Windy’s Story
From Churchill Downs to the Crosswind Family
This weekend’s Kentucky Derby gives us a timely reason to share a personal story—one that reminds us why the work we do at Crosswind matters so deeply.
In our business, we often become emotionally invested in the stories we’re helping tell or the causes we’re championing. That was certainly the case when a group of young filmmakers approached us for help with a film called Unbranded, a 2015 documentary chronicling four Texas A&M grads as they rode sixteen mustangs from Mexico to Canada to raise awareness about wild horse management by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
As we dove into their story, we discovered a disturbing reality: thousands of horses are quietly funneled through “kill pens”—part of a grey-market trade that sends horses to slaughter in Mexico and elsewhere to meet foreign meat demand. These operations often fall through legal loopholes, as outlined by groups like the ASPCA. Naturally, we started asking questions.
That’s when we met Windy. And everything changed.
Windy—registered with the Jockey Club as Princessdaisyleigh—is a 2015 Kentucky-bred Thoroughbred with elite bloodlines. Her sire, Graydar, is the son of Unbridled’s Song, a $1.3 million-earner and posthumous leading sire in North America. Her grandsire, Unbridled, won the 1990 Kentucky Derby and earned nearly $4.5 million. On her dam’s side, Windy descends from Deputy Minister and Awesome Again—two names etched into Canadian and American racing history.
She was bred by the global racing operation SF Bloodstock—yes, the “SF” stands for Soros Fund. George Soros’s investment firm owns SF Racing Group, which also held a 15% stake in Triple Crown winner Justify. Windy fetched $15,000 at the Keeneland Yearling Sale in 2016 and was purchased by well-known racehorse owner Craig Aguiar.
Despite her lineage, Windy never found success on the track. Her last race at Churchill Downs on September 17, 2017 ended in an 8th-place finish—her third and final race, earning under $2,500 total.
Exactly one year later, on September 13, 2018, a Crosswind vice president found her in a Texas kill pen, bound for slaughter. Having just worked on Unbranded, rescuing horses was top of mind. We couldn’t walk away.
We brought her to safety, treated an injury, and gave her time to heal—physically and emotionally. In mid-2019, Windy began training with Dan Keen, learning to be something entirely new: a horse who didn’t have to run. She encountered cows, ATVs, and open pasture—things most racehorses never experience.
Later that year, we bought a small ranch—what many of you know as XW Ranch—where Windy could roam freely alongside our longhorns and become part of the Crosswind family.
But Windy’s journey didn’t end there.
My son, William, took a special interest in her. He began working with Windy as a hunter/jumper, and the two eventually relocated to the Seattle area. Today, Windy is thriving—recently taking second place in the prestigious Woodbrook Hunter Trials in Washington. She has another big competition in May, and we’re cheering her on every step and jump along the way.
Windy is more than a rescue—she’s a reminder of why we do what we do.
Thomas Graham is president and CEO of Crosswind Media & Public Relations, a national corporate affairs consultancy with offices in Austin, Texas and Washington, D.C
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