from Bonley Farm

Sunfield, MI — Even if your colt doesn’t start in the Breeders Crown, you and five friends could win a private jet jaunt to the Breeders Crown in 2016 — VIP all the way — including hometown airport embarkation and first class hotel accommodation.

The trip is the brainchild of former Dot.Com entrepreneur and current Standardbred owner Barry Rubenstein. Racing as The Cheyenne Gang Stable, Rubenstein and his horseracing posse of 14 partners own, among others, pacing stallion Cheyenne Rei.

“We wanted to do something a little different to celebrate moving Cheyenne Rei into stud in Ohio,” explains Stable Manager Jeff Rubinstein. “Barry came up with the Breeders Crown trip as a bonus for the breeder of the highest earning 2-year-old by Cheyenne Rei from his first Ohio crop.”

The Cheyenne Gang also paid in to offer Breeders Crown eligibility to Cheyenne Rei’s Ohio foals of 2014.

Coming from Bonley Farm in Michigan where his first four crops dominated the 2-year-old and 3-year-old pacing stakes, Cheyenne Rei now boasts this year’s winningest racemare, 5-year-old Do Me Honor p,4,1:51.1 ($282,385), queen of F&M Opens at the Meadows this winter.

Will the Breeders Crown trip get Cheyenne Rei more mares to breed in 2013?

“Who knows?,” shrugs Rubinstein, “but anything that adds a little fun to breeding mares this year has got to be good for harness racing.”

In the meantime, Cheyenne Rei is receiving mares and shipping semen from Ohio State University’s ATI Equine Center in Apple Creek.