Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Emily Bushnell and Ric Waldman (Resilience)

Talk about a tough act to follow. In their first venture together as Thoroughbred owners, Emily Bushnell and Ric Waldman have a Kentucky Derby contender, Resilience, who captured the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 6th by 2 ¼ lengths.

Emily’s parents, Marty and Pamela Wygod, bred Resilience, a son of Into Mischief out of Meadowsweet by Smart Strike. “It means everything,” Bushnell said. “The love of the sport, just hoping you have one horse this special. It’s really, really exciting.”

Waldman, a Louisville native, said two days after the Wood, “It’s starting to sink in now. To have an ownership with Emily, a long-time client and friend, it is very emotional. It’s the first racehorse I’ve owned in many years.”

Bushnell was born for this: “I started riding basically before I could walk. My dad had horses when I was growing up. My dad started in the 1960s. He was a hotwalker. He grew up really close to Belmont. It’s been part of my family before I’ve been around.”

Sadly Marty Wygod passed away six days after the Wood victory. Wygod, who was born on February 1st, 1940, in Elmont, New York. He went to high school with Bobby Frankel and was a business administration graduate from New York University. In 1964, he was hired by Roy Nutt and Fletcher Jones for their stock brokerage firm, Computer Sciences Corporation. The following year, Jones, who owned Westerly Stud Farms near Santa Ynez, California, gave Wygod two Thoroughbreds as a 25th birthday gift.

In 1977, Wygod switched careers to the healthcare industry, purchasing Glasrock Medical Services. Five years later, he sold it for a huge profit. He then established Medco Containment Services, Inc., and built it into the largest mail order pharmacy in the country. In 1993, he sold Medco to Merck & Co. for more than $6 billion.

Wygod bought 240-acre River Edge Farm in the Santa Ynez Valley. In 1995, the Wygods moved to Rancho Santa Fe, California.

His slew of top Thoroughbreds includes Exotic Wood, Tranquility Lake, Sweet Caroline, After Market and Life Is Sweet. Wygod is a member of the Jockey Club, a trustee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and a member of the Del Mar Board of Directors. Wygod oversees two Breeders’ Cup Charities, the Rose Foundation and the WebMD Health Foundation.

Wygod’s River Edge Farm stood top California stallions, including Benchmark, Bertrando and Pirate’s Bounty. 

Bushnell carved her own niche in Thoroughbred racing. She is the Executive Director, a Therapeutic riding instructor and a mentor of Endeavor Therapeutic, now in its 10th year in Bedford, in Westchester County, New York. Its programs are for veterans, at-risk youth, incarcerates women and children and adults with disabilities. They serve 125 people a week. “Horses have been so important in my life,” Bushnell said. “I wanted to do something with them to help people. Also, horses need jobs.”

She is making a difference.

“She is a lovely woman,” Waldman said. “The whole family is lovely. I’ve worked for Marty and Pam for more than 25 years.”

Waldman, a native of Louisville, has been around Thoroughbred legends, including Storm Cat, Deputy Minister, The Minstrel and Northern Dancer, most of his life. He began his career at Fasig-Tipton Company in 1973 and advanced to general manager in 1981. He was the business manager at Airdrie Stud from 1981 to 1984. He was consultant and syndicate manager of Overbrook Farm from 1986 through 2009 and the vice president of operations and syndicate manager for Windfields Farm from 1987 through 2008.

In 1994, he established Ric Waldman Thoroughbred Consulting, Inc. When Overbrook and Windfields ceased operations, Waldman focused on two long-term clients, Marty Wygod and Samantha Siegel of JayEmEss Stables. He’s been working with them for more than 25 years.  

His association with Overbrook’s William T. Young, led him to manage the immortal stallion Storm Cat. But Storm Cat struggled initially. “I started managing Storm Cat in his third year and we sort of limped through his third and fourth year,” Waldman said in a 2013 Blood-Horse story by Evan Hammonds.

Working with a star and owning one are different endeavors. 

Resilience is the culmination of 18 years of planning, purchasing and breeding. The Wygods purchased Tranquility Lake, a daughter of Rahy out of the multiple graded-stakes placed dam Winter’s Love, for $250,000 at the 1996 Keeneland July Sale of Selected Yearlings. She is a half-brother to 1983 Belmont Stakes winner Caveat. Russell Drake, the late River Edge Farm Manager, selected Tranquility Lake.

All she did was win more than $1.6 million, taking the 1999 Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park and the 2000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita.

She was bred to Storm Cat five times, and her first foal was After Market, a multiple graded stakes winning turf star. Her second foal was Jalil, who was sold to Godolphin for $9.7 million and won a Group 2 stakes. Tranquility Lake also produced multiple graded-stakes winner Courageous Cat. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who trains Resilience, trained Courageous Cat.

After producing seven foals, all male, Tranquility Lake was bred to Smart Strike and foaled her first filly, Meadowsweet, the dam of Resilience.

Through their breedings with Storm Cat, the Wygods got to know Waldman. “All the horses we’ve done together, talking with him and my parents on the breeding, working together for quite a while … owning this colt together and being on this journey, Ric and I are on the same page,” Bushnell said. “This is our first one, our first horse together. It was an opportunity for all of us to work together, have a good time together.”

She never imagined how good their first horse would be. But it took a bit of time.

Resilience finished sixth, second and third before winning a maiden race by 4 ¼ lengths. On a sloppy track in the Grade 2 Risen Star, Resilience contested the pace and held on well for fourth.

Mott decided to add blinkers for Resilience’s next start in the Wood Memorial. He relaxed well behind the pacesetters, then pounced on them, winning impressively and sending Waldman and Bushnell onto the Kentucky Derby for the first time. 

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Eric and Sharon Waller (Stronghold)

Though Eric Waller was 10 years old when he accompanied his father to Santa Anita, he never really felt connected to Thoroughbreds.

His success with Barranca Insurance, which opened in Rancho Cucamonga in 1972 and is now run by his daughters, allowed him to purchase a couple of horses.

“Not Thoroughbreds,” Waller said. “One was a Paint, and one was a Quarter Horse. I wanted horses to ride. I thought that might be fun. It was at that time I realized I did feel something special about horses. I didn’t realize that was inside of me until I bought those horses. I found inner calmness and appreciation for the animal.”

That would be tested after he bought and began breeding Thoroughbreds. His early struggles and then continuing success on the track was tempered by horrible happenings trying to develop a broodmare band. But the Wallers never gave up and they now have a home-bred Kentucky Derby contender, Stronghold, a horse they can proudly point out traces back to four generations of their own Thoroughbreds.

Despite two of their stars dying while giving birth. Despite two mares who savaged their own foals.

