June 2022 Member of the Month: Mike Harris

Mike Harris, of Westwind Farms, is the featured TOBA Member this month.

elebrating a win with loved ones makes success all the sweeter. For Westwind Farms’ Mike Harris and his family, the success of Westwind-bred Epicenter is positively delicious. “It makes it special for sure,” he enthused. And the best might be yet to come, as Epicenter stamped himself as a classic contender with back-to-back grade 2 wins this spring.

Westwind Farm president Harris runs the Bowling Green, Kentucky, operation with his two brothers, Brent and Kevin, and two sons, 39-year-old Justin and 36-year-old Tyler. The property spans about 1040 acres, with horses residing on 275 to 300 acres and the rest leased to a neighbor. The Harris brothers’ grandfather, J.R. Bettersworth, purchased the farm from their grandmother’s family estate; in his own name, he bred 1976 champion sprinter My Juliet. Harris came up under his grandfather; when his uncle died after being hurt by a yearling in 1978, he stepped up and worked more closely with Bettersworth before the patriarch’s death in 1989. Bettersworth instilled the importance of honesty and an excellent work ethic in his descendants, which has paid dividends.

At the 2014 Keeneland November sale, Westwind bought stakes winner Silent Candy (by Candy Ride), in foal to Scat Daddy, for $130,000. Sent to Not This Time in 2018, she foaled a bay colt the following January. Named Epicenter, he sold to current owners Winchell Thoroughbreds at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling sale for $260,000.

After breaking his maiden last November at Churchill Downs, Epicenter delivered a belated Christmas present. On December 26, 2021, he romped in Fair Grounds’ Gun Runner Stakes by 6 ½ lengths. Second by a head in his sophomore debut, the Jan. 22 Lecomte Stakes (G3), Epicenter posted back-to-back victories in the February 19 Risen Star S. presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) and March 26 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2). Most recently, Epicenter placed second in both the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and the Preakness Stakes (G1). He has earned a total of $1,940,639 from his eight starts in his career.

Harris described Epicenter’s success as “exciting,” clarifying that farm work has to come first. He explained, “We’re in the middle of foaling and breeding season and all that, so we hadn’t had a whole lot of time to sit back and think about it.” He does remember the colt as a foal, recalling, “He was really well balanced, real light on his feet, but the last three months before we had him in the September sale, he just really blossomed. He filled out in all the right places and he’s just a really good mover, big through the hip and correct, and one of the key things, I think, is he is just really smart.”

Silent Candy’s Always Dreaming juvenile colt went under the hammer for $140,000 at this year’s OBS March sale. Dam of a Tapiture yearling filly and an Outwork filly by her side, she was bred back to Not This Time for 2023. “We’ve also considered selling her in November,” Harris said. “I’ve been talking to some people; I’ve had offers on her, but unless the right offer comes along, we’re just going to wait and see what happens on Derby day.”

Westwind has produced other household names besides Epicenter, including grade 1 winner Santa Teresita. That mare emerged from a foal share the Harrises had with Stonerside; they connected with that nursery through Stonerside manager Bobby Spaulding, who worked in Bowling Green. Stonerside had a season to Lemon Drop Kid they were not using, which they offered to Westwind. The Harrises bred Sweet Gold (by Gilded Time) to the classic winner, producing Santa Teresita. Eventually racing for Southern Equine Stables, she earned over a half-million dollars and triumphed in the 2009 Santa Maria Handicap (G1). In foal to Bernardini, Santa Teresita sold for $1.5 million to Shadai Farm at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed sale.

The breed-to-sell nature of Westwind means that Epicenter holds a special place in the farm’s history. Harris recalled, “There were a lot of lean years that we kind of had to scrape by a little bit. And even the Epicenter year, we had pretty much decided that we were going to sell anything worth selling in the January sale because we just couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. And when Epicenter brought 260, that kind of bought us another year, and then the market improved, and we’ve had several horses run good. And so Epicenter, he kind of extended the life of Westwind Thoroughbreds. So he was a special horse to begin with, but that made him even more special.”