Donato Lanni - X-Men Racing

Article by Bill Heller

Thoroughbred bloodstock agent Donato Lanni cherished trips to the racetrack with his father, Giuseppe, who grew up in Italy and settled in Montreal, making a career as a construction contractor. He did well enough to pursue his passion. “My dad had a love and a desire for horses and horse racing,” Donato said. “He had some claiming horses.”

They were harness horses and Donato and his father shared evenings at Blue Bonnets Racetrack. “I grew up around it,” Donato said. ”As a kid, there’s something inside you that gets alerted. You catch the bug. I don’t think that’s a myth. I was eight or nine.

“Summertime, I got more involved. I spent all my time at Blue Bonnets going to the barn. I became a groom when I was 13 or 14. There I got to meet some really cool guys—some of the most legendary guys in harness racing: Andre LaChance, Sylvan Filion and Duncan MacTavish. Andre never talked and was not very pleasant to be around, but he was a hell of a horseman. He took a liking to me for some reason. I drove in qualifier (non-betting) races.” Donato was 16 when he bought his first horse.

Though Donato graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, he realized that he wanted to head south—far south. Taking advantage of a summer program at Concordia, Donato got a temporary visa to work in the United States, fixating on Kentucky.  

“I didn’t see a future in Canada,” he said. “I asked, `How am I going to make a living with horses?’ I thought I had to go to Kentucky and see what it was like. I left Canada, knowing I was never going back.”

But he had no connections in America. “You take a chance and go to work,” Donato said.

And when you can’t find work? Running out of money, Donato bought a tent and camped out at the Kentucky Horse Park.

He got a huge break when he met John Cashman of Castleton Farm, one of the premier harness farms in North America. “I got a job with John,” Donato said. “He was very nice to me. I became the yearling manager in 1996. I was 25. I kept working. Grind, grind. Eventually doors open and you meet people.”

He counts himself lucky for meeting and then working for John “Big Johnny” Jones, the founder of Walmac International Farm in Lexington, where such super stallions as Nureyev and Alleged stood. Jones was also the founding partner of Four Star Sales. Initially, Donato landed a job with Walmac selling stallion services. 

“If there was one person most responsible for any success that I had, it was Johnny Jones,” Donato told Murray Brown in his October 2021 story in Harness Racing Update. “Johnny was a noted bloodstock agent who ran Walmac International. It was from him that I learned my craft. He sold and bought horses. Eventually, so did I. While I was at Walmac, Johnny supported me on my first route towards becoming an American citizen.”

While with Walmac, Donato got to know Thoroughbred owner and movie theater magnate George Krikorian. He told Donato to let him know if one yearling caught his eye at any of the sales. One did—Starrer. She sold for $35,000 and won multiple Gr. 1 stakes on the way to becoming Donato’s first millionaire. In an article in Blood-Horse magazine, Krikorian said of Donato, “I don’t know anyone who had a better eye for horses than he does.”

Eventually, Donato worked for John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm as director of Bloodstock Services, and became friends with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. “I met Bob 20 years ago at a sales,” Donato said. “He took me around and showed me what to look for. We’re still pretty close. I learned my craft through Bob Baffert. He’s a great horseman. He’s the best.”

Donato has paid Baffert back by selecting two Horses of the Year: Arrogate (2016) and Authentic (2020).

In 2006, Donato reconnected with Canadian horsemen, specifically trainer Kevin Attard. Attard trained Leonnatus Anteas, a yearling colt Donato picked out for Nob Hill Farm. The following year, Leonnatus Anteas won all three of his starts and was named Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. “That was the start of our relationship together,” Kevin said. “He sent me a couple horses over the years. For me to be associated with him has been a boost to my career. He respects me as a trainer.”

A few years back, Donato decided to start a new team. He convinced several Canadian horse owners and hockey fans to form X-Men Racing and then partnered with SF Racing and Madaket Stables. Lanni nicknamed the partnership “The Avengers. We put a fund together and bought a dozen horses,” Donato told Murray Brown in his story. “They’re all guys that are in the horse business—some of them with Standardbreds. But what they all have in common, besides being friends with me, is that they’re all lucky.”

One of the original dozen X-Men Racing horses was Moira. All the filly did in August was defeat colts while taking the $1 million Gr. 1 Queen’s Plate by seven lengths in track-record time. Less than a month later, their two-year-old filly Last Call won the Gr. 1 Natalma. 

Through all the ups and downs, all the twists and turns of his colorful career, he never lost that feeling he first experienced when he went to the track with his father. “They’re majestic animals,” Donato said. “They’re beautiful to look at. You go work with them; it’s very challenging and it’s fun. We got started because we love the horse.”

Dr. Robert and Laura Vukovich

Article by Bill Heller

Going to the track with your father is a powerful experience for a little boy—a treasured memory. “I grew up on the Jersey shore, and my dad used to take me out to Monmouth Park,” Dr. Robert Vukovich of WellSpring Stables said. “I was probably nine or 10. He taught me how to read the Racing Form, and sometimes he would place a bet for me. I’ve always loved horses and horse people. I decided if I ever had the chance, I would try to get involved somehow.”

Seven decades later, he is involved up to his gills and wouldn’t want it any other way. The fact that he can share it with his wife Laura makes it even more special. “She’s been there every step of the way,” he said.

Why did he wait until the 1990s to get involved in Thoroughbred racing? “College and my pharmaceutical career got in the way,” he joked. “I started in pharmaceutical research.”

He eventually developed his own company, Robert’s Pharmaceutical, and sold it to a large United Kingdom company in the late 1990s. That allowed him to return to horses.

Asked if he ever misses his pharmaceutical career, Robert said, “No. I don’t miss all the pressures. I don’t miss all the deadlines and the regulatory commissions.”

That didn’t prevent him from being successful in his industry. “He came from nothing and has worked very hard,” Laura, a native of Brooklyn with no prior history with horses, said. “We both did. He’s just a warm, caring person even to his horses. He says, `You only go around once—no rehearsal.’”

He’s never been happier than he is now with horses. “I wake up in the morning, and I think of horses,” he said. “I talk to people all day about horses, and sometimes I even dream about them—horses like Leave No Trace. Could this be really happening? Did we win the Spinaway?” They did.

In 1999, the Vokoviches bought a horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey, where they now also live. “We started with 100 acres and added pieces,” Robert said. “We currently have 168 acres. Laura names most of our horses.”

She named their two-year-old filly star Leave No Trace after a movie she watched some time ago. “I didn’t see the whole movie,” she said. “It was about a father and a daughter and some tragedy.”

Their horse operation has been the complete opposite. They began breeding horses and then started buying them at auctions and racing them. “Over time, I got to appreciate that I could do better than breeding by carefully selecting horses at auctions,” Robert said. “We now buy most of our bloodstock.”

His initial success came with the help of late trainer Dominick Galluscio, who saddled Organizer and Dr. Vee’s Magic to consecutive victories in the rich Empire Classic for New York-breds in 2006 and 2007. “He was a great trainer and a friend,” Robert said.

Now he uses Phil Serpe and Jim Ryerson as his trainers. “After Dominick passed, I asked Jim Ryerson if he’d take a few horses,” Robert said. “He did. I asked him who would be useful to me as a trainer who races in New York and Florida, and he nominated Phil Serpe. Phil and I have been doing business for seven years. We train our horses in the winter down in Florida and bring them up in the springtime and decide whether to send them to Jim or Phil.”

Robert and Laura now have 15 horses in training, including eight yearlings and five weanlings. They have never done better than the last two years. In 2021, Safe Conduct won the Queen’s Plate. Unfortunately, Peter and Laura weren’t there at Woodbine. “We couldn’t get up there to watch in because of Covid,” Robert said. “We had a bunch of people here. When he crossed the finish line, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it. It was remarkable.” More recently he finished second in the Gr. 3 Monmouth Stakes. “He’s still a special horse,” Robert said. 

So is Leave No Trace, who followed a 2 ¼ length debut in a restricted maiden debut at Saratoga by capturing the Gr. 1 Spinaway there at 14-1. Serpe trains both Safe Conduct and Leave No Trace. Robert and Laura purchased Safe Conduct for $45,000 as a yearling at the Keeneland November Sale and Leave No Trace for $40,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Fall Sale. Combined, they have earned more than $900,000 with a lot of racing still ahead of them.

But, again, Robert and Laura weren’t at the track when Leave No Trace won the Spinaway. “We were in Switzerland when she won the Spinaway,” Laura said. “We watched it on the telephone. It was around midnight. My husband went bananas. We were very proud. Now Phil is asking us not to be there in her future races. He said he’d buy us cruise tickets.”

Regardless, Robert and Laura are embracing the ride. “To see a little baby grow up and become a rockstar in horse racing, it’s very fulfilling.” Robert said.

Actually, they enjoy every horse they have, regardless of their performances. “Horses are very honest,” Robert said. “They’re the best employees you can have. They just give you all they have, and they never question it. Mother Nature created these animals so beautiful, so powerful and, for most cases, very gentle around you. You sit and watch them in awe. They always give you their best. They give you everything they’ve got. You can’t ask for more. I’m going to be 80. The horses keep me young.”