Asked how he got through the rough parts, Waller said, “I wish I could tell you. I’m not a quitter. I believe someday, somehow, I’m going to get me a Grade 1 winner. I feel that was my goal. I hadn’t achieved it, so I couldn’t quit.”

Stronghold, who won the Grade 3 Sunland Derby by 2 ¼ lengths in an impressive three-year-old debut, added the Santa Anita Derby April 6th in his final prep for the Kentucky Derby. He is already the Wallers’ highest earner. Stronghold’s dam, Spectator, is second and Stronghold’s third dam, Swiss Diva, is third.

The Wallers’ entrance into Thoroughbred racing was disappointing. “My wife knew a retired jockey,” Waller said. “He had an old mare. She was in foal to a stallion named Lucky Sack. I went ahead and took the mare. I didn’t know anything about racing. I had that foal and decided to race that foal. That was about 1995. Of course, I didn’t have any success. I said, `I’m going to try a different route.’ There was a sale in California, Barretts. There was a mare in there by the name of One Stop. She was by Mr. Leader, in the family of Distorted Humor.”

One Stop is the fourth dam of Stronghold.

One Stop won just one of 19 starts and made $34,985. Waller bred her to Swiss Yodeler. The resulting filly, Swiss Diva, is the third dam of Stronghold.

Swiss Diva won her first three starts, including a $138,000 stakes for California-breds, by 8 ½ lengths, then finished fifth by 4 ½ lengths to superstar Rags to Riches in the Grade 1 Las Virgenes. Swiss Diva finished her 14-race career with four victories, three seconds and earnings of $240,399.

Put into perspective, the Wallers had won just seven of 76 starts from 2002 through 2013.

Envisioning a foundation broodmare, Waller bred Swiss Diva to Henny Hughes. Swiss Diva died foaling Diva’s Tribute. Though unraced, Diva’s Tribute is Stronghold’s second dam. 

Bred to Jimmy Creek, Diva’s Tribute delivered Spectator. She won three of her first four starts, including the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar and was second to Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks. Spectator retired with three victories, one second and one third from nine starts with earnings of $323,951.

“Spectator died giving birth to her foal,” Waller said. “A punctured colon. I was just sick. There are just so many lows in this business. There’s nothing lower than losing a horse.”

But the foal who survived was Stronghold. “Stronghold grew up on a nurse mare, just as his mother did,” Waller said.

“The people at Mulholland (Mulholland Springs Farm, where Stronghold spent his early days) told me this horse was a man among boys, a very classy looking individual that shows a lot of quality,” Waller said. “I took that seriously because these people are commercial breeders. They see hundreds of yearlings.”

In April of his two-year-old second, Stronghold was sent to California-based trainer Phil D’Amato, who had a string of horses in Kentucky. “Stronghold cast himself in the stall,” Waller said. “We wound up missing several weeks of training. Then, finally, things returned to normal.”

Stronghold finished second and first in a pair of maiden races at Ellis Park and Churchill Downs, then finished second in the Grade 2 Bob Hope Stakes to undefeated Nysos at Del Mar. He was second again by a half-length to Wynstock in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity.

Stronghold’s handy victory in his three-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Sunland Derby sent him soaring up the list of Kentucky Derby contenders. His sensational :58 2/5 work should have him moving forward as he tackles tougher opponents.

If all this is exciting, Stronghold doesn’t seem to notice. “He’s so quiet in the paddock, Phil thinks he’s sleeping,” Waller said. “He doesn’t turn a hair.”

Gamely bulling his way through horses, Stronghold won the Santa Anita Derby by a neck, giving Waller his ultimate goal, the one he stuck to despite all the heartache. “The Santa Anita Derby was our first Grade 1,” Waller said. “That’s why I’m in the business. It’s not about the money anymore, it’s about the achievement.”

And his determination. Achievement can’t happen if you give up.

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Master Piece & O'Connor - Michael & Jules Iavarone

Article by Bill Heller

Is success more enjoyable the second time around? Michael Iavarone is finding out, on the racetrack, where he has reunited with trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., and off.

Dutrow is making his own return following a 10-year suspension for drug violations. 

Off the track, Iavarone has rebuilt his own business after being nearly wiped out. “It took me a couple of years,” he said. “I built a bigger business than what I had.”

Iavarone’s love of horseracing traces back to growing up in Bethpage, Long Island, when he and his father fell in love with racing at Roosevelt, then the best harness track in the country with weekend crowds in the 20,000’s. “I loved it so much,” Iavarone said. “I remember it vividly. We’d eat in the Cloud Casino.”

In 1985, Iavarone and his father attended the second Breeders’ Cup at Aqueduct Racetrack, where he saw flawless victories by two incredible turf starts, Pebbles in the Turf and Cozzene in the Mile. “I was 15, and that just hooked me. Pebbles and Cozzene. It was something that always resonated with me. It never left.”

While he built a career as an accomplished investment banker, he began to dabble with Thoroughbreds. On September 28th, 2002, at Belmont Park, Iavarone claimed the New York-bred gelding Toddler for $75,000. He finished fifth in that race.

Iavarone entered him in the $250,000 Empire Classic for New York-breds. Sent off at 49-1, he finished last in the field of 12, beaten 43 ½ lengths. “It was my first race ever,” Iavarone said. “He was dead last. Got beat nearly 50 lengths. I realized you really needed money to do it.”

So he formed International Equine Acquisitions Holding (IEAH) the following year. Based in Garden City, Long Island, the business operated as a hedge fund with horses as the major asset. Iavarone was the co-CEO with Richard Schiavo, who oversaw administration. Major funding was provided by James Tagliaferri, who ran an asset management company, TAG Virgin Islands. Iavarone was responsible for all equine affairs. Initially, IEAH used four trainers, Dutrow, Dominick Schettino, John Terranova and Donald Chatlos Jr.

Although IEAH would campaign several top runners including Benny the Bull, the 2008 Eclipse Award Champion Sprinter, and Grade 1 winners Kip Deville, I Want Revenge, Court Vision and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Stardom Bound, it will always be linked to Big Brown, a phenomenal horse who won seven of eight starts, including four Grade 1’s in 2008, the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Haskell Invitational. IEAH was part of a partnership ownership of the son of Boundary out of the Nureyev mare Mien.

Trained for his first start by Pat Reynolds, Big Brown won his maiden debut by 11 ¼ lengths at Saratoga on the grass at odds of 14-1 under Joe Bravo. He was switched to Dutrow’s barn to prepare for his three-year-old season. Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux would ride Big Brown in all of his seven subsequent starts.

Dutrow called Big Brown “nothing but fun.”

