DEL MAR — Michele Arthur and Ruben Islas own a horse who won a race on Kentucky Derby weekend at Churchill Downs, and another who ran on Breeders’ Cup Friday at Del Mar.
But neither horse was part of the main event.
There will be no FOMO on Friday, though, when a 2-year-old owned by the San Diego friends — Islas and Arthur’s husband, Jules, are business partners — starts in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar.
“Right down the street,” said Islas, who grew up in Barrio Logan and went to St. Augustine High School and UC San Diego. “That’s amazing.”
“It’s a dream,” said Arthur, a San Diego native who spent much of her childhood here. “It’s actually like I’m walking in a fog right now.”
Neither Arthur nor Islas owned a horse — or really thought about owning a horse — until about seven years ago.
Arthur was at a charity golf tournament she helped found when she noticed one of the auction items, for behind-the-scenes tours of Santa Anita and Del Mar, wasn’t drawing any attention. Arthur loved horses as a girl, and it was for a good cause, so she bid $500 and won.
She had no way of knowing, but that would not be the last time Arthur spent money on anything related to horse racing (though it certainly was for as little as $500).
After skipping the drive to Santa Anita, Arthur and her husband set a date to visit Del Mar. They asked Islas if he wanted to come along.
“Sure, yeah, I love horses,” he said.
At the end of the tour, they were introduced to a trainer, Mike Pender, who showed them an unraced 2-year-old and said they could buy a half-interest for $25,000.
Jules Arthur immediately said no. But his wife and their friend looked at each other and had a different idea.
“Come on, Michele, you’re with me, right?” Islas said.
“Absolutely,” Michele Arthur said.
And so, Michele added in a recent interview with the two, “We were like, we’ll do this together. And that’s how it started.”
The colt, Lord Adare, would win three times in 10 starts and earn nearly $50,000. Hardly a fortune, but Arthur and Islas were hooked.
The more they went to the track, the more they enjoyed it. But they also got a sense of “FOMO,” as Islas put it.
“We wanted to be in the winner’s circle more,” he said.
They talked to Pender, who was then working as a bloodstock agent, and he told them what it would take.
“He’s like, well, you got to spend a little more money,” Islas said. “Not a lot more, but a little bit more. And so we said, OK, Mike, get us one. So then he got two, and then he got three, and then he got four. We kept saying yes, kind of playing the numbers game, and the horses all were getting better.”
Islas now has an interest in 13 horses; Arthur is in on 10. They haven’t all been success stories, but in 2023, they bought a filly named Queen Maxima for $40,000. In the last two years, she’s made 11 starts, winning six (including three graded-stakes races) and earning $450,460.
The next year, they paid $100,000 for a colt they named Artislas (Arthur & Islas). He’s earned more than $200,000 with three wins, including a graded stakes.
Queen Maxima was the horse who won on Kentucky Oaks Day at Churchill Downs. Artislas was the horse at Del Mar. Both are trained by Santa Anita-based Jeff Mullins, as is Intrepido.
The emotions with those two big days couldn’t have been any different. Islas described standing by the rail and watching Queen Maxima win as almost an “out-of-body experience.” But Artislas had been left out of a Breeders’ Cup race — unfairly, Islas believed — and seeing him lose his non-Cup race was disillusioning to the point where Islas said he went home before the Cup races began.
“That was a turning point, though,” Islas said. “We were so close and we wanted to get there.”
So in April they spent more money — $385,000 to be exact — to buy a 2-year-old son of Maximus Mischief.
“Our limit was $300,000,” Islas said, laughing. “I was on the phone with Mike. He said, ‘Ruben, I’m telling you, this is the one.’ I was like, ‘all right, go to 350.’ And then, ‘OK, let’s keep going.’ I’m a sucker.”
Said Arthur: “It’s a good thing it didn’t go higher.”
Arthur wanted to name the horse Intrepid but it wasn’t available. Islas said they should just do the Spanish version.
Said Islas: “Well, I always make that joke that your Spanish teacher probably told you that ropa don’t mean rope and sopa don’t mean soap? Well, guess what: Intrepido means intrepid. So I put an ‘o’ on it.”
Intrepido didn’t win his first start, a sprint race at Del Mar, but that wasn’t a surprise. He was bred to run longer, and so far he’s perfect in two starts around two turns – a one-mile race in August at Del Mar and the American Pharoah Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 4 at Santa Anita. That win, worth $180,000, was the first Grade I victory for Arthur and Islas and gave Intrepido a berth in the starting gate for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He won’t be one of the top two favorites, but should be third or fourth.
Whatever happens, it’s already been quite a ride for Arthur, 59, and Islas, 56. Mullins said after the American Pharoah Stakes that “they’re the luckiest people in the world, I swear to God,” and it’s likely neither would disagree.
Arthur, who also lived as a teen in Adak, Alaska, and the Netherlands before coming back to San Diego for good, is involved in philanthropy, serves on the board of directors for the San Diego Symphony and enjoys traveling (Iceland and Japan were her favorites) and music (her and Jules have seen more than 1,000 bands in concert).
Islas and Jules Arthur own a real estate development company but Islas’ main interest has always been movies, and he’s devoting more of his time to that endeavor. He’s particularly proud of a 2023 film he wrote and directed, “Final Vow,” about a nun fighting human trafficking.
“He’s doing what he likes,” Arthur said. Then, looking at Islas, she added, “You’re the happiest I’ve ever seen you.”
Islas said he really wants to make a movie about horse racing that would focus on the workers behind the scenes.
He might want to have a camera ready Friday afternoon to shoot a happy scene.
Correspondent Kevin Modesti contributed to this report.
Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar
Friday
First post: 11:35 a.m. (10 races)
Weather.com forecast: 72 degrees, mostly sunny
Cup races: Juvenile Turf Sprint (2:45 p.m.), Juvenile Fillies (3:25), Juvenile Fillies Turf (4:05), Juvenile (4:45), Juvenile Turf (5:25)
On the air: 1-5 p.m., USA Network; all races on FanDuel TV and breederscup.com; all Cup races streamed on Peacock
Saturday
First post: 10:05 a.m. (12 races)
Weather.com forecast: 71 degrees, sunny
Cup races: Filly & Mare Sprint (noon), Turf Sprint (12:41), Sprint (1:21), Distaff (2:01), Turf (2:41), Classic (3:25), Mile (4:05), Dirt Mile (4:45), Filly and Mare Turf (5:25)
On the air: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., USA Network; 12:30-4 p.m., NBC; 4-5 p.m., USA; all races on FanDuel TV and breederscup.com; all Cup races streamed on Peacock.
