Precocious Private Creed honored as Aiken-trained Horse of the Year

Mar. 20—The 2022 Aiken-trained Horse of the Year didn't fly under the radar while he was at Marcus and Crystal Ryan's Mason Springs training center near Windsor.

Private Creed blossomed quickly under the couple's care, demonstrating plenty of potential as an athlete.

Crystal Ryan recalled how impressed she and her husband were with the bay colt after accepting the award for his accomplishments from Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon during a ceremony Sunday at the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum.

"There was one day that Marcus wanted me to tell you guys about," she said. "Private Creed was galloping up the hills we have in the back. A big gust of wind came along and he just took off. It didn't feel like he was touching the ground. And he (Marcus) said, 'We might have something special here.'"

Even before then, the Ryans were optimistic.

In 2021, they had purchased Private Creed for $45,000 from his breeder, Sierra Farm, at the Keeneland September yearling sale in Kentucky.

"There is no other animal mentioned as much in the Bible as the horse, so God must really love them," she said. "And there is a passage in (the book of) Job that really describes Private Creed when we first laid eyes on him at Keeneland. It says, 'He paws the ground fiercely, and he just rejoices in his strength. He is afraid of nothing.' And Creed was like that. He was so confident."

In the spring of 2022, Private Creed spent two weeks or so at the Aiken Training Track while getting ready for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training in Maryland.

"He was part of our investment partnership that we do, so it was really very special that he went on to do what he did," Ryan said. "We have a lot of clients, but he was Aiken-owned, which was very cool."

At the Fasig-Tipton auction, which was held in May, Mike McCarty bought Private Creed for $155,000 from the Ryans' Mason Springs consignment.

Steve Asmussen, who is a member of thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame, became Private Creed's trainer, and the colt thrived in his stable.

Racing for McCarty last year, Private Creed earned $599,313 while winning three times in five starts.

His efforts included a third-place finish in the $920,000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (gr. IT) at Keeneland.

In addition, Private Creed captured the $500,000 Global Tote Juvenile Sprint Stakes at Kentucky Downs and the $244,688 Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland.

In the Indian Summer Stakes, Private Creed completed 5 1/2 furlongs on the firm turf course in a stakes-record time of 1:02.30. He defeated Mo Stash by three-quarters of a length.

Private Creed also finished third the $150,000 Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in New York.

Joel Rosario rode the colt in the Global Tote Juvenile Sprint, Indian Summer and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint.

This year, as a 3-year-old, Private Creed has raced twice already, adding $19,600 to his earnings total.

He was the runner-up in the $100,000 Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park in January.

Andthewinneris defeated Private Creed by only a head.

Ryan said her husband was unable to attend the Horse of the Year ceremony because he needed to be in Florida with the thoroughbreds that Mason Springs has consigned to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company March sale of 2-year-olds in training, which began Monday.

The advisory board for the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum chose Private Creed to receive the 2022 Horse of the Year honor.

In addition to being trained in Aiken County, a thoroughbred must win at least one graded stakes during the year selected or exceed $500,000 in career earnings to be eligible for Horse of the Year recognition.

Previous winners of Aiken-trained Horse of the Year include Congaree (2002), Wando (2003), Limehouse (2005), Bob and John (2006), Country Star (2007), Midshipman (2008) and Quality Road (2009 and 2010).

The others were It's Tricky (2011), Alpha (2012), Palace Malice (2013 and 2014), Curalina (2015 and 2016), Dickinson (2017), Still Having Fun (2018), Concrete Rose (2019) and Madone (2021). There was no winner in 2020.