One grey gelding at Woodbine got a lot more popular on Tuesday when Kansas City Chiefs football star TRAVIS KELCE, also boyfriend of mega-star Taylor Swift – bought into SWIFT DELIVERY.
Kelce, who was at the Kentucky Derby this past May and regaled stories of his bet on Forever Young on his popular podcast New Heights which he hosts with his brother Jason, purchased a significant share of Team Valor’s interest in the three-year-old gelding Swift Delivery, which Team Valor owns with Gary Barber.
Also buying into the two-time winning horse was the Zoldan Family, who have been key members of Team Valor’s syndicates for nearly four decades, participating in three notable Kentucky Derby (G1) renewals: the 2011 victory of Animal Kingdom, a head second in 1997 with Captain Bodgit, and a close fourth-place finish in 2012 with Went The Day Well .
Bruce Zoldan, founder and CEO of Phantom Fireworks, has been a longtime attendee of the Run for the Roses.
This year, fellow Ohio native Kelce attended the Derby with the Zoldans, thanks to his close friendship with Bruce’s son, Alex. Phantom Fireworks, based in Youngstown, Ohio, is the largest pyrotechnic retailer in North America.
So who is Swift Delivery? Well this guy is by the very good US sire Not This Time and from the mare Raegen Harper by Rockport Harbor. He was born in Kentucky and bred by Hunt- Steeple Hill Farm.
As a yearling he brought $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling sale; the buyer was listed as Bobby D. He did not meet his reserve the following June (2023) at the Ocala Two-Year-Old Sale of $70,000.
Swift Delivery debuted in August 2023 at Woodbine for D J Stable and Tina Casse’s Quintessential Racing Florida. In four races as a juvenile he had a couple of fourth-place finishes.
In April 2024, Swift Delivery was offered for $50,000 claiming at Gulfstream Park in Florida and finished third. Now gelded, the sophomore was entered in a Fasig-Tipton Digital sale in May and was bought out by Gary Barber for $55,000. After a third-place finish in a maiden special weight on the grass at Gulfstream, Swift Delivery arrived at Woodbine and promptly won his maiden race by a staggering 16 1 1/2 lengths, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. Team Valor, a syndicate founded by Barry Irwin, bought into the gelding with Barber and the horse won again on July 19 on the grass.
Swift Delivery is expected to make his stakes debut this Saturday in the Toronto Cup, one of the oldest stakes races on the Woodbine calendar.
Patrick Husbands produced a weaving ride on Swift Delivery to win his second start in a row with some easy. In a colourful path to the wire, he was up to 5 wide initially, then closer to the fence. Finally, he was also asked to weave a passage in the straight. It was race over! pic.twitter.com/e4scjzUljp
— Team Valor (@TeamValor) July 19, 2024
