BY SARAH WELK BAYNUM
Melissa Anthony’s parents have been in the racehorse industry since she was a child—leading her to a career in the Thoroughbred world.
“When I lived in Michigan, my father was good friends with jockey Sammy Maple, brother to the very successful jockey Eddie Maple. My mom and dad also took layups off the racetrack to our farm in Michigan,” Anthony said.
In 1978 Anthony and her parents moved to Lexington, Ky. when her father took a farm manger position there.
“I used to walk over to the Kentucky Horse Park as a kid and my first job was in polo,” Anthony said. “Then, I started working with sales horses. My father managed various farms over the years, like Elmendorf or Maxwell Gluck’s, so I got to live on a lot of really nice farms. Eventually, we came down here and my dad ran Live Oak for Charlotte Weber. My mom was also the manager of Pegasus Stud. I got to meet some really incredible people.”
Sales prep has been a staple of her business in the racing industry, and was something she found she was drawn to at a young age.
“I would sit on a five-gallon bucket and braid the yearlings’ manes for sales prep for Melinda Smith at Pegasus—that’s how I got into the sales prep. I always liked sales prep because we also had halter horses when I was a kid. I loved taking something and then improving upon it and that’s kind of what I do now with my pinhooking,” Anthony said.
After buying her farm in Ocala in 2007, she began moonlighting in Florida-breds.
“I did layups and bred even when I was working full-time. I would always kind of dabble in it a little bit on the side. After I needed to stay home with my kids, I started pinhooking a little bit more while falling back on my network of friends. I’d go up to Kentucky and would work the sales cards for Warrendale. It would give me flexibility to be at home and then I would just pinhook one or two. Sometimes I’d get partners and sometimes not. I’ve done well. We’ve always doubled our money,” says Anthony.
However, Anthony prefers to keep her operation small to continue to provide excellent service to her clients.
“I want to stay small and boutique. My goal is to bring in people that have never done this before and for them to have an awesome experience,” Anthony said. “I explain the process to them in depth. I try to make money, of course—that’s the goal. But my overall goal isn’t to make money off of other people, because I just want to make sure that they have a great experience.”
Anthony’s most special horse was a small, barren, cribbing broodmare.
“Hi Avie, by Lord Avie, was being sold at [Ocala Breeders’ Sales] because of a dispersal sale. I bred her to Kantharos, which was great because she needed speed. I sold the foal for $45,000, which helped put a front porch on my house. Then, I bred her again to First Dude and I got Madame Uno, who won first time out [around] two turns at Gulfstream. I sold her, which allowed me to be able to build my barn apartment for my kids,” Anthony said.
Running her operation in Florida has been vital, especially for sale prep.
“I think it’s the best place to raise weanlings, especially in the wintertime, because they don’t consume all that energy to keep warm. They flourish down here and that’s helpful for the hybrid program I’m doing, since I will buy in November or January. I love the climate for weanlings because you don’t lose any time working with them in the winter either. We have golf carts, chickens, a potato cannon, a pig, etc. on the farm, so they see a lot. When the horses leave here, they’re dead broke and prepared for the real world.”
Right now, Anthony is excited for a homebred named Robin With A Why.
“She’s [scheduled to run in] a race at Santa Anita on Jan. 5. I want to bring her back to Tampa though, because you’re really leaving all this money on the table not running a Florida-bred in Florida. She actually just worked. So she’s been doing great out in California. I sold her as a short yearling at OBS and she’s a homebred. So we’re hoping she does really well,” Anthony said.