Stacy and Robert Mitchell

Words - Bill Heller

With a dollar and a dream, Stacy, a critical-care nurse, and Robert Mitchell, a surgeon, became horse owners. With a willingness to learn, they became Thoroughbred breeders after purchasing 92-acre Briland Farm in Lexington. And with patience and a commitment to race only home-breds, they created a niche—one made so much sweeter when their three-year-old filly Secret Oath took them to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs by taking their first Gr. 1 stakes, the Kentucky Oaks, rather easily by two lengths under Luis Saez.

“They do it all themselves—pretty much a ‘mom-and-pop’ operation with just a few horses,” their Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “To have that kind of success is phenomenal. They’re very protective of their horses. Stacy foals out most of them herself. We’ve had a great relationship.”

Along the way, Stacy and Robert learned the ups and downs of racing. “The Thoroughbred industry can be as high as possible and the lowest of lows with foals dying,” Stacy said. “You just never know. Every time you get a good one, you say, `This is the one.’”

She was right with Secret Oath. “This was the one!” Stacy said. “It’s been exciting. Very satisfying.”

She’s certainly satisfied with her legendary trainer. “He’s great,” Stacy said. “He’s just classy. We can call him anytime. My husband talks to Wayne on the way to work every day. They both start their day at 3 a.m. He sees all his patients before they operate.”

Stacy and Robert met in the intensive care unit.

Born in western Kentucky, Stacy said, “I never had a horse. I always wanted a horse.”

Turns out, Robert did, too.

After they were gifted an older Quarter Horse, their realtor told them that horses usually like companions. The Mitchells found someone with a young mare with a decent pedigree. The man offered to give them the mare. “My husband didn’t want it for free,” Stacy said. “He did it for $1. That made it a two-way transaction.”

The Mitchells bred that mare, Chao Praya, to Level Sands and got Level Playingfield, who won nine of 49 starts and earned $664,822.

Upping  the ante, they bred Chao Praya to Empire Maker. They were rewarded with another star—Gr. 3 stakes winner Imposing Grace, who won five of 26 starts and made $326,743. 

The Mitchells then purchased Rockford Peach, who was in foal to Running Stag, for $36,000. She produced Absinthe Minded, a multiple-stakes winner who earned more than $600,000. She is the dam of Secret Oath. She was also the last Thoroughbred the Mitchells bought.

“The bottom line is we’ve never bought a race horse,” Robert told Meredith Daugherty in her February 23, 2022, story in the Paulick Report. “Every horse we’ve ever raced was born on our farm. We haven’t bought any Thoroughbred for over 20 years.”

How have they succeeded with only home-breds? “Luck—a lot of luck,” Stacy said. And a lot of work. “We went to so many clinics,” Stacy said. We became sponges for information. We read breeding books.”

Having a great trainer certainly helped, especially when their best horse, Secret Oath, showed a ton of potential. After breaking her maiden in her second start, she finished fifth in the Gr. 2 Golden Rod Stakes before winning three straight, an allowance by 9 ¼ lengths, the Martha Washington Stakes by 7 ½ and the Gr. 3 Honeybee by 7 ½.

That prompted a shot against colts in the Arkansas Derby, and she made a powerful rally in early stretch before tiring to third as the 7-5 favorite under Luis Contreras. “I thought she was going to be second, but she got tired because she made that big move,” Stacy said.

Lukas made a jockey switch to Saez for the Oaks, and he contributed a fine ride. “You’re nervous all day,” Stacy said. “You see them going to the gate. When she made the move, I just hoped it was a timed ride and she wouldn’t get tired. I was yelling, `Hang on, hang on.’ The rest of it was a blur. She didn’t want the lilies. I got the flowers.”

Secret Oath then finished fourth against colts in the Gr. 1 Preakness and is being prepped for a summer campaign, possibly starting in the Gr. 1 Coaching Club and/or Alabama. Stacy missed the Preakness. “My husband was there,” she said. “I was here foaling mares. I think she made a good run. I’m just happy that she finished in the top half and came out of it healthy.”

Health is very important to Stacy: “I don’t think I could do horses if I wasn’t a nurse. Keep the broodmares healthy. I’m able to do a lot of it myself.”

Stacy and Robert’s 22-year-old daughter Jessica is a registered nurse, hoping to go to grad school. Jessica’s younger sister Hannah is hoping to go to nursing school.

Asked if she’s proud of her daughters, Stacy said, “Oh, yeah. Being a mom is the best job I ever had. I couldn’t be prouder of my daughters.”   

And Secret Oath, the ultimate home-bred who will eventually become a broodmare, one with quite a resumé.

“We’ve been breeding since 2000,” Stacy said. “You always hope you have a Derby or Oaks winner.”

Now they do.

Terry Finley

Words - Bill Heller

“If horse racing was just about dollars and cents, very few people would be in this game because it’s a terrible investment,” West Point Thoroughbreds founder and CEO Terry Finley said.

Yet he has been passionately invested in Thoroughbreds for much of his life, bringing in more than 2,000 new owners through racing partnerships in West Point Thoroughbreds’ first 31 years. 

His father, a chemistry teacher who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, found relief from the demands of his job and raising seven children in Levittown, Pennsylvania, at the racetrack—first as a $2 bettor and then by getting involved in a partnership. 

Terry was 10 years old. “I saw how much fun they had,” Terry said. “It was teachers, plumbers, state workers and the like. I saw how much fun and enjoyment a partnership could be.”

His six older siblings didn’t take to racing, giving Terry additional, much-appreciated time with his father. They forged a special bond through their love of horses and horse racing, frequently doing double-headers: Thoroughbreds in the afternoon and harness-breds at night.

Most people would be surprised to learn that Terry has waged his private battle with stuttering much of his life. He rarely stutters now, if at all, but it was bad enough as a senior in high school that he thought it cost him his appointment to West Point. It did not.

Terry graduated from West Point in the star-studded Class of 1986, which featured many high-profile graduates including former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and four of Terry’s closest friends: Steve Cannon, the former CEO of Mercedes Benz who is now a co-owner of the Atlanta Falcons; Joe DePinto, the long-tenured CEO of 7-Eleven Inc.; David Urban, a CNN political commentator and a powerful member of the Republican Party and former FBI agent Jim Diorio. 

Working together, those five friends created the Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund named for their classmate, Col. John M. McHugh, a fatal victim of a suicide bomber in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2010. The Fund helps the children and family of fallen soldiers with college costs. Through 2021, the Fund has awarded $25 million in scholarships to more than 3,500 college students all over the country. 

After leaving the Army with the rank of Captain in November, 1994, Terry toiled in a job he hated, selling life insurance for a year and a half, before finally conceding to his life-long passion for horses.

Terry started West Point Thoroughbreds with a $6,500 claimer and now boasts 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Flightline, his undefeated four-year-old who is currently ranked fifth in the world after capturing the Gr. 1 Met Mile by six lengths. 

Terry’s wife Debbie and their daughter Erin are key members of West Point Thoroughbreds’ corporate team.

Debbie and Terry met in pottery class in the 10th grade, started having dates at racetracks, and have been together ever since. Terry especially admires her tenacity as a mother, specifically helping their children, Erin and Ryan, secure the coaching they needed to pursue their passions. “She wouldn’t take `no’ for an answer,” Terry said proudly.

Erin didn’t let a horrific hand injury when she was four years old prevent her from continuing her riding lessons and becoming a top equestrian, frequently transitioning former West Point Thoroughbreds to a second career.

One can only imagine how difficult it was for Erin to deal with her injury growing up. Then one day at Saratoga, Terry ran into Steve Asmussen and noticed that Steve was also missing part of his thumb. Terry brought Erin to Steve, and they connected immediately when Steve reached out his damaged hand. “There was this mutual feeling that we’re not the only people in the world that had this type of accident.” Erin said. 

Erin’s younger brother, Ryan, an All-American and professional soccer player, graduated from the prestigious Wharton School and will begin a business career with a consulting firm in Dallas in October.

Terry has been West Point’s general, deploying his Thoroughbreds around North America to one of a dozen top trainers, forming strategic alliances and relying on key officers, especially his wife and daughter, to oversee his troops day-to-day. Having been exposed to breakthrough technology in the Army, Terry has been ahead of the curve ever since, reflected in West Point’s website, television ads and customer service.

“He’s worked very hard at it,” his Kentucky-based trainer and buddy Dale Romans said. “I watched it from its infancy—Terry was smart enough to use the Internet and social media. I think he was the first one. He was very ahead of the curve. “

Along the way, West Point Thoroughbreds has taken care of its Thoroughbreds when their racing days were over, through its Congie DeVito Black and Gold Fund. Congie didn’t let his brittle bone disease prevent him from becoming Terry’s first employee after nagging him for months. Congie pioneered West Point’s technology—cutting-edge material at the time. “He was very valuable,” Terry said. “He was everything to our entire team.” Terry treated him accordingly, surprising Congie with an electric wheelchair and customized van that gave him mobility he’d never had his entire life. “It was the first time he could control his direction,” Terry said. “He did figure 8’s over and over. I’ve never seen a person happier or more content. He always wanted to run. This was the closest he could come. It was one of the proudest moments of my life.”

