Building a Breeding Program
Tony Doughtie’s modestly sized operation is paying big dividends. The breeder had two stakes winners from only five starters for 2024 making him the Louisiana Leading Breeder by percent stakes winners as well as the Louisiana TOBA Breeder of the Year.
By Denis Blake
There are no sure things in horse racing, but if you see a horse whose name starts with Tdz, then you might want to give it a second look. That’s the hallmark of a horse bred by Tony Doughtie, who owns a construction business in Texas and is building a solid breeding program in Louisiana.
Tony Doughtie, 2024 Louisiana Breeder of the Year by percent stakes winners and Louisiana TOBA Breeder of the Year.
It’s easy enough to figure out where Doughtie got first two letters in Tdz, but what about the “z”? Well, he said it doesn’t really mean anything, but it sounded good and was a way of giving his horses a recognizable brand. It also looks good on stakes trophies. Last year, two of Doughtie’s top horses, half brothers Tdzshininluckystar and Tdz Hint of Power, carried his silks to stakes wins and earned him Louisiana Breeder of the Year honors for having bred the highest percentage of stakes winners. His 40% success rate from five starters clinched the award for Louisiana Breeder presented by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association at September’s TOBA National Awards Dinner in Lexington, Kentucky.
Not only has Doughtie had success with Thoroughbreds, but he’s also hit it big with American Quarter Horses. He’s had multiple graded stakes winners with that breed, mostly with horses he bred and mostly running in Louisiana, and he’s also excelled on the national stage. One of his best was Stel My Corona, who he bred in California and campaigned to win the Grade 2, $382,000 PCQHRA Breeders’ Futurity at Los Alamitos. Closer to home, his Louisiana-bred Jes a Fast Dasher earned nearly $500,000 while racing exclusively in Louisiana. And this year he just missed qualifying Stanleys Salty Prize, who he bought for $40,000 at the Heritage Place Quarter Horse Yearling Sale, to that sport’s richest and most prestigious race, the Grade 1, $3-million All American Futurity.
Doughtie has been involved with Quarter Horses longer than Thoroughbreds, but he’s coming off his best year yet with Thoroughbreds and speaks highly of the Louisiana-bred program.
“We were blessed with the Thoroughbreds last year; they were our savior,” he said. “The breeders awards are unbelievable. Louisiana’s been good to me.”
About 10 years ago, the Texan bought a 10-acre farm just across from Delta Downs where he keeps both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds.
“We were blessed with the Thoroughbreds last year; they were our savior. The breeders awards are unbelievable. Louisiana’s been good to me.”
Any breeder knows it’s hard enough to get from foal to the racetrack, and then winning any kind of race is tough. So for Doughtie to have two stakes winners from only five starters is impressive, especially considering his Thoroughbred operation consists of about five runners on the track and five broodmares.
The success of Doughtie’s Thoroughbred program can be traced back to a single mare, a Louisiana-bred daughter of Tower of Power named Hi Mandy who won three of her first four starts in 1998-98 at Evangeline Downs, Louisiana Downs and Fair Grounds. Hi Mandy also earned a stakes-placing against open company at Lone Star Park, but her racing career only lasted for 12 starts.
Hi Mandy then produced Tdz Mandycorrienda, by El Corredor. Although Tdz Mandycorrienda never raced, she’s proven to be an exceptional broodmare by producing Doughtie’s two stakes winners in 2024, both trained by Nason Eschete. The then 3-year-old Tdzshininluckystar posted two stakes wins last year at Evangeline Downs in the $100,000 Louisiana Legends Cheval Stakes and $100,000 Louisiana Stallion Stakes Presented by Coteau Grove Farms. The Star Guitar gelding hit the board in three other stakes and banked $184,200 on the season.
Tdzshininluckystar pictured winning the 2024 Louisiana Legends Cheval Stakes at Evangeline Downs.
Tdz Hint of Power, who is a year younger than Tdzshininluckystar and sired by Imperial Hint, never ran worse than fourth in five starts last year, including a 10 ¾-length win in the $75,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile Stakes at Louisiana Downs and a third in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile Stakes at Fair Grounds. The colt earned $83,658 as a 2-year-old and kicked off his 3-year-old campaign this year at Delta Downs with an allowance win to go over the $100,000 mark in earnings.
Doughtie got Hi Mandy from the late Ronald Briley, a noted Quarter Horse trainer who also handled Thoroughbreds. Briley was a cousin of longtime Thoroughbred trainer Lonnie Briley, who took Coal Battle, by Louisiana stallion Coal Front, to this year’s Kentucky Derby after winning the Grade 2, $1.25-million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
“I was at the Louisiana Quarter Horse sale, and Ronald said you ought to get into Thoroughbreds, and he had this sprinter, who was Hi Mandy,” said Doughtie. “She’s deceased now, but she’s the foundation for our Thoroughbreds.”
Tdz Hint of Power won the 2024 Louisiana Cup Juvenile Stakes at Louisiana Downs.
Although Doughtie has his own farm, his star mare, Tdz Mandycorrienda, resides at Clear Creek Stud in Folsom, Louisiana.
“She went there to breed to Star Guitar (in 2020), and I’ve never picked her up,” he said. “Val (Murrell) and everyone over there have been awful good to me.”
Doughtie has another potential star broodmare in Fender Baby, a nine-time winner by Star Guitar. Her first foal, a 3-year-old filly by Astrology, is a winner, and she has two foals on the ground by Mr. Money. She was bred this year to Coal Front. So things have just about come full circle from that first broodmare Doughtie acquired from Ronald Briley to a coming foal from a sire who is red-hot thanks in part to the training efforts of Lonnie Briley.
As for the future, Tdzmandycorrienda has a 2025 Star Guitar foal on the ground and was bred back to Imperial Hint, so there are full siblings to both of Doughtie’s 2024 stakes winners coming down the road.
Doughtie said he enjoys breeding and racing both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, and he gives credit for his recent success to trainer Eschete.
“Nason has really helped us a lot,” he said. “He was working for (primarily Quarter Horse trainer) Kenny Roberts, and then he went out on his own. He’s been super for us, and he helps us at the farm in Vinton.”
Although Doughtie lives in Huntsville, Texas, about 70 miles north of Houston, he makes the drive to Vinton regularly, and from there he can continue on to whatever Louisiana track his horses are running at.
“I sure hope we can continue on with the success,” he said, adding that he’s excited about his young crops of horses for both breeds. “So we’ll see what happens, hopefully things keep going well. We really enjoy the Thoroughbreds, and I think the Louisiana program is a good one to be involved with.”