by Cynthia McFarland

Ask a group of horsemen to come up with a clever way to make a charitable donation and they are bound to think of a way to include horses.

When Hip 736, a Performing Magic colt named Trinity Magic, brought a final bid of $50,000 on day three of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. spring sale of two-year-olds in training, the purchase meant a generous donation check would soon be written to Blessed Trinity Church of Ocala.

Several years ago, Ciaran Dunne of Wavertree Stables came up with the idea of selling a two-year-old in training to benefit the church. Niall Brennan Stables, Leprechaun Racing, Eddie Woods Training Stable, and Scanlon Training Center all pitched in with Wavertree Stables on the effort.

“There are a lot of fund raising things at the church, but we’re all so busy and we thought we could do a lot more by applying our training efforts than by going over and cutting the grass,” explained Mike Mulligan of Leprechaun Racing. “We all donate the training expenses and everything over the purchase price is donated to Blessed Trinity.”

The latest purchase was a colt by the Gone West stakes winner Performing Magic, bought by the group for $5,700 at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale. The horse was trained at Leprechaun, but all of the partners pitched in to cover the horse’s expenses. Aptly named Trinity Magic, the chestnut colt is out of the Pine Bluff mare, Miz Pickens. He worked an eighth-mile in :10.40.

 Agent Mike Shannon signed the ticket on behalf of Jim Donnan, a Texas client of trainer Steve Asmussen.

“He’s a nice horse, and Steve [Asmussen], being the good Catholic he is, wanted to help the church all he can,” Shannon said.
 
“This is the fourth year we’ve done this,” Mulligan said. “There has been a total of $119,000 over the last three years donated and this year another $44,000 from the sale of this horse. The Diocese of Orlando matches all the contributions we give, so it’s a win-win for Blessed Trinity.”

Of the three horses sold at past sales as part of the Blessed Trinity charity project, all are winners. Greg’s Lassy won a $46,000 allowance race at Aqueduct on April 20 by  9 1/2 lengths. West Point Thoroughbreds bought Greg’s Lassy at the 2006 OBSC spring sale for $70,000.

Cynthia McFarland is a Florida-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent