Veterinarian and breeder John McDermott’s interest in the Not For Love sire line has helped him produce a successful runner with Kant Hurry Love.
What’s “love” got to do with it?
There have been many songs, movies, books, poems, and short stories that have tried to answer this question. In Thoroughbred racing, especially with breeding and bloodlines, “love” may have something to do with it.
One of those people who believe in that “love” is Granville Veterinarian Service co-practice owner John McDermott, who is also a breeder at his Seldom Silent Farm in North Hebron, which is about five miles west of the New York-Vermont border.
Since becoming a breeder, he has been interested in broodmares sired by the well-bred Not For Love, who was the leading Maryland sire from 2003 to 2011 following a modest career that with a couple of wins in allowance races at Saratoga.
McDermott eventually acquired two mares from that linage that became a mother-daughter combination: Baby Love and She’s All Love. Because of that acquisition and his fascination with the Not For Love breeding line, McDermott has produced one of his better offspring so far with stakes-winner Kant Hurry Love.
“Do I love pedigrees? Absolutely,” McDermott said. “I can’t go toe-to-toe with the guys in Kentucky, so I have to be more creative. The Not For Love breeding could really prove herself. You will have results.”
McDermott has some results as a result of his creativity. After purchasing Baby Love from Dan Hayden’s Sugar Maple Farm in 2007, McDermott bred the mare to Majestic Warrior, winner of the 2007 Hopeful. Their product was Bonus Points, who won the Maryland Million Classic Stakes and Parx Derby in 2017.
McDermott also bred Baby Love to Grade 1 winning sprinter Yes It’s True. That combination produced Candid Desire, who earned over $500,000 with a victory in the 2017 Holly Hughes Handicap.
As part of the breeding industry, McDermott eventually sold Baby Love with the hopes to earn breeders’ award money through her. Because of that, he was searching for another mare with the Not For Love pedigree.
After losing opportunities to claim or purchase another mare with that pedigree in both Louisiana and Finger Lakes, McDermott learned about She’s All Love, the daughter of Baby Love who suffered a career-ending injury at Belmont Park and became rehabilitated at repurposing clinic farm in 2017.
“I told [the farm manager] that I was interested,” McDermott said. “I did mention that she would be breeding since some of these replacing organizations do not want them running or breeding. [The farm manager] mentioned that she was fine to breed.”
He brought She’s All Love to his 60-acre rolling farm in Washington County where she was eventually in foal to Kantharos, who had an impressive brief career by going 3-for-3 with a victory in the 2010 Saratoga Special.
Kant Hurry Love was the product of that combination on Feb. 28, 2019.
McDermott allowed the filly to develop as a weanling and a yearling before bringing her to Keeneland Select Showcase in 2020 since the Saratoga Fasig-Tipton Sales were canceled due to the pandemic.
Debbie Easter, the executive director for the Virginia Thoroughbred Association and bloodstock agent, posted the highest bid of $40,000 on Kant Hurry Love for Ken Wheeler Jr., president of Virginia Eagle Distributing, the largest Anheuser-Busch beverage distributor in Virginia. He is also well-known on the American Saddlebred show circuit as his father was a renowned hunter trainer and rider.
Wheeler Jr. sent Kant Hurry Love to trainer Christophe Clement. After she finished second, third or fourth in her first six career starts, Clement gave her an eight-month break to regroup and she won her first race at Saratoga. Clement kept training Kant Hurry Love through the December before sending her to trainer David Duggan for the winter.
“Christophe left her here during the winter time in the middle of December,” Duggan said. “Statistically, he does not leave a string here in the wintertime. We were an offshoot if he needed to leave horses here.”
Since December, Kant Hurry Love has been the horse for the Duggan team by winning 4-of-6 races that includes her last race in the Dancin Renee Stakes at Belmont Park on June 25 when she stalked pace-setter Grannys Connection before beating her by a nose.
“If it did ok, he would leave it with us. If it turned out he wanted it back, we would always give it back,” Duggan said. “He has 50 horses, so he wasn’t in the rush to take her back.”
“She superseded expectations,” he added. “I asked the owner if he wanted to take her back to Christophe, he said, ‘No, if Christophe is happy, I’ll keep her with you.’ That worked out great for us because it becomes a key horse in our barn – a signature horse.”
While Kant Hurry Love is scheduled to make her start in the Union Avenue Stakes for older New York-bred fillies and mares running at six furlongs on Aug. 11, McDermott continues to breed She’s All Love.
The latest progeny is a colt by Keen Ice who sold for $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sales in Timonium, Md in October. McDermott believes that Kant Hurry Love’s success was an attribution for this unnamed colt’s winning bid.
“What helped is that Kant Hurry Love broke her maiden a few weeks before that sale,” he said. “This colt, who I couldn’t get into the preferred sale, I got $50,000. He was three times the average for the sales.”
“The Maryland owners and trainers still respect that Not For Love bloodline,” he added. “They take care of themselves and their own. Not For Love is theirs. They are going to protect him and support him. A couple of pieces fell into place. So, we were able to do OK.”
McDermott plans to continue his “love” for breeding and interested in the Not For Love bloodlines. With each horse, McDermott hopes he is doing the right thing.
“My hope is for all of them to land into a good hand of an owner, breeder, or trainer,” he said. “That’s what I can do. I want to get some nice mares, breed them appropriately.”
