Named after West Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead, West Paces Racing was originally formed by co-founders Keith Mason and Larry Connolly in 2019. Five years into their establishment, this racing group would accomplish what so many dream of achieving.
Partly owned by four other businesses, WPR is the majority owner of Dornoch with 33% ownership. Dornoch (pronounced “Door-Nick”), named after the Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Scotland, is a 3-year-old bay colt. With the filly Puca as his mother and Good Magic as his father, Dornoch comes from a lineage of success. While his lineage insinuated greatness, little did they know the extent of the greatness which Dornoch would achieve. “We hit the big time,” Mason said with regard to Dornoch, a statement which was emphasized in the 2024 Belmont Stakes.
The 156th running of the Belmont Stakes took place on June 4 at the Saratoga Race Course, due to renovations at Belmont Park. A sold-out crowd of 50,000 fans filled the course’s stands and watched as the 1-¼ mile race took place. Trained by Danny Gargan and under jockey Luis Saez, Dornoch was not favored to win after finishing 10th place in the Kentucky Derby. And yet, such did not deter those at WPR. Dornoch was granted the sixth post position at the Belmont Stakes. With a clean break, he was able to get off the leader in the first bit. Connolly told Mason in the moment, “If we’re going to win this race, this is where we need to be at this point in the race.” By the beginning of the second oval, Dornoch started making his move and took the lead at the top of the stretch. “He doesn’t like to give up the lead,” Mason says. “He’s a fighter.” With a time of 2:01.64, Dornoch claimed victory by a half-length. “I never declared victory until he crossed the finish line,” Connolly says. “But as the race progressed, I knew what it would mean for our horse and West Paces Racing.”
“We were elated for multiple reasons,” Connolly admits about winning the race. After being in the business for ten years, “We know heartbreak, and we appreciate how hard it is to win a Triple Crown Race,” Mason says. “We’ve dreamed about it.” Watching Dornoch win was a “Top five lifetime thrill,” Connolly adds. In true celebratory fashion, champagne was poured, and praises were exchanged on site with a party held at Connolly’s house in Saratoga afterward.
One month later, the new Triple Crown winner claimed another victory at the 57th Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. Similar to the final stretch of the Belmont Stakes, Dornoch, running along the rail, managed to fend off the hard-charging favorite Mindframe on the outside, securing a 1-¼ length victory on the 1-⅛ mile course in 1:50.31. Dornoch is the first Belmont Stakes winner to claim victory in the Haskell Stakes since Triple Crown champion American Pharoah achieved both wins in 2015.
The greatness of Dornoch’s success does not diminish the philanthropic endeavors of WPR. Connolly gives back to the community with contributions to the Connolly Family Foundation, whose mission is to deliver services such as healthcare and education to children in poverty, and to the Grayson Jockey Foundation, a research foundation for the betterment of horses. Mason contributes to the Kentucky community where his farm, Terminus Farm, resides by supporting programs such as Riding For Hope, a program that assists special needs children in riding horses, and Blue Grass Charity Group, a group that supports workers on horse farms by providing food, clothing, and other necessities.
To learn more about West Paces Racing, email Anne Muller at annemullerCFF@gmail.com.