In January 2022, as farms around Kentucky began delivering new foals, the fields were as empty as they’d ever been at Pin Oak Stud in Versailles, Ky. Josephine Abercrombie had been winding down commercial operations at the farm, which she and her father had purchased in the 1950s and which she had developed into a prominent nursery. The farm’s active broodmares and their weanlings had been sold in a dispersal the prior September, and its yearlings had also been sold. Abercrombie died peacefully at her home on the farm Jan. 5, 2022, just 10 days shy of her 96th birthday. “The six months after [the dispersal] was probably about as empty a feeling as you could have,” longtime Pin Oak manager Clifford Barry said. But what a difference a year makes. Jim and Dana Bernhard, who began buying horses in the summer of 2021 as Lynnhaven Racing, purchased Pin Oak in 2022. The first foals from their fledgling broodmare band were testing their legs in the farm’s field this spring. It’s invigorating, for sure,” said Barry, who has stayed on with the operation. “To have it back to full life is a good feeling.” Further fast-tracking the Bernards to the top of the sport, Geaux Rocket Ride, the first Thoroughbred they purchased in 2021, recently became their first Grade 1 winner. The colt carried Pin Oak’s blue and gray silks – the colors of Abercrombie’s alma mater, Rice University, and worn by runners such as Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks and Valleys and Eclipse Award champion Laugh and Be Merry – to a win in the Haskell Invitational July 22 at Monmouth. :: Bet with the Best! Get Free DRF PPs and Cashback when you wager. Join DRF Bets. “This is fantastic,” Dana Bernhard said postrace. The Bernhards, of Baton Rouge, La., were familiar with equines, owning Friesans in the past. They entered the Thoroughbred sphere in the summer of 2021, when Jim Bernhard, founder and partner in Bernhard Capital Partners, wanted to buy a racehorse for Dana as a birthday present. Dana’s brother had an acquaintance familiar with Equine Analysis Systems, and thus set up a call between the couple and Matt Weinmann, CEO of the bloodstock operation. Equine Analysis uses digital photos and computer software to measure the bone length and angles of young horses, to evaluate cardiac activity, and to isolate genetic markers related to performance. “When you’re looking at a horse, traditional horsemanship is trying to judge the horse looking at the walk and looking at the conformation,” Weinmann explained. “What we’re trying to do is put numbers on that.” Weinmann became an adviser to the Bernhards, who purchased three yearlings at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton July sale. The first of those through the ring was the $350,000 Candy Ride colt from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales, as agent for breeder Larry Best. “Jim said, ‘Take us to see the best horse in the sale,’ and I took them to see Geaux Rocket Ride,” Weinmann said. “He fit all of our data. He was the horse in that sale that had the highest statistical likelihood to be a good horse – he was at the top of the list for us. I knew if he grew up and filled out, he would have the chance to be something special.” Geaux Rocket Ride has been special so far, winning three of four starts for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. After finishing second in the Grade 2 San Felipe and being forced to scratch from the Santa Anita Derby due to a fever, he has now won the Affirmed and Haskell. Meanwhile, building up the Bernhards’ operation at Pin Oak is in full swing, with the couple hiring individuals from top programs to join their team. Among the first of those was former WinStar Farm broodmare manager Jeff Danford, hired as farm manager. “Pin Oak has such a great history and it is an honor to be part of this new chapter,” Danford said in a statement. Joss Saville, an assistant to Michael Matz for more than a decade, was hired this year as the farm trainer, responsible for the breaking and pre-training young horses before they head to the racetrack. “I’m excited to join a great team of people who all share a passion for producing quality horses,” Saville said. Barry is enthusiastic about the team assembling at his longtime Pin Oak workplace. “It’s all about the horse, it’s all about the land, it’s all about the people working for them,” Barry said of the Bernhards’ approach. “They’ve gone about this the right way, just trying to assemble a team to take them to the top.” Weinmann also feels the Bernhards are being fine stewards of the land, and are fitting inheritors of Abercrombie’s legacy. “Dana and Jim’s desire to go about everything in the right way, and to take care of their animals as if they were their children, is pretty special and amazing to see,” he said. Meanwhile, Barry is excited about the long-range prospects Geaux Rocket Ride, who earned an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic with his Haskell win, represents for Pin Oak, where the Bernhards hope to eventually stand stallions. The stallion barn has stood empty since pensioner Broken Vow died last year, with Alternation moving to Darby Dan for the 2022 season as Abercrombie wound down. “He will make you jump out of bed in the morning,” Barry said of Geaux Rocket Ride. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.