Bill and Mary Stone have only owned Thoroughbreds for three years and their racing stable currently numbers two plus four others in training. The couple, who are both from Indiana, struck gold with their first horse, HOOSIER PHILLY, an Into Mischief filly purchased for $510,000 in 2021 through agent Lauren Carlisle. Hoosier Philly won the first three races of her career including the Golden Rod Stakes (G2), was second in the Black Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) and third in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2). Trained by Tom Amoss, Hoosier Philly has $860,000 in earnings.
The couple’s second horse to race was BA DEE YAH, an Ontario-bred by Uncle Mo purchased from Anderson Farms at the Fasig-Tipton October Sale in 2022 for $485,000. Unplaced on the grass in her first two races, Ba Dee Yah won a maiden allowance race at Fair Grounds in November of last year and won the LaCombe Memorial stakes there in March. She was recently third in the Panthers Stakes at Prairie Meadows on June 8.
The filly is now at Woodbine to contest the 69th Woodbine Oaks, worth $500,000, and the Stones plan to be in attendance with trainer Amoss.
“We like Woodbine,” said Bill from his Connecticut office of SS& C Technologies which he founded in the mid 1980s. “Ba Dee Yah is beautiful and we’ve been thinking about the Oaks for some time.”
Stone, a billionaire and philanthropist, has offices around the world including Toronto, and says he has been to Woodbine to watch races in the past. He started Gold Standard Racing with a partner when they bought Hoosier Philly but now the stable is solely owned by him and his wife.
Ba Dee Yah has never raced on the all-weather Tapeta surface, but she is a half-sister to Canadian Champion two-year-old Gretzky the Great, who won on Tapeta and turf at Woodbine. Another half-brother, Robitaille, has won on the Tapeta and Ba Dee Yah’s sire Uncle Mo is a leading all-weather sire in North America.
“Mary named her,” said Stone, about the filly’s moniker taken from chorus of the song September by Earth, Wind and Fire. “I haven’t studied the race yet but we’ll be cheering hard for her.”
Bill and Mary Stone have donated millions to various charities. (Indiana University photo)
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