J. B . McKathan
Feb 4, 2019 14:33:37 GMT -5
Post by eye123 on Feb 4, 2019 14:33:37 GMT -5
Florida horseman J.B. McKathan passed away after suffering a
heart attack Saturday. He was 53.
Our hearts are broken today. J.B. Mckathan passed last night.
Please keep his family in your prayers,@ read a tweet from the
family's McKathan Bros. Training Center Sunday morning.
McKathan and his brother Kevin, sons of pioneering pinhooker
Luke McKathan, launched their 200-acre training center in Citra
in 1988. The farm's most famous graduate is Zayat Stables
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneer of the Nile).
I guess the simplest way to put it is: super satisfying, J.B.
McKathan told TDN after American Pharoah's historic Triple
Crown sweep in 2015. We've had horses in the past that have
been close, but training him was a privilege. He was so easy, and
so talented. At some point with horses like that, it's just up to
the horse. He never did one thing wrong, he was nothing but
super fast--just really great to be around and super sound.
McKathan Bros. Training Center was also the early home of
dual Classic winners Silver Charm and Real Quiet.
The McKathans had a long association with the Zayat
operation, breaking such racetrack standouts as Pioneer of the
Nile, Bodemeister and Paynter, as well as American Pharoah, for
the family.
When we got into the business, we only had one other farm
before we started going to the McKathans and we've been with
them 14 years, said Justin Zayat. Every good horse that Zayat
Stables has had, J.B. had his hands on. He has been a huge part
of our operation. We even had a horse named J Be K once who
won the GII Woody Stephens and was named after J.B. and his
brother Kevin--that's how close we've been with them. It's a
very big loss for all of us.
Zayat continued, On a personal note, he taught me a lot
through the years. And he loved to tell stories. He would talk
and tell a zillion stories at a time. He would always keep you
entertained.
McKathan was among the first to recognize a Pioneer of the
Nile colt as a star-in-the-making in the spring of 2014.
Around March, we go to Ocala to see all of our 2-year-olds
breezing, Zayat recalled. When American Pharoah breezed,
J.B. said," I'm scared of this horse--he's too fast. Get him out of
here." And we sent him to Baffert right after that.
EQB, Inc.'s Patti Miller, who worked with McKathan on the
Zayat horses, said the horseman was an original.
"They broke the mold with him," Miller said. "It was always fun
to call him--you'd have to put the phone down you were
laughing so hard with all his stories.
And he was an astute,
brilliant horseman. He had the greatest eye in the world, bar
none, for a horse."
Miller recalled outbidding McKathan on a pair of future Grade
I winners.
"I bought two fillies that J.B. was the underbidder on," she
recalled. "One was Forever Together and he came up to me and
he said, "Gosh, darn it, I brought a knife to a gunfight.' And then
years later, we were both bidding on a filly by Custom for Carlos,
a mare named Big World, at the yearling sale. And he came up
to me and he said, "I don't even know who Custom for Carlos
was, but I bid $95,000 and I couldn't figure out who was the
crazy person who bid $98,000." But as soon as I knew he bid on
that horse, I knew I was really glad that I had gotten her."
