BY SARAH WELK BAYNUM
David O’Farrell manages and owns with his family Ocala Stud, the world-renowned Thoroughbred training, breeding and stallion station in Ocala, Fla. He serves as the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association Board of Trustees chair, as a steward at The Jockey Club and is a member of Breeders’ Cup Limited.
Established by David’s grandfather, Joe O’Farrell, with partners in 1956, Ocala Stud is the oldest active Thoroughbred farm in Florida and today is run by David along with his father Michael O’Farrell Jr. and brother Joseph M. O’Farrell III.
Ocala Stud is a perennial leading Florida commercial breeder, honored five times in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2018 as Florida Breeder of the Year.
Ocala Stud sold their first crop of 2-year-olds in 1958 and have since bred and or sold more than 160 stakes winners. Most of these winners are by Ocala Stud stallions, including 1956 Horse of the Year Roman Brother and divisional champions My Dear Girl, Office Queen and Musical Romance. In 2010, Ocala Stud was America’s leading breeder of graded stakes winners in the United States, all of which were sold by Ocala Stud as 2-year-olds.
In addition to establishing the modern 2-year-old in training sales industry and playing an integral role in forming Ocala Breeders’ Sales, Ocala Stud has established itself as a proven source of top sires including Rough’n Tumble, an influential Florida stallion in the 1950s and ‘60s, Saint Ballado and Explodent.
More recently Ocala Stud has featured four-time Florida leading sire Montbrook, three-time Florida leading sire Notebook and leading Florida sires Trippi, High Cotton and Adios Charlie. Montbrook and Trippi each were the state’s leading juvenile sire twice while Ocala Stud stallions Kantharos, High Cotton and Girvin have been Florida’s leading sire of 2-year-olds. Leading Florida freshman sires on the Ocala Stud roster in recent years include High Cotton, Kantharos, Uncaptured, Jess’s Dream and Girvin. Ocala Stud’s Win Win Win is currently the state’s leading freshman sire.
Despite Ocala Stud’s legacy, O’Farrell never felt any pressure to join the family business.
“I’ve been around it my whole life—it’s a labor of love, so it was never pushed on me. I worked summers on the farm and I just loved working with the animals, mowing grass, or whatever was needed. However, I was never really encouraged to get into the business,” O’Farrell said.
“When I went away to college, I went with an open mind to see if there was anything else that I was interested in doing or pursuing. The further I got away from the farm, the more I wanted to get involved and paid closer attention to it. Once I graduated from college, I was eager to get back and work on the farm.”
O’Farrell began his professional career at the farm learning the basics.
“I got my degree in business and when I went back to work on the farm, I started right at the bottom—on the back of the broodmare truck and on the broodmare crew,” he said. “I learned that side of things then I became a groom in the training barn. I had five horses I worked for the sales. After that, I worked in the stallion barn and just kept working my way up from there so I could learn all aspects of the farm.
O’Farrell is proud of his days working in the barns and at the sales and grateful for the longtime Ocala Stud employees who helped him along the way.
“Eventually, I became farm manager. I’m fortunate that we have a lot of staff that have been with my family for a very long time. It’s like one big family here and it’s really made life a lot easier having people with that experience and loyalty. I was relatively young when I was starting out here, so I was able to get a lot of those experiences through them,” O’Farrell said.
Ocala Stud has a sizable broodmare population, currently numbering 100 – 125, and each year provide the early race training for 165-175 young Thoroughbreds O’Farrell said.
“We’re kind of like a Walmart—we’re a one-stop shop. We have stallions, a breeding farm and the nursery where the mares and foals are born. We have a full-service training facility, rehab center, yearling operation, we can really do just about anything. It’s an older farm, and it’s got a lot of character, so it’s like stepping back in time here.”
Ocala Stud also has a history of training numerous winners, including three Kentucky Derby winners.
“Before my time, we trained Carry Back, who won the 1961 Kentucky Derby. He was only the second Florida-bred to win the Kentucky Derby [after Needles in 1956]. When I was a kid, we had Florida-bred champion Unbridled, who won the Kentucky Derby and Breeder’s Cup Classic in 1990. We also had Street Sense, who won the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and 2007 Kentucky Derby. More recently, we had the [Eclipse Award] 2-year-old champion two years in a row. It’s something we are very proud of,” O’Farrell said.
Ocala Stud graduate Forte was named the 2022 Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Colt or Gelding after winning the Grade 1 Hopeful, Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and the Grade 1 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. In 2023, he won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby and Grade 2 Jim Dandy presented by DK Horse.
Last year, the early training program at Ocala Stud was represented by champion 2-year-old male Fierceness, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
This year Fierceness counts the Florida Derby, Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun (G2) and Draftkings Travers (G1) among his victories and he currently sits atop the weekly NTRA Poll of Top Thoroughbreds.
The current Ocala Stud stallion roster includes Adios Charlie, Awesome Slew, Colonel Liam, Dak Attack, Gretzky the Great, Seeking the Soul, Roadster and Win Win Win.
This year Awesome Slew has been represented by Grade 3 Holy Bull-winner Hades while Win Win Win sire $1.8 million OBS March top seller and Grade 3 Sorrento-winner Nooni and stakes-winner Win N Your In. Adios Charlie this year has multiple stakes-winner Stone Silent on the track. Current 2-year-old stakes-winner Rated by Merit is by Battalion Runner, who stood the 2024 breeding season at Ocala Stud.
Ocala Stud consists of three farms and 500 acres with the main office and training center located on the famed Shady Lane Road, the original location of many of the first Thoroughbred farms in Ocala, Marion County.
Despite the farm’s success, it’s the simple day-to-day aspects of the farm that O’Farrell says are the most special part of his job.
“Every morning, I enjoy being able to walk up to the racetrack and watch the sunrise at a place we call Dreamer’s Point. It’s right on the point of the racetrack where the horses are galloping around, and every morning is special because of it—it doesn’t get old. You watch all these horses becoming athletes right in front of your eyes, and there’s always hope that one of them might be your next 2-year-old champion or Kentucky Derby winner,” O’Farrell said.
“It’s just a wonderful business—there’s nothing else like it. Everybody has a chance in this business, and that’s the beauty of it, nobody can own the game. They can’t buy the game, and that’s why long shots win all the time. There are lowly-bred horses that win big-time races, and if you’re in it, you have a chance to have something special.
Everyone has that chance if they’re willing to take the risk, and you don’t have to be a king or a queen. You can beat the kings and queens, and anything can happen at any time,” O’Farrell said.
Brock Sheridan and Tammy A. Gantt contributed to this story.
