Breed to Succeed:
Highcliff Farm's breed-to-race program is delivering winners
By Mike Kane
From THE BLOOD-HORSE, APRIL 13, 2002

At Highcliff Farm, the roles in the O'Cain family are clearly defined: she sells and he delivers. It is the team approach that has worked very nicely during the 13 years veterinarian C. Lynwood "Doc" O'Cain and his wife, Suzie, have overseen the growth of Highcliff into the largest and one of the most consistently successful breeding farms in New York state.

©2002 Barbara D. Livingston

C. Lynwood 'Doc' and Suzie O'Cain have been running Highcliff Farm for 13 years

With Doc O'Cain in the dual roles of farm manager and resident veterinarian, Highcliff has produced a roster of state-bred champions and graded stakes winners, led by Travers Stakes (gr. I) victor Thunder Rumble. The most recent addition to the now 800-acre farm's honor roll is White Ibis, the state-bred 2-year-old male champion of 2001.

Highcliff's principal owner, Carl Lizza, was the leading breeder in the state by awards paid by New York's Breeding and Development Fund. Lizza, who races as Flying Zee Stable, was on top of the standings through the first quarter of this year.

A dozen stallions are standing at Highcliff this season, including established sires Key Contender and Scarlet Ibis, and the young stallion Western Expression, a half-brother to King Cugat. O'Cain and his staff will deliver approximately 140 foals this breeding season.

Many of them will be for Lizza and Highcliff's numerous longtime clients, like Seymour Cohn, a breeder/owner in New York for more than 30 years; Elizabeth Jerkens, the wife of Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens; Michael T. Martin, the owner of Scarlet Ibis; and veteran trainer Howie Tesher.

"We're one of the last major operations where the majority of our owners still breed to race," Suzie O'Cain said. "We've always loved it because we keep these horses in the family.

"The fillies come back and now they're mothers. We've got a few generations going on here. That's nice for us, too. We enjoy that. We're not just looking at these horses as numbers. There's a story here behind every one of these animals."

©2002 Barbara D. Livingston

Western Expression, who finished second in the Carter Handicap. entered stud at Highcliff in 2000.

When Lizza and longtime friend and partner Joe Bartone purchased the Highcliff property in the Schoharie Valley about 40 miles southwest of Saratoga Springs, Doc O'Cain was part of the original business plan. O'Cain had helped Lizza and Bartone find the farm, which was developed by Bill Garbarini and Bob Tomiso, and O'Cain agreed to close his private practice in Coxsackie to live at Highcliff and manage the operation.

O'Cain, a mechanical engineer before he became a vet, couldn't pass up the chance to run the farm for Lizza and Bartone.

"Most veterinarians are on their own or, if they are on a farm, are the resident veterinarian," he said. "When an opportunity like this comes, you take advantage of it.

"It is a helluva responsibility. On a normal farm where you're the veterinarian that comes in and out, you have minimal dealings with the clients. Being the manager of the farm you're both. You're kind of put in the middle of being the veterinarian, the manager, and everything else, but it works out."

O'Cain nodded toward his wife, who was involved in a spirited telephone conversation. "I couldn't do it without her running the office," he said. "It would be impossible."

Laughing as she tells the story, Suzie says she was a last-minute addition to Highcliff's organizational chart in 1989.

"At the closing, Joe Bartone looks at Doc and says, 'Hey, wait a minute. Who's going to run the place in the office? Can Suzie do that?'" she said. "I don't think I'd ever met him. Doc goes, 'Oh, yeah, Suzie can do that.'

"Yeah, right. I didn't even know who Northern Dancer was."

An engaging, effervescent person whose hair is highlighted in at least three colors, she rolls her eyes and laughs again, a little harder and a bit louder for emphasis.

©2002 Barbara D. Livingston

Thunder Puddles is the sire of millionaire Thunder Rumble

At the time, she had zero experience in any office environment, and an equal amount of background in the Thoroughbred business.

Much has changed. As Highcliff's sales and marketing guru - her official position is stallion promotion and development - Suzie has her bloodlines down cold and a firm understanding of the New York market. She touts the skill and ability of the farm's staff of 40 people and doesn't waste an opportunity to promote Highcliff for having her husband, the veterinarian, living on the farm and, as she puts it, "sleeping with the horses."

