HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Over the past decade, Charles Weston of Weston Thoroughbreds in Anthony, Fla., just north of Ocala, has carved out a successful niche of buying inexpensive horses and watching them flourish on the racetrack. The Texas native traces it all back to his association with one of the most decorated horsemen in Thoroughbred history.

Weston spent parts of the 1980s and 1990s in Louisiana and Florida working for oil and real estate tycoon John Franks, a four-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding owner who campaigned homebred colt Answer Lively to the 2-year-old championship in 1998. When Franks, who died in December 2003, was at his height, leading the country in wins and purses earned as a breeder and owner, Weston was there.

“What’s probably helped me more than anything in buying racehorses is working for John Franks. We had probably 300 horses in training all at one time, and when those horses came in from the races and went back to his broodmare band, I was the first one to see them off the trailer,” Weston said. “I wanted to see what they looked like, and I kind of got a vision in my head of what a racehorse is supposed to look like, anyway. It’s not always true but for the most part, it is.”

Weston’s latest success story is 2-year-old filly Win N Your In, the even-money favorite for Saturday’s $100,000 Desert Vixen at Gulfstream Park co-owned by Troy Johnson and Weston’s wife, Maritza. Selected by Weston and purchased by Johnson for $12,000 out of the 2023 OBS Winter sale, she has reeled off two straight wins, including the Sharp Susan against open company at the course and distance Aug. 10.

We’re pretty excited about this little filly. She’s done everything since Day 1 kind of the right way. She just doesn’t get upset about too much,” Weston said. “Like I tell these owners, a lot of times it’s not how fast they are; it’s how smart they are. I think right now she’s just kind of taking everything in stride.”

Weston said he was attracted to Win N Your In being by freshman sire Win Win Win and a half-sister to Miss Auramet, a multiple stakes winner of more than $632,000 in purses that made 20 of her 34 career starts on the grass.

“They say she’s small. I don’t see her as being small. She’s probably 15-1, 15-2, which is perfect for a 2-year-old. We feel like if they’re not real big, they’re not real hard on themselves,” Weston said. “We try to buy those middle-range horses, and I’m a filly person. I love fillies. I think they give you everything they got every time they go out, and that’s kind of what this filly is doing. Her heart is probably as big as she is.”

The son of a cattle rancher that raised his family at home in Texas and returned to Florida for good in 2007, Weston and Johnson began teaming up earlier this decade. The first horse he bought for Johnson was Con Lima, a $22,000 purchase that was sold privately following his July 2020 maiden triumph at Gulfstream and went on to win three Grade 3 stakes and more than $800,000 in purses for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

Con Lima was originally trained by Carlos David, who now has Win N Your In.

“I’ve always seen myself buying horses for people, but we don’t reach out and buy for a whole lot of money. We’re always looking for a bargain somewhere. Working with these guys here, they’ve got the same mindset I’ve got,” Weston said. “If you can get a nice horse for $25-$35,000, you have so many other options besides having to run them against maiden special weights or having to get a stakes horse to win.

“We got this horse for $12,000 and we did tell Carlos, ‘If you don’t think much of her, run her for $35,000. We’re still way ahead,’ he added. “Carlos worked her a time after her first race and said, ‘You know what guys? I think we’ve got a little bit better horse than $35,000.’”

While successful, Weston’s partnership with Johnson is unique in that the two have yet to get together in person, an oddity that they expect to remedy this fall.

“We’ve done really well with him. I think he’s kind of the lucky charm,” Weston said. “We’ve done this three or four years now together and I’ve never met him. I’m supposed to meet him at Keeneland when we go back for the yearling sale. Him and my wife got this horse together, now he’s saying his wife and my wife want to get a horse together. I said, ‘We can work on that.’”