When Congie died in 2011 at the age of 35, he donated his two kidneys, saving two other lives. “The kidneys were his gift out the door,” his mother, Roberta, said. “He was the one who thought of it.” 

While trying his best to avoid the spotlight, Terry has quietly become an industry leader. “Terry’s a straight-forward guy, very honest and cares about the sport,” former NFL linebacker Robert “Stonewall” Jackson, a partner on Always Dreaming, said. “He wants to do the right thing for the industry.”

He does so quietly. “It’s pretty remarkable,” his son Ryan said. “Other people—you can’t get to shut up. That’s something I learned from my dad: being humble.”

Erin calls her father “the definition of the American dream: serving your country and taking a risk. I am proud of him for not giving up with two kids and not a lot of financial backing, and grinding it out.”

Terry said, “It’s a labor of love. I get to live my dream: to win races.” 

Hugh Robertson and Richard Wolfe and Ron and Ricki Rashinski

By Bill Heller

Hugh Robertson and Richard Wolfe

Two Emmys

Was  it coincidence or karma? Two Emmys’ trainer/co-owner Hugh Robertson didn’t care. He was just thrilled to be standing in the winner’s circle after Two Emmys—a five-year-old gelding purchased with his partner Randy Wolfe for $4,500 as a yearling at Keeneland—delivered Hugh’s first Gr. 1 victory in his 50th year of training Thoroughbreds.

That it came on August 14th in the $600,000 Mr. D Stakes—the renamed Arlington Million—in Arlington Park’s Gr. 1 stakes was serendipitous. So was his meeting with Wolfe, thanks to a kind stranger sitting behind Wolfe at Arlington Park for the 2002 Breeders’ Cup.

Hell, Hugh was hoping to become an attorney as an underclassman at the University of Nebraska. Then he switched his law book for a condition book and never looked back. “I took a semester off and never went back,” he said.

He’s never been disappointed in that decision. Though he may not be well-known nationally, he topped $1 million in earnings 14 times, amassing 1,542 wins and more than $31.5 million in earnings, thanks to consistent success. From 1998 through 2020, his win percentage has been higher than 15 every year but one, when he checked in with 13% in 2008.

His 47-year-old son Mac has already won 1,428 races and earned more than $37.5 million, working in concert with his father. “We have 125 to 150 horses between us,” Mac said. “We’ve had a good run. It’s nice to be able to send your horse to your dad or your horse to your son.”

He was thrilled when Two Emmys won the Mister D. “I’m happy for my dad and my mom,” he said. “Everyone wants to win a Gr. 1. My mom and dad struggled to make ends meet. We’re been fortunate to have a lot of good clients. Nobody does it on his own.”

Hugh started at Penn National, spent eight years there and moved on to Chicago, going on his own in 1971. Twenty-two years later, Polar Expedition, an incredibly quick speedster, took Hugh on a great seven-year run, winning 20 of 49 starts and earning just under $1.5 million.

“Once I got Polar Expedition, things took off,” he said. “He was a little, tiny  horse. He was 15 hands and weighed maybe 900 as a two-year-old—a horse who wouldn’t have brought $1,000 at a sale. He was freak. He did everything right, right from the start. I told his owner, John Cody—I told him before he ever ran, `He’s the best horse you’ve ever had, and I’ll try not to screw it up.’ A lot of horses get ruined. He was a nice horse.”

He didn’t take long to show it, emerging as one of the top two-year-olds in the country by winning five of his six starts by daylight, including scores in a pair of Gr. 2 stakes: the Arlington Washington Futurity by 4 ½ lengths at one mile and the Gr. 2 Breeders Futurity at Keeneland by 5 lengths.

When he won his three-year-old debut, the Mountain Valley at Oaklawn Park by three lengths, the sky was the limit. Polar Expedition finished third in the Southwest Stakes, then captured the Gr. 2 Jim Beam Stakes by a neck in his first start at a mile-and-an-eighth. Polar Edition went off the 1-2 favorite in the Gr. 2 Illinois Derby, only to finish a distant seventh on a sloppy track. Regardless, Polar Expedition went on to the Preakness Stakes, leading early before fading badly to 10th.

Two Emmys connections celebrate after winning the Mister D Stakes at Arlington Park

Polar Expedition maintained his class throughout his career, taking two mile-and-an-eighth Gr. 2 stakes: the Washington Park Handicap at Arlington and the Gr. 2 National Jockey Club Handicap at Hawthorne in his next-to-last start in 1998 as a seven-year-old.

In 2002, Hugh hooked up with Randy Wolfe, a retired worker from an electric co-op in Madison, Wisconsin. At the Breeders’ Cup at Arlington Park, Wolfe mentioned that his father and his father-in-law had owned horses and that he was thinking about buying one. “I got talking to the guy behind me, and he asked me who I was going to hire to train the horse,” Wolfe said. “He said he knew someone, and called Hugh. He came down 15 minutes later, and we talked.”

Randy liked what he heard. “We were both from Nebraska,” Wolfe said. “I knew I could trust somebody from Nebraska.”

Hugh suggested they claim a horse. They did, and then more. “We’ve had 18 horses with Hugh,” Randy said.

The best one cost $4,500 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “I was a little upset,” Randy said. “I said, `I don’t need another $4,500 horse.’ He kept telling me to have patience with this horse. He’s an English Channel, and they don’t get good until they’re four or five. He doesn’t push a horse. He has the best interest of the horse all the time. He’s not going to run a horse if he’s not ready to run.”

Two Emmys did okay as a four-year-old, then improved quickly at five. He finished second in the Gr. 2 Muniz Memorial at the Fair Grounds, then second in an allowance race at Arlington Park from off the pace and second by a neck on the lead in the Gr. 3 Arlington Stakes.

Hugh had nominated Two Emmys for the renamed Arlington Million. “I was sure he’d run at a mile and a quarter,” Hugh said. “Other than Domestic Spending and the horse from Europe, it came up a little light. I thought he was competitive in there. I stuck him in there. Take a chance.”

With a new pilot, James Graham, Two Emmys struck the lead and walked the field to a :52.43 half-mile. “When he ran :52 to the half, I knew we’d get a part of it,” Hugh said. “And then the 1:16 (for three-quarters). I was sure we’d hit the board.”

Flying at him late was Domestic Spending, the 2-5 favorite ridden by Flavien Prat who was six-for-seven lifetime.

Two Emmys dug in. “He’s pretty game,” Hugh said. “He ran the last quarter in :22 3/5. You’re not going to catch a front-runner coming home in :22 3/5. At the 16th pole, I was pretty sure he was going to win.” He did, by a diminishing neck.

Hugh joked with TVG’s Scott Hazelton, ”I never thought I’d have a horse in the Million, and then when I do, it’s not a million.” Hugh added, “It’s nice, but I wish they’d keep running.”

Two Emmys and Jockey James Graham hold off Domestic Spending to win the Mister D Stakes at Arlington Park

He’ll have quite the memento from Arlington Park, and a horse who may just win other stakes, too. “If you get a hold of a good one, you try not to mess him up,” Hugh said.

“Good horses will run for everybody. A good horse is dangerous in anyone’s hands.” But only at racetracks still running. “It’s a shame,” Hugh said. “It’s a beautiful racetrack.”

Ron and Ricki Rashinski

Point Me By 

All it took was a friendly conversation, a brilliant book and a trip to Saratoga to turn Ron and Ricki Rashinski into passionate Thoroughbred owners. “They’re phenomenal,” their trainer, Eddie Kenneally, said. “They love the game.”

They loved it a little bit more when Point Me By won the Bruce D. Stakes, the renamed Secretariat Stakes at their home track Arlington Park to become their third Gr. 1 stakes horse. Ricki said she didn’t hide her feeling rooting him home. “I’m not a quiet fan,” she confessed.

That itself is an endorsement of horse racing—one she didn’t have initially when Ron, who has a real estate management company in his native Chicago, broached the subject to her. “My wife didn’t want to get involved with it, but once she got a taste of it, she changed,” Ron said. “We spent some time at Saratoga, four or five days. Then a week. Then two weeks.”

Ricki said, “At first, I wanted nothing to do with it, but he took me to Saratoga. The track is beautiful. The people who work at the track were wonderful. They went out of the way to help you understand things. The whole town was all about the horses. And there were the horses themselves.”

Ron was as enthralled as she was about Saratoga. “They’re stopping traffic for horses to cross Union Avenue,” he said. “Wherever you go, you can have a Daily Racing Form with you and not have people think you’re a degenerate. It was like Wrigley Field; but instead of the Cubs, you had the New York Yankees.”

