How a man with just one horse bred a $3,500 mare, ended up with the Woodbine Oaks winner and likely King’s Plate favourite and proved even the smallest breeder can succeed if the positive energy is flowing.

story by Dave Briggs / Ontario Racing

photos courtesy Ravi Sugrim

This is a story about karma and positive energy and the universe giving back exactly what you put into it.

So, if you think all that is hogwash, you probably should stop reading.

But, in a sport where luck is a necessary ingredient in the winning elixir, we’re pretty sure most in racing can relate.

At the very least, maybe this story will give the smallest in the sport the hope that one day they can do what Ravi Sugrim of Ottawa has done – take a $3,500 mare, breed it to a stallion on a hunch, and end up with an Ontario Bred filly named Luster that not only dominated the $750,000 Woodbine Oaks, but is also the likely favourite in the $1 million King’s Plate set for this Saturday (Aug. 15) at Woodbine Racetrack.

Luster and jockey John Velazquez winning the Woodbine Oaks on July 19, 2026 (Michael Burns photo)

Even some of the competition believes they are in deep against Luster in the Plate.

Three-time Plate-winning trainer Mark Casse will send out Military Time, but acknowledges, “If [Luster] runs her race, I think everybody’s running for second. I think we have a big shot to beat the horses that beat us in the Plate Trial. I’m not as confident of beating the filly that won the Oaks.”

As for Sugrim, there are a couple of things you need to know about him from the start.

First, there is an infectious, positive energy about him that, if bottled, might just save the world.

Second, he currently owns just one horse – Luster’s precocious 2-year-old half brother Whatsyoursismine (top photo with Sugrim) – proving that, despite his current position as the man that bred the winner of Canada’s top race for females, he is, indeed, a relative commoner in the Sport of Kings.

Of those two points, it’s the former that’s particularly relevant to Luster.

KARMA BEGETTING KARMA

Just how Sugrim ended up producing the grey beauty is a winding tale of kismet going back nearly 10 years to Luster’s dam, Ruby Frost.

The only time Ruby Frost was sold at auction, Kentucky-based Kent Hersman of Flying H Stables, along with a partner, bought her for $5,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale. Hersman said the unraced, 3-year-old daughter of The Factor out of Jesse’s Justice was one he had circled in his catalogue.

“She’s got some really nice siblings and a really good page, and she can go two turns on the turf,” Hersman said.

Despite being “pretty nice” in terms of conformation, Ruby Frost had a swayback, which gave Hersman hope he might get her for a reasonable price.

“I kind of specialize in trying to find mares in the sale that are bred well enough that they can produce something that can compete at that kind of level,” Hersman said. “But it’s difficult, obviously, putting your hand in a whole bowl of fool’s gold and pulling out a piece of real gold with only a couple pieces in there. It’s hard to get mares economically at the kind of price point that I was looking for when I bought her.”

Hersman bred Ruby Frost, but she lost the foal. The blow was particularly hard on Hersman’s partner on the mare.

“In this business, I have a little bit of a theory, and that is I have to keep the water flowing like a river,” Hersman said. “I can’t just stalemate like a pond. So, when I’ve had a little bit of negativity, or I’ve had something that didn’t go right, I will go ahead and change things up to keep from just driving square pegs into round holes. So, even though I believed in her, she was moved along because I felt like I’ve got to keep things moving.”

By then it was July of 2020 and Hersman advertised Ruby Frost for sale. She was already in foal to Gormley.

Sugrim, who frequently stays up late studying bloodlines and scouring websites for prospects, saw that ad and contacted Hersman to ask about her.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god, War Front on top with [sire] The Factor,’” Sugrim said. “It was turf, turf, turf. I thought, ‘I’m going to get my turf baby.’ That was the first thing in my head. Then I went to the bottom [of Ruby Frost’s pedigree] and I saw Lear Fan and Roberto at the bottom. I’m like, ‘I’m going to get distance. I’m going to get a mile and over with my babies with this mare.’”

Sugrim admits part of the attraction was also that Ruby Frost is grey.

“Everybody loves a grey,” Sugrim said. “I said, ‘Kent, I want this mare. Where can I send the money?’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about the money. I trust you. I will keep her at my farm, and you can pay me later.’ I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is awesome.’ Since then, we have become close friends, and we trust each other.”

Stick with this story and you’ll come to appreciate that trust is an essential part of Sugrim’s modus operandi.

Hersman said he doesn’t remember the exact final price for Ruby Frost, but he’s certain it was less than the $5,000 he paid to buy her at the sale three years prior. His best guess is that he accepted $3,500 from Sugrim for the mare. All he asked was that Sugrim pay to board Ruby Frost at Flying H for a few months – and even that price was discounted in the end because the mare was already there.

Sugrim quickly agreed and more good karma began to churn.

