River Edge Farm

At River Edge Farm in Solvang, the torch has been passed.

Pirate's Bounty, one of the first stakes winners bred by Marty and Pam Wygod at River Edge Farm, topped California's freshman sire list in 1984 and led the state's general sire list four times. His 18 crops produced progeny earnings of $29.4 million in North America and 54 stakes winners, including three California champions.

But in 1994, Eclipse Award handicap champion Bertrando joined the River Edge stallion roster and he is well on his way to eclipsing Pirate's Bounty as one of California's most productive stallions ever.

Bertrando was California's leading freshman sire in 1997 and has ranked among California's sire elite for each of the past four years, with five-crop progeny earnings of nearly $10 million.

His top money-earning fillies, Smooth Player and Here's To You, were bred by River Edge, along with this year's 2-year-old sensation, Officer.

River Edge and Bertrando will be key players in California Cup XII, the state's thoroughbred showcase to be held Nov. 3 at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet.

Bertrando will be represented by at least four primary contenders: Stormy Jack in the Classic, Mile or Sprint, Lily's Lad in the Classic, Fair Apache in the Distaff and Good Cop Bad Cop in the Mile.

Pirate's Bounty has long been a major force in the California Cup. The Wygods won the 1991 Cal Cup Distaff Starter Handicap with Bountiful Native, the 1993 Juvenile Fillies with Private Persuasion, the 1994 Matron with Glass Ceiling, and the 1999 Matron with Feverish, all homebred fillies by Pirate's Bounty. He also sired Bountiful Dreamer, the 1998 Distaff winner for Oakcrest Stable. 

Wygod, an investment banker from New Jersey, became acquainted with California's Santa Ynez Valley through his friendship with Fletcher Jones, the flamboyant owner of Westerly Stud Farm. It was Jones in 1965 who first introduced Wygod to racing and presented him with a gift of two Thoroughbred yearlings to get him started in the business.

When he decided he wanted to breed and race his own horses, Wygod purchased a 163-acre parcel of prime farm land that had once been part of Hastings Harcourt's Flag Is Up Farms near Solvang and named it River Edge Farm, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

When members of Wygods' Eastern-based stable reached the end of their racing careers, they retired to the Solvang ranch. Two of them, Never Tabled and Pirate's Bounty, became the foundation sires of River Edge's breeding program.

Inaugurated in 1990, the California Cup offers 10 races and $1.275 million in purses exclusively for California-breds.