The late Harvey Clarke found glory as a classic breeder when I’ll Have Another won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and then put on a courageous performance to win the Preakness Stakes. Clarke won’t be here to see it, but his family stable’s homebred Gosger, from the same family as I’ll Have Another, is set to seek another Preakness for his program when he goes in this Saturday’s 150th edition of the classic.
Clarke died in January 2019 at age 77, following a long bout with lung cancer. At the time, he was survived by his wife, Donna, and children Scott, Alyssa, Nancy, and Jennifer. The family has continued to breed and race as Harvey A. Clarke Racing Stable LLC, with help from racing manager and equine adviser Steve Shahinian.
The stable’s current homebred star is Gosger, by Nyquist and out of a half-sister to I’ll Have Another. He put himself forward as a Preakness candidate by winning the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes in April at Keeneland in just his third career start.
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“It’s obviously a tribute to Mr. Clarke,” trainer Brendan Walsh said of Gosger’s success. “Unfortunately, I was never lucky enough to meet him. His son Scott is here today, continuing on with it. They’ve had a handful of horses with me the last few years, and they’re fantastic owners.”
The stable is certainly smaller than its heyday – the family has had eight starts this year, with two victories, both from Gosger. Other active runners this year are Sweet Freedom, who was placed in a maiden race at Turfway for Robbie Medina; Archie the Giza, who was Grade 3-placed last year and also is trained by Medina; and Gloria’s Princess, who was an allowance winner last year, trained by Walsh.
Gosger, Archie the Giza, and Gloria’s Princess are all out of the unraced Tapit mare Gloria S, from Clarke’s signature family. The Bronx native entered racing in 1979 and played the long game, not landing his first stakes winner until some three decades later. He joked to the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association in 2013 that his career in real estate was “what I do in order to have enough money to lose it in the horse business.”
Clarke purchased Pennsylvania-bred Arch’s Gal Edith for $80,000 as a 2-year-old, and she won her only start, a 2005 maiden at Belmont Park, before an ankle chip ended her career. As a broodmare, the Arch mare produced four winners from five starters, led by I’ll Have Another and multiple graded stakes winner Golden Award.
Clarke sold I’ll Have Another, by Flower Alley, for $11,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. He was pinhooked for $35,000 as a juvenile, with Dennis O’Neill picking him out on behalf of owner J. Paul Reddam. Trained by the agent’s brother Doug O’Neill, I’ll have Another went on to win 5 of 7 career starts, including Grade 1 triumphs in the Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness to earn an Eclipse Award. An injury forced his scratch from the Belmont Stakes in which he would have made a Triple Crown bid.
“It’s like seeing one of your kids do well,” Clarke told Daily Racing Form in 2014. “It was wonderful to see, a great thing.”
Far from being a one-hit wonder, Clarke co-owned multiple stakes winner Exotic Bloom with Brookdale Farm’s Fred Seitz, and he and Brookdale then co-bred that mare’s daughter Stopchargingmaria, whose multiple Grade 1 wins included the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Clarke also bred Havana, who won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in 2013; co-owned multiple graded stakes winner Yankee Fourtune in partnership with Andrew Albstein; and co-owned, in larger groups, multiple graded stakes winners Cairo Prince and Soldat.
Unraced Gloria S, by emerging broodmare sire Tapit, has now been steadily producing more standouts as a crown jewel of the Clarke family’s operation. The mare is a perfect 6 for 6 with her winners from starters, and Gosger is her second graded stakes winner. The mare also is the dam of Harvey’s Lil Goil, who won four stakes for the estate shortly following its patriarch’s death. Those were highlighted by the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in 2020, followed by a strong third-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
“He’s got a magnificent pedigree,” Walsh said of Gosger. “It’s just the most fantastic back family.”
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