All of Big Brown’s connections had nothing but fun as he won the Florida Derby by 12 ¾ lengths, the Kentucky Derby by 4 ¾ lengths despite breaking from the extreme outside post in the field of 20 and the Preakness Stakes by 5 ¼.

He would go off at 3-10 in the field of nine in the Belmont Stakes and not even finish the final leg of the Triple Crown.

“Coming out of the Preakness, he was fine,” Iavarone said. “He always had problems with his feet. He had glue-on shoes. He developed a real sore spot at the edge of the corona. We decided not to work him. When you don’t do the work, everyone notices. It turned into an abscess. It took away three days from training. As probably the most famous horse, PETA was calling all day long to not race him in the Belmont.”

The morning of the Belmont Stakes turned very weird. “It’s nine o’clock, and I’m in the shower,” Iavarone said. “I got out and went to the door. There are two guys with badges saying they’re the FBI. They show me a letter that had been sent from an unidentified person saying Rick Dutrow and me would be shot in the head if anything goes wrong with Big Brown. I called Rick. He didn’t care. I had two young kids with me. We had two FBI agents with us all day long, everywhere.”

The afternoon was worse than the morning. When Desormeaux walked Big Brown out of the horse tunnel at Belmont Park and onto the track for the post parade, he looked unbelievably upset. Breaking from the rail, Desormeaux pulled him suddenly to the far outside, and, instead of rallying, he kept getting farther away from the leaders. Desormeaux pulled him up and they walked slowly back to be greeted by his connections, all of them wondering what had happened.

“When he pulled up, I went running,” Iavarone said. “The FBI was running behind me. We go back to the barn. He was fine. Sound as a button. We don’t know why Kent pulled him up. He said, `I knew he was going to finish last. Why push him?’”

And the FBI presence? “To this day, we still don’t know about the threat,” Iavarone said.

Dutrow helped Iavarone place the Triple Crown in perspective. “Rick said, `We still won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness,’” Iavarone said. “That day was more difficult for the horse than it was for us, because he didn’t get the recognition he deserved.”

Big Brown bounced back to win the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational by 1 ¾ lengths and the $500,000 Monmouth Turf Stakes by a neck.

Iavarone has much more pleasant memories at Belmont Park thanks to the Cornell Ruffian Equine Hospital right across the street. IEAH built the facility, the only full-service equine hospital on Long Island. “It started with me having a horse needing to ship to New Bolton (in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania) for colicking and we had trouble getting a van,” Iavarone said.

The hospital opened in 2009, closed in 2011 due to financial difficulties and was sold to Cornell University and renamed in 2014. “We built it and it became very complicated,” Iavarone said. “We couldn’t own the facility. We had to lease the facility. It became very hard. So when Cornell came to us about buying it, I saw a chance. I sold it to them. I’m very proud of it.”

IEAH had bigger problems.

Tagliaferri had been investing money on behalf of its clients and receiving kickbacks disguised as consulting fees. In 2014, Tagliaferri was found guilty of investment advisor fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud causing his clients to lose $50 million. Iavarone was never charged with a crime, but felt the effects as IEAH folded.

“It just turned into a disaster,” Iavarone said. “He wiped out about 90 percent of my personal wealth. We liquidated horses and sold the hospital. It sent me in the wrong direction. I was living a great life. I had to go back to my roots.”

When he rebuilt his business, he felt comfortable to return to racing. He became a partner on Next Shares, a Grade 1 stakes winner who bankrolled nearly $1.9 million, and now owns 18 horses including his recent graded stakes winners Master Piece and O’Connor.

And he’s reunited with Dutrow, who scored one of the most meaningful victories in his career when White Abarrio won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic. “Rick and I have been friends forever,” Iavarone said. “Taking 10 years from a guy’s life? At the end of the day, I hope he learned a lesson. He’s a completely changed person now. The suspension humbled him.”

Dutrow said, “I had a ball training for Mike. He’s got a great personality. I will like anybody in the world who sends me horses like he does. He’s got to send me more horses.”

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Nobals - Vince Foglia (Patricias Hope LLC)

Article by Bill Heller

Nobals’ victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint was the culmination of an incredible year for Vinnie Foglia, who races as Patricia’s Hope LLC, and his trainer/close friend Larry Rivelli. Patricia’s Hope LLC was also a partner on Two Phil’s, who sandwiched dominant Grade 3 stakes victories in the Jeff Ruby Stakes and Ohio Derby around his brave second by a length in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. “It was a hell of a year,” Foglia said.

Actually, it’s been a hell of a long friendship between Foglia and Rivelli. “I think it was the Italian thing,” Foglia said. “We hit it off immediately. It’s so cool that we’re that tight. We live in the same community. We golf together. We’re members of the same country club. We hang out together.”

They’re also native Chicagoans. “Someone told me he wanted to claim a horse,” Rivelli said. “The guy recommended me. I talked to Vinnie for five minutes. Same town. Both Italians. From then on, we were just buddies. It ended up a great friendship with him and his family. They’ve been successful. They’re the greatest people on the planet. Just great people.”

Both Vinnie, his father Vincent and his mother Patricia, have spent their lives helping people.

Vinnie’s father was the co-founder of Sage Products Inc, a medical supply company which developed and manufactured healthcare products for hospitals throughout the country in Cary, Illinois.

“My first position in health care almost 60 years ago was as a salesman for MacBick, which sold medical supplies to hospitals,” Vinnie’s father said in an online interview. “I wanted to be part of it. I am truly passionate about healthcare. It’s been my life’s work and dedication for almost 50 years. I love this industry. I know right now that someone in a hospital is benefitting from one of our products. I’ve always wanted to be part of something that matters. And what could matter more than patient safety? After all, we’re all going to be patients some day!”

When his company prospered, he began a legacy of philanthropy, one his son is proud to continue. In 1995, his father founded the Foglia Family Foundation in Chicago. Its major areas of support are education and health care. “As part of our interest in health care, we’ve always supported high-quality behavioral health treatment,” his father said. “We are aware that addiction and suicide rates are soaring and demand for treatment is growing. Much of this care is unfunded and relies on doctors. Yet even with charitable gifts, behavioral health organizations are still only able to scratch the surface of the need.” 

Foglia is rightfully proud of his father: “He is a role model. My father gets pleasure helping people who are less fortunate. That’s what I do. We have over 100 charities that we support.”

One of them, Let It Be, places kids, including children with special needs, in foster homes. “I’m on the board,” Foglia said. “I’m on a few boards, all not-for-profit.”

  Foglia began working for Sage when he was 16. “I started out sweeping with a broom,” he said. “When we sold the business to Striker Home Care Medical in 2016, that allowed us to start buying thoroughbreds.” He honored his mother by calling his stable Patricia’s Hope LLC.

