Creek Ranch farm. These horses won more than 100 races at Calder and Tampa Bay Downs.
Over the years, McGinn has continued to have a number of successful racehorses. One of the more successful and special horses for McGinn is Chick’s Shadow, a 7-year-old mare with nine wins, seven seconds and 10 thirds from 46 career starts with earnings of $298,933.
“Chick’s Shadow is by Seek Again out of our stakes mare [Dick’s Chick, by Shuailaan], who had $200,000 in earnings. Chick’s Shadow has won recent races like the Frolic’s Revenge [overnight handicap] at Gulfstream Park on Aug. 17, 2024. This was in addition to her win in the Tampa Bay Turf Test Handicap and her second placing in the Powder Break Stakes at Gulfstream Park. She also placed second in the Soaring Softly [overnight] handicap at Gulfstream Park. Her win at The Frolic’s Revenge was extra special because my son, Brian McGinn, and my 11-month-old grandson, Oliver, were in attendance,” McGinn said.
McGinn said one of his most special moments as a racehorse owner was when Dick’s Chick won at Churchill Downs.
“That day we were running Dick’s Chick and I told my trainer, Al Shapoff, ‘okay you can dream this one time.’ And then, she ended up beating Pat Day in a long stretch drive, winning $68,000 in a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs,” he said. “It was her second out after racing at River Downs. The excitement my son Matt and myself experienced calling her home—I will always remember that.”
Since the early 2000s, the McGinns have produced one to two homebreds foals a year under the farm management of Jeannine McGinn. The homebreds that have been born and raised on Elk Creek Ranch have totaled well over 150 in-the-money finishes according to McGinn.
