James Culver thought he uncovered the horse of a lifetime when he purchased Mucho Macho Man for $30,000 from breeders Carole and John Rio and the Florida-bred went on to a stellar career that culminated in a victory in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Mucho Macho Man finished with more than $5.6 million in purse earnings.

Now, Culver has what may be viewed as a second horse of a lifetime in Hoist the Gold, a homebred for Culver’s Dream Team One Racing Stable who is being pointed toward the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Bacarat on Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The 5-year-old son of Mineshaft, out of the Tapit mare Tacit Approval, comes off a front-running, 4 ½-length victory in the Dec. 2 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct for trainer Dallas Stewart and jockey John Velazquez.  It was his second Grade 2 triumph in his last three starts. He sandwiched a victory in the Oct. 6 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes around a sixth-place finish in the Nov. 4 Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.

Tacit Approval represents the only broodmare that Culver’s group owns. Hoist the Gold has run at 11 different tracks and produced a record of five wins, six seconds, and three thirds from 26starts with earnings of $1,119,547.

Culver discussed his experience with Mucho Macho Man and his uncertain Pegasus prospects with Hoist the Gold during a question-and-answer session conducted by Tom Pedulla on behalf of America’s Best Racing.

PEDULLA: How were you introduced to racing?

CULVER: I worked as a tax assessor in New York state. I got a new job in Albany [in 1995]. I asked people there, ‘What is there to do on the weekend?’ They told me to go up to Saratoga and watch horse racing. So, I went up there and came back to work on Monday and they said, ‘How did you like the races?’ I said, ‘It was OK. It was at night.’ They said, ‘No, no. You went to the wrong track. You went to the harness track.’ The following weekend I went to the Thoroughbred track and I was just in awe of what athletes these horses were, the crowds, and how much they enjoyed it. I always said if I had some spare money, I would try to buy a horse.

Culver, right, with trainer Dale Romans (BloodHorse Library)

PEDULLA: When did you buy your first horse?      

CULVER: I think it was in 2006 or 2007. I was involved in several partnerships … I decided to start my own. It was a public syndicate all the way up to the pandemic. Then, I stopped doing that and went to doing my own private stable.

PEDULLA: How many partners own Hoist the Gold?

CULVER: I am one of six.

PEDULLA: You are the managing partner?

CULVER: That is correct.

PEDULLA: How did it come about that you purchased Mucho Macho Man?

CULVER: The breeder was a good friend of mine. They called me one day and said they had this colt who was late in his yearling year. They had broken him and he was galloping. I went and looked at him and I liked his stride. He just had this long stride. He was very thin in the front. He was very tall, maybe the tallest horse I’d seen. They wanted a lot of money and I ended up getting the price down a bit.

PEDULLA: Dean Reeves came in on the horse after his first start, a second-place finish at Calder in July 2010?

CULVER: He did. He wanted to buy the whole horse, but we didn’t want to do that. We sold him a majority interest, I believe it was 60%. We stayed with him all the way through the Suburban Handicap [a win in July 2012]. He made us a tremendous offer to buy him out and everybody sold except for a person who owned 1% and stayed with Dean until the end. 

Mucho Macho Man winning 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic (Eclipse Sportswire)

PEDULLA: Do you have any regrets about that? It is a business, too.

CULVER:  At the time, it was a business decision. It did well for us and it did well for Dean. Everybody did well on it. Regrets? Yes. That’s why all of the offers we’ve had on Hoist the Gold, and there have been several so far, we have just not been interested. It’s going to have to be a life-changing amount of money. We’re not going to give him away.

PEDULLA: Horses like this are so hard to get.

CULVER: This is the second in a lifetime. I don’t know if it will ever happen again.

PEDULLA: How did Tacit Approval come to be the only broodmare you own?

CULVER: Well, a group of acquaintances who were partners in West Point Thoroughbreds approached us about this filly in a sale. They wanted to buy her but they didn’t know anything about management and what was involved to run it. …We decided to try to buy her and continue racing her and we gave her to Graham Motion. After maybe four or five months of training, he said, ‘I think you might to just want to give up on this horse and let her be a broodmare.’ We always knew that was a possibility. She has good bloodlines. She is by Tapit.

PEDULLA: Hoist the Gold is a well-traveled horse. He certainly dances every dance.

CULVER: We knew early he was talented. He had a breeze as a 2-year-old in Saratoga on the Oklahoma track and he went 58 1/5. It was the fastest breeze on that track all summer. We thought, ‘Wow, this is a really nice horse.’ We were always trying to find the right distance for him. Does he want to sprint? Does he want to go long?

PEDULLA: What role has jockey John Velazquez played in Hoist the Gold’s recent success?

Hoist the Gold winning Phoenix Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

CULVER: I’ve been begging Dallas to get Johnny to ride him because I just love Johnny V. I think he’s the smartest, most experienced guy out there. I’m not knocking anyone else. I just think he’s outstanding. He rode him in the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix at Keeneland and won with him. Then he rode him in the Breeders’ Cup and said, ‘Let me pick out the next race. I think I know this horse a little bit.’ I think the next day he called us and said, ‘Let’s run him in the Cigar Mile. He’ll win for fun.’ He’s just blossomed into a really nice horse.

PEDULLA: I’ve always heard that Mineshafts are later developing.

CULVER:  He’s just like his father. He really didn’t start to do well until he was 4 years old. I don’t know why that is, but it’s kind of fun at the moment. He’s been a blessing, just a joy to us. Healthy as can be. He’s never had an issue. We like to give him a break once in a while, but this guy likes to run.

PEDULLA: Why do you think he can be a good fit for the Pegasus?

CULVER: He just won at a mile in 1:34 1/5. Johnny said nine [furlongs] wouldn’t be a problem. His gallop out was tremendous. He couldn’t even pull him up. He had to get an outrider to pull him up down the backside. He said distance is not going to be an issue. The issue, if anything, is going to be whether he can handle the two turns because you have to change leads multiple times. He said, ‘I’m willing to take a shot at it, but I don’t know.’ Neither do we. It’s a gamble. I think he’s earned the opportunity.

PEDULLA: Do you appreciate having a big-money race on the calendar so early in the season?

CULVER: Absolutely. To have these types of feature races is just tremendous. The timing is perfect, too. It doesn’t interfere with horses going to Saudi Arabia or Dubai at the end of February or March. It’s spaced just perfectly, in my opinion.