Besides racing Thoroughbreds, Ron and Ricki are involved in vintage car road racing. “We go to different tracks around the country,” Ron said. “We also had a small sponsorship in a car that won a 24-hour endurance race in Daytona.”

Ron was enticed into Thoroughbred racing by Jane Schwartz’s book Ruffian: Burning From the Start. Ron said, ”I’m a sports guy. I was intrigued by her story. I was amazed that there was a horse who was never headed. Then the match race with Foolish Pleasure... Even when she broke down, she was in the lead. My interest kind of snowballed from there.”

He felt enough—with an assist from multiple Eclipse Award Photographer Barb Livingston—to visit Ruffian’s grave at Belmont Park near a flagpole in the infield with her nose pointed toward the finish line. “[Ricki and I] left a bouquet of flowers,” he said. “We’re just fans—new fans. Even though I’m just a fan, I’m choked up.” He’s got a lot of company, even after all these years.

The Rashinskis couldn’t do anything to help Ruffian, but they sure are helping other horses now, through their support of Anna Ford’s New Vocations program, converting retired Thoroughbreds to a second career. “I love the animals,” Ron said. “We’re very involved. They do a great job, New Vocations.”  

  Ron decided to get involved in Thoroughbred ownership after meeting a gentleman from Wisconsin—Gary Leverton, who has since passed away. “We started talking, and we wound up partnering up on a horse at an auction at Hawthorne,” Ron said. “My wife and I were totally oblivious to Thoroughbreds.”

Initially, the Rashinskis used Chicago-based Hugh Robertson as their trainer, racing as Homewrecker Stable. Ron got the name when someone suggested that investing in vintage cars can become a homewrecker.

When the Rashinskis decided they wanted to race in New York and Kentucky, they hired Eddie Kenneally to train. “We trusted those two men implicitly with our animals,” Ricki said. “We’ve been with Eddie for 25 years.”

Ron said, “We don’t have a lot of high-priced yearlings. We don’t buy very expensive horses.” Yet they’ve won repeatedly at racing’s highest level, thanks to the skills of Kenneally—a very under-publicized top trainer. 

Their first outstanding horse was the filly Bushfire. After finishing third in her 2005 debut at Churchill Downs, she won six of her next eight starts including the Florida Oaks, the Gr. 1 Ashland, the Gr. 1 Acorn and the Gr. 1 Mother Goose. One of her misses was a solid third in the Gr. 1 Kentucky Oaks. Her only finish out of the money in her first nine starts was a seventh on a sloppy track in the Gr. 2 Davona Dale. Her earnings topped $800,000.

In partnership, they had another star in Custom for Carlos, who had six victories, four seconds and one third in 15 starts, taking three Gr. 3 stakes, the 2009 Jersey Shore, the Mr. Prospector and the Count Fleet Handicap, and making almost half a million dollars.

Again in a different partnership, their gray Sailor’s Valentine captured the Gr. 1 Ashland in 2017 on the way to making more than $400,000 in 13 starts.

By the time Point Me By made the races in 2020, Ron had learned, somewhat, to control his emotions when his horses raced. “To tell you the truth, I have trouble handling horse racing,” he said. “I was Mr. Pepto Bismol. I’d be pounding that stuff down. If the horse didn’t win, I felt I let people down. Now I know people are just happy for the experience. They don’t care. I’m a little better now.” Winning a bunch of stakes helped.  

Their three-year-old colt Point Me By, (a son on Point of Entry) was a $30,000 purchase at Keeneland and didn't have anything near those credentials when he stepped into the starting gate for the Bruce D. Stakes, having followed a maiden victory with a fourth in an allowance race. He won the Mr. D by 2 ¾ lengths under Luis Saez, who took off a day from his dominant meeting as Saratoga’s leading rider, to pilot Point Me Buy in the Bruce D. and Zulu Alpha, who finished seventh in the renamed Arlington Million, the Mr. D.

The Rashinskis would love to bring Point Me By back to Arlington next year. But Arlington Park closed forever in late September. “It would have been nice to come back and try to win the Million if he was good enough for it,” Ron said. “Too bad.” He’s got a lot of company, too, after all these years of elegant racing at Arlington Park.

George Hall

Max Player

Max Player wins the Gr.2 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park, July 2021

Spurred on by his grandfather, George Hall fell in love with horse racing at a young age. “He took me to Belmont and Aqueduct,” George said. “Then one summer, he took my brother John and me to Saratoga. I think I was nine years old. We did doubleheaders every day: the Thoroughbred track in the afternoon, dinner, and the harness track at night. We did that every day for a week. It was a great time.”

More than 50 years later, George is still having a great time at the racetrack, campaigning his second Gr. 1 stakes winner, Max Player.

George (second from right) and connections celebrate Max Player's 2020 Withers Stakes win

In early 2019, George co-founded Sports BLX, which allows low-cost ownership interest in Thoroughbreds and in other sports and athletes. He co-founded Sports BLX with Joseph De Perio. “The concept was to see if we could create a market where people that might want to buy a small share of a horse or a company that owns a horse could feel the experience following a horse like an owner does,” George said. “It seemed a worthwhile endeavor. It now includes deals with athletes, professional sports teams and racecars. It’s a very broad company.”

Born the son of a New York City cop in Queens, George, now 61, got a bachelor’s degree from the Merchant Marine Academy and an MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became the founder, president and majority shareholder of Clinton Group Inc., a Manhattan-based investment company which opened in 1991. Its success allowed George to invest in Thoroughbreds.

A trip with a friend to Monmouth Park in 2005 was the catalyst. “I was introduced to Kelly Breen in the stands,” George said. “Kelly was the leading trainer at Monmouth. He is extremely enthusiastic, and he invited me to see his barn just to show us his horses. I had my two-year-old daughter with me, Kathryn. He gave her carrots to feed the horses. I said, `This is a very nice man.’ He’s so enthusiastic. We talked about getting into it. We decided to go to the Keeneland Sales.”

They spent $118,000 to buy four horses and could not have done much better. George named his first horse for his daughter, Keeneland Kat, and she won her first start, a maiden race, by 6 ¾ lengths. She stepped up to the $100,000 Sorority Stakes and won again by 2 ½ lengths. That earned her a start in the Gr. 1 Frizette and she finished a non-threatening third. “Being third in a Gr. 1 with your first horse was pretty special,” George said. “Then she started having minor issues.”

Unfortunately, the issues ended her racing career. “She was just a great horse,” George said. “Kelly did a great job with her. She became a broodmare. We bred her for five, six years and sold her.”

Another member of George’s initial yearling foursome was named Fagan’s Legacy to honor his grandfather, Larry Fagan. Fagan’s Legacy finished second in his debut, then won a maiden race by five lengths and the $82,000 Pilgrim Stakes by 3 ¼ lengths.

George admitted that his immediate success got him a tad over-confident: “Oh, yeah, we thought it was easy.”

It isn’t. Fagan’s Legacy didn’t hit the board in five subsequent starts and never raced again.

Ruler On Ice and Pants On Fire, who made their debuts 13 days apart in September 2010, took George on a great ride. Pants On Fire, who was second in a maiden race at Philadelphia Park to begin his career, won the 2011 Gr. 2 Louisiana Derby by a neck, earning a spot in the Kentucky Derby. He finished ninth to Animal Kingdom. Pants On Fire  won the Gr. 3 Pegasus at Monmouth Park and finished fifth in the Gr. 1 Haskell. Later on, he won the Gr. 2 Monmouth Cup and the Gr. 3 Ack Ack back-to-back, finishing his career with 11 victories from 41 starts and earnings of more than $1.6 million.

Ruler On Ice, a Keeneland yearling whom George said was a “little wild when he was young,” was gelded. He finished fifth in his debut at Monmouth. The following spring, he finished third in the Gr. 3 Sunland Park Derby. He was the first also-eligible for the 2011 Kentucky Derby but didn’t get into the race. Instead, he finished second in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico.

That was good enough to convince Kelly to take a shot with Ruler On Ice in the Belmont Derby. Sent off at 24-1, Ruler On Ice won by three-quarters of a length under Jose Valdivia, Jr. “It was unbelievable,” George said. “That was pretty spectacular.”

Ruler On Ice then ran third in the Gr. 1 Haskell and fourth in the Gr. 1 Travers. His only other victory came in an allowance race, yet he wound up with more than $1.7 million in earnings off four victories, five seconds and three thirds in 23 starts.

Off the track, George has shared his business and equine success with others. He was the recipient of the New York University’s prestigious Sir Harold Acton Medal in recognition of his philanthropy. One of his charitable acts was establishing the George E. Hall Childhood Diabetes Foundation at Mount Sinai Hospital.

George’s three children enjoy horses, too. That two-year-old visit to the Monmouth Park backstretch helped shape his now 19-year-old daughter Kathryn’s life. While attending New York University, she maintains her appreciation of horses. “Her life’s passion is show jumping,” George said. “She loves horses. She has two jumpers and travels around.”