Horses were always in Foglia’s head, ever since he visited Arlington Park when he was 12. “I grew up in Arlington Heights,” he said. “My high school was right down the street. I knew jockey E.T. Baird. I knew grooms and hotwalkers.”

That end of the business never appealed to Foglia. Owning horses did: “It’s as exciting as you can have competitively without breaking a sweat.”

One of his first lessons was to avoid something that guarantees sweat: “I learned that, after five or six years, don’t do the bookkeeping. It takes away the fun. You can get sticker shock.”

Not with Nobals. The five-year-old gelding by Noble Mission out of Pearly Blue by Empire Maker sold for $3,500 at the Fasig-Tipton October, 2020 Yearling Sale to owner/trainer LeLand Hayes. Nobals won his maiden debut at Presque Isle Downs by four lengths and was re-sold to Patricia’s Hope LLC and Rivelli. “After he won, someone presented the horse,” Ravelli said. “A horse has to absolutely jump off the page for me to want to buy it. It was the way he won his race.”

Nobals has been winning races all over North America ever since Foglia purchased him. In 18 career starts, he’s raced at 11 different tracks: Presque Isle Downs, Arlington Park, Churchill Downs, Delmar, Turfway Park, Woodbine, Saratoga, Keeneland, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Colonial Downs and Santa Anita. His 10 wins and three seconds helped him earn $1,453,274.”

Now Two Phils, who posted five wins, two seconds and one third in 10 starts, making $1,583,450, is standing stud at WinStar Farm for $12,500. Nobals is enjoying a well-earned rest. 

Together, Two Phils and Nobals earned $3 million. Two Phils took Foglia to his first Kentucky Derby, and the thrill of finishing second in America’s race will last a lifetime. But at Santa Anita, Nobals gave Foglia his first grade 1 stakes victory.  

“That was very cool,” Foglia said. “The goal from the start was to win a Grade 1.”

Patricia’s Hope fulfilled.

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Nick and Delora Beaver (Bell Gable Stable) – Nutella Fella

Article by Bill Heller

When Nick Beaver married Delora, he told her, “One of these days, I’d like to have a horse or two or three.” She replied, “You better make enough money to pay for it.”

He did exactly that – with her help. “When I came out of the [U.S.] Navy, I worked with a labor contractor,” Nick said. “I worked for them for about 10 years. Delora said, `Move out on your own.’ We haven’t looked back since. Now we have five companies.”

And horses. Since 2017. “I claimed a horse for $5,000 on a Thursday or a Friday,” Nick said. “By Sunday, we had three more.”

Nick Beaver grew up in racing, literally. His mother was a waitress in the clubhouse at Waterford Park, which is now Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. “I never had a dad,” Beaver said. “My mom raised four boys on her own. I was the youngest.”

In 2019, the Beavers decided to buy a pricey yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Sale. “We looked at 10 or 12 yearlings,” Beaver said. “We focused on Maryland Brando, a colt by Flatter out of the More Than Ready mare Apple Cider. “The reserve was going to be $100,000,” Beaver said. “We bought him for $250,000.”

Beaver decided he needed another trainer for such a nice horse and reached out to Gary Contessa, a successful trainer in New York who had recently left the business. “I had a bunch of claimers and barely made enough,” Contessa said. “I had enough with the Department of Labor.”

Beaver reached out to Contessa: “I asked him if he would decide what to do with this horse. Gary came down to Delaware. This horse dragged Gary back into the business. I asked him what it would take for you to train this horse. He said, `Being your private trainer.’ I asked Delora. She said, `That works.’ He became our trainer.”

Maryland Brando made a spectacular debut at Delaware Park, August 2, 2021, winning a maiden race by 11 ½ lengths. Maryland Brando then finished 10th in the Gr. 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga and a distant fifth in an allowance race in Delaware. Given a long time to recover, Maryland Brando returned in an allowance race at Laurel Park, April 14, 2022. He finished seventh by 20 lengths.

Things got worse. “One day, he got loose on the track,” Beaver said. “He ran through a fence and had to be euthanized. I cried. It was horrible. It was gut-wrenching.”

Then the Beavers went to the 2022 Keeneland September Sale. Instead of spending $250,000, they invested $12,000 to purchase Nutella Fella, a son of Runhappy out of Kristy’s Candy by Candy Ride. “He was in book six,” Beaver said. “It was really late in the sale. Nobody was bidding on him. He came out and looked good. Delora said, `Don’t go over $30,000.’ We get to $12,000. We got him. We were ecstatic. We liked Runhappy.” 

Contessa said, “He’s the spitting image of Runhappy. Looks just like his father.”

In 2023, Contessa switched from Bell Gable Stable’s private trainer to general manager with the stipulation that if one of their horses was good enough to race in New York, Contessa would train him.

“Nick grew up in a racing family,” Contessa said. “He was sleeping in the tack room. He’s a very passionate man about the game. He’s a good guy—a very smart guy.”

When Nutella Fella made his debut in a maiden race at Delaware Park on July 26, Richard Silliman was the trainer. 

And both Silliman and Contessa had a challenge. “He had no issues in the gate early in his training,” Beaver said. “One day in the gate, he freaks out. Something triggered it. He was a nutcase. He was flipping backwards before the gate. He became a nightmare. We worked with him. The Delaware gate crew tried using voice commands. They got him to walk into the gate.”

Nutella Fella’s final work before his debut revealed he had another trait—a very good one. “Our horse comes through the turn and almost collides with other horses,” Beaver said. “Then he got dirt kicked in his face. The minute that dirt hit him in the face, he became possessed. It made him mad. He took a hold of the bit. He went right past them.”

Contessa came to Delaware Park for Nutella Fella’s debut: “He was a handful in the paddock. A handful in the post parade. A handful at the gate. He did everything wrong. He broke dead last. And he won going away.”

The margin under Kevin Gomez was 2 ¼ lengths.

“Nick said, `I want you to take him to Saratoga and run in the Hopeful,’” Contessa said. “I picked him up and took him to Saratoga. He was really bad in the gate.”

A field of 10 contested the $300,000 Gr. 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga on September 4. Junior Alvarado took the mount off Nutella Fella’s impressive final work, three furlongs in :34 4/5 breezing. Bettors weren’t impressed and sent him off at 54-1.

Nutella Fella literally walked out of the starting gate. “It was the same way at Delaware,” Contessa said. “He’s pulling Junior and I said, ' We might be okay here.’ He’s 100 percent racehorse.’” 

Yeah, but he was at least seven lengths behind the horse in next-to-last on the backstretch.

