On the Rise: Devon Bradley

Devon Bradley, who works at Bradley Thoroughbreds alongside her father, Peter, didn’t initially have her sights on a career in the racing industry. Upon graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she played soccer, the Kentucky native moved to Boston to sell exchange-traded funds for State Street Global Advisors. Bradley, however, discovered the pull of racing was drawing her away from the world of finance toward the racetrack. She began working for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, first as a hotwalker and then as a traveling assistant. After 3 1/2 years with McGaughey, she joined her father’s team in 2018. The 32-year-old told BloodHorse she has definitely found her calling.

Bradley was interviewed June 25, and her answers are edited for clarity and space.

BloodHorse: How would you sum up what Bradley Thoroughbreds offers their clients?

Devon Bradley: We are a full-service bloodstock agency and I joke sometimes, a client concierge. We do a little bit of everything. We represent individuals at all the main public auctions—breeding stock, but mostly yearling and 2-year-old sales. We also purchase horses for our BT Racing Ventures and manage all the horses in those racing ventures. We probably have about 30 horses in training at this time. We used to do a lot of pinhooking for yearlings to 2-year-olds and now we have a small group that pinhooks foals to yearlings. That has been something that I have taken on. 

The final meat-and-potatoes portion is that we sell stallion seasons every year; I would guess probably the most seasons outside of a stud farm—somewhere about 350 stallion seasons for clients per breeding season. We trade quite a few stallion shares as well. I love it. The shares and the seasons are the most similar to what my old job was when I was selling exchanged-traded funds. To me that is a really interesting portion (of the job). 

BH: Given your early exposure to horse racing, it’s not a reach that you began working in the industry. Yet, you previously worked outside of racing before working for Shug McGaughey. Why the career change?

DB: I grew up going to sales and the races with my dad, but I never really thought it would be my career path. I found when I got into my professional life, I was spending all my time at two screens in Boston; one of them was always on horse racing. I found I was spending my extra time and extra money going to the races. At that point my dad had started doing these racing ventures and one of the horses he had in training at the time was Dayatthespa—she was a champion (2014 grass female) and she won the (2014) Breeders’ Cup (Filly & Mare Turf). My interest was in the racing aspect of horse racing. I decided to follow what I really loved and enjoyed, and was always a hobby to me, to see if it was something of interest (for a career). 

That’s when I started working for Shug. I wanted to see what the end game was. I was so lucky to get that opportunity with Shug. I started as a hotwalker and ended up traveling all over the country. 

BH: What ultimately brought you to work at BT?

DB: My dad said he thought he wanted to retire (at some point) and said to me, ‘What about trying out the bloodstock side of things?’ 

The racetrack is tough—it’s 365 days a year. Not that my job now isn’t, but I just decided it was the time (for a change). My dad had a spot for me and said, ‘What if we try this together?’ That was (in 2018) and we haven’t looked back.

BH: What are your duties?

DB: I do a little bit of everything. We’re a small business, a family business, and we’re a team. We definitely work to manage our BT Racing Ventures’ horses together. We work together on everything. I also have individual clients that I represent at public auctions. I buy for my own clients, but at the same time, (my dad) checks my homework. I have a great homework checker.

BH: What is it like to work alongside your father?

DB: I’m so lucky to get to spend every day with him. My dad has high expectations, but I think that I rise to those expectations. He expects good work and hard work, and he works harder than anybody I know. We work well together and we complement each other. It’s fun. One thing that he told me, right off the bat, regardless of what his opinion was, that it was very important for me to have my own opinion. So we don’t always agree. But even when we don’t agree, it goes back to that he’s my dad and I have so much respect for him. It’s different from working for a boss because I know he always has my best interests at heart. 

BH: What role did he play in you becoming a student of pedigrees and conformation?

DB: All of it. I also was really lucky that I worked for Shug before I worked for my dad because I got a different perspective first. If you look at the people my dad has trained in the Thoroughbred industry, working at Bradley Thoroughbreds is somewhat like a trainer who worked for D. Wayne Lukas. 

BH: What has the experience been like with Metropolitan , who is co-owned by BT Racing Ventures and won this year’s French Two Thousand Guineas (G1) and recently was third in the St James’s Palace Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot?

DB: He’s taken us on a wild ride for sure. We have the greatest group of co-owners. We love these 

ventures because it’s so fun to own these horses with the other co-owners and to experience things that a lot of people don’t get to experience, like owning a piece of a horse that wins a French classic and then runs tremendously well at Royal Ascot.

BH: Who is your BT favorite horse, past or present?

DB: Since I’ve been at Bradley Thoroughbreds, She’s a Julie (multiple grade 1 winner) is probably my favorite horse. She was the first horse that my dad sent me to Saratoga to look at by myself (to evaluate as a private purchase) after I started working for him. Everything with her was unbelievable. She was really special. 

BH: What achievement of yours with BT are you most proud of?

DB: That there is the opportunity for a legacy to be created from something that my dad built. He’s built a very successful business, and I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to continue his legacy.