It's almost considered a running joke now, but it's certainly one Brent Fernung always enjoys hearing: Those hoping to increase their odds of winning a Kentucky Derby (gr. I) might want to poke around through broodmares he's bought in the last few years, because some proverbial lightning struck the Florida horseman twice in a 12-year period—and the clock is ticking again.

Fernung, who is director of Thoroughbred operations at John Sykes' Cloverleaf Farms II near Reddick, Fla., has excelled in several venues of Central Florida's horse industry during a career that has spanned four decades.

But nothing beats buying the dams of Pennsylvania-bred Derby winners Lil E. Tee (1992) and Smarty Jones (2004) when the star runners were virtual unknowns, and then joyously reselling the broodmares on the upswing of their value.

So, first, the obvious question: Yo, Brent, got the dam of a Derby winner under your watch right now?

"I hope there is one out there; sure, I'd like to do that again," said a smiling Fernung, 53, who also helps run his wife Crystal's independent sales agency, Journeyman Bloodstock Services, near Ocala, Fla.

"At least the time frame is getting broke down a little bit," he continued. "It took me 40 years for the first one, and 12 for the next one, so if you put that into some kind of mathematical formula, it's not that far off."

History says Fernung is allowed to dream if he so desires, but when his thoughts shift to reality, his focus is helping Sykes and the 1,000-acre Cloverleaf Farms II become a big-time player in the Florida Thoroughbred industry.

"He is really committed to making Cloverleaf the leading stallion farm in Florida," said Fernung of Sykes, the now-retired founder of Sykes Enterprises, a global competitor in business outsourcing. "Our goal is to kind of join that rank of farms that have really meant something to the industry in Florida, like Lasater Farm and Tartan Farms, and Ocala Stud, and some of those places that have really been important. Obviously, we are in it to make money, but we want to bring something to make the industry grow."

Sykes, the man who guided Sykes Enterprises' rise from a three-man company he founded in 1977 to a worldwide conglomerate that now features more than 24,000 employees, realizes the valued axiom of hiring good people to make a business successful.

"I hired Brent in 2000 to set up a full-service farm," said Sykes, who in 1997 launched Cloverleaf by acquiring the 680-acre former Due Process Stable South of Robert E. Brennan in a $5.75 million deal. "No one does successful ventures by himself, and I think we have an excellent management team. But Brent is the glue."

Sykes, who met Fernung through veteran Florida sales agent Donna Wormser, said visions of building a Thoroughbred breeding and training empire were the furthest thing from his mind when he founded Cloverleaf.

"When we purchased the farm, I had no idea it would grow into what it is today," he said with a chuckle. "At the time, I thought I was buying a ‘ranch.' I didn't even know that Thoroughbreds were raised on a ‘farm.' We've got 24,000 employees at (Sykes Enterprises) and operate in countries speaking 26 different languages—but none of them were horse language.

"I really purchased it originally for the family, a place to bring family and friends, to bring young children, to really see what nature is all about. But as time went on, I realized that to operate a spread like that, you had to make it a commercial operation."

Fernung and Sykes eventually put together three- and five-year business plans that, as with most successful enterprises, are flexible, ever-evolving living documents.

"The first part of the plan was to buy some quality mares, which we have done, then some quality stallion prospects, which we have done," said Fernung. "Now, we are following forward on it."

The latest bullet-point in the plan is stallion prospect Congrats, a grade-II winning son of A.P. Indy who recently finished his racing career just $1,040 short of earning $1-million on the track. Cloverleaf in April purchased the 6-year-old from owners Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, who co-bred the horse, and twice ran him in Sykes' farm silks before retiring the runner in July.

"He is an exceptional horse for Florida," said Fernung of Congrats, who will stand his first season for a stud fee of $12,500. "He has everything a stallion prospect should have. He is an A.P. Indy horse, made a million bucks on the track, has a great pedigree out of a Mr. Prospector mare (Praise), and the second dam (Wild Applause) was the dam of Roar and Eastern Echo. And the third dam (Glowing Tribute) was Kentucky Broodmare of the Year (in 1993) and the dam of ('93 Kentucky Derby winner) Sea Hero.

