From the Dairy Farm to the Racetrack … and to the Breeding Farm

After working as an assistant trainer around outstanding horses, including a two-time Horse of the Year, Seth Gregory continues to build on his Innisfree Farm in Galway

Seth Gregory has worked with many elite Thoroughbred horses through horse racing’s respectable trainers. Now, for more than a decade, he has taken that experience to breeding successful horses.

Since starting as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Gregory has evolved into a breeder with his Innisfree Farm in Galway. In 2013, he bought the 65-acre farm that crosses over Galway Road and named it after his favorite poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats.

“I always wanted to be around the Saratoga area,” he said. “I think it was a six-year search to find something that fit my needs and my wallet.”

Growing up in Garrattsville, about 20 miles west of Cooperstown, the 53-year-old Gregory never wanted to follow the family’s dairy farm business. However, after graduating from high school, he still wanted to work with animals, especially horses.

With a Clark Foundation Scholarship given to seniors in the Leatherstocking Region, Gregory attended college for a year. Yet, he wanted an outside-the-classroom education at the racetrack and the breeding farm.

“I wanted nothing to do with dairy farming,” Gregory said. “I always had horses. My original plan for life was to probably go to Kentucky to manage a farm, but I wanted to see the racetrack before I did that.”

After graduating from Cornell with a bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1995, Gregory joined Mott’s barn after meeting him at Allen Paulson’s Brookside Farm in Versailles, Ky.

During his time with Mott, he worked with many multiple Grade 1 winners that included Lassigny, Northern Emerald, and King’s Theater. Though, one of Gregory’s more memorable moments came with two-time Horse of the Year, Cigar, whom he groomed during their time at the Dubai World Cup.

“I got bit by the racetrack bug. It was absolutely amazing,” Gregory said. “He’s a super, nice horse and great to be around. You couldn’t ask for more. I was blessed to be there at the time of Cigar and lucky enough to end up going with him to Dubai.”

Gregory then spent a decade working for Mark Hennig by handling another accomplished group of runners such as Grade 1 King’s Bishop winner Gygistar, three-time Grade 1 winner Raging Fever, and multiple graded stakes winners Gold Mover, With Ability, and Biding Time. Gregory also worked for Tom Albertrani, who trained several horses for the Godolphin and Darley group.

Still working at the racetrack, Gregory became involved in breeding horses with a mare who was also his first winner as an assistant trainer under Hennig: Won Perfect Rose. Shortly after getting transferred to John Campo’s barn, Won Perfect Rose suffered a career-ending injury as Gregory found an opportunity.

“The injury was bad,” Gregory said. “Basically, our owner’s bloodstock advisor said to find her a home somewhere in New York.”

That home was his family’s dairy farm.

“I talked to my parents (Henry and Connie Elizabeth) and they let me send her home,” he said. “She was my start in the breeding business.”

With graded stakes winner Spinal Tap as the sire, Won Perfect Rose produced Won Dozen Roses, Gregory’s first horse that initially ran under his father’s name as she won 7-of-25 races.

Won Perfect Rose’s more successful progeny was Gold and Roses, who won 10-of-45 races, including the New York Stallion Stakes in 2005 and back-to-back editions of the John Morrissey Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, while earning $877,966 for Henry Gregory.

Seth Gregory reinvested some earnings from Gold and Roses into another mare: Road to Mandalay. He purchased Road to Mandalay, who was in foal to two-time Grade 1 winner Aptitude, for $25,000 at the Keeneland Association Breeding Sales in November 2005.

Shortly after that sale, Road to Mandalay delivered La Concerto, who was later purchased for $110,000 in February 2008 before winning 8-of-18 races. After producing nine other winners, she stands retired at Innisfree Farm.

“She has been a wonderful asset,” Gregory said. “She just had beautiful babies that always sold very, very well. She’s still at the farm. She’s retired and enjoying her life.”

One of Road to Mandalay’s progeny may be following a similar breeding trend around Gergory’s farm: the 14-year-old mare Sonora, who won six races – all sprints – in 46 career starts. Michael Anthony Ferraro sold the mare back to Gregory shortly after her last race in March 2019.

After Sonora lost her first goal, her next one has shown some promise: Unlock the Value, an impressive 9½-length winner in her first start at Saratoga Race Course on July 30.

Once Unlock the Value left Gregory’s farm, bloodstock agent Mike Ryan purchased her for $50,000 for Klaravich Stables at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sales in Keeneland in October 2024. A few months later, the unraced filly was sent to Chad Brown’s stable at Monmouth Park where she posted consistent workouts until August 2025, then was turned out for the rest of the year.

She started training again in February at Fair Hill before coming to Saratoga in May for a couple of months, then was sent to Monmouth Park until her debut.

“I’m very glad that Chad was so patient with her,” Gregory said. “She had a layoff and then they gave her plenty of time and got her back in very, very good order. She’s just a pretty filly and has done everything right.”

Along with producing Unlock the Value, Sonora has bred an unnamed 2-year-old filly by Vekoma who sold for $400,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales in June, a yearling colt by New York-bred Horse of the Year Americanrevolution, and a foal colt by Messier who was born on May 5.

Sonora and Road to Mandalay are just two of the 20 horses at the Innisfree Farm. Gregory also has 2021 New York Oaks winner A Bit o’ Irish Sass, Hey Mama, and some playful yearlings.

Beyond his breeding farm, Gregory, who was once a wine distributor throughout the Hudson Valley region, also assists his wife Kiley’s wine and spirit store since 2018.

From grooming a two-time Horse of the Year on the international stage to breeding potential runners at his own farm, Gregory has built a career that he imagined after deciding that dairy farming was not for him.