“I was raised and still am a Christian,” Hersman said. “I was raised to believe that honesty is not just the best policy; it’s the only acceptable policy. And I also know that you reap what you sow. So, by all means, [Sugrim] and I kind of agree in that regard. We believe that if you take care of others, then God will take care of you.”

GUYANA TO GREENWOOD

Sugrim was born in Guyana. When he was 8, he immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto.

He was 17 when he was first introduced to horse racing by a friend’s father. He was immediately smitten.

“I used to take the streetcar to Greenwood,” Sugrim said, adding that sometimes he would make the trip by himself. “I would spend a couple hours and made sure I had 20 bucks to get home. On my way home, I would wonder what it would be like to buy a horse.”

Sugrim was in his 20s when he used to drive to Windfields Farm or Gardiner Farm and drink a coffee while watching the horses in a field. The dream was always the same.

“I was thinking, ‘Damn, one day I’m going to make it in this game,’” Sugrim said.

His first horse was Many a Penny, a 5-year-old mare Sugrim and two friends claimed on June 22, 2002, at Fort Erie. As an indication of just how new he was, the race office spelled both Sugrim’s first and last names wrong on the chart indicating the claim, calling him Rabi Sugrin. But it didn’t matter. Ravi Sugrim had begun his journey as a horse owner.

Many a Penny raced just two more times and then was retired.

Sugrim and his wife, Joannie Dass, operated as the Matrix Stable for many years. They owned a few, bred a few, but nothing really clicked.

But Sugrim, who works in the construction industry, kept looking and dreaming. He decided to try his luck by breeding a mare or two at a time.

Fast forward 20-some years and we land back on the night Sugrim saw Ruby Frost for sale online.

Ruby Frost’s first foal didn’t race, but Sugrim bred her back to Gormley and the resulting colt, named Stonehenge, earned over $90,000 and posted four wins in 10 starts.

In February of 2021, Sugrim attended the $20 million Grade 1 Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia. There, he fell in love with Knicks Go, who raced gamely to finish fourth that day. Sugrim decided at that moment that, one day, he would breed a mare to the eventual two-time Breeders’ Cup winner who retired with earnings exceeding $9.2 million lifetime.

A year later, Knicks Go went to stud at Taylor Made in Kentucky and Sugrim, again, felt the universe was lighting his path. He was adamant that he would breed Ruby Frost to Knicks Go, even though the stallion’s stud fee was $30,000 – nearly 10 times what Sugrim paid to acquire Ruby Frost from Hersman.

“I had some consigners in Kentucky telling me, ‘You need to get a better mare,’” Sugrim said. “I said, ‘No, I like her.’ They said, ‘You need to get a good mare to go with a $40,000, $50,000, $60,000 stallion, so you can get a good return.’ I said, ‘No, I’m okay. I’m good. I believe in the bloodline.’”

Sugrim asked Hersman to help him book Ruby Frost to Knicks Go. It took a little convincing for the Taylor Made folks to accept the mare, but Hersman was persuasive and they relented. The result was a grey filly, foaled in Ontario, that Sugrim named Sweet Selena.

Ravi Sugrim with Sweet Selena (later renamed Luster), who went on to win the 2026 Woodbine Oaks.

“It was supposed to be my last foal, and I named her after my daughter,” Sugrim said.

The initial plan was for Sugrim to keep Sweet Selena, and send her to trainer Nico Lafond, but truth is, Sugrim was wavering. He was considering getting out of horses, at least for the time being. He asked Lafond’s advice.

Lafond said he told Sugrim, “‘You’re a businessman. You’re not really into racing that much anymore. So, my advice would be to sell her and see what happens if you get what you want for her.’”

Sugrim did just that, selling Sweet Selena as a weanling at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York Fall Mixed Sale. He even made a trip to Saratoga out of it with his daughter.

Sweet Selena was purchased by Carrie Brogden of Machmer Hall for $50,000. Brogden initially offered Sugrim the chance to retain half of the filly. He agreed, but by the time he and his daughter Selena arrived back in Ottawa from Saratoga, Brogden called to say she had decided to buy all of the filly.

The Machmer Hall team renamed her Luster in honour of her being silvery-grey. A year later, Machmer Hall sold her at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $80,000 to Ben Gowans, the assistant bloodstock agent at Gainesway Farm.

Today, Luster is owned by Gainesway and Andrew Rosen and trained by three-time Plate winner and Hall of Famer Josie Carroll.

Luster is already Knicks Go’s top foal by earnings. Not bad for a $3,500 mare that Taylor Made was hesitant to accept to their stallion.

But, remember, this is a story about karma, and karma often presents itself in mysterious ways.

KISMET APPEARS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

“People kept telling me that you need good money, good quality horses,” Sugrim said. “‘You need to spend a lot, go here, go there, be with this one.’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to do it my way.’ I’m a Frank Sinatra guy. I do it my way.”