Alvarado’s ride was masterful, cutting inside of horses then angling out at 45-degrees to the far outside. Nutella Fella did the rest, winning by a length and a half.

At 54-1.

“We made so much money,” Beaver said. “We bet him to win and place.” Everyone in his family made money.

“People don’t believe this horse,” Delora said. “I get it. He has to prove it. We know he’s a good horse. We’ll see if he’s the real deal.” 

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Bill Parcells - August Dawn Farm (Maple Leaf Mel)

The juiciest thrill for a Thoroughbred owner is having an undefeated young horse. You don’t know, the trainer doesn’t know, and nobody on the planet knows when that undefeated horse will stop winning as he or she climbs up in competition.

NFL Hall of Fame former New York Giants Coach Bill Parcells, who races as August Dawn Farm, knows about thrills, having won the Giants’ first two of four Super Bowl victories.

Since becoming a Thoroughbred owner in 2011, he’s had 59 victories from 353 starts and more than $4.5 million in earnings.

But he’s never had a Grade 2 victory, let alone a Grade 1, and now his undefeated New York-bred filly Maple Leaf Mel is poised to add that Grade 1 score to her resume in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga August 5th. 

Handy victories in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico and the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont Park made the New York-bred five-for-five. She’s won all five wire-to-wire.

Growing up in New Jersey, Parcells used to go to Monmouth Park with his father. Showing a tender side he might not have displayed on the Giants’ sidelines, Parcells named the filly for her young trainer, 39-year-old Melanie Giddings, who survived ovarian and endocervical cancer in 2020 and went on her own this spring after serving as an assistant for Jeremiah Englehart. Maple Leaf Mel’s 2 ½ length victory in the Victory Ride was the first with Giddings listed as her trainer.

Parcells bought her for $150,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. She is a daughter of Cross Traffic out of City Gift by City Place.

“When Bill said he was going to name her for me, I kind of thought he wasn’t serious,” Giddings said. “When it happened, it was an honor, when a guy like that names a horse for you. He loves Saratoga. He really does love the New York-bred program.”

He’ll love it even more if Maple Leaf Mel keeps winning open-company stakes. “She’s great,” Giddings said. “She’s a pleasure to be around. She does everything perfect. You can’t ask for any more. Work her fast; work her slow; work her behind horses. You wish you can find more like her.”

Giddings currently has eight horses in her barn. “When you don’t have connections, it’s a tough go,” she said. “You have to find ways to get horses.”

Parcells could use Maple Leaf Mel’s earnings to remedy that. With just under $400,000 in earnings, she is already Parcells’ fifth highest-earning horse behind Saratoga Snacks ($523,600), Play Action Pass ($480,935), Hit It Once More ($390,102) and Three Technique ($366,615). Saratoga Snacks won the 2013 Empire Classic for trainer Gary Sciacca. 

Another Parcells runner, Forty Under, won the 2018 Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes. “He’s a pleasure to train for,” Giddings said. “He likes to joke around. At the end of the day, he says, `Do whatever you like.’ He’s up at 5 a.m. every day. He goes to the gym. He goes to the barn every morning. He tells me right now I’m more popular than Taylor Swift. I said, if that’s the case, Belmont would have been packed.”

Belmont hasn’t been packed too many times. And Parcells was one of the no-shows for Maple Leaf Mel’s last glittering performance. “He’s a little superstitious,” Giddings said. “He hasn’t been there recently for her races. He was feeling a little nervous like the rest of us. He stayed here in Saratoga and watched her.”

She was sensational. “Her last race was her toughest field,” Giddings said. “It seems like she’s getting better. When Joel (Rosario) asked her, she responded. Then he wrapped up on her.”

After the race, Rosario said, “She’s very nice. She goes out there and just does her job. She was very relaxed and was never worried about someone challenging her because she was moving so well. She goes out there and shows her speed and says, `come and beat me.’”

Nobody has. And most young horses improve in their first few starts. “You hope so,” Giddings said. “You keep them happy. A happy horse runs well. I’ve done this so long for a lot of people, I feel like it’s second nature.”

Beating cancer saved and changed her life. “When you go through that kind of sickness, you may not wake up in the morning,” she said. “I’m more easy going. I want to live a life worth living.”

She’s already jump-started her training career with Maple Leaf Mel. “I didn’t really set any goals,” she said. “I’d be super happy if I can say I won a race at Saratoga. If the Test was that race, that would be something, wouldn’t it?”

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Jon Ebbert (Arcangelo)

Article by Bill Heller

Arcangelo showed Jon Ebbert life can begin just before turning 40 years old. Three days before his 40th birthday, Ebbert was standing in the Belmont Park winner’s circle after Arcangelo, his $35,000 yearling purchase, won the Belmont Stakes by a length and a half, making his trainer, Jena Antonucci, the first woman to win a Triple Crown race.

That wasn’t the only history Arcangelo made. He gave his Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, who contributed a brilliant ride, his first victory in the Belmont Stakes after 14 misses. Just five weeks earlier, Castellano ended his zero-for-15 schneid in the Kentucky Derby with Mage. In between, Hall of Famer John Velazquez won his first Preakness Stakes with National Treasure after a dozen Preakness losses.

Dabbling with Hall of Famers and winning the final leg of the Triple Crown? Really?

Ebbert, who works in real estate in Pennsylvania and races as Blue Rose Farm, was introduced to racing at the age of six by his grandmother. He and his family were picking her up to go out for dinner on the first Saturday in May and she told them she couldn’t go until she saw how her horse in the 1988 Kentucky Derby fared. Two years later, Ebbert told his parents he wanted to begin riding lessons, and the rest is history, a very slow-developing history.

Ebbert displayed remarkable patience and persistence as an owner with little success over the past 15 years. The first horse he bought, Daydreamin Boy, cost $3,700 and went zero-for-14 for him.

There were no real highlights. Before Arcangelo made his career debut last December, Ebbert was two-for-37 with earnings of $86,950 racing under his name. Racing under Blue Rose Farm, he’d been zero-for-two with earnings of $1,000.

One horse and one trainer changed all that.

Ebbert met Antonucci by chance the day before the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He told Dave Grening of the Daily Racing Form in his June 9th story that he went to the sale looking to buy a son of Classic Empire who could take him to the 2024 Breeders’ Cup. Ebbert found a son of Classic Empire, Classic Bourbon, and purchased him for $100,000. Through June 2023, Classic Bourbon is zero-for-nine with earnings of $6,170. He is also trained by Antonucci.

Fortunately for Ebbert, another yearling caught his eye, one by Arrogate out of the Tapit mare Modeling. Ebbert bought him for $35,000.