In addition, she enthusiastically touts the New York breeding and racing program, and its multimillion dollar awards, and is in her fourth term on the board of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders.

"People think I've been in the business all my life because I took to it very quickly," she said.

A native of Jackson, Miss., who studied to be a teacher, Suzie met Doc O'Cain in Louisiana in the late 1970s. She usually explains she became interested in her veterinarian when she saw him fishing one day with his shirt off. They were married in 1981 and moved to upstate New York in 1985.

Four years later, the O'Cains relocated to Highcliff, a former dairy farm on Eaton Corners Road in Delanson, a little town in western Schenectady County.

"When I came here I didn't even know how to fill out a live foal report," she said. "I had to learn and study pedigrees and study the industry. I guess I have some common sense because I was able to figure out how to service clientele. I do all the ads. I'm the creative source at Highcliff."

Creative indeed. Most of Suzie O'Cain's newspaper and magazine advertisements hit the mark of being clever and memorable. Some are hold-your-sides funny, like the cartoon in which Highcliff stallion Scarlet Ibis was riding a big motorcycle in the role of "Scarley Davidson," the leader of the pack. Several years ago, when model and actress Lauren Hutton appeared in a series of slick advertisements for Lou Salerno's Questroyal Farm, O'Cain countered in jest with stallion Thunder Puddles - showing off a gap-toothed air-brushed smile, of course - and almost the identical ad copy.

"I have a certain way that I like to do things, with the extra touch," she said. "Like at the end of breeding season we send engraved thank you notes to everyone. Nobody does that.

©2002 Barbara D. Livingston

The stallion barn at Highcliff Farm

"Here's what you do in life: If you're lucky enough to get something, you've got to give it back. That philosophy feeds on itself because the more you give back somehow the more you get. It's amazing. We've tried to do that here."

Suzie has embraced the Internet as a sales and marketing tool. Visitors to the Highcliff Web site are greeted by the sound of a horse's whinny. The day-to-day results of Highcliff alums on tracks across the country are available at highcliff.com.

"It's a natural progression," she said. "If they go to my Web site and they click on one of my stallions you can read what they've done, but at "Highcliff in the News" you can scroll down as far back as it goes and see first, seconds, and thirds. I'm backing it up with results.

"I can tell people on the telephone, "Oh, yeah, Key Contender has winners every day,' but if they can look on the Web site and see it, they say, "Damn, that's impressive.' I'm doing that to say, "If you want to breed to race, why wouldn't you breed here? These stallions have contenders.' I can say whatever I want, but people today use technology to reinforce what I say and what they want to know before they spend the money. Everybody's money counts and you can't make foolish decisions."

Lizza had invested millions of dollars in racing stock before he ever considered purchasing the Highcliff property. Flying Zee's first big horse was Screen King, who earned $232,039 in 1979, winning the Woodhaven and Swift Stakes (gr. III) in New York and the Omaha Gold Cup (gr. II).

©2002 Barbara D. Livingston

The principal owner of Highcliff Farm is Carl Lizza

In 1981, Wayward Lass was voted the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly. Her biggest victories of the season came in the Mother Goose and Coaching Club American Oaks (both gr. I). That same year, Flying Zee's 3-year-old colt Noble Nashua won the Swaps Stakes (gr. I), Jerome Handicap (gr. II), Dwyer Stakes (gr. II), and Marlboro Cup (gr. I).

Reacting to changes in the industry, Lizza moved into breeding in the 1980s. He syndicated Noble Nashua, who later stood at Highcliff, and sold Wayward Lass in foal for $2.3 million.

"At one point when I used to go to the sales, we'd buy 15-16 horses and spend $1 million and you'd get some pretty nice horses," Lizza said. "Then the Japanese started coming to the Fasig-Tipton sale and the Keeneland sale was very expensive, so for a person who wants to race a stable, it became very hard to buy horses at a reasonable price. We felt we'd be better off breeding them; it would be cheaper to go that way.
"That's what really got us into that. But we race. We very rarely sell horses. We race 20-30-40 horses a year."

