Claiming Filly Is It Gold Provides Riches for Saskatoon's Kuchar

Saskatoon financial adviser and racehorse owner and enthusiast Kane Kachur had no idea what he had in his racing stable when a bloodstock agent from Kentucky tracked him down this past March.

His filly IS IT GOLD, obtained by Kachur in the fall of 2018 to race in Canada, had finished second in a $6,250 claiming race on Leap Day, Feb. 29, 2020 on the grass at Turf Paradise.

But when SWISS SKYDIVER (Daredevil) won the Gulfstream Oaks in late March, Is It Gold suddenly was worth a little bit more. Swiss Skydiver, a younger half-sister to Is It Gold, both from the mare Expo Gold by Johannesburg, looked like a top filly and Kachur made a plan. He put up $40,000 (US) and bred his 6-year-old by Indygo Shiner to Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist.

Scroll to continue with content

Swiss Skydiver went on to win the Grade 1 Fantasy Stakes in May, the Alabama (G1), Santa Anita Oaks (G2) and then defeated Kentucky Derby winner Authentic in the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes.

At the recently completed Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, Kachur’s claiming filly brought a bid of $230,00o (US), about $306,000 Canadian, from Title Town Racing.

Kachur told Ivan Bigg of The Insider it has been a wild ride:

“I just shot back a Crown Royal straight and there will be more to come,” said Kachur soon after the mare sold at Keeneland.

With friends in a farm bunkhouse near Saskatoon, Kachur had just watched his $7,500 claimer, Is It Gold, fetch $230,000 U.S. in a Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale carried on the internet. That’s $306,000 Canadian.

I got into racing as a way of owning a sports franchise–where I could get an adrenalin rush,” the 64-year-old told The Insider from his Saskatoon office–and it seems that’s about to happen in a big way after he spent decades “nickel and diming” low-level horses at tracks on the Canadian prairies, western U.S. and Arizona.

Is It Gold, a Kentucky-bred, was originally a $6,000 yearling purchase by Ole A. Nielsen of British Columbia. She won for Nielsen but was claimed for $16,000 from her 5th race, and then 6th race, the latter by Hastings Race Club. Is It Gold also raced for Phil Hall, Top Hat Thoroughbreds and Pink Cloud Racing while racing at Hastings Racecourse, Turf Paradise, Canterbury and then for Kachur at Century Downs, Marquis and Assiniboia.

In her career, Is It Gold won 6 of 39 races and $67,640 for various owners.

Now she embarks on a breeding career with her first foal due in the spring of 2021. To Bigg he said, “It’s been a real ride,” but added: “I’m not sure my heart is made for this.”