Sean Clancy has worn his share of hats over the years: rider, bloodstock agent, journalist, and now owner of a Breeders’ Cup contender. This former steeplechase jockey turned Eclipse Award-winning writer has parlayed his decades of experience with equine athletes into the fortuitous purchase of Adonius, a Soldier’s Call gelding trained by Rebecca Menzies.

Fresh off a victory in the Indian Summer Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select Oct. 4, Adonius carries Clancy and co-owners into new territory: a turn on the sport’s biggest stage, the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. It gives this turf writer the chance to swap press credentials for an owner’s pass – and potentially experience the championship winner’s circle firsthand on Future Stars Friday, Oct. 30 right back at Keeneland.

A young Sean Clancy with trainer Jack Fisher. (Courtesy Riverdee Stable)

The Clancy family’s ties with the sport date back to grandfather Paddy, who emigrated from Ireland to the United States and went to work for Donald P. Ross’s Brandywine Stable in Delaware. He was part of the stable when Greek Money won the 1962 Preakness Stakes for Ross, who also was a co-founder of Delaware Park. After Paddy came Joe Clancy Sr., who trained both flat and steeplechase horses, and his wife, Ruth, who designed the silks in the 1960s that now grace Adonius in 2026. Under their father’s tutelage, both Joe Jr. and Sean walked hots and galloped horses, building the skills that led the younger Clancy brother into the saddle and the older one into turf writing.

Their father insisted they get an education in more than just horses, so both brothers attended college. Joe Jr. went into journalism while Sean embraced the rider’s life. Starting with pony races in his youth and then extending into the jump scene as an adult, the younger Clancy won several graded stakes, including the Iroquois and the Temple Gwathmey twice, the New York Turf Writers Cup Handicap, and the Breeders’ Cup Grand National Hurdle Stakes. However, Sean Clancy knew that the saddle was not a long-term proposition.

“I loved riding races. I knew, obviously, I couldn't do that forever. So then, for me, it was trying to figure out what I could do to stay involved. How can I stay involved in the sport? I didn't really want to be a trainer,” said Clancy.

“I started selling horses, and that was kind of fun to be on that, at least somewhat involved a little. You know, you see horses you bought for somebody win. But (while that) had some satisfaction, it still wasn't the thrill of being involved.”

During those years in competition, he and Joe started the Steeplechase Times in 1994, and then the pair created The Saratoga Special with turf writer and friend Tom Law in 2000. Both now also write for the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine. In addition to his work as a turf writer, Clancy started Riverdee Stable, a name with a special connection: “Riverdee was a horse my father bought off his friend Bobby Connors at Delaware Park. I won my second and third career jump races on him.”

“When I was riding races, my accountant suggested I incorporate, so I created a corporation called Riverdee Incorporated. That's how it started. Then, when we started running horses, I just kept that name, Riverdee Stable.”

Accepting an Eclipse Award for The Saratoga Special. (Sara Kauss photo/Eclipse Awards)

As a steeplechase stable, Riverdee has won the Iroquois, the Commonwealth Cup, and the Temple Gwathmey, plus three other graded stakes, and received a Champion Steeplechase Horse Eclipse Award for Cool Jet in 2025. Though success has primarily come over the hurdles, Clancy has had victories with flat racers as well. Trained in England by Rebecca Menzies, Adonius is part of Clancy’s effort to build Riverdee’s flat racing contingent, but the journey to a Breeders’ Cup was a bit of a roundabout one.

“We had the jumper Rupert the Prince with Rebecca at the time, and that was going nowhere. I knew she was doing the same as I'm doing, trying to kind of branch out and get more flat horses. I immediately watched him and thought, ‘Wow, that was a great American action.’ He's just a low, light, beautiful mover. When this horse won, he won his debut, I remember kind of reaching out to Matt [Coleman, bloodstock agent] going, ‘Wow, that's a runner, look at him, that's a nice horse Rebecca has,’” Clancy said.

After watching Adonius’s first starts at Musselburgh and Chester, Clancy along with West Paces Racing reached out to owner Michael Hughes to buy into the gelding with an eye on a potential trip to America. Though Adonius does not have as fashionable a pedigree as some – his sire Soldier’s Call won the Flying Childers Stakes at 2 and his damsire Exceed and Excel was a champion sprinter in Australia – he possesses the physical attributes that the lifelong horseman knew could be a winning combination here.

“It was just pure ability. Just the way he was winning those races. He’s just a beautiful horse, great balance, light mover. I think everything from him comes from that talent – pure racehorse,” said Clancy.

After five starts in England, including two second-place finishes in stakes company, Menzies sent Adonius across the Atlantic to Keeneland for the Indian Summer, where the partnership would see if he had the chops for racing stateside. He shipped to the Bluegrass in the care of Diaz Gibson and handled the transition with aplomb.

“Every day leading up to the Indian Summer, he just got here and never turned a hair. He did quarantine at Churchill Downs, did that really smoothly, shipped over to Keeneland, handled that, trained well, kept eating, just seemed fresh. That part's been pretty, pretty easy so far,” said Clancy. “He's trained great, handled everything great.”

Adonius gets up at the finish in the Indian Summer. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Adonius drew the rail post position in the 5 ½-furlong Indian Summer in a competitive nine-horse field and went off as the 7-2 third betting choice with Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the saddle.

“He broke a step slow, which is what we knew would happen,” Clancy said. “American horses will usually outrun the European horses, and he went from never having a horse in front of him over there to being last. Amazingly, he just handled it great. Johnny let him get his feet under him and sat real still.

“He came from last, which certainly none of us knew that he had that dimension. It was great to see that he could overcome that, that he could adapt that fast.”

In the stretch, Velazquez turned Adonius loose and the gelding rallied on the outside of the leaders, winning a three-horse photo by a head. And just like that, Clancy went from writer to winner with not one but two Breeders’ Cup credentials on the horizon. Of course, as a turf writer, he has covered his share of Breeders’ Cups, starting with the 1997 edition at Hollywood Park, so he knows the Championships from that side of the sport. Now, with Adonius, Clancy gets to see the race from the owner’s box rather than the press box.

“To play at this level, for any of us in this sport, we're all dreamers, and this is a big-time dream,” said the horseman.

Adonius’s turn in the Breeders’ Cup is one of those stories the sport loves: a young prospect helping a newer trainer find a potential big break, and a family with generations of love for horses adds another dimension to the journey. The gelding’s appearance on Future Stars Friday gives the people behind him an opportunity to experience something rare and special: a championship moment.

“Obviously, we hope he runs well, and most importantly, (that) he has a good experience and comes out of it okay,” Clancy said. “I just think it is such an honor to be involved in a race like that or in a day like this. To be on the other side of it, I'm looking forward to that.”