Former Kentucky Derby Horse Vyjack Thriving as Babysitter at Machmer Hall
- Kaeli Bartholomew
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
Vyjack was a talented athlete that ran in the Kentucky Derby, won multiple graded stakes, set a track record, and earned more than $1.4 million. Now, more than a decade after his racing career began, the Machmer Hall-bred gelding has taken on a very different role: babysitter to the farm’s next generation of stars.
Vyjack's Pedigree & Early Life - A Breeding Chosen By Fate:
At the 2008 Keeneland November Sale, Craig and Carrie Brogden of Machmer Hall had their eyes on a specific weanling colt: a handsome son of Bernstein out of the Stravinsky mare Life Happened. Outbid at $55,000 by F.J.M. Stables, they pivoted instead to purchase his dam, bringing her home for $4,500.
The Brogdens planned to send the mare back to Bernstein the following breeding season, as they had so loved the look of that Bernstein colt, later to become multiple graded stakes-placed Prime Cut, but fate would lead them in another direction.
At the time Life Happened was ready to breed, Bernstein’s schedule was full. “We don’t like to miss mares at any point in the season, so then we were scrambling around,” Craig Brogden explained. “Carrie called Ken Wilkins at Spendthrift Farm, like, ‘Who do you have? Who’s available?’”
Their options were Notional or Into Mischief.
Into Mischief was not yet the powerhouse stallion that he is now. Though a talented Grade 1-winning racehorse, he was a brand-new, first-season stallion at Spendthrift Farm in 2009. Since the Brogdens had always done well breeding to Into Mischief’s sire, Harlan’s Holiday, they decided to take their chances with him.
So, Life Happened was among the first group of mares to be covered by Into Mischief. And on February 11, 2010, she gave birth to a colt who hinted at what his sire would become.
“He was a big boy,” Brogden reminisced. “He got all of mom’s size and raw bone and had that masculinity about him. He was just a big beast of a colt who was really uncomplicated. He took care of himself.”
Half-Brother to Hall of Famer Tepin:
It must be mentioned in the story of Vyjack that Life Happened was bred to Bernstein after Vyjack’s birth and gave birth to a filly who would go on to be named Tepin in March 2011. Tepin became an elite racehorse, winning 11 graded stakes, one on the dirt and 10 on the turf.
Tepin defeated males in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1), the 2016 Queen Anne Stakes (G1) at Ascot, and the 2016 Woodbine Mile (G1). She was named Eclipse Champion Grass Mare twice and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2022.
Connections and Two-Year-Old Season (2012):
Machmer Hall sent their Into Mischief colt to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling Sale in 2011, where Pike Racing purchased him for $45,000. A year later, Pike Racing brought him to the Fasig-Tipton May Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where he rewarded their initial investment by bringing $100,000 from David Wilkenfield’s Pick Six Racing.
Wilkenfield sent Vyjack to Fair Hill for his early training with Bruce Jackson, and it was there that his “unruly” and “uncooperative” behavior led him to be gelded. That change helped his attitude, and he was soon sent to Rudy Rodriguez in New York to begin his racing career. (New York Times)
Vyjack turned out to be an immediate success. He broke his maiden by 1 ¾ lengths on debut in November, then skipped over the slop in the Traskwood Stakes to win by an easy 5 ¾ lengths.
Three-Year-Old Season (2013):
He carried those winning ways into 2013, battling to a head victory over Siete de Oros in the Jerome Stakes (G2). About two months later, he cemented himself as a top Kentucky Derby contender with a rallying 2 ¼-length victory in the Gotham Stakes (G3).
“We already start to have Derby dreams when they win first time out,” Brogden said. “Then the Gotham, he just put it all together and had that big, great run where you think, ‘This horse could win the Derby.’”
“But it’s still a long way from March until May, so we’re just excited to follow them along and hope they make it there and we can be part of it.”
Vyjack tasted his first bit of defeat in the Wood Memorial (G1) that April, though not by much. He was just ¾ of a length and a neck back in third, beaten by Verrazano and Normandy Invasion.
So, it was on to the Kentucky Derby for Vyjack, a dream come true for every person in horse racing, especially for his breeders, Machmer Hall.
“It’s just an incredible week,” Brogden reflected. “The trainers are so welcoming. Rudy was happy to have us by the barn and let us kind of be part of the process.”
“It’s a pretty cool experience to get to go to the barn for their final preparations, then do the walkover with 150,000 people clapping and cheering and getting all excited for the race."
And although he suffered just the second defeat of his career on that sloppy First Saturday in May, the experience was one the Brogdens would always cherish.
Four-Year-Old through Seven-Year-Old Seasons (2014 - 2017):
After gastric ulcers sidelined Vyjack in the summer of his three-year-old season, he returned to racing in April 2014 with a victory in an allowance optional claiming race at Aqueduct. He continued racing through August 2017, winning three more races along the way, including the 2014 Kelso Handicap (G2) and the 2016 City of Hope Mile Stakes (G2). In the latter, Vyjack set a Santa Anita track record of 1:31.69 for one mile on the turf. That record still stands today.
In addition to his three victories, Vyjack also recorded six more graded stakes placings during those years.
“Breeding a horse who can run until they are seven years old at a really high level, and just be consistent at that level, that’s a huge accomplishment as a breeder. We’re really proud of horses like him.”
“We don’t want a flash in the pan. We want a horse who really can sustain that level of racing and just be durable and give the fans and the owners something to follow.”
By the time he retired from racing, the gelding had a record of 8 wins, 7 seconds, and 3 thirds from 31 starts and had earned over $1.4 million.
Retirement From Racing:
After leaving the racetrack in 2017, Vyjack returned to the place where his story began, Machmer Hall, where the hope was to transition him into a long second career in another equestrian sport. But he was doing so well at the farm that his owner, David Wilkenfield, decided to send him back to the racetrack.
A suspensory injury sustained when he went back into training derailed any hopes for a second career in another discipline. So, after rehabbing out in California, Vyjack was returned to the farm in need of something lower-impact. Luckily, the Brogdens had just the job for him.
Life as a Babysitter:
“We always use some of these old geldings and broodmares as babysitters,” Brogden explained. “Once he had been here for six months or so, he was pretty quiet, so we tested him out. It doesn’t always work out, but he transitioned into being a babysitter like it was nothing.”
And so, each year when the foals turn four or five months old and are weaned from their mothers, they are put into a field with Vyjack, whose calm, quiet, and experienced presence helps them feel safe and happy.
“They all glom onto him and follow him around,” Brogden said. “He’s the boss.”
The once high-energy racehorse now enjoys the “lazy” life of the horse farm, grazing alongside “his babies” and finding his purpose in being a sort of big brother to them.
And in the off-season, when there are no babies who need him, Vyjack spends his days with Vinceremos, another Machmer Hall-bred gelding who participated in the Kentucky Derby.
Vyjack has become something of a celebrity at Machmer Hall. Because he continued racing for so many years after his Kentucky Derby run, he had plenty of time to build a following. Some of those longtime fans still reach out to the Brogdens to ask if they can come visit him.
“It’s just cool having those really top-level racehorses back here. Every time we see them, it’s a remembrance of those great race days.”
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