Antonucci started Classic Bourbon twice as a two-year-old on August 27th and September 18th. 

She brought Arcangelo along a bit more slowly at Gulfstream Park. He finished second in his debut December 17th, then fourth on January 14th with Jose Ortiz aboard both times. On March 18th, with Castellano in the saddle for the first time, Arcangelo won by 3 ½ lengths.

Shipped to Belmont Park, Ebbert and Antonucci asked Arcangelo to take a giant step up in the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes, the traditional prep for the Belmont Stakes, May 13th. Arcangelo gamely edged Bishops Bay by a head after a protracted head-to-head stretch battle.

That presented Ebbert with a crucial decision. He had not kept Arcangelo eligible for the Triple Crown, but he could supplement him to the Belmont Stakes for $50,000, $15,000 more than he had paid to buy him.

Ebbert didn’t blink, putting up the $50,000 for a chance to win the final leg of the Triple Crown. “He made the money; we’re going to go for it; we’ve got faith in the horse,” Ebbert told Grening.

The faith was justified. Castellano’s flawless ride gave Ebbert his greatest victory. Arcangelo is now a key contender in the widest-open three-year-old division in many years with races such as the Grade 1 Travers Stakes on the horizon. 

His grandmother would have been very proud. 

Bing Bush - Abbondanza Racing and Philip Shelton - Medallion Racing

Article by Bill Heller

In racing partnerships, do opposites attract? If they’re successful, who cares? 

Bing Bush’s Abbondanza Racing and Philip Shelton of Medallion Racing have been cranking out graded stakes winning fillies the last six years, including Going to Vegas, who won consecutive runnings of the Gr. 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes in 2021 and 2022. 

“Bing is great—absolutely a first-class human being, a good friend,” Shelton said. “He’s got a lot of energy. I’m low key. It’s a good partnership.”

Bush agrees: “It’s been a sensational partnership. Phil is manager of Medallion. He’s extremely knowledgeable—a wonderful partner.”

They both started in Lexington, Kentucky, before traveling different roads to reach the same destination: the winner’s circle after major stakes in California.               

Bush, an incredibly affable fellow, remembers long mornings at his family’s five-acre farm: “Every morning: getting up, eating Cheerios, feeding the horses, cleaning the stalls, feeding the chickens, (in the winter) making sure the ice was broken, changing my clothes and getting on the school bus. I was usually up by 4:30 a.m.”

Bush and his close friend Glenn Graetz rode in 4-H and the pony club, hunters and jumpers. In his senior year at Lafayette High School, he galloped Thoroughbreds for trainer John Ward. He also galloped for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. “I think the best I ever got on was Polish Navy,” Bush said.

He didn’t stay on Polish Navy for long. “I thought I had a clock in my head,” Bush said. “The first time I breezed him was the last time I breezed him. I thought I went in :37 and change at Keeneland. He went so, so easily. I’m walking him back on the outside rail. I saw Shug walking to me. He said, `What the hell are you doing? You went in :35.’” 

Bush also galloped horses for Rusty Arnold but decided to become a lawyer, attending the University of Kentucky Law School. “After my first year, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a lawyer anymore,” Bush said. “I went to San Diego to see my sister. Her boyfriend had broken up with her. She was sad. I drove to her home. In one day, my whole life turned around. I went to La Jolla. I saw the cliffs. The water was blue. The sky was blue. I’ll never forget my next thought: `Oh, my god, I’m an American. I can move here.’”

He did, and he began galloping horses at the San Luis Rey Training Center. “After about a year, I was getting on 20 horses a day,” Bush said.

It was hard labor. “I was in the jacuzzi every day,” Bush said. “I thought I had to get back to law.”

Bush did, returning to the University of Kentucky, graduated and moved to San Diego: “I think it’s very special. I can walk to Del Mar. My favorite is going to the morning workouts. I just feel so blessed.”

His law career has flourished, winning cases in California, Arizona and Kentucky. His success allowed him to start Abbondanza Racing in 2012.

In 2016, Bush partnered with Nathan McCauley.  They had immediate success with their gelding Free Rose, a horse McCauley had bred who captured the 2016 Gr. 3 La Jolla and the Gr. 2 Del Mar Derby back-to-back. In his next start, he was second by a half-length in the Gr. 2 Twilight Derby. “Free Rose put us on the map,” Bush said.

On its website, Abbondanza Racing says it is committed to three things: bringing friends to experience and admire top-level horses racing together; economic sustainability for you and everyone involved, and giving back at least 1 percent of all purse money won to charity.

Abbondanza means ‘abundance” in Italian. Bush picked the name to honor his wife Jewels, who was half-Italian. “She was the love of my life,” Bush said. “She got cancer in 2019, and passed away in May. I was devastated. In November, I had a heart attack and nearly died.”

He survived and has fallen in love again. “I majored in philosophy in college, and I got a call from my philosophy professor,” Bush said. “It turned out, he had his niece, Aseel, visiting from Washington, D.C. She’s an architect. She’s beautiful, inside and out. We spent some time together. We saw each other a couple of times. When Covid hit, I convinced her to move to San Diego, where her family is. I truly believe Jewels sent her. This heart had been shattered into pieces. She is now my fiancée. It’s special. I really had a miracle in my life.”  

In that same year, he hooked up with McCauley, Bush teamed up with Shelton, who had begun Medallion Racing as an offshoot of Taylor Made Farm. Taylor Made will always be special to Philip, he began working there as a senior in high school in Lexington and periodically at the sales for them while in college.

His father, an attorney, owned a few cheap horses, exposing Shelton to horse racing. “I liked the gambling,” he said. “We’d go to Keeneland. When I was 12 or 13, I won a couple hundred dollars at the track. I started getting the Blood-Horse. I was already hooked.”

Later, he abandoned a career as a teacher and swimming coach to launch Medallion Racing on the advice of his wife, Taylor. Her maiden name was Keene, as in Keeneland, and their three-year-old son is named Keene. “She said, if I never pursue horses full-time, I’m going to regret it,” Shelton said.

He took her sage advice and began Medallion Racing. Abbondanza Racing advertises packages for new owners as low as $500. Medallion is different. “Our goal is to bring people into the highest level of racing,” Shelton said. “We’ve had 300 starts over the last six years, and about 23 ½ percent have been in Gr. 1’s. In 2021, we had four Breeders’ Cup starters: Bella Sophia, Going to Vegas, Horologist (also co-owned with Abbondanza) and Charmaine’s Mia. (Charmaine’s Mia was third in the Turf Sprint, and Bella Sophia fourth in the Filly & Mare Sprint). Last year, we just had Going to Vegas (she was 11th and 12th in the Filly & Mare Turf in 2021 and 2022). Bing is primarily in California. Our goal is to be nation-wide.”

