The Hirsch family legacy
/
by Annie Lambert
California’s Bo Hirsch has always relished horse racing, but winning last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (Gr. 1) with his homebred, Ce Ce, was “icing on the cake.”
“My goodness, what a thrill,” Hirsch remarked about Ce Ce’s championship. “You talk to people that don’t know anything about horse racing, mention winning a Breeders’ Cup, and they ask what it is. I tell them the best comparison I could give was the Olympics. If you win a Breeders’ Cup race, you’ve pretty much won a gold medal. We won a gold medal last year, and I’m tickled pink.”
Ce Ce, a six-year-old by the late Elusive Quality, accelerated near the top of the Del Mar stretch, overcoming a trio of leaders, including defending champion Gamine, to garner the $1 million purse. Ridden by Victor Espinosa, it was trainer Michael McCarthy’s second Breeders’ Cup victory.
Hirsch’s love of the sport harkens back to his father, businessman Clement L. Hirsch, who left giant footprints across the racing industry before his death in 2000 at 85. The elder Hirsch was instrumental in co-founding the Oak Tree Racing Association at Santa Anita as well as the current Del Mar Turf Club organization. Ce Ce’s Breeders’ Cup success at Del Mar was homage to Clement.
Clement also invested in pedigree lines that continue to produce the likes of Ce Ce. And, Bo’s love of his father and appreciation for the sport to which he introduced him could not be clearer.
“I just love this business; there’s nothing like it, you know?” Bo, 73, asked rhetorically. “It’s a grownup toy store—a wonderful toy store.”
Founding Father
Clement Hirsch’s common sense, drive and dry sense of humor no doubt contributed to his success in business and racing. He attended Menlo College near San Francisco during the 1930s.
While still in college, Clement and some friends bought a washed-up Greyhound dog for very little money. The owner was going to euthanize the canine because it was too broken down to race. The boys brought the dog back to good health, ended up racing it and were excited the process culminated with winning some money. That may have been the future horse owner’s first taste of racing, but it was most certainly his catalyst into the business world.
It didn’t take long to figure out the “people person” with street smarts would choose business over school. Having learned about caring for dogs with the Greyhound, Clement—who served a stint in the Marines during World War II—realized people, mostly, fed their pets table scraps in that era. He began selling a meat-based dog food, door-to-door, out of the trunk of his car. The entrepreneur wound up building that effort into Kal Kan Pet Foods, which he ultimately sold to the Mars Corporation that now markets it under their Pedigree label.
By 1947, Clement decided to invest some of his success into Thoroughbred racing. He hired Robert H. “Red” McDaniel, an established trainer in Northern California. They claimed Blue Reading, a $6,500 outlay, which went on to win 11 stakes, including the 1951 Bing Crosby Handicap, San Diego Handicap and Del Mar Handicap, earning $185,000. From that introduction, Clement was hooked; he owned horses for the rest of his life.
Breeders Cup winner CeCe is a third generation homebred, and Hirsch plans on extending the pedigree line
More Horses, Same Trainer
Clement hired Warren Stute to train his horses in 1950—his second and final trainer. Stute remained his trainer until Clement’s death, 50 years later—a feat we may likely never see again.
“My father could be difficult, and Warren had a mind of his own,” Bo pointed out. “I remember someone asking my father, ‘How did you guys stay together so many years? How could you put up with Warren all those years?’ He said, ‘I just turned down my hearing aide.’”
“It worked,” Bo added with a laugh.
The line of bloodstock that Ce Ce hails from began when Clement attended a sale at Hollywood Park in March 1989. Upon walking in, Mel Stute, Warren’s brother, was bidding on a horse. Mel told his brother’s owner the horse was going over his price range, but that it was worth the money. Clement did make one bid, which dropped the hammer at $50,000.
Hirsch could hardly believe he bought a horse with one wave of his arm, but the result was fortuitous. He had purchased the two-year-old, Magical Mile (J.O. Tobin – Gils Magic, by Magesterial).
