Horses bred in the Mid-Atlantic make up nearly a third of a stacked renewal of the Caress Stakes (G3) at Saratoga on Thursday.

The field is led by graded stakes winners Roses for Debra (PA) and Future Is Now (MD). The former is looking to repeat in this race, winning it last year by 2 1/4 lengths, the latter for a second straight graded stakes win following a head victory, over Roses for Debra, in the G2 Intercontinental during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga last month.

The third filly to hail from the Mid-Atlantic is Dontlookbackatall, bred in Pennsylvania, sired by Pennsylvania stallion Peace and Justice, and foaled at Blackstone Farm. 

She was bred by Steve Young’s A1A Racing. A trainer, bloodstock agent, owner, and breeder, Young trained Peace and Justice’s dam Strike the Sky (Smart Strike) for his friend Jay Bligh. The mare raced only four times, winning once, injury shortening her career. 

“She was a really good horse,” said Young, sitting in his box at Saratoga, armed with an iPad and a trove of details about Dontlookbackatall’s family. “We bred her to War Front and we got Peace and Justice.”

The colt sold for $425,000 as a yearling in 2011 to Justice Family Racing (Justice as in Jim Justice, the governor of West Virginia), retiring in 2015 with earnings of $137,000 and a record of 8-3-1-0. He broke his maiden in his first start at Belmont Park, earning a TDN Rising Star designation. 

“He was very quick and very strong, and he was headstrong,” said Young. “He was a terrific talent, he was sound, and he had unbelievable cruising speed. He didn’t win any stakes, but he was a really, really good horse.” 

Young acquired him when he was done racing and sent him to Pennsylvania.

“In terms of genetics and ability, I thought he was a $50,000 stud fee kind of horse,” he said. 

Peace and Justice began his stud career in 2017, and his most successful offspring so far is Like a Saltshaker, a stakes winner that earned $427,225 and most recently raced in June at Churchill Downs. Just behind Like a Saltshaker on the progeny earnings list is Dontlookbackatall with $377,290. The dark bay filly has won her last two races, both of them stakes, one at Aqueduct and one at Parx.  

Dontlookbackatall sold for $150,000 as a two-year-old, purchased by West Point Thoroughbred. Joining West Point in ownership are Scarlet Oak Racing and Titletown Racing Stables. 

“As soon as I saw her come up with West Point, I said, ‘Oh, yeah, we need to jump in on her,’” said Cheri Manning of Scarlet Oak, who has partnered on West Point horses before this. “She’s one of my favorite crosses, War Front over Arch. Dontlookbackatall is out of an Arch mare, and I love turf, so I always look for Arch mares. Decorated Invader was one of my favorite horses that I had with West Point, and he was that same cross, which tends to produce really nice turf horses with a nice turn of foot.” 

“Dontlookbackatall has turned out to be quite the bargain,” Manning continued, “and right now, physically, she’s just glowing.” 

Last year, Young sold Dontlookbackatall’s dam, Celtic Arch, at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $150,000 to Stone Farm. Five years earlier, Young had paid $3,000 for her. 

Swiping through screens like a teen on TikTok, Young produces statistic after statistic. From 1133 starts, Peace and Justice offspring have won 176 times. Eighty-two percent of those wins have been on dirt, 19 percent on a wet track. 

“For his whole stud career, his progeny earnings average $5,000 a start,” he said. “His average earnings are the price of his stud fee. No horse in the world does that.” 

Young hopes that those statistics get even better on Thursday; a win would give his stallion his first graded stakes winner. Dontlookbackatall is up against two tough runners in her fellow Mid-Atlantic-breds and the rest of the field, though.

“Except for the Europeans, the Caress is the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint,” he said. “And she is a super nice horse.” 

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