Or international. “We took 22 clients to Royal Ascot,” Shelton said. “We want to leverage all the resources of Taylor Made to create an unmatched experience for all our partners.”

Trips to the winner’s circle after stakes races is a good inducement, and Bush and Shelton hit it out of the ballpark with their first horse in partnership: the Irish filly Goodyearforroses. She won three straight stakes beginning with the $90,000 Robert Frankel Stakes by 5 ¼ lengths on New Year’s Eve in 2016. She added on victories in the $79,000 Astra Stakes, and the Gr. 2 Santa Anna Stakes. After finishing fifth by 1 ¾ lengths in the Gr. 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, she returned to California, finishing second by a half-length to superstar Lady Eli in the Gr. 1 Gamely Stakes. “She’s in Lady Eli’s win photo,” Bush said. “I was never prouder to finish second.”

Going to Vegas has continued the partner’s success, winning nearly a million dollars through 2022.

“We focus on fillies and mares,” Shelton said. So far, their focus has been just fine.

Tim, Mark and Linda Cohen - Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal

Article by Bill Heller

Just one month after the Cohen family lost 89-year-old patriarch Jed Cohen, Dicey Mo Chara brought them back to the winner’s circle at Santa Anita, capturing the Gr. 2 San Gabriel Stakes. It was a familiar scene. Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal were the leading owners of the 18-day Santa Anita Autumn Meet with five victories. They were also the leading owners of the 2022 Santa Anita fall and winter meets, and dead-heated for first at the 2022 Del Mar meet with Nicholas b. Alexander.

California truly lost an impactful force when Jed passed.

“The San Gabriel was our first stakes win since he died,” Jed’s son Tim said. “It was really emotional—more than I thought it would be. You miss a good business partner. When he’s your father, it’s deeper. I know Jed would be happy for everyone.”

Tim’s grandfather, Harry, would have been happy, too. Harry, who lived in Long Beach, New York, would take Jed to the track. “He was just a fun-loving guy,” Tim Cohen said. “I was maybe 15 before he passed.”

Tim said his grandfather began betting at the track with three friends, who each chipped in fifty cents to make a $2 bet. “He’d go along with other people,” Tim said.

Tim’s father graduated from NYU with a law degree, but decided he didn’t want to be a lawyer. He had uncles living in California, and ventured there, becoming a successful investment banker. “He worked his way up,” Tim said. “He had a different perspective on things. He was a salmon. If everyone goes downstream, he was going up. That’s how he made a difference in investments.”

Jed was an advisor to Walter Heller, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors from 1961–64 who was an influential advisor to President John F. Kennedy.

Jed did well enough in business to follow through on his passion for horses and pass it forward to his sons, Tim and Mark, and his daughter Linda. In 1999, they purchased the historic, beautiful and multi-faceted 6,000-acre farm Rancho Temescal in eastern Ventura County—45 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Temescal is one of the oldest neighborhoods in North Oakland. The farm was founded on September 13, 1871.

The Cohens use it not only for Thoroughbreds, but also as a vibrant fruit farm, with 100 acres of avocado trees producing a million pounds of fruit a year— 100 acres of citrus trees yielding a half-million pounds of lemons and countless rows of blackberry vines. Another part of the farm is used for movie, TV and commercial locations, which has been used in the 2022 movie Babylon starring Brad Pitt, the TV series Westworld and CSI, and boasts a guest book that Tom Cruise once signed. As if that wasn’t enough, the family owns and operates a pizza restaurant in nearby Piru. “It keeps me busy,” Tim laughed. “Every now and then, I get to go to the races.”

Tim, who is 56, switched careers nearly 25 years ago. “I used to manage luxury hotels and restaurants. Now I manage luxury horse facilities,” he told Dan Ross in his March 4, 2019 story in the Thoroughbred Daily News. “What I knew about water and dirt was don’t bring the dirt in the house, and water went well with Scotch.”

Tim elaborated: “I went to school for business, Northern Arizona, that had a hotel and restaurant program. I did that for 15 years. I worked for Hilton and the Kimpton Group.”

How happy is he now that he changed careers? “I’m extremely glad we did it,” he said.” I always enjoy new tasks, new adventures. This was an opportunity to do something significant. It worked out well.”

And he got to see Tom Cruise, who was filming a movie, and Brad Pitt. “Our staff is always with them,” Tim said. “It’s a little disruptive. I always say it’s like your mother-in-law. You’re glad they came, but you’re happier when they leave. It can be a lot of work.”

Hard work never deterred his dad. “He ran hard,” Tim said. “He enjoyed his life. He was passionate. He was loyal.”

Then he got tired after battling diseases in his final years. “Most people would have given up years earlier,” Tim said. “His will kept him going longer than most. He was a fighter. He eventually wore out.”  

Riley Cofer was Jed’s first trainer. “He was his trainer for a long time,” Tim said. “Then Darrel Vienna. When Darrell retired (in June, 2016), I basically stepped in and took over the management and acquisition for horses.”

When Jed passed on November 27, Vienna shared his thoughts with Thoroughbred Daily News: “He was the perfect owner. If a horse needed rest, he absolutely was, `Let’s do the best by the horse.’ After I retired from training, we kept in close contact. We spoke regularly about life and politics. I’ll miss having access to his wisdom and his kindness. He was an exceptional listener. He was always paying attention. He was just a unique, extraordinary person. He’s a big loss to horse racing but an even bigger loss to anyone who knew him.”

Dicey Mo Chara’s trainer Leonard Powell was touched by Jed, too: “Jed Cohen was a patriarch. Jed always gave you confidence you were doing the right thing. He was always pushing you to do better. His trust was very satisfying. We really felt like we were working as a team. Tim and his family are continuing what Jed was doing. They love the game, and, hopefully, we have continued success.”

The Cohens use five trainers to handle their 65 horses: Powell, Jeff Mullens, Mark Glatt, Phil D’Amato and Michael McCarthy.

Tim will carry on his father’s legacy. “I love it,” he said. “It’s been a wonderful bonding experience. We’ll carry on in some form.”

The bar has been set really high. Their top horses include newly turned three-year-old Packs a Wahlop, who won the Gr. 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf and the Gr. 3 Zuma Beach Stakes by 2 ¾ lengths on October 9. Previously, they have campaigned Gr. 1 winners Janet, River Boyne and two-time Gr. 1 winner Dr. Schivel.

Tim was asked what his grandfather might think of all their success and their spectacular Rancho Temecula: “I think he would shake his head and wouldn’t believe it.”    