George Jr., 18, likes going to the track with his dad but is more attached to fish than horses. “His passion is fishing and cooking,” George said. “While he takes a gap year after graduating from high school, he’s working at a restaurant. He catches them in the morning, brings them in and filets them.”

Their 12-year-old sister Charlotte, rides ponies and also enjoys going to the track.

The Hall clan may have their best racetrack moments ahead of them, thanks to the emergence of their four-year-old colt Max Player—a home-bred who was born on their 385-acre Annestes Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, and is trained by Steve Asmussen. 

“I think he’s a late-maturing horse,” George said. “We always thought he was very talented.”

As a three-year-old, Max Player captured the Gr. 2 Withers Stakes in just his third career start, then finished third in both the Belmont Stakes and the Travers to Tiz the Law. “Losing to Tiz the Law was no disgrace,” George said. “He was a standout, great horse.”

Max Player may be another. “In his early races, he had a tendency of getting away slowly,” George said. “We learned over time we have to keep him closer to the pace. If he’s too far behind, he has too much to do.”

This year, he was two lengths off the pace in the Gr. 2 Suburban and won by a neck. In the Gr. 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup September 4th at Saratoga, he was less than one length off, and dominated, scoring by four lengths in a powerful performance.

He had already earned a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. “The Suburban was a `win and you’re in,’ race,” George said. “The Jockey Club was important to show that he belongs in that race.”

He belongs. Like his owner belongs. At the racetrack. Asked what his grandfather would have thought of his equine accomplishments, George said, “I think he’d be thrilled. I wished he could have lived longer to see it, himself.” He paused a second and added, “Maybe he did.”

Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, Staton Flurry, Autry Lowry Jr. AND MyRacehorse Stable

By Bill Heller

Not even a pandemic could prevent Thoroughbred racing from bringing people together.

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Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, Staton Flurry, Autry Lowry Jr.- Shedaresthedevil

How does a sheikh from Qatar, a parking lot owner in Hot Springs, Ark., and a fire captain from Benton, La., wind up partners on Shedaresthedevil—the Brad Cox-trained stakes-record winner of the Gr1 Kentucky Oaks?

They all bought in.

“At the end of the day, I’m happy to partner with anyone,” Sheikh Fahad said September 24th. “I haven’t met them, but they seem like nice people.”

Lowry said, “It’s definitely a unique relationship.”

Sheikh Fahad’s love of horses began as a child. “I’ve grown up with horses—a lot of Arabians,” he said. “I’ve always loved the horses. Not the Arabians that much. I dreamed of Thoroughbreds.”

He made that dream real after studying in England. He tuned in to watch a steeplechase race on television in 2008, and liked it so much he watched it every week. In 2010, he saw his first live race. “I said, `I better try that,’’’ Sheikh Fahad said. “When I started, it was just myself. Then my brothers joined me. I had my first win in 2011—a great thrill. I definitely caught the bug.”

Dunaden was why. He captured the 2011 Gp1 Melbourne Cup, Australia’s premier race, and the Gp1 Hong Kong Vase. The following year, he won the Gp1 Caulfield Cup, completing his career with 10 victories from 46 starts.

In 2014, Sheik Fahad’s QIPCO Holding became the first commercial partner of Royal Ascot by special royal permission.

Now, Sheik Fahad’s horses race in England, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and in the United States with Fergus Galvin as his U.S. racing advisor. “I’ve had a lot of partnerships in California with Simon Callaghan as trainer,” Sheikh Fahad said. “I was out at Del Mar. I usually go to Del Mar.”

Sheikh Fahad saw Shedaresthedevil finish third last year in the Gr2 Sorrento Stakes, a nose off second to the six-length winner Amalfi Sunrise. He was pleased with his filly’s third. “I thought she was a big filly,” he said. “I thought she’d do better as a three-year-old.”

He had no idea. 

Staton Flurry didn’t grow up around Arabians, rather cars. His family has operated 10 to 11 parking lots around Oaklawn Park for more than 30 years. He estimates he was 12 or 13 when he began parking cars. “From the time I had sense enough to not run in front of cars,” he said. “You meet a lot of cool people.”

Now 30, he graduated from Henderson State University with a degree in business administration. He used that education to claim his first horse, a five-year-old mare named Let’s Get Fiscal, with a few friends. “She won her second race for us,” he said. “She got claimed and I’ve been enjoying racing ever since.”

He races as Flurry Racing Stables. “I got tired of my first name being mispronounced,” he said.

Staton Flurry and Shedaresthedevil connections celebrate winning the 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks.

Flurry was contacted by his bloodstock agent Clay Scherer to check out Shedaresthedevil, who had one win from four starts for Simon Callaghan and was entered as part of a package of two-year-olds offered at the 2019 Keeneland November Sale. The sheikh’s partners wanted out, but the sheikh felt differently. “I thought I’d give her a chance,” Sheikh Fahad said. “I believed in the filly.”

Flurry said, “Before the sale, we were contacted by a representative from the sheikh. They were interested in keeping part of the filly, and they offered to go 50-50 on her.”

Flurry said yes, giving a piece of his percentage to his buddy Lowry, who in turn, gave a piece to his father. 

The new partnership bought Shedaresthedevil for $280,000.

Flurry and Lowry had become close friends after sharing a suite at Louisiana Downs. Lowry, who started going to that track when he was 14, races under Big Aut Farms. “We started off with a couple of broodmares,” he said. “Then another. I love the adrenaline—for the animal to give 110 percent and put out their maximum effort. They give everything they’ve got, and I appreciate it. They’re doing what they want to do.” 

Sheikh Fahad is having quite a year. His horse, Kameko, won the 2000 Guineas in Newmarket on June 6. Three months later, Shedaresthedevil won the Gr1 Kentucky Oaks. “He was just ecstatic to win a Classic in Europe and in the U.S.,” Galvin said.

A couple weeks before the Kentucky Oaks, Sheikh Fahad got a call from Brad Cox. “He said, `I’ve got good news and bad news,’” Sheikh Fahad said. The good news was that Shedaresthedevil was training “as good as Monomoy Girl did heading into the Kentucky Oaks.” The bad news was that Shedaresthedevil would have to face two terrific fillies, Swiss Skydiver and Gamine. “I thought if we finish third or fourth, it would be a good result,” Sheikh Fahad said.

Flurry said he was also realistic heading into the Oaks. “I told everybody that asked, I said, `Anything better than fourth was a bonus, and anything worse than fourth was a disappointment.”

He got the bonus—a big bonus: his first Gr1 stakes. “I started jumping up and down, screaming, `We’re going to win the Oaks!”

Lowry said “It was surreal. I was hugging people. I was crying. People were calling me on the phone to congratulate us. I was happy my dad was with me. That’s priceless. He lives in North Carolina. We don’t get to see each other that often. For us to be able to share that together was a very special moment.”

**********************************

MyRacehorse Stable (with Spendthrift Farm, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables) – Authentic

Partnerships have been flourishing in recent years, but there’s never been a partnership like this one: matching three well-known, long-tenured Thoroughbred groups with the upstart MyRacehorse Stable, and it’s 5,314 shareholders on Authentic. When Authentic turned back Tiz the Law to win the Kentucky Derby, MyRacehorse literally jumped from curiosity to game changer—a vision of founder and CEO Michael Behrens when MyRacehorse debuted in California only on Belmont Stakes Day in 2018.

MyRacehorse went national in June, 2019. Now? “We had just under 1,000 people that signed up on Derby Day before the Derby,” Behrens said. “We never had that many in one day before. It was breathtaking actually.”

That it happened with Wayne B. Hughes of Spendthirft Farm, who has backed MyRacehorse, made it even more meaningful. “They joined us in 2019,” MyRacehorse’s West Coast Manager Joe Moran said. “Mr. Hughes has been such a supporter of racing. It’s quite amazing.” Spendthrift was able to partner with MyRacehorse after buying a majority interest in Authentic. “It was a huge stepping stone for us,” Moran said. “It brought us credibility.”

Behrens, 44, was the chief marketing officer for Casper, a start-up online mattress company with offices in Manhattan. Behrens lives in California. He’d always been a racing fan. “I spent a lot of time looking at reports, and I came to the conclusion that we needed a simple way to itch people’s curiosity about horse racing,” he said. “It’s very difficult to get people to try that. I figured if I could sell mattresses, why couldn’t I sell horses? There were racing clubs in Japan and Australia. Ownership was the way to go. I forced it. We’re all in on social media. You’ve got to give people information they want to share with their friends. That’s how you grow the product.

“We had 5,314 winners, and almost all of them have been posting on Facebook, sharing their stories of winning the Kentucky Derby. That was always the vision. We did that with Casper. I just thought that those attributes would work here.”

Shares in Authentic ranged from $206 for a one-thousandth of one percent to $70,000. That interest includes Authentic’s breeding career.

“We had teachers, business leaders and big-time owners,” Moran said. “We had a gentleman in Ireland. On the morning of the Derby, he bought a share for $206. He got it off our website, and he shut out 10 other people when the horses loaded in the gate. Very cool.”

And that was before the Derby.

