WinStar Farm LLC and Stonestreet Stables LLC

STONESTREET STABLES

Barbara Banke, the widow of Stonestreet Stables founder Jess Jackson, now operates both the stable and the family winery, Jackson Family Wines, after Jackson's death in 2011. Banke is a UCLA and Hastings Law School graduate who formerly practiced land use and constitutional law.

Also a lawyer by trade, Jess Jackson and his family bought an 80-acre pear and walnut orchard in California in 1974. He converted it into a vineyard and sold the grapes to local wineries. In 1982, a downturn in the grape market forced him to make his own wine. In the years since, the Kendall-Jackson label has become one of the most popular labels in the country.

Jackson named his racing operation after his father. Although he raced Thoroughbreds for a time in the 1960s, Jackson re-entered the game in 2003, and in 2005 he acquired farms in Kentucky and Florida.

Stonestreet is best known for campaigning 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin and 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. The remarkable filly produced her first foal, a colt by Curlin, in 2012, subsequently named Jess’s Dream. Jackson did not live to see the birth of his dream foal, having died nearly a year before of cancer. Rachel Alexandra produced a second foal in 2013 but after complications with both foalings, the mare will not be bred again and will live out her days at Stonestreet's Kentucky farm.

Rachel Alexandra's second foal, a filly named Rachel's Valentina, won her debut at Saratoga as a 2-year-old and went on to win the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes and finish second in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Also at Saratoga in 2015, Jess's Dream made his debut as a 3-year-old and won with a strong closing kick.

The first Grade I winner both bred and campaigned by Stonestreet was My Miss Aurelia, who secured an undeafeated 2-year-old season that included victories in the Grade II Adirondack at Saratoga, the Grade I Frizette at Belmont and the Grade I Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs. She was named champion 2-year-old filly of 2011.

Stonestreet has also campaigned multiple graded stakes winners Kantharos, Kauai Katie, Dreaming of Julia, Rock Fall and Cavorting. Stonestreet campaigned multiple Grade 1 winner Carpe Diem with WinStar Farm.

WINSTAR FARM

Owner: Kenny Troutt

Born: January 8, 1948

Birthplace: Mount Vernon, Ill.

Residence: Dallas, Texas

Family: wife, Lisa, three children

website: www.winstarfarm.com

In 2000, Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner, founders of Excel Communications, a long-distance telephone service and communications company, founded WinStar Farm after buying the 1,450-acre Prestonwood Farm property near Versailles, Ky., from brothers Art, Jack and J.R. Preston. In 2010, Troutt bought out Casner’s portion of WinStar, and is now the sole owner. With the Race Track Chaplaincy of America, Troutt created the White Horse Award, presented annually to a farm or racetrack worker who performs an unselfish heroic act.

WinStar has focused on developing a leading breeding program and stands leading sire Distorted Humor, among others. It first gained national fame as the breeder of 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Funny Cide, a son of Distorted Humor.

In 2008 WinStar won the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes with Well Armed, who went on to win the Dubai World Cup in 2009. The following year the farm won the Kentucky Derby with Super Saver while Drosselmeyer won the 2010 Belmont Stakes. After the 2010 season, WinStar received its first Eclipse Award for outstanding owner. In 2011, Drosselmeyer won the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

WinStar claimed a third-place finish in the 2013 Kentucky Derby with Revolutionary, who also won both the Louisiana Derby (Grade 2) and Withers Stakes (Grade 3). In 2015 WinStar partnered with Stonestreet Stables to campaign Carpe Diem to a win in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. With a record of four wins and a second from five starts in his career, Carpe Diem went off as the third choice in the Kentucky Derby, but finished unplaced.