It has been a Cinderella season for the Atlanta-based West Paces Racing partnership group.
Remember, this is the partnership that had two horses — Dornoch and Society Man — running in the Kentucky Derby this year.
Although neither horse placed in the Kentucky Derby, the horses weren’t done for the season.
On Saturday, Dornoch was the unlikely winner of the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown.
Before the race., none of the television commentators picked Dornoch to win. The horse’s odds of winning were nearly dead last, at 17-1. For most of the race, though, Dornoch was running ahead of the favorites, either in first or second position. The jockey riding Dornoch was Luis Saez.
Dornoch win at the Belmont had some in the media calling it an “historic win.” The 2024 race was moved to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., because Belmont Park is undergoing a renovation.
The Belmont win was a moment of jubilation for two of West Paces’ major players, Atlantans Larry Connolly and Keith Mason. They were enjoying the win by fellow owner Jayson Werth, a former baseball player who was with the Phillies when the team won the World Series in 2008.
But the West Paces ownership group still wasn’t done.
On Sunday, Society Man with jockey Corey Lanerie overcame the odds by winning the GIII Matt Winn race at Churchill Downs. The odds for Society Man were 6-1, well behind Who Dey, a 7-5 favorite.
“Two in two days for the two biggest 3-year-old races of the weekend,” Mason wrote in a text. It also was a victory for Danny Gargan, the trainer for both Dornoch and Society Man.
In April, Mason, an Atlanta attorney, real estate investor who has been involved in Democratic politics for decades, was having a hard time believing West Paces would be having two horses running in the Kentucky Derby on May 4, figuring the odds of that happening were .0001.
“We have already won,” Mason said at the time. “We are in it. Getting here is a win. It’s just a bigger win the better we do.”
Well, West Paces, you’ve done pretty darn well.