MyRacehorse’s website says “With micro-shares, you compete at the highest level for a fraction of the cost.” Perks for this one-time investment include “race-day privileges, winner’s circle access, meeting the trainer and jockey, updated entries and recaps, visits with your horse and race winnings paid directly to your on-line account.” …

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George Bolton - Chris Mara - Jack Knowlton

By Bill Heller

George Bolton (Nadal)

George Bolton

Having campaigned such stars as two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, Lady Aurelia, My Miss Aurelia and The Factor did absolutely nothing to diminish George Bolton’s excitement for his latest home-run hitter, the undefeated three-year-old colt Nadal, whom he owns in partnership with Barry Lipman, Mark Mathiesen and Arthur Hoyeau.

Unfortunately, on May 28, after working a half-mile at Santa Anita, Nadal suffered a colyndar fracture of his left front knee. Surgery was done with two screws were inserted, and Nadal will be able to start a new career as a stallion.

Bolton is thankful that he saw all of Nadal’s four victories. Bolton sneaked into Oaklawn Park May 5 to watch Nadal improve his record to four-for-four by taking the second division of the rescheduled Gr1 Arkansas Derby for trainer Bob Baffert.

“If they can really run, you get your ass there,” Bolton said. “I went to see every one of his races: his maiden, his San Vincente, Rebel and the Arkansas Derby. I was the only owner allowed in at Oaklawn. I snuck in. I had a mask on, but I wasn’t near anyone. I wanted to be with the horse. This is a special horse. I spent as much time at the barn after his race as before. I never missed Curlin, Lady Aurelia, The Factor and My Miss Aurelia. For me, you get the one that’s good, you go see him.”

He was perfectly happy sharing the experience with his partners. “Celebrating by yourself isn’t much fun,” Bolton said. “You spread the risk. At the level I play at, when you’re buying, you have to do it as a partnership.”

Bolton, who is the chief investment officer, portfolio manager and partner of WestEnd Capital Management in San Francisco, currently lives in Key Largo, Fla. He was born near Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. “I grew up on a farm that my great, great aunt owned,” he said. “It was left to my father. He had a lot of jumpers. I grew up around it.”

He graduated with honors from the University of Virginia in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He’s been an avid supporter of the Cavaliers, and rode the roller coaster of seeing Virginia become the first basketball No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed—the University of Maryland-Baltimore-County—in the NCAA Tournament, and winning the national championship the following season. “I’ve been swinging with the Cavaliers for a long time,” he said. “Virginia is a great place.”

In college, Bolton had the good fortune of becoming friends with Bill Farish, whose father, Will, a former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was building Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky. 

“Bill asked me to get involved in the business in 1989,” Bolton said. “I just got off to a good start. I didn’t have anybody marking up horses for me.”

 By 1989, Bolton had moved to San Francisco after working for Alex Brown & Sons in Baltimore. He continued to work for them in San Francisco, becoming the firm’s youngest managing partner in 1991. While leading institutional equity sales on the West Coast, he also separately managed accounts for high net-worth individuals. In 2004, Bolton left Alex Brown to become a partner and chief investment officer at WestEnd Capital Management.

His ongoing success has allowed him to pursue his passion, where he’s become a major player. The Farishes brought Bolton in on a Miswaki filly named Exotic Moves. “We sold her after she won three races for a clean `double,’ and I was hooked,” he told the Paulick Report in a March 26, 2018 story.

Curlin—the 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year—took him to a whole new level, winning 11 of 16 starts and earning more than $10.5 million. No victory was more meaningful to him than Curlin’s come-again victory in the Preakness in Pimlico. “He got passed, and he came again,” Bolton said. “It was crazy. Most of the stretch, I thought he would lose.”

Bolton’s My Miss Aurelia, the 2011 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly won the first six starts of her career and never finished out of the money in 11 starts, earning more than $2.5 million. The Factor, who continues a marvelous stallion career at Lane’s End, won six of 13 starts and more than $900,000. And Lady Aurelia, who won five of 10 starts and more than $800,00, captured the 2017 Gp1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, defeating 17 colts and three fillies.

The international bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe hooked up with Bolton in 2018, buying yearlings for him in Australia, Europe and the United States. “George got in touch with me, and he said `I want you to buy for me,’” she said in a phone interview from Newmarket May 15.

She purchased Nadal—a massive, muscular colt by Blame out of the Pulpit mare Ascending Angel bred by Sierra Farm—for $700,000 at the 2019 Gulfstream Park Two-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale that March for Bolton and another investor. The second investor bailed, and Bolton reached out to Lipman, Mathiesen and Hoyeau. Trainer Randy Bradshaw had originally purchased Nadal for $65,000 as a yearling. “When I was looking at him, Randy told me, `Kerri, this is a special horse,’” Radcliffe said. “He breezed like a monster, and when you saw his breeze and saw how big he was, you couldn’t quite figure out how that horse did that.”

She named him for tennis star Rafael Nadal. Previously, she had named a colt Gronkowski for Ron Gronkowski, the All-Pro tight end of the New England Patriots. 

The equine Nadal had a rough time getting to the races. After beginning training at Los Alamitos, Baffert shipped Nadal to his barn at Santa Anita. On the van trip there, he kicked out of his stall and got his hind leg caught over the partition. “He flipped over,” Bolton said. “He cut himself on the back of his legs and had lacerations on his hocks. When we finally got him back, he wasn’t working well. We examined him again and gave him three months off. Sometimes, missing a two-year-old year helps as a three-year-old.”

Nadal, who weighs in at 1,325 pounds, hasn’t done a thing wrong since returning to Baffert. “He’s a monster,” said Bolton, who compared him to former New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey and legendary Hall of Fame Buffalo Bills’ defensive end Bruce Smith. “It takes him a little while to get going, but his gait versus the other horses is exciting.”

So are the results. “I had 68 texts right after the Arkansas Derby,” Bolton said. “Twenty-eight were from racing people; 40 of them were from Virginia and business people. All of them watched the Derby. It was great for the sport because it’s great that people know him.”

And the tennis star he’s named for? “I’ve talked to his agent,” Bolton said. “He’s aware of the horse. I am a big fan of him as a person and as an athlete. I hope he’s enjoying the horse.”

Bolton sure did. So did Nadal’s other owners: Lipman, whose family runs Lipman Family Farms—North America’s largest tomato grower with headquarters in Florida; Mathiesen, who owns a medical service company and was introduced to racing by his daughter Hannah; and Hoyeau, a French-based bloodstock agent. “These guys are guys you want to work with,” Bolton said.

Chris Mara (Charlatan)

New York Giants Senior Vice President Chris Mara’s passion for Thoroughbred racing goes back a long way. After purchasing a football franchise—which ultimately became the New York Giants—for all of $500 in 1925, his grandfather, Tim Mara, was a legal bookmaker at Belmont Park in the 1930’s. Tim passed both his Giants’ legacy and his love of Thoroughbreds onto his son Wellington, who in turn passed it onto Chris and his brothers.

“He influenced my dad, and my dad influenced me,” Chris said in a phone interview. “The first Saturday in May, you couldn’t find my dad. He and my mom were at the Derby.”

His father took him to Belmont Park for the first time when he was 10. 

Chris’ first trip to the Kentucky Derby was in 1982 when he, his parents and their dear friends the Rooneys watched Gato del Sol take the first leg of the Triple Crown. Chris would marry Kathleen Rooney, NFL pioneer Art Rooney’s granddaughter. 

Chris spent one summer, while in college at Boston College after transferring from Springfield, parking cars at one of the Rooneys’ racetracks, Yonkers Raceway. “I loved it,” Chris said. “It was a very interesting job to say the least. The guys were teaching me how to park cars. I parked one, and when I returned the car, the guy gave me a $20 tip. That was like 1977 or 1978. It was a lot of money. I told the guys, `They gave me $20.’ They said, “You [bleep, bleep].’”

He came a long way from parking cars at that harness track. Some 35 years ago, he owned his first Thoroughbred, Itchy Hooves, with his mom. Fast forward a lot of years. After meeting Starlight Racing’s managing partner Jack Wolf in a Saratoga golf tournament hosted by basketball coach, Thoroughbred owner and long-time friend of the Mara family Rick Pitino in August 2012, Chris decided to make a serious commitment to Thoroughbred ownership by joining Starlight Racing.

“I had been looking into it,” Chris said. “I sought out a couple different people and asked them what they thought I should do. They suggested various syndicates. I looked at all of them. Then I sat down with Donna Brothers (who works for Starlight Racing) at the Saratoga Sale. Then I met Jack Wolf on the golf course at Saratoga National.”

That did it. Maybe Chris was feeling giddy—the after effect of a memorable year, which featured the New York Giants beating the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in the Super Bowl; and his daughter, Rooney Mara, for being nominated for an Academy Award for her title role in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

In a May 3rd Newsday story, Chris told Ed McNamara, “I sat down with Jack, and he asked me what I was going to bring to the table; and I answered, `Luck! We just won a Super Bowl, and my daughter is up for an Academy Award!’”

