Iowa star heading for Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland is named after owner’s grandson and his Facebook followers on his fan page documenting his struggle against leukemia
A small corner of Keeneland will be taken over by around 100 denizens of Iowa when Tyler’s Tribe, the unbeaten star from Prairie Meadows, lines up at the Breeders’ Cup.
Yet the story of the two-year-old gelding who will attempt to capture the $1m Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in Kentucky on November 4 already has a happy ending.
For on October 24 many of this ‘tribe’ kept another important date by gathering at the University of Iowa Hospital to witness eight-year-old Tyler Juhl ring the bell to announce he is cancer-free.
Tyler’s Facebook followers on his fan page documenting his struggle with leukemia are called ‘Tyler’s Tribe’.
“We can’t believe this time has come and we are so blessed that he has been able to fight and get through it and is ready to enjoy the rest of his life,” says Tom Lepic, 69, Tyler’s grandfather and co-owner of Tyler’s Tribe alongside trainer Tim Martin.
“Tyler really enjoys going to the races and the fact he has a horse named after him,” he explains. “He loves going to the backside with his cousins and brothers and seeing Tyler’s Tribe, who is very affectionate to young children.
‘Sometimes he gets emotional’
“The thing that is so great for Tyler is to see everybody on raceday at the track in the Tyler’s Tribe t-shirts because he knows they’re there supporting not only the horse but supporting him. Sometimes he gets pretty emotional about it; without a doubt it has helped him.”
Tyler’s Tribe is a gelded son of Sharp Azteca who has completed a five-for-five win streak at Prairie Meadows by Flightline-like margins. He was picked up as a yearling for the modest sum of $34,000 and has already earned ten times that amount.
While the offers have poured in since he recorded his debut victory by 16¾ lengths, he is not for sale with connections determined to keep the Tyler’s Tribe team of Lepic, Martin and his tyro jockey Kylee Jordan intact.
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“We never ever had even a thought of selling,” says Lepic, “We had a lot of awfully good offers but it was never considered.
“He’s a family horse, a horse that means so much more than just to our family but to the Leukemia Foundation. He will stay with our family and Tim Martin his entire life.
“And Kylee is an amazing young lady,” he went on. “We had a lot of agents calling us wanting the ride but again it wasn’t anything we thought about doing differently. It’s a great opportunity for us and it’s going to be a great opportunity for her. We are all from Iowa and there is no reason to break up the team.”
Lepic, a real estate broker from the Iowa city suburb of Solon, is more renowned in Quarter Horse circles than the world of Thoroughbreds.
“I mostly have Quarter Horses,” he says. “I am the president of Quarter Horse Racing in the state of Iowa. I have had five AQHA [American Quarter Horse Association] champions but I’ve only had 20 to 25 Thoroughbreds but nothing of this calibre before.
‘We are loving everything’
“We are loving everything about the Breeders’ Cup,” Lepic goes on. “The people in Kentucky are fantastic, They are warm and welcoming. When they hear you have a horse in the Breeders’ Cup they all want to talk about it.”
Despite winning all his races on dirt, Tyler’s Tribe is being prepared for the Juvenile Turf Sprint because there is no race over 6f on dirt at the championships. He has worked over three furlongs on Keeneland’s turf course in preparation.
“I thought about going to the Juvenile but I don’t want to take on those horses without knowing he can go long for sure,” explains Martin.
“There will be good horses in the Sprint race, but this horse is fast. If he likes the turf, they are going to be running. The last races he has done good fractions and then he has taken off at the end. I think the Turf Sprint will be his best shot.”
Martin, 60, has had a licence for nearly 40 years and trained over 1,100 winners but Tyler’s Tribe is taking him to new heights.
‘Never had this kind of horse’
“It’s a thrill for sure, coming up to Keeneland and even having this calibre of horse and being able to participate,” he says.
“I never had this kind of horse. I’ve had decent horses but never one that might be a graded stakes horse. This horse kinda outruns everything. He’s really got a lot of talent. Every time the rider wins on him she says, ‘I gotta a lotta horse left, there’s plenty in the tank’.
“His first race was for Iowa-breds, so you don’t know, but when the second race came around when there were horses trained by Mike Maker and Steve Asmussen that had won maiden specials at places like Churchill, I thought ‘This’ll test him’. And they wasn’t nothing for him. He beat them easy. It was the same deal, 8½ lengths he was in front by.
He won again three weeks later and I thought this horse is legit. He’s done everything easy, like it’s effortless so far.”
Martin experienced a lot of hard times in the first half of his career as he tried to establish himself, moving through Minnesota, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana before he gained a foothold in Iowa.
Over the first 15 years he barely mustered 150 winners, but his fortunes improved from the year 2000. This year will be his 12th campaign in which he has exceeded $1m in prize-money,
“I was training very young,” he says. “I was breaking Quarter Horses and mules, then breaking Thoroughbreds, Then we started getting a horse or two.
‘A lot of rough years’
“There was a lot of rough years when I was not doing too good, when you don’t know if you can survive. There were a lotta years like that for a long time, thinking you ain’t going to make it because it’s a tough business.
“I’m no quitter and I had a dream for these horses,” he explains. “I love horses because I like animals. We grew up with horses so I just wouldn’t give up and kept on. You keep thinking you will get a horse that can run a little bit and then I got some clients in 2001 and they kinda helped me get going pretty good. And I have a training centre now that I own now with my brothers.
“We claimed some horses that done some good and it started getting better every year since that. After that every year I got to $1m and this is my best year. Tyler’s helped. He’s made $300,000 of it!”
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