Then Sugrim laughs. It’s an infectious “no worries” kind of laugh that pulls you in before his voice turns emotional as he tells the story of what his wife, Luster’s co-breeder, told him after the filly won the Oaks.

“My wife said, ‘I am so proud of you,” Sugrim said, a slight hitch in his voice. It was at that moment that Dass fully understood what it was Sugrim had been doing on his laptop so many nights, “nicking, checking bloodlines and seeing who is hot on the market” to find a way to climb to the top of the mountain.

“She said, ‘Congratulations. You made it,’” Sugrim said.

But Luster is not where this story ends.

Even though he had decided to stop owning horses, for now, Sugrim felt he owed it to Lafond to breed Ruby Frost one more time and give the resulting foal to the trainer to condition.

“[Sugrim] asked me which stallions I liked,” Lafond said. “He wanted to produce an Ontario Sired horse and that’s when Frac Daddy came into the mix.”

A strapping colt arrived on March 3, 2024. Sugrim named him Whatsyoursismine.

“When he was born, I was in Florida, and he called me and he said, ‘Nico, Nico, Nico, we have a boy,’” Lafond said. “And he sent me a video. I’m like, ‘Oh wow, he’s a spicy one.’ He said, ‘I’m keeping this one. I already told you I was breeding him for you.’”

Not long after Whatsyoursismine was weaned, Sugrim sold Ruby Frost in the same manner in which he had acquired her – he posted an ad on the internet.

“Within 10 minutes, I got a phone call,” Sugrim said. “She asked me all the questions. I said, ‘She’s yours if you want her. She’s a great mare, but I have to do some checking up on you and everything.’ I did, and the lady was actually a horse rescue individual. She said, ‘I don’t have all of the money.’ I said, “Don’t you worry about it. You just give me half, and give me the rest when you get paid.’ She said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘Yes, I’m sure. Don’t worry.’ I’m not that type of person that’s going to run a person down for some money if it’s meant to be. I just need everything to have crazy good energy.”

All this was before Luster became the Luster we know today. So, you might think Sugrim would be sour to no longer have her or her dam, losing out on a significant payday for both.

Except, Sugrim’s not the least bit bitter. In fact, he thinks all that karma contributed to Luster being what she is today.

Besides, he’s happy the woman he sold Ruby Frost to was able to then make a profit selling her to Gainesway once they realized what they had in Luster. Sugrim even helped broker the deal and didn’t ask for a penny.

Karma.

FOCUSING HIS ENERGY ON HIS LAST HORSE

Instead, Sugrim is focusing his prodigious energy on the one horse he has left – Luster’s 2-year-old brother Whatsyoursismine.

“I said to Ravi, ‘This [success] could have been you if had kept [Luster],’” Lafond said. “He said, ‘Yeah, it could have been, but it wasn’t my time. And maybe this is your time. Whatsyoursismine is maybe your time.’”

Lafond is not a big trainer, but that doesn’t matter to Sugrim, who is not a big owner. Besides, Sugrim loves Lafond’s energy and honesty. Go figure.

Most importantly, Sugrim wanted to keep his promise to deliver Ruby Frost’s colt to Lafond, even after Luster proved to be a star.

“I called [Lafond] and I said, ‘Your horse is ready.’ He goes, ‘Oh my God, you are serious. You could have gone to any trainer because Luster is doing so well.’ I said, ‘No, I made a promise to you. I can’t go back.’ He was shocked. He didn’t know what to say,” Sugrim said.

Lafond can’t properly express his appreciation.

When it comes to Whatsyoursismine, both his and Sugrim’s excitement is palpable.

Sugrim said after a recent workout, jockey Pietro Moran told him, “‘Wow. That is a nice, nice colt.’”

Lafond said Whatsyoursismine, “is a lot of horse. He was one of those colts that had to be dealt with discreetly at first because he was very coltish, pushy, bossy. But that’s my kind of horse. I love those kind of horses… I started riding him and I thought, ‘Wow, this is something special.’ Ravi goes, ‘You think so?’ I go, ‘Oh no, I know.’

“I have a lot of faith in him that he will come to be the horse that we know he’s supposed to be with the patience and time that he needs to develop, because although he’s doing amazingly right now, I still think he needs more time to develop, and I don’t want to come up too early.”

While they both wait to see what Whatsyoursismine becomes, Sugrim plans to be at Woodbine on Saturday to cheer on Luster with all his heart. To be the breeder of the King’s Plate winner would mean the world.

As far as putting positive energy out into that same world in the hopes of getting it back, he’s not above dreaming publicly that he might land two horses he bred – a sister and brother – in the King’s Plate in back-to-back years.

“I told [Lafond] two years ago, ‘I’m giving you a King’s Play contender,’” Sugrim said.

Lafond, while realistic, isn’t betting against it.

“We’ve been through a nice journey together,” Lafond said of Sugrim. “He’s an awesome human being, and his character is amazing.”

That, alone, is worth an awful lot of kismet.