"We often give up a lot (in Florida)," he continued. "If we get a lot of pedigree, we don't get the race record. He's a big step forward for us. He represents what we want to go towards in the future."

Congrats joins a Cloverleaf 10-member stallion colony that includes Repent (owned in partnership with Journeyman Bloodstock), whose first crop are yearlings this year; and Wildcat Heir, who is owned by a joint venture between Eb Novak's New Farm, which campaigned the speedy son of Forest Wildcat, and high-profile Kentucky operations Taylor Made and WinStar.

"He was probably the most exciting horse to enter stud last (this) year in Florida," Fernung said of Wildcat Heir, who stood for an $8,000 fee. "We ended up breeding 170-some mares to him, and I bet I turned away 100 mares."

Repent's yearlings are bringing an average of about $35,000 at auction this year, but brought home an $85,000 average per hip sold at the Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale. Fernung said that was the highest average at the sale among Florida-based stallions that sired at least three horses sold.

"They have been well received," Fernung said of the Repent yearlings. "And we'll see if they can run next year. His first three years at stud, he covered 360 mares, so he will have the opportunity to make it."

Development of the farm's stallion colony was the primary reason Fernung, acting as agent for Cloverleaf, went to $130,000 for Smarty Jones' dam, I'll Get Along, at the 2001 Keeneland November mixed sale. The Smile mare was in foal to Doneraile Court.

"That's what I bought her for, to breed her to our own horses," he said.

I'll Get Along was booked to Repent for the 2004 breeding season, but those plans changed late in 2003 when Smarty Jones broke his maiden by almost eight lengths at Philadelphia Park.

"When Smarty broke his maiden, and when I saw the fractions of the race and how easy he did it, I started checking him out," Fernung said. "Some guys told me he was the best thing they had ever seen at Philadelphia Park. Then he came back and won the (Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes) by a pole, so I called Kentucky and started working on getting a season back to Elusive Quality."

And it wasn't long before Fernung was thinking Kentucky Derby again, just like he did 11 years before with Lil E. Tee's dam, Eileen's Moment, whom he bought privately just months before the son of At the Threshold won his Run for the Roses.

"After I saw Smarty win the stakes in New York (Count Fleet Stakes) to start his 3-year-old year, I called the boss and said, ‘This is a really good horse. And if this works out the way I want it to, this is going to be a lot of fun. I have been down this path before.' I started thinking Derby pretty early. Once you've been that lucky, you start thinking, why can't it happen again?"

The rest of the story is well known. Smarty Jones won the Derby and the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) before missing Triple Crown glory by falling a length short to Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). I'll Get Along, then in foal to Elusive Quality, was sold several months later for a sale-topping $5 million at the Fasig-Tipton November select mixed sale.

The encounter with Lil E. Tee's rise to glory was similar in some ways, and much different in others. After Lil E. Tee won the 1992 Jim Beam Stakes (gr. II) at Turfway Park, Fernung started feeling pretty good about having paid $25,000 privately for Eileen's Moment, who would later foal an El Raggaas filly named My Big Sis. He put the deal together after she was RNA'd at the 1992 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s January winter mixed sale.

And after talking to trainer Lynn Whiting in the days following Lil E. Tee's runner-up finish (by a neck) to Pine Bluff in the Arkansas Derby (gr. II), Fernung started getting more and more excited.

"He told me I might get really lucky with the mare," Fernung recalled of the conversation with the trainer. "I told him, ‘I think I already have; she's a graded-stakes producer.' Hey, I was happy. I knew I was going to make money.

"And Whiting said, ‘No, you might really get lucky.' And so I got on the phone with Crystal and said, ‘I think Lynn thinks he's going to win the Kentucky Derby.' "

On the day of the '92 Derby, Fernung said he breezed a promising 2-year-old filly at OBS, where he stabled a few horses. Later, after he arrived at his farm to meet a blacksmith, he received a call that the filly had broken her leg during a session on the hot-walking machine.

"I was devastated, because this was a 2-year-old that looked like she could run, and I was looking forward to getting her sold," Fernung said. "When I got home, the horses were just leaving the (Churchill Downs) paddock, headed to the racetrack to run the Derby. But I was just lower than a snake's belly."

