Ocean Breeze Farm in Bonsall, Calif., a 1,400-acre property with a decades-long history in Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred racing on the West Coast, was recently listed for sale for $75 million and could be developed. Owner Paul Reddam, the prominent California Thoroughbred owner and breeder, said on Friday that 200 acres surrounding the property have been zoned for home construction, but that the 1,200 acres that consists of the ranch has a less certain future as a home for horses. “We thought we’d test the water,” he said. “We’ve got entitlements to build houses around the ranch. Let’s see what the market is. “We’re putting it all up for sale and we’ll see what happens. You don’t know what a perspective buyer would want. Someone could want to keep the property. It could be a developer or a horse ranch guy who doesn’t want to develop.” Reddam said he does not expect a sale in the near future. “These sort of things could take a year or two to see if you have the right deal,” he said. The loss of Ocean Breeze as a breeding farm would be devastating for California, which has seen a decline in the number of Thoroughbred foals in the state in recent decades. According to the Jockey Club, there were 3,773 registered California-bred foals in 2001, or 10 percent of the nation’s total crop. The figure fell to 1,302 foals in 2021, or an estimated 6.8 percent of the nation’s crop. :: Get Santa Anita Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day.  Last December, Tom Stull, whose family owns Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in central California, said he is downsizing his operation and relocating to Kentucky. Stull cited a declining commercial market in California, a reduced racing schedule in the state in recent years, and costs as three factors. Reddam said a decline in the success of stallions based at Ocean Breeze was a factor in the decision to list the property. Square Eddie, among California’s leading stallions by progeny earnings in the last decade, was pensioned because of infertility in May 2020. “He was our go-to stallion,” Reddam said. I’ll Have Another, the winner of the Kentucky Derby for the Reddams in 2012, has failed to draw widespread support since returning from stud in Japan in 2019. Mrazek, whose first crop are 3-year-olds this year, died in 2021. “Things have not gone too well,” Reddam said. Aside from I’ll Have Another, Ocean Breeze stands Pavel and Listing, but Reddam acknowledged that Pavel and Listing have limited commercial appeal to outsider breeders. Reddam and his wife, Zillah, have more than 100 horses on the property, Paul Reddam said. Reddam, 67, is the chief executive of a consumer lending company that has been the subject of legal scrutiny for several years and was recently ordered by a federal judge to pay $167 million in restitution and fines. The order is under appeal, according to published reports. Ocean Breeze was formerly known as Vessels Stallion Farm and was developed in the 1980s by Mildred Vessels and her son, Frank “Scoop” Vessels. The Vessels family built Los Alamitos in the 1950s and had a breeding ranch adjacent to the racetrack in Cypress, Calif., until the operation was transferred to Bonsall, Calif. Mildred Vessels died in 1992. Scoop Vessels died in 2010 in a private plane crash. The property was sold to the Reddams in 2014. :: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.  In the 1990s, Vessels Stallion Farm was home to the Thoroughbred stallion In Excess, who led California’s progeny rankings, and to the Quarter Horse stallion First Down Dash, who led the national rankings. The Vessels family sold their Quarter Horse holdings in the mid-2010s, ending the farm’s involvement with that breed at a time when the Reddams took possession of Ocean Breeze. Last fall, the Reddams offered 20 yearlings and a group of horses of racing age at the Fasig-Tipton California sale. Last summer, Paul Reddam said the couple planned to downsize their racing and breeding operation. The Reddams had 74 horses in training in 2022 and opted to sell “the bottom half,” Paul Reddam said at the time. “We had too many.” In an interview on Friday, Paul Reddam mentioned that their stable remains highly active at the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, which began on Dec. 26. “I would point out that we still have more starts than anyone at Santa Anita,” he said. Through March 26, Reddam Racing has won 8 races from 63 starters. Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal, who have had 45 starters, and Les Blake, who has had 32 starters, lead the standings with 10 wins each. The Reddams have won the Kentucky Derby twice, most recently with Nyquist in 2016. The Reddams are scheduled to start I Don’t Get It in the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 8. I Don’t Get It, trained by Doug O’Neill, won a maiden race at 1 1/16 miles in his third start on March 11. The $750,000 Santa Anita Derby would be the colt’s stakes debut. The Reddams and trainer Doug O’Neill considered the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct on April 8, but have opted to keep I Don’t Get It in California. “The Santa Anita Derby is a tougher race, for sure,” Paul Reddam said. “You don’t really know what kind of talent the horse has. If he hits the board, you can think of bigger things.” Slow Down Andy was the leading 3-year-old for the Reddams in 2022, the year he won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby and was third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland. :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play with FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic.  A diagnosis of sore shins kept Slow Down Andy out of the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita in December, Paul Reddam said. Slow Down Andy recently resumed racetrack training with O’Neill after a late winter rest. Reddam emphasized that his interest in racing has not subsided, even if the Ocean Breeze stallions have not been a widespread success. He said that he and his wife recently moved within Orange County, making visits to Santa Anita in Los Angeles County less frequent. “I’m more interested in racing than anything else,” he said. “Trying to sell a property is like watching paint dry. “Hopefully someone else will want to take a crack at breeding Cal-breds. For now, we’ll keep breeding.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.