That very afternoon, Chris and Starlight Racing’s two starters in the 2014 Kentucky Derby—General Rod and Intense Holiday—finished 11th and 12th, respectively, to California Chrome.

In 2018, two months before the Kentucky Derby, Chris, through Starlight Racing, became a partner on both Justify and Audible, who finished first and third in the Run for the Roses. Then Justify became racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion and retired as the only undefeated Triple Crown champion.

This summer, Chris and Starlight are back again as partners on undefeated Charlatan, who injured his ankle in early June and will be pointed to the Preakness Stakes, now the final leg of the Triple Crown this year. Charlatan’s ownership includes a bunch of other partners and partnership groups. “It’s a lot of people,” Wolf said May 14. “They’re really fine partners to have.”

Charlatan was scheduled to test his three-for-three record in the rescheduled Belmont Stakes on June 20 as the first leg of an entirely rescheduled Triple Crown, to be cut back from a mile-and-a-half to a mile-and-an-eighth in this chaotic year defined by the coronavirus pandemic plaguing the entire globe.

“Ever since I got involved with Starlight, the ultimate goal was to get a horse to the Derby,” Chris said. “With Charlatan, it’s just fun to have a horse like this.”

Hearing that would make his grandfather smile.

“I just love this sport,” Chris said. “I loved reading about my grandfather.”

It’s hard for Chris to not think of his grandfather. “I walked into Belmont Park one day and there was a picture of my grandfather taking bets on the second floor,” Chris said.

In the picture, Tim Mara is wearing a large, silver button stating he was a legal bookmaker. The button has been passed on to Chris. “I kept it in my pocket before the 2018 Kentucky Derby,” Chris said. “I didn’t wear it, but it worked. I will bring it with me for Charlatan.”

Asked what he thought as Justify crossed the finish line to win the 2018 Kentucky Derby, Chris said, “I hope I didn’t lose all the winning tickets. I had a lot of them. My grandfather would have been proud, but he wouldn’t have been happy because he was the bookie.”

Jack Knowlton (Tiz the Law)

Can it be 17 years since Sackatoga Stable partners rolled into Churchill Downs on a rented yellow school bus and left with all the roses when Funny Cide became the first New York-bred to win the Kentucky Derby? …

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Raymond Mamone and Terry Green

By Bill Heller

Raymond Mamone – Imperial Hint

Quitting school at the age of 14 might not work for everyone, but it allowed 86-year-old Raymond Mamone an early entrance into the real world. He began hauling ice and plucking tomatoes, eventually earning enough to open his own body shop and get involved with Thoroughbreds by claiming 22 horses in one year. He even tried training his own horses for a few months.

Raymond Mamone

Now he’s enjoying life more than ever, thanks to track-record breaking Imperial Hint—one of the top sprinters in the world and a horse from a mare he had given up on and sold. Luckily, he reconnected with Imperial Hint at the age of two, bought him for $17,500 and has watched with glee as Imperial Hint bankrolled more than $1.9 million. “You can’t believe it’s happening,” he said. “It doesn’t happen to many people. How many years do people spend trying to find a good horse?”

Born in the Great Depression, Mamone was the son of an Italian immigrant who worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and was a tailor, too. Raymond was born in Brooklyn, where he would sneak into Ebbits Field to watch the Dodgers. His family moved to New Jersey, and Mamone quit school at an early age.

“I went looking for work,” he said. “I was an ice man—$2 a day. To make more money, I went to work on a tomato farm. Ten cents a bushel. Go down the line, bend down and pull tomatoes. I did mason work and mixed cement for contractors. I was a hustler. I moved around a lot. I went into the body shop business.”

He did well enough to open his own body shop in 1956. A trip to Monmouth Park with a friend piqued his interest. Why? “I won that day,” he laughed. “I went to the track occasionally. I decided to buy horses and get into the claiming business.”

In his first year, he claimed 22 horses with trainer Mike Vincitore. “He told me I was crazy,” Mamone said. “But I made money. I was written up in the Morning Telegraph. They wrote an article about me and Mike.”

Then Mamone began breeding horses. “I did it on my own,” he said. “Nobody really taught me anything. I have common sense. I would figure it out myself.”

He decided to try to figure out how to train his own horses and got his own trainer’s license. “I learned all this on my own,” he said. “It sounds stupid, but that’s how I did it. But I couldn’t handle the body shop and training.” So his training career lasted only six months. His involvement with Thoroughbreds has continued his whole life.

And he got lucky...very lucky. He went to look at some yearlings at the farm where he’d sold Imperial Hint’s dam. “I went down to look at yearlings and I said, `Who’s this?’ He said, `That’s your baby.’ I said, `You got to be kidding.’ He was almost two years old. They were going to take him to a sale. I bought him for $17,500. He was small but well-built.”

Mamone gave Imperial Hint and other horses to trainer Luis Carvajal, Jr., who had worked for Bobby Durso, a trainer Mamone had used. “He passed away, so I gave Luis the horses,” Mamone said. “We’re really close friends. We’re really tight.”

Carvajal is thrilled with the opportunity Mamone gave him. “It’s a good relationship—a business relationship and a friendship,” Carvajal said.

Of course, Imperial Hint’s immense success in Carvajal’s care has strengthened their bond. Imperial Hint won the 2018 Gr1 A.G. Vanderbilt Stakes at Saratoga by 3 ¾ lengths at 4-5. When he returned to defend his title in the $350,000 stakes, July 27, he went off at 5-1 due to the presence of Mitole, who had won seven straight races and nine of his last 10 starts.

“Luis didn’t want to put him in the Vanderbilt,” Mamone said. “He wanted to run in the $100,000 Tale of the Cat. I said, `No, we’re going to win this race. He said, `Are you for real?’ I said, `Yes.’ He said, `Mitole?’ I said, `Don’t worry about Mitole.’”

Imperial Hint certainly didn’t, taking his second consecutive Vanderbilt by four lengths in 1:07.92, the fastest six furlongs in Saratoga’s 150-year-history. The call from Larry Collmus was perfect: “He’s back! And he broke the track record!” That track record, 1:08.04, had been set by Spanish Riddle in 1972 and equaled by Speightstown in 2004.

Mamone said, “I didn’t think he’d break the track record. When he called that, that was unbelievable. That gave me chills.”

  It’s so much better getting chills that way than hauling ice for $2 a day.

Terry Green (Jackpot Farm) – Basin

What’s a former professional cutting rider from Gulfport, Miss., doing in the winner’s circle at Saratoga Race Course after the Gr1 Hopeful Stakes? Well, he’s posing with his first Gr1 stakes winner, Basin, a horse he purchased for $150,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “I can’t explain it,” Green said, taking a break from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “I’ve watched the race 25 times, probably 50 times. It’s hard to believe. When we bought the colt, we thought he was nice. When I’m sitting here in this arena, and you buy him from the bottom of the totem pole... what’s $150,000 when you see these prices these horses are going for?”

Green, 67, had quite a unique introduction to horses. “As a kid growing up in Mississippi, my grandfather had some horses,” he said. “He had cattle and he would turn them loose. Back in the day, we would brand them and turn them loose in the woods. At certain times of the year, we’d round them up. I would go into the woods with my grandfather and herd cattle. I couldn’t wait to do it every time with my grandfather. It was a blast.”

After graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi, Green became a developer, building houses, apartments and shopping centers—an occupation he continued when he moved to Houston in the late ‘80s. “I heard of cutting horses (a Western style equestrian competition which demonstrates a horse’s athleticism and the horse and rider’s ability to handle cattle), and I watched it,” Green said. “It was really cool—just a horse and a cow by themselves. I just enjoyed it so much.”

He enjoyed it even more when he became a cutting rider in the late ‘90s, competing in the non-pro ranks for some 15 years. In 2003, he opened 200-acre Jackpot Ranch in Weatherford, Texas, which became a leader in producing outstanding cutting horses.

Terry Green (Jackpot Farm) – Basin

By then, he’d ventured into the casino business, almost by accident. He and a friend in the restaurant business, Rick Carter, went on a day cruise out of Miami. “Everybody was in the casino,” Green said. “I said, `This would be unbelievable in Mississippi.”

Green and Carter contacted the Mississippi Port Authority and secured the rights to do a gambling cruise ship out of Gulfport. “We didn’t know anything about gambling,” he said. “We started sailing in and out of Mississippi. It didn’t work. We had too many people working in the engine room. We came up with the idea that if we could tie it to the dock, we could make it work. It got approved. I think it was 1989 or 1990. Now we own two casinos there, both in Gulfport, Miss. It’s really exciting. How did we do this? We were just a couple local guys from Mississippi.”

Thoroughbreds were next, thanks to his friendship with Mike Rutherford Jr., a fellow cutting rider. They became hunting buddies.

Mike’s father is a life-long horseman who began riding horses and working with cattle at the age of eight in Austin, Texas. He was a force in Quarter Horse racing before switching to Thoroughbreds. He purchased Manchester Farm in Lexington, Ky., in 1976, and it continues to thrive.