"He kind of collapsed on the couch," Crystal added.

But when Lil E. Tee rounded the final turn at Churchill Downs and started reeling in horses, including the heavily-favored Arazi, Fernung started rising from his prone position on the couch.

"I seen that shadow roll catching horses around the turn, and they were giving Arazi the call, but he wasn't going near as fast as Lil E. Tee behind him," Fernung said.

A few seconds later, as Lil E. Tee crossed the finish line, the whole day looked different to Fernung.

"It just shows you how this business can knock you down and pick you up the same day," he said.

A few months later, Fernung, through his Journeyman Bloodstock consignment, sold Eileen's Moment, in foal to With Approval, for $280,000 at the 1992 Keeneland November sale.

"That shows you where the broodmare market has gone," said Fernung, noting the $5 million given for his other dam of a Derby winner 12 years later.

But at the time, the Fernungs couldn't have been happier. Struggling with Journeyman Bloodstock since the downturn of the horse market in the late 1980s, the sale of Eileen's Moment was, well, momentous.

"That sale broke us loose," said Fernung of the Journeyman venture he had started with Crystal three years earlier.

"It had really been a struggle up to then," he said, before adding, "it was still a struggle after that, but it was less of a struggle."

Natives of the same hometown in Indiana, Sharpsville, the Fernungs moved to Florida in 1976 shortly after they were married. They both took jobs with Dan Lasater's award-winning Lasater Farm. Fernung said Lasater, who won a record three consecutive Eclipse Awards as owner from 1974-76, was a former classmate of his brother, John Fernung, at Sharpsville High School, where the Fernungs' father was principal.

Fernung remained working at the farm after it was sold in 1984 by Lasater, who later became embroiled in various legal troubles and is known for a controversial association with former President Bill Clinton. The new buying group of the farm was an interesting partnership that included one-time Calumet Farm owner J.T. Lundy, auto racing legend A.J. Foyt, John Fernung, and major stock car sponsor and horseman Harry Ranier.

"After a year, they decided they didn't want to mess with it, and they sold it to John Franks," said Fernung of the 1985 transaction that allowed Franks, himself a multiple Eclipse Award winner as an owner, to acquire farm interests from Lundy, Foyt, and Ranier.

Fernung remained at the newly formed Franks Farm Southland Division until 1988, when his brother John sold out his interest to Franks.

Brent and Crystal Fernung say they didn't start Journeyman Bloodstock by choice, but out of necessity.

"There weren't any jobs available; that's probably why we decided to go out on our own," said Brent. "Business was spiraling down so fast. It was a very tough time."

By starting Journeyman Bloodstock, Crystal eventually rejoined the equine industry with full force. She had worked about a year at Lasater Farm when it was decided she would throttle back and be a full-time mother for the Fernungs' daughter, Casey, who earlier this year graduated from law school and recently started with a firm in Atlanta.

But Crystal always kept an eye on the horse industry, poring over pedigree pages and studying potential broodmare prospects still running at the track.

"And that was before there were computers," she said.

"We're horsemen," said Crystal when asked to describe the philosophy of Journeyman Bloodstock, which operates independently from Cloverleaf. "It's a full-time way of life for us—we aren't comfortable doing it off to the side. And we are trying to do whatever we have to do to present ourselves professionally."

The Fernungs are set to expand their operation from the 52-acre Journeyman Farm they have owned for many years. They have plans to buy the 38-acre farm that was most recently Martin Stables, but was for years best known as Buzz and Jean Burke's Valley View Farm. The pending deal carries a lease-option for 50 additional acres.

Cloverleaf features about 45 employees under Brent Fernung's watch, providing care for the 80 training horses and 120 broodmares the farm harbors during peak periods. Additional management at Cloverleaf includes maintenance manager Lamar Evers, who also oversees Cloverleaf's 125-head cattle operation; Ken Breitenbecker, who manages broodmare, stallion, and yearling divisions; farm trainer Keith Sargent; and comptroller/office manager John Kelliher. b

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