She was already an older mare, and they have in fact lost her in the meantime. And, in this instance anyway, it was the pinhookers who made the big money. But that doesn't remotely diminish the emotional impact, for Taylor Made Thoroughbred advisor Hunter Houlihan, in seeing a daughter of All in With Aces (Quiet American) emerge as one of the most exciting prospects around.Two of her three starts have suggested Mashallah (Maxfield) to be something out of the ordinary. To Houlihan, however, she is first and foremost out of something extraordinary.His late father “Spence” had never understood what made Houlihan drop out of college to pursue a career in a world about which their family, despite living in the Bluegrass, knew nothing.“He sold construction equipment in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, for 40 years,” Houlihan says. “Most people in the business are born into it, so I'm kind of an outlier. I was in college, studying Spanish, and got an internship with the Keeneland track chaplain, helping with the guys on the backstretch.“It was quite the eye-opening experience. I knew nothing about horses: how they're cared for, how much it takes just to get one to the races. And then every morning I find myself playing ping-pong with Jorge Chavez and Pat Day. How do you not get hooked? It was over, just done.”Promptly resolving to become a trainer, Houlihan got his start in the barn of one D. Wayne Lukas. This was 25 years ago, when Lukas remained in his pomp.“You walked down the shedrow and it was Storm Cat, A.P. Indy, Storm Cat,” he recalls. “That one cost a million. That one cost four. It was racing royalty. So yeah, learned a whole lot.”Including, pretty quickly, that he was not actually cut out to train.“I saw Wayne starting at 4 a.m. every day, and it didn't matter if you were out all night or it's Christmas,” Houlihan says with a chuckle. “So, I very soon realized that it was not for me. But while it's a cliche, with Wayne it was definitely true: you did learn something new every day.”That process continued under his next mentor, Dr. Tom Van Meter, a family friend who introduced him to life on a horse farm. As he got his bearings, Houlihan decided that where he might ultimately thrive was the bloodstock market–and that there was only one place to go next.“I said to myself, 'I have to get in with these Taylor guys: they're the best,'” he recalls. “So in 2006, I got my foot in the door as office runner: Duncan's assistant's assistant!”His parents remained perplexed.“They were beside themselves when I dropped out, Dad especially,” Houlihan remembers. “I think he appreciated that most people that succeed in this business were brought up to it, and worried about me trying to make my way. But after a while he realized that it was what I was going to do and, as my career progressed, I think he gradually got prouder.”Hunter Houlihan on his wedding day with his father, Spence, at Keeneland. | courtesy Hunter HoulihanEventually Houlihan Sr. became intrigued himself–not least because he was accustomed to attending auctions where gigantic apparatus changed hands for corresponding sums. There, unlike the typical horse sale, at least everyone knew that the equipment would work as intended! But there was enough about the environment to resonate. Finally, he decided to dip his toe in, buying a cheap filly with a buddy. They found the water hot.“She couldn't run a step,” Houlihan says ruefully. “So that was how Dad was introduced to Thoroughbred investment. Once he got into the breeding side, flipping a mare here and there, he enjoyed it more. But then, when Not This Time really started to hit, we put together a group to raise a bunch of money and buy mares in foal to him. Because we just saw it. So, I called Dad and said, 'This is it. This horse is going to hit.' I can't remember exactly, but it wasn't end-of-the-world money, like $30,000 or $40,000. And he thought about it, but then said, 'Hunter, now's just not the best time.' Every time he came out to the farm, after that, and there was a Not This Time, he'd just smile and say, 'Dumbest move in my life.'”The guy was due a break and, in 2016, got one when a Taylor Made partnership, on a model that has meanwhile evolved into its Premier Mare Program, moved privately for All in With Aces after her second foal, Hard Aces (Hard Spun), won the GI Santa Anita Gold Cup. She arrived with a full-brother to Hard Aces at foot.“We buy mares of this caliber when we think they can give us a Saratoga or September Book 1 yearling,” explains Houlihan. “If they cost $1 million, not many people can spend that–but we might find four guys to take a leg each for $250,000. I don't remember the exact purchase price, in this case, it was like $400,000. Anyway, when we were cutting her up my father, having so far just dabbled here and there, actually took 20% of her.”The Hard Spun colt cleared $160,000 as a yearling, and then a Frosted filly banked $425,000. Houlihan is touched to remember how dumbfounded his father was that day. After that, Blame and Laoban yearlings were pure gravy at $170,000 and $175,000, respectively.Then, in April 2023, came this first-crop Maxfield filly. In the following weeks, Houlihan's father made what proved his final stay in hospital. Poignant as the memory is, Houlihan smiles to recall his dad showing that it had been the trading which gave him a real buzz.“He was intubated, so couldn't speak, but he could respond to us,” he remembers. “And Mom was just trying to find anything to talk about, that might keep him engaged and happy. So, she said, 'Hunter thinks we should keep Aces' baby.' And his eyes got real big: 'No, no!' It was fun for him, but very much an investment. He was like, 'What the heck would we want to keep one for!'”After his father died, on 15 May, his wishes were respected. The Maxfield was sold as a weanling at Keeneland that November, for $165,000 to Machmer Hall.“She was a statue,” Houlihan says. “One of the best foals on the farm. And really Aces did that. Her last foal tailed off a little. But of the five we bred out of her, I'd say four were B-plus-plus. The only thing better is A-minus, and we give out about 10 of those a year.”She failed to reach her reserve back in the same ring, the following September, but De Meric Sales presented her to knockout effect at OBS March, realizing $1.25 million from Ramiro Restrepo for JR Ranch.Houlihan saw the agent at the September Sale and asked how the filly was doing with Brendan Walsh.“And he said she was just needing some time,” Houlihan recalls. “So obviously her maiden win at Keeneland in April [106 Beyer] was just jaw-dropping. And after that second race, when maybe she wasn't going to be what we hoped, what she did at Saratoga was just insane. She's obviously something special.”All in With Aces died a year after Houlihan's father. One way or another, wherever Mashallah goes from here (entered for the Tyson Gilpin Stakes at Colonial Downs Saturday), she will always light a candle or two in one man's heart.“What's really cool is that Frank had her buried up in the graveyard,” Houlihan says. “There can't be more than 10 mares up there. It's the very definition of foundation mares, amazing producers for the farm. Silken Cat is up there. So, it's really special to have her up there. It was neat because the Taylors themselves were in her, along with a couple of our longest-time clients. I'm very, very blessed to be with these guys. The company motto is, 'With us, you're family.' And that's very much the case.”But it with his own family that “Aces” proved the greatest bond.“Dad was your classic case of a horse owner still learning,” Houlihan says. “But he was so proud and loved to come and see the mare, every month like clockwork. Didn't necessarily invite Mom along, it was maybe a me-and-him thing.“But what's cool is that after he passed, I asked Mom, 'What do you want to do about Dad's horses?' And she said, 'They're our horses.' And now she, my brother and I have our own LLC, Hampton Farms, and we've been doing a couple of different things. I don't know if it's because it makes her think of Dad, or a bond with me, but she absolutely loves it.”The post Mashallah: With Houlihan, It’s Family appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.