The colt won his first out, a maiden special weight, at Hollywood Park just two months later. He broke the track record that day, running the 5-furlongs in :56 2-5, while winning by 7 ½ lengths. He came back in July to win the Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes (G2), ultimately earning $131,000 (7-4-0-1) during his career.
“I remember my father being interviewed once when the horse was really doing well,” Bo recalled. “Someone said, ‘You must be getting Derby fever.’ My father said, ‘No, no, no, that’s not realistic; I wouldn’t think in that area, it’s such a long ways off.’ There was a hesitation, then he said to the guy, ‘But, for what it’s worth, we’re trying to get the name Magical Mile changed to Magical Mile and a Quarter.’”
The Howell S. Wynne family owned Magical Mile’s dam, Gils Magic, a mare with no money earned in only one start. Clement tried more than once to buy the mare, but to no avail. He did, however, show up at the sales every time one of her offspring was offered.
“The next great one was Magical Maiden,” Bo said. “He kept trying to buy Gils Magic, but they wouldn’t sell, so he bought what he could from that line. It built up.”
Magical Maiden (by Lord Avie) was a multiple graded stakes winner of $903,245. She is the second dam on Ce Ce’s pedigree. Magical Maiden foaled Ce Ce’s dam, Miss Houdini by Belong To Me in February 2000.
Miss Houdini, trained by Warren Stute, only made a total of four starts at two and three, but managed to win the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (Gr. 1) just about six weeks after a successful maiden special weight debut. Her two wins and a second totaled lifetime earnings of $187,600.
Clement and Warren imported Figonero from Argentina in 1969. The four-year-old stallion was already a winner in his homeland, but he made waves in the United States. Figonero ran third to Ack Ack in both the American Handicap and the San Pasqual Stakes. He won the Hollywood Gold Cup with the late Alvaro Pineda riding. Rumor has it, Stute tore out a wooden deck in his backyard and replaced it with a swimming pool shortly after the Gold Cup.
Pineda was also aboard when Figonero set a world record for 1 1/8 miles while winning the 1969 Del Mar Handicap at Del Mar.
“Figonero was a good one,” Bo remembered. “He ran multiple races in just a few weeks. He won an overnight race, ran third in the American Handicap and came back, ran against [1969 and 1970 co-champion handicap male] Nodouble in the Gold Cup and won the darn thing. They took him back to Chicago in the mud and he didn’t do well, came back here and broke the world record in the Del Mar Handicap.”
“That record lasted about three years until this horse called Secretariat broke it,” he said, chuckling.
Big Ideas
During the late 1940s, Clement got the idea to establish a racetrack in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After acquiring the land and finding investors, Hirsch ran into a multitude of setbacks, which slowed down his project. Eventually the frustrations ended and they had a racetrack. Hirsch brought in some of his own horses to encourage his friends and others to bring more livestock, according to Bo.
“They tried to get it going and it just didn’t work,” the younger Hirsch commented. “[Some local businessmen] offered to buy him out, and he was smart enough to sell. They were only in business for a very short time. I think it was a tough deal there with the heat in the summer and just getting the people to go to the races. They were gamblers, but not racetrackers—a different kind of gambler.”
Hirsch gave Las Vegas a shot and it didn’t work out, but it’s possible his vision was just a little ahead of its time.
By 1968, Clement was securely ensconced in the Thoroughbred industry as a breeder and owner. The businessman had a “never let an idea lay idle'' mindset; so when he noticed unused calendar dates between the summer meet at Del Mar and Santa Anita’s winter meet, the wheels began turning.
Hirsch organized a meeting with Robert Strub, owner of Santa Anita at the time, Lou Rowan, an owner/breeder; and equine insurance broker, veterinarian Jack Robbins and a few others to discuss options for utilizing Santa Anita on those dark dates. The organizers were able to get their dates approved, and the Oak Tree Racing Association at Santa Anita had their opening meet the following fall.
“Once they got approval for the dates, they came back to finalize things with Strub,” Bo said. “Jack Robbins told me the story that they’re in a room and Robert Strub looks up and says, ‘You know, if this thing doesn’t work out, it’s going to cost us, Santa Anita, a few million bucks.’ That was a lot of money in those days. My father said, ‘You’re covered.’ Strub looked at my father and said, ‘You’ve got a deal.’ Then they shook hands, which was the way they did it in those days.”
