If your only connections to horse racing were Amy Moore and Alex Mitchum, you might think that it’s an easy game.

Moore’s first runner, Queen Caroline, was a stakes-winning earner of more than $400,000. The first foal that she bred out of Queen Caroline is the multimillionaire Forte. 

Mitchum and his family bought their first horses less than a year ago, and on Aug. 16, one of those horses romped at Saratoga by more than 17 lengths, in his first start.

Easy game, right?

“Luck might play a pretty significant role in it,” said Moore, who owns South Gate Farm in Millwood, VA. “But you can’t lie down and wait for luck to run over you. I tried to position myself to be successful.”

She spent 30 years practicing employment law in Washington, D.C., working with multinational firms and, according to the website of her former firm Covington & Burling, she was considered one of the top 20 employment lawyers in the country. 

After retiring, she moved 75 miles west, from Alexandria to Millwood, VA, where she purchased South Gate Farm.

“I wanted to move to the country, so I decided I would buy a farm and own some land,” she said. “And if you have a farm, you have to farm something, and horses were all I knew about, so horses it was.” 

Her plan was to buy well-bred fillies as yearlings, race them, and then breed them. Queen Caroline was her first purchase, for $170,000 as a yearling. The Virginia-bred multiple stakes winner earned $400,000, produced Forte in 2020, and sold for $3 million at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale.

“She certainly worked out well,” said Moore in a grand understatement. 

By 2022, Moore’s business plan had shifted, as the expense of purchasing yearlings to race then breed had become prohibitive. That year, she bought a 4-year-old Florida-bred filly in foal to Not This Time, and just under two years later, the resulting Virginia-bred colt sold for $425,000.

Enter the Mitchum family.

Nearly four hours southeast of South Gate Farm, Elza Mitchum had decided that, after a lifetime of enjoying horse racing, it was time to become a participant and not only a spectator. In the name of Double Down Horse Racing, Mitchum, along with his son Alex and wife Catherine, purchased five yearlings at last autumn’s Keeneland September yearling sale, working with trainer Tom Amoss and his buying team. 

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The first of them debuted on Aug. 13 at Saratoga, finishing fifth. Three days later, It’s Our Time walked onto the track for the 7th race, going to the post at odds of 5-1. Seventy-five seconds later, Double Down Horse Racing had its first winner, and a jaw-dropping one at that. 

It’s Our Time won by 17 3/4 lengths, zipping 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.63. The 94 Beyer Speed Figure he earned is the second-highest by a two-year-old thus far this year and the highest by any juvenile during the Saratoga meet.

The Mitchums live in Virginia Beach, making the It’s Our Time team a trifecta of Virginia connections (horse, breeder, owner).

“My dad’s always been into horse racing,” said Alex Mitchum. “When we were growing up, he took us to Colonial Downs and Laurel, and we went to the Derby a couple of times.”

They also watched the New York Racing Association’s Saratoga Live programs on Fox, which is where Alex’s father Elza became familiar with trainer Tom Amoss. 

“So one night he reached out to Tom to see if he’d be interested in purchasing some horses for us,” said Alex. “And after they’d talked for a while, we ended up going to Keeneland with Tom to purchase yearlings last year.”

“I’m always ecstatic when I have a horse that goes to Amoss,” said Moore. “He does a great job with them, and I know they’re in good hands. He’s also not afraid to buy a smaller colt, which is nice. To me, a smaller horse comes to hand more quickly and is less likely to get hurt. I don’t really buy into the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy.”

Moore characterizes It’s Our Time’s dam Shea D Summer as “compact,” and at just a little over 15 hands, It’s Our Time is not one of the big, flashy horses that often do well at auction. 

“He was small, but he was a very athletic, very balanced, good-looking yearling,” she said. “I was very pleased with what he brought at the sale.”

“He was the first horse Tom showed us,” said Mitchum. “We were really excited about him. Not This Time is a phenomenal sire, and we got such an education about the sales in such a condensed period.” 

The Mitchums have received calls about buying their colt, calls that they direct to Amoss, and offers that they’ve refused. According to Alex Mitchum, It’s Our Time is not for sale. They’ll also be going back to Keeneland in September to add to their burgeoning stable, where a half sister to It’s Our Time by Bolt d’Oro will go through the ring as hip 1722. 

Shea D Summer is in foal to Muth and will be bred to Forte in 2026. Her 2025 filly by Forte died when she was two months old. 

Moore was, of course, watching when It’s Our Time ran off the screen at Saratoga. 

“I was thinking, ‘Wow, this is going to help the yearling,’” she said. “It reminded me of the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile won by Arazi. The announcer made a similar call, saying that Arazi was coming up to challenge and then he ran right by. I hope that that’s a good omen for this colt. That was the picture that came into my head when I saw him opening up.”