Garbarini and Tomiso started Highcliff in 1980. But by the end of the decade, a few years after changes in the tax laws made it less attractive to own racehorses, they were ready to sell the farm. Lizza and Bartone, New York natives and business associates, acquired the property and hired the O'Cains to run the operation.

"Joe and I have been friends for a long time and he wanted to get into the horse business," Lizza said. "I told him, 'Joe, if you want an economic success, that's probably not the business to go into, but if you want an artistic success, it probably is.'"

"To tell you the truth about buying the farm, we were having dinner one night and he wanted to buy the farm more than I did. I was more into racing and he wanted to get into breeding. It's a strange thing, but we flipped a quarter and we said, 'If it comes up heads we'll buy the farm together. If not, we'll forget about it.' It came up heads and we bought the farm. That's a lot of years ago."

Lizza now lives in New Jersey and is involved in some real estate development ventures. In 2001, he sold a large granite quarry to an Irish company. Bartone owns a large marina in Charleston, S.C.

Through the years, Lizza has come to appreciate the breeding business.

©2002 Barbara D. Livingston

The 800-acre Highcliff Farm is about 40 miles southwest of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"It's rewarding," he said. "There is a different feeling when you breed a horse than if you buy a horse. There is a whole different feeling when the horse wins, or wins a stakes. It's like we have a family that starts with a mare called Marathon Girl. From that family we've produced some really nice horses and we have their offspring today racing at the track."

Marathon Girl is the dam of Anthenian Girl, by Noble Nashua, who was the dam of graded stakes winner and New York 2-year-old champion Thunder Achiever, stakes winner Anthenian Thunder, stakes-placed Foxy Scarlet, and Thunderkin. Thunder Achiever has a 2-year-old in training.

Also part of the foundation of Lizza's breeding legacy are the mares Quadrangles Plum and Plum's Sister.
"It's just like having kids and you have the grandkids and you take a little bit of pride when the family does well," Lizza said.

In a fire at Ocala Stud on Feb. 23, Lizza lost 13 of the 17 horses he had purchased as yearlings in 2001. By any measure, it was a serious setback.

"You're going to have those," he said. "This is a business, the racing end particularly, where you have a lot of lows, but the highs - you can't reproduce them.

"I've had two horses in the Kentucky Derby. It's been a great experience. We've won a lot of grade I stakes. One year, we won 11 stakes in New York. You go through those times and it's really something that money can't buy, nothing can buy. It's a great experience. You've got to love it and we love it."

©2002 Barbara D. Livingston

A new arrival at Highcliff Farm

To be sure, Lizza's love of the business would continue to grow if Western Expression emerges as one of the premier stallions in New York. For two years, Suzie O'Cain has been promoting the son of Gone West, whose dam, Tricky Game, is a half-sister to Seeking the Gold and Fast Play, and a full sister to Stacked Pack.

"This horse is probably one of the most well-bred horses in the whole Northeast," she said. "He's got a phenomenal pedigree."

As a freshman sire last year he was bred to over 70 mares. His book this season was more than 80 by late March.

Western Expression ran in the Flying Zee colors, winning three of 16 starts in a career that did not reach expectations because of a back injury that is believed to have occurred in a starting gate incident. The colt did get some black type in the 2000 Carter Handicap (gr. I) when he finished second by a head to Brutally Frank.

"His race record doesn't look all that great because it was so sketchy," Suzie O'Cain said. "But sometimes there are horses that you recognize brilliance when you see it. It was never a tendon. It was never an ankle. It was never that."

She leaned over and tapped the knuckles of her left hand on the wooden coffee table.

"We're putting a lot of faith in him," she said. "He's getting a tremendous number of mares, and good mares, and is being supported really well."

On it goes. Suzie selling and her husband delivering for Highcliff's customers and especially for Lizza and Bartone.

"It's been a great relationship because it's our farm," Doc O'Cain said. "Basically, I run it. If I need something I call and discuss it with them. They allow me to do anything I want to. They are great to work for.

"They have multiple businesses elsewhere. They don't want to be calling up every day. It was turned over to Suzie and me and we took it from there."