Pivotal in creating Oak Tree was Clement Hirsch’s concept that the organization be created as a non-profit.
Clement Hirsch (dark jacket), seated alongside his friend and Oak Tree racing association co-founder Dr Jack Robbins and surrounded by other oak tree board members
“None of the board members or executives, which were all horsemen, got salaries,” Bo explained. “For the betterment of the horse racing business, they took all that money and put it back into the business and charitable organizations.”
Shortly after the Oak Tree negotiations, Del Mar (owned by the state of California) came up for an operational bid. Clement put together another group of horsemen figuring the non-profit structure would also work for Del Mar.
“My father put the [Del Mar Thoroughbred Club] group together and they bid for the track and the racing dates,” recalled Bo. “Nobody could compete with a non-profit organization. It was a great idea and, of course, they got it. The same group runs it today; it’s been a very successful organization. I’d like to see more of this happen in horse racing across the country.”
Blended Family
The Hirsch family was an interesting blend of families as Bo was growing up. Clement was married four times, so Bo has full-siblings, half-siblings and step-siblings, which he jokingly calls “a motley group.” He was the only one of those eight kids to take an interest in the racehorses.
“The horse business either gets in your blood or it doesn’t,” Bo opined. “It got into mine; I just loved it the minute I saw it. My father never encouraged me; he thought I was stupid to get in it.”
“He told me I was going to lose my money,” he added with a laugh. “But he loved it, and he couldn’t defend himself for being in the horse business in a practical way. He was successful at it, and I know now why he was in it. I’m in it and I understand: It brings you such joy.”
During the mid-1950s, Clement built his CLH Farm in Chatsworth, outside of Los Angeles. He stood several stallions there over the years, with limited success. When he relocated his family to Newport Beach, he moved the farm to Poway in San Diego County.
Bo said he enjoyed the farm as a kid and did his share of shoveling manure and riding ponies, but he always preferred “to hang out on the front side” at the track.
Similar Guys
Like his father, Bo, who resides in Pacific Palisades, is a businessman. After graduating from the University of Southern California, he worked as a stockbroker until the market dropped in 1972; then he began looking for a different career path.
His father had sold the pet food company but retained a pioneering company, Rocking K Foods, which provided portion-controlled meals for hospitals and the like. There was also a cannery there where the company canned foods for the government to send to the troops in Vietnam.
Out of the blue, Bill Gray, president of the company who ran the operation for the retired Clement, asked Bo if he’d consider leaving the brokerage firm to work for him in sales and marketing. Bo replied, ”When do you want me to start?”
Bo Hirsch
After a short scrimmage with his father over his qualifications regarding a job in the food industry, Bo settled into the job. He ultimately developed the Stagg Chili food lines, which he later sold to Hormel.
“My father always wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing,” Bo explained. “He wanted to make sure you heard both sides of a story, to be sure you were doing what you wanted to do and the right thing to do. He’d always challenge you, take the other side to challenge you and make sure you believed in what you were doing.
“He did it at home with his kids, too. It was a wonderful lesson to learn to get all the facts before you start making decisions—get in there and figure it out. That was just the kind of guy he was and why he was so successful in all the things he ever did.”
Clement’s energy and unique personality lent itself to memorable stories remembered by those who knew him.
“Alan Balch [now executive director of California Thoroughbred Trainers Association] told me the story of Fred Ryan [an executive at Santa Anita at the time] being in a heated phone conversation,” Bo recalled with a chuckle. “Ryan slammed the phone down and, looking at Alan, said, ‘That damn Clement Hirsch—he’d kick a hornet’s nest open just to get a reaction!’”
When Clement passed away, his son stepped up to continue developing the pedigrees his father had been procuring. Miss Houdini, now 22, was foaled just prior to Clement’s death, but greatly enriched her family tree.
