Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Karl Glassman with Arthur's Ride
/Words - Bill Heller
What’s in a name? For Karl Glassman, who named his Gr.1 Whitney Stakes winner Arthur’s Ride, everything. “The horse is named after my dad,” Glassman said after the race. “He passed a year and a half ago and he knew before he passed away that I named the horse after him. And he said, ‘You didn’t have to do that.’ I said, `Dad, I really did. You had a great ride.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘I have.’ He was 91 and had a great life.”
So has his son, an incredible business success who has become a champion in the fight against pancreatic cancer.
Glassman is the President and CEO of Leggett & Platt, a 141-year-old Midwest-based global manufacturer of bedding products, furniture, flooring, and textile products. With 135 production facilities in 17 countries, Leggett & Platt generates some $5 billion in annual revenue. Glassman joined the company in 1982 as a sales representative.
“My grandparents made springs, and I’ve slept on springs all my life,” he told Sheila Long O’Mara in her May 17th 2023 story in Furniture Today.
Growing up in Southern California, Glassman’s mother’s family owned De Lamar Bed Spring Corp, in Los Angeles. Glassman began working on the factory floor following his high school graduation, and later became the company’s production manager as he worked his way through college at California State University in Long Beach, where he earned his degree in business management and finance.
Leggett & Platt purchased the De Lamar Bed Spring Corp. in 1979, and Glassman joined the company three years later.
In 2009, a bedding industry executive urged Glassman to attend a major fundraiser for pancreatic cancer in Phoenix. Glassman was so moved, he immediately signed on. Glassman’s mom had died of breast cancer at the age of 54. “Funding for medical research is the driving force in pursuit of early detection, extending patient quality of life and ultimately finding a cure,” Glassman told Debra Gelbart in a November 2019 story on the SEENA Magnowitz Foundation website.
Leggett & Platt Inc. has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for pancreatic cancer research, and Glassman and his wife Cathi have personally donated substantially to the cause through the Seena Magowitz Foundation and the National Human Genome Research Institute in Phoenix.
Following Glassman’s direction, other mattress companies have joined the fight. “There aren’t a lot of industries where competitors come together over a common cause,” Glassman told Gelbart. “You can change the world one person at a time through this effort. We have a responsibility to try to leave the world better than it was before we got there. There’s no better way to leave a positive, lasting impact on the world.”
That’s a message Glassman and his wife have passed on to their three adult children, Ian, Nathan and Raychel, and their nine grandchildren.
He’s also passed on the wisdom and achievements of his father. “He was so poor when he was little,” Glassman told Tom Pedulla of America’s Best Racing in his story on September 16th. “He spent the first 2 ½ years of his life being raised in a chicken coop in Nebraska. That’s how tough the Depression was.”
Cathi described her father-in-law as a “great man, a very quiet, very humble, very kind man.”
The Glassmans have been part of racing partnerships since 1995. They formed Glassman Racing nine years ago and now have 28 horses in training, half of them with partners. They also own five broodmares.
They purchased Arthur’s Ride for $250,000 at the Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale in 2021 and gave him to Hall of Fame trainer Billy Mott. Freshened after finishing second in his first two starts as a two-year-old, Arthur’s Ride won his three-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park by one length.
Then came the bad phone call. Arthur’s Ride had injured his tendon, and Mott gave him plenty of time to recover. Off for 13 months, Arthur’s Ride returned to win an allowance race at Gulfstream Park, finished fifth in an allowance and then dominated in another allowance race at Saratoga, winning by 12 ¾ lengths.
It was impressive enough for Mott to enter his lightly-raced gray colt in the Whitney, one of the few Grade 1 stakes he hasn’t won. Beautifully ridden by Junior Alvarado, Arthur’s Ride made the lead and never had an anxious moment, winning by 2 ¼ lengths, giving the Glassman's their first Grade 1 victory. “The horse is named for my father and to share that with my siblings to watch it, and my dad watching from above, it doesn’t get better than that,” Glassman said. “To be part of Bill Mott winning his first Whitney – my goodness, we’ll wake up, but I don’t know when. I almost hope we don’t.”
Unfortunately, they did. Arthur’s Ride finished fifth in the Gr.1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, but is heading for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. With his early speed, he should have a chance.
After the Whitney, Glassman credited the people who made it possible: “Donato Lanni picked the horse; Dr. Barry Eisaman and his team in Ocala broke the horse. He had a little bit of a tendon issue and Barry got him back sound again. And Bill and his team are the best in the business. Bill gave him time. Bill Mott is as patient as they get. He’s the kind of horse that’s in perfect hands with Bill.”
No matter what happens in the Breeders’ Cup, Glassman will enjoy the experience.
“I’m not a particularly emotional person, but I will tell you that when he runs, it takes my breath away,” Glassman told Pedulla. “When he comes down the stretch, I always look to the sky.”