Mike and his father invited Green to their farm seven years ago. Green was blown away. “I said this is a great alternative,” he said. “I said I’m not going to be able to ride cutting horses forever.”

Two years later, Green and Rutherford Jr. created Jackpot Ranch-Rutherford. They purchased and campaigned Mississippi Delta. “She was a Gr3 winner,” Green said. “That really gave me a buzz.”

Green purchased some land near Lexington, Ky., to begin Jackpot Farm. “We built barns and paddocks,” Green said. “The last two years, I really got into it. I have about eight or nine horses now. I kind of fell in love with it pretty quick.”

Basin’s performance in the Hopeful did nothing to cool his passion. “Oh my God,” Green said. “It’s unbelievable.”

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Dr. Joel Politi - Serengeti Empress and Bill and Corrine Heiligbrodt - Mitole and co-owners of Mia Mischief

By Bill Heller

Telling the stories behind a selection of owners who won Grade 1 races this spring. 

Dr. Joel Politi - Serengeti Empress

Challenges have defined Dr. Joel Politi’s life. Feeling constricted while working in a small practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Columbus, Ohio, he helped form Orthopedic ONE, the largest physician-owned orthopedic and sports medicine practice in the state, in 2016. “We’ve taken our small group and merged with other groups,” he said. “I’ve been a managing partner. I’m very proud of it.”

Think live TV is a challenge? Politi allows his surgeries to be live-streamed to the local science center COSI (Center of Science Industry), which sends the signal via the Library Science Center in Jersey City to six high schools around the country. Politi estimates the program, called “Surgical Suite,” has cumulatively reached more than 300,000 high school students who are building careers in medicine the last 15 years.

“It’s live and I have a microphone on me,” he said. “I narrate the operation to them and field questions.” 

At the end of the surgery, he introduces everyone—nurses, surgical technicians, anesthesiologists, medical device representatives and physicians’ assistants—and each one describes his or her role, training and education they received to get to this point.

“He’s not only a very successful surgeon, he’s developed tools for others,” his Thoroughbred trainer Tom Amoss said. “He’s a giver. He’s not just a client, he’s a friend.”

In his lifestyle as a newly-minted 50-year-old who is thrilled to be blessed with four daughters, Rachel (22), Leah (20), Annie (18) and Nina (14), Politi and his wife Julie have challenged themselves by running in five marathons and more than 20 half-marathons. “We run together and talk together the whole time,” he said. “We’re not winning any races, but it’s kind of our sanity.” Just to make the challenge of long-distance running a bit more daunting, they’ve signed up to do a half-Ironman: a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike race and then a half marathon (13.1 miles). “I’ll see if I’m still alive after that,” he laughed.

But the deepest-rooted challenge in Politi’s life is Thoroughbred racing, tracing back to the days he shared with his late father Jacques, a pediatric allergist who had a 12-horse barn of Thoroughbreds in their backyard. “My priorities are work, family, exercise and then horse racing,” Politi said. “But I love horse racing. I grew up with a barn in my backyard. I’d get the newspaper every day just to see the horses running at Thistledown and Waterford Park (now Mountaineer). In the winter, we used to drive an hour Friday night to get the Racing Form just to look at before we went to the track at Thistledown the next day. I was 12, or 13. I got into it. I really got into it.”

Serengeti Empress

Politi and his three older siblings, Diane, June and John, earned 25 cents to feed the horses each morning, and they spent as much time as possible watching them race. Most, but not all of those Thoroughbreds were low-end claimers. “We had $1,500 claimers at Waterford and Thistledown,” Politi said. “That’s where I grew up. My dad owned and bred a bunch of Ohio-bred stakes winners. That was a really big accomplishment, especially with a home-bred. I said, `Wouldn’t it be great to win a little stakes?’”

That challenge wasn’t addressed until Politi became a Thoroughbred owner. “In 2005, I put together my first partnership with a bunch of friends,” he said. “We called it Giddy-Up Stables, from Kramer’s line in a Seinfeld episode. We claimed two horses with Bernie Flint.”

Serengeti Empress, whom Politi purchased for $70,000 as a yearling at Keeneland in 2017, took Politi to another level, when winning Politi his first Gr1 triumph, when she captured the Gr1 Kentucky Oaks by a length and three-quarters.

“I don’t know if I’ve recovered from it,” Politi said three weeks after the Oaks. “I would say it’s the greatest thrill—that race, that win. I’d love for her to win a bunch more races (she then finished second after an awkward start in the Gr1 Acorn at Belmont Park), but winning that race that day was a dream come true...a true dream come true.” Politi acknowledged he’s come a long way from Waterford Park: “Oh my gosh, yeah.”

Bill and Corrine Heiligbrodt - Mitole and co-owners of Mia Mischief

Let’s face it. Bill and Corrine Heiligbrodt did just an awful job of getting out of the Thoroughbred business in 2011. Eight years after their dispersal sale, they enjoyed an afternoon at Churchill Downs few owners could even imagine. They won two Gr 1 stakes on Kentucky Derby Day, the Churchill Down Stakes with Mitole and, in partnership with Heider Family Stable and Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables, the Humana Distaff with Mia Mischief.

“It’s pretty hard to win a Gr1 race, so winning two in an hour and a half was pretty good for a cowboy like me,” Bill Heiligbrodt said.

Mitole

Who could imagine another incredible thrill awaited them when Mitole stretched his winning streak to seven by taking the Gr1 Met Mile with perhaps the deepest field the gloried stakes has ever offered, at Belmont Park on June 8?

Good thing the cowboy got back into racing, right?

In July 2011, the Heiligbrodts sold 80 broodmares, horses of racing age, yearlings, a stallion, and, in a separate dispersal sale, 12 foals. The decision wasn’t made lightly because the Heiligbrodts, bridged to Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, had been consistently successful, finishing in the top 10 leading owners nationally every year from 2007 through 2010. They campaigned, either on their own or in partnerships, 118 stakes winners, including 45 graded stakes winners. None were better than Lady Tak, who won multiple Gr1 stakes, including the Ballerina when she set a track record at Saratoga, and earned more than $1 million with 10 victories from 19 starts before being retired and sold in 2005.

Asked why he got out of racing eight years earlier, Heiligbrodt said in June, “I wasn’t a youngster. “My children were going in different directions. I thought that it was a good thing for me. I always enjoyed the racing, but I had been involved in breeding. I decided to sell it all.”

But horses had always been in his life growing up in Bay City, Texas. “There were 7,000 to 8,000 people there back then, basically ranchers and farmers,” he said. 

Corinne and L. William Heiligbrodt

Heiligbrodt met his lifelong partner Corrine, in high school, where they became sweethearts. “We were together in high school and then in college,” he said. They’re still sweethearts. “I think the big thing is we enjoy the same things,” Heiligbrodt said.

Dreaming of playing football at the University of Texas, Heiligbrodt was recruited in high school by legendary UT Coach Darrell Royal and received a full scholarship. “You played both ways then,” he said. “I was a running back, split end, defensive end and defensive halfback. Of Royal, Heiligbrodt said, “He was a great individual—a very good judge of people and a very good judge of talent.”

Heiligbrodt started on the freshman team, but an injury brought a premature end to his football career, though he remained on full scholarship through his final year.

After finishing graduate school, Heiligbrodt moved to California, taking a job with United California Bank. “I went to work in California and went to the races in California,” he said. “I liked it. We went a lot. I did handicapping. I got thoroughly indoctrinated in that.”

He returned to Texas in 1967 to work for Texas Commerce Bank in Houston, where he would eventually become a vice-chairman. 

Twenty years later, he took a job with United Service Corp International, one of his bank’s former customers. He became president and CEO before leaving to work for two other companies until he retired in 2015.

He’d been involved with horses much earlier, using Quarter Horses in cutting—a western-style equestrian event with horses and riders working together as a team to handle cattle before a judge or a panel of judges.

“Then I got involved with a Thoroughbred trainer looking to race in Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisiana,” he said. “I got involved and I liked it. My wife and I picked our own horses. The kids were working in the business. It was a family business.”

They didn’t need a long time to pick out their racing silks: white and burnt orange, the colors of the University of Texas. “We’re pretty big Texas fans,” he said. “She’s the only one who bleeds more orange than me. She’s pretty tough, too.”

The Heiligbrodts bought their first Thoroughbred, Appealing Breeze, in 1989 and he won more stakes than any two-year-old in the country that year. But in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, he was hit in the eye by a chip of a rock and missed nearly a year before returning to finish his career, earning more than $600,000.

Despite ongoing success, the Heiligbrodts got out of the business in 2011. Fortunately for them, it didn’t take. “I couldn’t resist getting back into racing,” Heiligbrodt said.

Asmussen has said that he may have saddled more than 1,000 winners for the Heiligbrodts. And if Asmussen surpasses Dale Baird for most career victories in the history of racing, he’ll have the Heiligbrodts to thank.

That’s not bad for a cowboy.

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