HANS & ANA MARON (SAINTS OR SINNERS) SO HAPPY & MARGARITA GIRL

WORDS - BILL HELLER

Hans and Ana Maron with jockey Ricardo Gonzalez

Born in Switzerland, Hans Maron was raised in Northern California: "My parents came over in the '50s and got married in San Francisco in 1956. I was one of three kids. My mom got a little homesick. We went home and then came back after three years, from '63 to '66".

By then, Maron was hooked on coffee: "I started drinking coffee when I was seven years old." Later in life, he'd build a multibillion-dollar milk business. His father, Kurt, was a sausage maker: "I did that for seven years right out of high school. That's when I started coaching. I really wanted to be a basketball coach. It was my first passion, even more than horses."

Maron was a basketball player and coach in Richmond, while also working at famed Dreyer's Ice Cream. Founded in 1928 in Oakland, California, the company originated Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream and Edy's Grand Ice Cream, named for its founders, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy. Maron served as materials and scheduling manager, optimizing material flow and ensuring timely delivery of resources.

Then he and a partner, Tim Doelman, built an empire in milk. They started Good Cow Company in 1999. That morphed into Fairlife. Maron ultimately sold his share of the company to Coca-Cola, allowing him to focus on his other lifelong passion, horses.

"I started in racing when I was a teenager," Maron said. "My schoolmate's parents owned horses at Golden Gate Fields. I was 16. We drove to Bay Meadows. There was a horse named Let M' Roar. I bet him and he won." He was hooked for life.

"It's always been my passion," Maron said. "After we had success in business, I wanted to fulfill my dream. I kept at it. I started buying horses in partnerships in 2015."

His partnership on O Besos led him to the 2021 Kentucky Derby, when the colt, trained by Greg Foley, finished fifth to Medina Spirit, who was subsequently disqualified. That made runner-up Mandaloun the winner and moved O Besos up to fourth.

Then he and Ana decided to go on their own.

Coming up with Saints or Sinners as a stable name was appropriate. "My wife came from a family of nuns and a priest," Maron said. "Her mom was in the convent and her dad was in a seminary. That was part of her heritage. I was Catholic, but I always loved to gamble and take chances. She didn't. We tried to come up with something different."

They did. They were born 10 days apart and lived in the same apartment complex. "I had gone back to school," Ana said. "On our second date, he said, 'Do you want to go to the races?"

She had to think about it: "I grew up in a household that was very simple. You don't gamble. You don't do stuff like that. I thought it was a red flag. The funny thing is, when he asked me to go to the races, I remember telling my sister. She said, 'You have to wear a pretty dress. And a pretty hat. I always thought it would be like the Kentucky Derby"

Not this date. "We went to Golden Gate Fields on a Friday night," Maron said. "It was $1 beer and hot dog night"

Their relationship survived and thrived, and Ana noted how focused her husband was on growing his eventual billion-dollar milk company: "When he started Fairlife he was focusing on business. That was his priority."

He believed in milk: "Milk is good for you. Kids need milk. I'm a firm believer in that. We started the company in 1999."

So Happy and jockey Mike Smith win the 2026 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Then they grew the company, working for years to improve their product. "It took us 15 years to create something. We didn't give up. We just fought on. We used a concept that was pretty new to milk: filtration methodology. It was ultrafiltration which allowed us to create protein and recapture minerals while keeping the exact flavor of milk. We always dreamed big. Our tagline was 'Believe in better.' We ran six to eight million pounds a day at our two facilities, one in Arizona and one in Chicago. Then we sold it to Coca-Cola."

Along the way, Hans and Ana, who now live in Chandler, Arizona, about 20 miles south of Phoenix, raised their two grown children, Sophia and Natalia. "We started bringing them to the races when they were young," Ana said.

One fateful day, Maron told his wife he'd like to buy one horse. "I agreed," Ana said. "I said, 'You've done so much for us. A month later, he said, 'You can't have just one horse. My sister called, and I told her we have four horses."

Then eight. Now more than 60. "He put his blood, sweat and tears into horses," Ana said. "I just go along for the ride. I am just a supporter. I don't gamble. Everybody at the track makes fun of me. It's just not in my blood. I'm more interested in animals. They're so majestic. And we've gotten to know the trainers and the jockeys."

Maron calls his wife "the brains of the operation." On May 30, 2025, they purchased a 127-acre farm in Kentucky they named Trinitas Place. "We bought a farm in Kentucky to grow our broodmare band," Maron said.

Their race horses couldn't be doing much better. On Saturday, January 10 at Santa Anita, their three- year-old colt So Happy improved his record to two for two by taking the $200,000 Gr.2 San Vicente Stakes for trainer Mark Glatt. Saints or Sinners owns the horse in partnership with Norman Stables, named for Robby Norman, who owns a string of grocery stores in Alabama.

The very next day, Saints or Sinners' four-year-old filly Margarita Girl, owned in partnership with Rancho Temescal in California, captured the Gr.3 $100,000 Las Flores Stakes. She is also trained by Glatt, as is Watsonville, another Saints or Sinners horse who won an allowance race right after the Las Flores.

"We really had a great weekend we sure did," Glatt said. "They truly love their horses. They have recently jumped in with both feet into the deep end of the pool. I think they really enjoy the sport. They really enjoy the camaraderie that comes with the sport. They're just a delight to train for because they know the horse comes first."

Even when things go wrong, they remain supportive. "When you pick up the phone to call an owner and tell them their horse needs to have time off or has an issue and those kinds of things, of course, everybody's always disappointed in those circumstances," Glatt said. "They're very accepting of it. It makes what is usually a tough phone call easier when you call them. That's always appreciated. It's good to know people like that have some success." Enough to fulfill his dreams? "It's incredible," Maron said. "The incredible part is you meet people. It's just a cool game. The horses take us places. People work really hard in this industry, 365 days a year. Life is hard sometimes. I get emotional."