Friends of Rural New York

Colt racing in today’s Kentucky Derby fed special alfalfa-timothy hay.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
By Scott Rapp
Staff writer
Pardon Genoa hay farmers John Berry and Sjana McClure-Berry if they have trouble reining in their pride when Ithaca-bred colt Sharp Humor bolts from the starting gate at today’s Kentucky Derby.

The 3-year-old bay horse, a half-brother to 2003 Derby victor Funny Cide, was raised on the couple’s high-octane hay for most of his all-important, first two developing years.

He is the second horse to run for the Derby roses thanks in part to Berry’s potent alfalfa-timothy hay. The other? Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, McClure-Berry said.

“We’re very proud because this is our second Derby horse to eat our hay. . . . It’s not our nature to tout something like this . . . but we take pride in making a good product,” she said.

Like race cars that need high-octane fuel, Triple Crown racehorses require hay that’s rich in protein and minerals, and free from dust and molds to compete

and endure in their grueling sport.

McClure-Berry and her husband nailed their commercial market years ago making and selling high-protein hay for high-performance horses in New York, Florida and Virginia, and polo ponies in Argentina.

They produce about 420 tons of hay a year off of their two farms in southern Cayuga County, said McClure-Berry, a horse lover who keeps four horses and rides with a fox hunting club in Geneseo, south of Rochester.

She and her husband have sold hay to Sharp Humor’s part-owners, Ithaca’s Pat and Chris Purdy, since the mid-1990s. They bred the colt at their “Ivy League” farm and fed the hay to both him and his mother before he was shipped to Morrisville State College to be trained.

“He was on that hay almost half of his life. That is their developmental stage (for bones and muscles) and it’s key to their development. It’s a critical time from the time they’re born to their yearling year,” Chris Purdy said in a telephone interview from Churchill Downs racetrack in Lexington, Ky., this week.

The Purdys buy about 70 percent to 80 percent of their hay from the Genoa couple to feed their 35 to 40 thoroughbred horses.

“They have wonderful hay. . . . It’s always good,” Pat Purdy said.

McClure-Berry said mixed-alfalfa hay made in Central New York draws raves from serious horse owners for two reasons.

First, alfalfa gushes with muscle-building protein and flourishes best in climates with warm summer days and cool nights - like those in Central New York, she said.

Secondly, her farm - like many in Upstate New York - sits atop a large limestone ridge that fortifies hay crops grown in its soil with extra minerals that make for strong dense bones that racehorses need.

“The old-timers say, ‘Buy your horses in Kentucky, raise them in Ireland and feed them Upstate New York hay,’ “ she said.

Someday, the Purdys and McClure-Berry and her husband may look back on today’s race as reaching the heydays in their respective professions. For now, both couples are gambling on Sharp Humor to run strong out of the ninth pole position in today’s derby.

McClure-Berry said she is going to bet $20 on him to win, place and show and then waxed philosophically about her feelings toward Sharp Humor’s finish in the race.

“I just think the fact that he’s there is a win in itself,” she said.

© 2006 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.