“I started with Warren Stute,” said Bo, regarding his racing stable. “When [Warren] passed, I went to his nephew, Gary Stute—Mel Stute’s son. I still have horses with him. Gary’s a good horseman and we’ve done well; plus, he’s a lot of fun. He’s my cigar smoking partner.”
“I’ve had as many as four trainers at one time, just trying to feel things out. I liked them all, but I don’t think it’s the best way to go in the long run, at least not for me.”
Cece ridden by victor espinoza, wins the breeders’ cup filly and mare sprint at del mar 2021
Bo sent horses to Michael McCarthy on a recommendation from Michael Wellman, a long-time California owner/breeder.
“If there is a trainer that is a harder worker than Michael McCarthy, they’re living on a day that is longer than 24 hours,” Bo said. “He just works night and day; it’s his life.”
Anticipating Greatness
Miss Houdini has obviously been a wonderful producer for Hirsch. Her current honor roll offspring, Ce Ce, has won eight of her 16 starts, earning $1,753,100 through last year’s aforementioned Breeders’ Cup win. The mare has captured additional group races including the Beholder Mile (Gr. 1), Apple Blossom Handicap (Gr. 1), Princess Rooney (Gr. 2) and the Chillingsworth Stakes (Gr. 3).
Miss Houdini foaled a colt in 2006, Papa Clem—a Kentucky-bred by Smart Strike trained by Gary Stute, which also made his dam proud. Papa Clem broke his maiden at two on his third try. At three, he went on to win the Arkansas Derby (Gr, 2) and finished his career as a four-year-old by winning the San Fernando Stakes (Gr. 2). Between those Gr. 2 races, however, Papa Clem contested two legs of the Triple Crown.
“[Papa Clem] ran fourth in the Derby; he just got beat a head for second,” Bo recalled. “He was sandwiched between Pioneerof The Nile and Musket Man, and there was some bumping. We ran him in the Preakness and probably shouldn’t have. He just looked dead to me in the barn. He was usually jumping around, and he wasn’t. I think he ran sixth. We gave him some time off prior to the San Fernando and then retired him to stud.”
Bo has seven mares in his arsenal. Stradella Road (Elusive Quality) is a full sister to Ce Ce. She was a winner at three and four, ran third in the Lady Shamrock Stakes and has lifetime earnings of $130,169.
The stakes-placed Magical Victory (Victory Gallop), earner of $66,928, also resides in Bo’s broodmare band. She produced Hot Springs (Uncle Mo), a winner of five races and $272,343 including the Commonwealth Turf Stakes (Gr. 3).
Unraced Mama Maxine, named after Bo’s mother, is the dam of Ready Intaglio (Indygo Shiner) that won seven races, earning $197,418 while winning seven races, including the Canadian Derby (Gr. 3). She also foaled the stakes-placed Mama Said No (Exaggerator). Mama Maxine will be bred to California sire Grazen (Benchmark) this year.
“I always want to keep involved in California,” Bo said. “They have a good program to get you to breed here. I’m going to bring Mama Maxine out here; she’s a nice mare from the family. The other six will stay in Kentucky. I have a two-year-old now, four yearlings; and in the next couple of months, we’ll have a few more. They do add up.”
All the people involved with his racing operations are appreciated by Hirsch. Those in Kentucky include Kathy Berkey at Berkey Bloodstock. His mares reside at Columbiana Farm in Paris, while Rimroc Farm in Lexington starts his babies. Some go into advanced lessons with Bryan “Scooter” Hughes as they progress. When he has a layup or mares in California, they go to Rancho Temescal, north of Los Angeles.
Hirsch and connections celebrate CeCe’s Breeders’ Cup triumph
The Hirsch passion for the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry is multigenerational. His wife Candy enjoys going to the races and spending time with the horses at the barns. Their daughter Hayley, 29, was excited when Dad named an auction purchase after her: Hayley Levade (Dialed In). The thus unraced three-year-old is training with Stute for her debut.
“Horses are great animals, and this business makes you get up in the morning and keeps you going,” Bo said with a smile. “It’s a wonderful thing to be in the racing business and have this opportunity and the thrills you get. Anticipation is the name of the game. You look and you dream about this and that… I’ve been very lucky.”