As Susie Atkins drove away from her beloved CASA Farms for the last time, she told herself that her story in the Thoroughbred business had come to a close. Later that year, she couldn't bring herself to watch the breeding stock sales, when the last foal she bred went through the ring at Keeneland and sold for $130,000.Atkins tried to block the sport from her mind, but even as she settled into her new routine back home in Illinois, a voice in the back of her head refused to let the passion go.“I always thought there was still more left,” Atkins admitted. “A person never wants to give up. Your dreams are always there. My farm manager always did say, 'Susie, you've got this incredible farm here. Something is going to hit.' Well, Nysos hit.”As the last horse ever foaled at CASA Farms before the operation sold in 2021, Nysos has swept Atkins back into the business. With seven graded stakes victories thus far including this year's GI Metropolitan Handicap and the 2025 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, the champion has reminded his breeder of an inescapable truth: once the sport pulls you in, you never can quite let it go.Growing up in Tolono, Illinois, Atkins asked for a pony for every Christmas and birthday, but never got the opportunity to be around horses as a child. Her husband Clint, whom she met at a dance as a teenager, had also grown up dreaming of having his own horse. After they were married, the couple formed the Atkins Group, a rental property management company that later transitioned into real estate development.The Atkinses finally got the chance to fulfill both their lifelong ambitions after attending their first Kentucky Derby.“I thought I'd died and gone to heaven,” Atkins said with a laugh. “On the way home I said to my husband, 'I wonder how much it would cost to have a Kentucky Derby winner.' You know, like you just have to pay money and you're going to get this great horse.”A few days later, a friend introduced the Atkinses to D. Wayne Lukas. Soon they were all in, making plans to buy yearlings and a farm in Kentucky.In 2004, the Atkinses purchased a historic property outside of Lexington formerly known as Mare Haven Farm. They re-named it CASA Farms, a nod to their initials and the Spanish word for home. The 260-acre property came with one retired broodmare, Secrettame, a daughter of Secretariat and the dam of Gone West.“So I had royalty right at my back door,” recalled Atkins. “I originally thought I would just visit the farm. Well, once you have a farm, you can't just visit. You have to stay there. Clint was traveling for work a lot, so I was on the farm by myself for 20 years, but I loved it.”With no prior horse experience, Atkins relied on her farm management team for the hands-on aspects of the operation, but she was there for most every foaling and vet visit. Managing a boutique band of about half a dozen mares allowed Atkins to know every horse on the property intimately.“Anytime someone came to visit our horses, I was there,” she said. “It was really interesting because when the mares did foal, they wanted me to be there. I mean, they couldn't wait to show me their baby.”Although CASA Farms became primarily a commercial operation, the Atkinses enjoyed success racing a few of their own. Baghdaria (Royal Academy) claimed a trio of graded stakes in 2006, Prince Will I Am (Victory Gallop) won the 2010 GI Jamaica Handicap, and Whatdreamsrmadeof (Graeme Hall) was third in the 2007 GII Fair Grounds Oaks before joining the broodmare band.Clint and Susie Atkins in the winner's circle with Prince Will I Am | HorsephotosAfter Clint passed away in 2011, Atkins continued to build upon what she and her husband had started together. The following year, Whatdreamsrmadeof produced future three-time Grade I winner Curalina (Curlin).“She was absolutely precious and she had the longest legs,” Atkins noted with a fond smile. “When her dam went to the breeding shed, I stood on the outside of the stall and sang to her until she fell asleep. I was going back to the house and I heard her little whinny, so I went back and started singing again, and she went back to sleep. I sold her as a yearling to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. She just kept hitting it out of the park. She was very successful and I was so proud of her.”The journey culminated in 2016 when Atkins sold Whatdreamsrmadeof for $1.65 million.At the time, it felt impossible for any horse to eclipse what Curalina had done for the farm. Yet, another story that would define Atkins's 20-year tenure as a breeder had been quietly unfolding since the beginning.The same afternoon that the Atkinses closed on the farm in 2004, the couple went to Keeneland to buy their first crop of yearlings.When D. Wayne Lukas first showed them Seresa's Spirit (Rahy), Clint was skeptical of her small stature, but on Lukas's advice, they purchased the daughter of 2001 Breeders' Cup Distaff victress Unbridled Elaine for $260,000.Seresa's Spirit never made it to the starting gate after battling recurrent splints and she encountered a challenging start to her broodmare career as well. Her first foaling resulted in a severe dystocia. The foal did not survive and a subsequent infection left the mare critically ill for weeks.Nysos as a weanling| Equisport PhotoFinally in 2010, Seresa's Spirit produced her first foal. Zetta Z (Bernardini) also did not make it to the races due to a cyst in her sesamoid, but she quickly became a prolific broodmare for CASA Farms, producing three winners from her first five starters.Ahead of the 2020 breeding season, Atkins was certain that Nyquist was going to be a hit as a sire. That spring, she sent two of her three mares to the Darley stallion, then standing for $40,000, including Zetta Z.As those last three foals were set to arrive at CASA Farms the next year, Atkins knew they would be the last she would ever breed. After 10 years of managing the farm on her own, Atkins was ready to return to her home state to be closer to her children and the rest of her family.“I knew that I didn't have very much time before I was going to be 80,” she explained. “I knew that I wanted to make my exit the way I wanted it and not the way someone else wanted it.”Nysos embodied everything that Atkins would miss about life on the farm.“Zetta Z just loved that little boy like crazy,” she recalled. “He was so happy to have me come visit. When he would hear us coming, he'd always come to the front of the stall. He was the last little one to be born on the farm. He was foaled on May 8 and I had an offer for the farm over Memorial Day weekend.”Originally campaigned by Baoma Corp. with the Coolmore partners later joining the ownership, Nysos has won eight of his 10 lifetime starts. The Bob Baffert-trained 'TDN Rising Star' has never finished worse than second over his three years on the racetrack.Atkins said her favorite race so far has been at the Breeders' Cup, where Nysos battled Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) to win by a head in the Dirt Mile.Nysos wins the 2025 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile | Breeders' Cup Eclipse Sportswire“That was something,” she said proudly. “They put the official win photo up there because it was so close, but it didn't look close to me at all. I knew that Nysos won.”This year, Nysos was second to champion Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) in the G1 Saudi Cup and he returned to the U.S. to soundly defeat Knightsbridge (Nyquist) in the GI Metropolitan Handicap. Nysos is now pointing for a bid in the Aug. 22 GI Pacific Classic in preparation for another trip to the Breeders' Cup. After that, he will join the stallion ranks at Coolmore's Ashford Stud.While the trip from Illinois to Kentucky means Atkins will likely not be able to watch Nysos line up for the Breeders' Cup in person, she is looking forward to watching the rest of his campaign from home, surrounded by the many photos and trophies that memorialize the farm where the talented colt was once foaled.“It means the world to me,” Atkins said. “To think that I was able to do something like this, it's incredible. My husband was so good to me. It has been 15 years since he passed, but he always did say, 'Susie, you can do whatever you want to do.' And there was never any question about what I was doing, because he said he knew I was going to do the right thing. So I was very blessed. Still am.”Though Atkins is separated from the daily rhythm of the farm, an invisible string keeps her tied to the industry. Atkins leaves a lasting legacy on the sport through Nysos, but racing has made an even bigger stamp on her.“I just love horses as much as I did when I was a little girl,” she said. “They've done so much for my life.”The post Breeders’ Cup Connections: Nysos “Means the World” to Breeder Susie Atkins appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.