Dr. Barry Eisaman and his wife, Shari, are pinhookers who buy and resell Thoroughbreds. They also prepare young horses for racing for various clients.
This year, two 3-year-olds that the couple trained at their Eisaman Equine operation, which is based in Williston, Fla., are scheduled to run in the May 7 Kentucky Derby Presented By Yum! Brands (gr. I). They are George and Lori Hall’s homebred Pants On Fire and Alpha Stables, Skychai Racing, and Sand Dollar Stable’s Twinspired.
The Eisamans prepare 20 or so of the Halls’ young horses each year for racing.
Pants On Fire “was a very big, very attractive colt as a young horse,” Barry Eisaman said. “He was quite intelligent and learned his stuff quickly. In his early work, he was a little bit on the lazy side; he just wanted to play and take life easy. He was one of the last ones of that crop to leave us because he didn’t appear that he was of the mindset to be a sprinter.”
A son of Jump Start trained by Kelly Breen, Pants On Fire captured the March 26 Louisiana Derby by a neck over Nehro. He also has finished second in the Lecomte Stakes (gr. III) and third in the Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct this year.
“He seems like he is getting better and better with racing and age and maturity,” Eisaman said.
The Eisamans purchased Twinspired for $55,000 from Good Win Farm, agent, at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale. They then resold him for $140,000 to trainer Mike Maker at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale of 2-year-olds in training.
“He was a big, attractive gray horse by Harlan's Holiday, and we’ve always liked Harlan's Holiday,” said Barry Eisaman, explaining why Twinspired was an attractive pinhooking prospect as a yearling.
And the colt turned out to be a moneymaker.
“We’re always happy when we make a profit and we made a fair profit with him,” Barry Eisaman said. “He was plenty big when we bought him and he grew some more; he was a very, very attractive mover (on the track). He always had the look of a horse that could be a classic-type runner.”
Twinspired captured the WEBN Stakes at Turfway Park this year and finished second in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) and third in the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (gr. III).
The Eisamans also will have a rooting interest in the May 6 Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) in Peachtree Stable’s Plum Pretty. Peachtree’s John Fort purchased the 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro for $130,000 from Kirkwood Stables, agent, at the 2010 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training.
“We break, prepare (for racing), and rehabilitate all the horses for Peachtree,” Barry Eisaman said. “After Peachtree purchased Plum Pretty at the OBS March sale, she came to us and stayed for three months or something like that to rest, get her (starting) gate work finished, and put on a few pounds.
“Right after the sale,” he continued, “she was mentally a little bit shaken. She wanted to be nervous when she would go to the track. She preferred to think about taking a strong hold and pondered running off. The sale process had taken a toll on her, but with a little bit of quiet time and time to relax, she settled down quite well.”
Plum Pretty’s efforts this year include a victory in the Sunland Park Oaks. She finished third in the Las Virgenes (gr. I) and Santa Ynez (gr. II) Stakes.
