Kentucky Oaks 2025 owners - Mike Gatsas (Gatsas Stables) - Five G

Family has always been paramount to Mike Gatsas, in his family business and his family’s passion in horse racing. “Family is super important to him,” his son, Matthew, said.

Now, their family’s home-New York-bred Five G, named to honor Gatsas’ five grandchildren, will be their first starter in the Gr. 1 Kentucky Oaks. The fact that Five G is a daughter of their star runner Vekoma makes it even sweeter.

Matthew is the Vice-President of Trivantus, a payroll service/employee benefits/human resource administration company his father founded in New Hampshire in 2003. He’s partnered with his brother-in-law Danny Casey.

Matthew named Vekoma, a son of Candy Ride out of Mona de Momma by Speightstown, a horse Gatsas partnered with Randy Hill: “We were trying a bunch of names. So many got rejected. Our family was going to Disney World for the first time. There’s a big roller coaster there named Vekoma, made by Expedition Everest. I just thought it was a cool name. His dad was Candy Ride. Everybody loved it.”

The fact that Vekoma turned into a multiple Gr. 1 stakes winner and now a superstar stallion didn’t hurt.   

Vekoma finished 12th in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, one of his rare losses. He won six of his seven other starts, including the Gr. 1 Carter Handicap and the Gr. 1 Metropolitan, and earned $1,245,525.

Then Vekoma became the leading 2024 first-crop sire, standing this year for $35,000 at Spendthrift Farm.

Mike Gatsas bred his Quality Road mare Triumphant to Vekoma and was rewarded with Five G, who followed a dismal debut – seventh by 22 lengths – with a victory and second on grass, a nine-length victory in the $150,000 Cash Run Stakes, a fine second to Quietside in the Gr. 3 Honeybee Handicap and a 2 ¼ length score in the Gr. 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. “It’s great we get to share it as a family,” Matthew said.

That’s the way Gatsas intended it to be. Asked about his highlight participating in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, he replied, “Being there with my whole family, my wife, my kids, my grandchildren. That’s how we got started, having something the family could do.”

Well before he bought his first horse in 1998, Gatsas let his intention to buy a Thoroughbred known. “It was 100 years ago when I was a little kid,” Matthew said. “We had been at Lake George with another family. We were sitting at the dinner table. The story goes that somebody offered them a tip on a horse that was running. I was very young. We had to go to Saratoga. Dad said to one of his friends: `I want a horse that runs at Saratoga.’”

When he was a teenager, Matthew remembers trips to Rockingham Park, not far from their New Hampshire home: “We’d go every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It seemed like we went all the time.”

In 1998, his father purchased two horses: a sleek, gray New York-bred gelding named Gander and Shadow Caster. Gander went on to be 2000 New York-bred Horse of the Year. He won 15 of his 60 starts, including six stakes, the biggest being the 2001 Gr. 2 Meadowlands Cup. He finished second in the 2000 Gr. 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and his earnings of more than $1.8 million are still 13th all-time among New York-breds. Shadow Caster was no slouch, making nearly a half a million thanks to eight victories in 47 starts. Gatsas’ brother Ted, a former state senator and mayor of Manchester, was his partner. 

Asked about Gander, Gatsas said, “Being new to the game, my trainer, Charlie Assimakopuolos thought it was a great opportunity to get a New York-bred. I was sold on the program ever since. It’s a phenomenal program.”

Gander paved the way for future success. “Gander is the one who got us started,” Matthew said. “Probably, he’s the reason we’re still in the game. I don’t think a lot of people have that luck early on.”

Racing as Sovereign Stable, the Gatsas family had more luck with Negligee, a two-year-old filly who gave them their first Gr. 1 victory when she took the 2009 Alcibiades.

Fortuitous seating at Saratoga led Gatsas to partner up with Randy Hill, who races as R. A. Hill Stables, on Vekoma. Hill’s box was right behind Gatsas’: “We met, and I said, `what do you think if we split some horses?’ He said, `sure.’ We really got to like each other. We’re really having fun with these horses.”

Gatsas guesses he now owns 40 Thoroughbreds, many in partnership with Randy Hill and others. Gatsas uses trainers George Weaver, John Terranova, Danny Gargan and Ricky Dutrow.

“We don’t have a big stable, but we’ve been very blessed,” Gatsas said. “George has done a great job with this filly. I’m pleased to be associated with George and his wife Cindy. We’re very blessed to have George as a trainer.”

Matthew said, “We’ve been in the business a long time. I’m very much involved in it. I love the sport. There’s no doubt I got that from my dad. My wife Celia, she’s from the Saratoga area and she enjoys the races. Now my kids, Calla and Matthew, are picking it up from me.

“We all made it to Keeneland when Vekoma won the Blue Grass. Then we went on to Louisville. It was pretty awesome. The kids were too young to enjoy it, but they did come. I think all five of them (grandchildren) are super excited for this (the Kentucky Oaks). It’s going to be pretty cool.”