Celebrating breeders - Tom Egan - the owner breeder of NY bred superstar - Red Knight

Words by Bill Heller

Winning a stakes race, let alone a graded stakes, is a thrill for any Thoroughbred owner. But what if you also bred that horse? That’s special—literally choosing the mating, then deciding to keep him rather than sell him at auction, and waiting a year or two to race him.

Now imagine—with just 151 career starts as an owner of 14 Thoroughbreds—that horse was the last one you own after 50 years of loving, working with and racing horses. 

Like every other owner, 75-year-old Tom Egan was told never to fall in love with his horses. He couldn’t help himself with Red Knight, a remarkable eight-year-old gelding who returned from an 11-month layoff to capture the $156,000 Colonial Cup at Colonial Downs and the $694,180 Gr. 2 Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes at Kentucky Downs by a nose. 

“Red is my last horse,” Egan said. “I’m very close to him.”

He just wishes his wife Jaye, who died December 30, 2016, at the age of 53 after a brave, 17-year battle with breast cancer, was with him to enjoy Red Knight’s success. “Racing isn’t the same without her. Marriage isn’t the same. We accomplished so much more than we could have hoped. My wife was such a beautiful person. Shared joy is better than joy.”

They met in July 1990. “I took her, with much trepidation, to Saratoga,” he said. “I thought, `Is she going to like it? What if she thinks it’s silly?’”

She thought it was wonderful. “Man, she loved it, she wanted to get there before the first race and stay until after the ninth.” 

Egan’s interest in Thoroughbreds traces back to his father, Lester, an attorney in Hartford, Connecticut, who loved gambling and horse racing. “My dad was primarily a tax attorney; to me, it was too boring.”

Egan, who now lives in Ocala, also became an attorney after attending the University of Hartford and Quinnipiac Law School. “I did personal injury, criminal law and eminent domain.”

Asked if he enjoyed it, Egan said, “There were only two things wrong with the practice of law: judges and clients.”

Mostly retired now, he said he’s a “recovering attorney.” A couple of long-time clients still use his services.

Egan’s first visit to a racetrack came in 1971 at Rockingham. He then attended Suffolk Downs before visiting Saratoga and Belmont Park. In 1976, he took a job working as a hot-walker and groom at a farm in Massachusetts, then with John Russell, who was training for the powerful Phipps Stable.

But he didn’t stick to racing, attending law school and beginning a career.

His first horse was a pleasure horse, Rebel, in 1970. “I rode him on weekends. He did what I wanted him to do: run fast and true.”

Egan’s first Thoroughbred was Shadow, a grandson of Forward Pass. Egan began riding jumpers with him. “I got up to 3-foot-3. Shadow could jump 4-9.”

More than 30 years later, with the love of his life in hand, he plunged into Thoroughbred ownership—modestly. He decided to race and breed under the name of Trinity Stable, even though there is no stable nor farm. The 250-year-old Trinity Church behind his house was his inspiration.

In 2003, the Egans purchased the dam Isabel Away, a daughter of Horse of the Year Skip Away, at the Keeneland Sale, for $60,000. “My wife saw the mare and said that we just had to have her. I think the first thing she liked was her color, but upon closer examination, she really liked her an awful lot. When I saw her in the back walking ring before she went out to the sales ring, she was just very classy and composed. At that point, I said, `Yeah, sounds good.’”

Though she won just one of 11 lifetime starts, she would produce two New York-bred geldings who have combined to win more than $1.8 million. And Red Knight isn’t done racing. 

The following April, the Egans were at Keeneland for the spring meet. “We  met a trainer, and he said, `Ninety-five percent of owners get involved because of status.’ My wife calmly looked at him and said, `We’ve been here three days. We had no seats; we don’t know anybody, and we’ve had a lovely time.’”

Ten years later, the older of the two brothers, Macagone (pronounced Ma-ka-gon), a speedy son of Artie Schiller, took the Egans on quite a run. After being claimed away from the Egans for $40,000 on June 27, 2018, Macagone continued racing until the age of nine, finishing with 11 victories, six seconds and eight thirds from 47 starts with earnings of $654,981.

Identifying Macagone was easier than pronouncing his name correctly. “Tom Durkin, the greatest race caller ever, even got it wrong. I had a couple of friends talk to him about the pronunciation. He couldn’t get it. I was in downtown Saratoga at an Italian designer’s shop one morning and I was admiring one sports jacket. The owner of the store said he had made it for Tom Durkin, and he was picking it up the next morning. I put a note in his jacket with the horse’s name. Tom pronounced it correctly every time after that.”

Egan called Macagone “...a cool horse; he reminded me of Sonny Liston in the paddock—a bay with no white markings. He had that look about him: `I’m here, I know what I’m doing, and I’m going to kick your ass.’ He beat some very good horses.”

For the Egans, Macagone captured the stakes named for his sire, the Artie Schiller at Aqueduct, by three-quarters of a length at 34-1. Announcer John Imbriale made the call, “A son of Artie Schiller wins the Artie Schiller at 34-1!” Macagone also won consecutive runnings of the Danger’s Hour Stakes at Aqueduct before finishing third in it. After he was claimed, Macagone set a then track record at Saratoga, winning a one-mile New York-bred allowance in 1:33.13 on the Inner Turf Course.

Red Knight, a son of Pure Prize trained originally by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, put together a successful career in his first four years of racing, taking the 2020 Gr.  3 Sycamore at Keeneland  and finishing second by a half-length a month later in the Gr. 3 Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct. 

Egan, acting on a tip from a friend, found out Red Knight loved raw, sliced sweet potatoes. “They’re palatable to the stomach of a horse,” Tom said. “A friend of mine suggested it.”

At the age of seven last year, Red Knight finished second in the Gr. 3 Louisville at Churchill Downs but didn’t hit the board in five other starts.

Egan decided to give him a long break and switch trainers. “It took him 11 months to get healthy,” Tom said. “I called Mike Maker. I said, `You don’t know me, but you might know my horse, Red Knight.’ He said, `Oh, yes I do.”

Maker has obviously done a splendid job with Red Knight, who in two starts has made 2022 Tom’s highest single-season in earnings. Red Knight’s success gave Egan a problem, a good problem to have: should he supplement Red Knight to the Gr. 1 $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf for $100,000?

“I’m never going to have that problem again,” Egan said. 

Either way, Egan has already been working with his good friend, Laura Fonde, a hunter-jumper rider, to transition Red Knight to a successful and meaningful second career. “He’s never going to be happy just standing out there in a field.”

He knows his horse, who has 10 victories, eight seconds and one third from 29 starts with earnings of more than $1.2 million. Earlier this year, he knew his horse wasn’t done racing at its highest level. If not, he would have retired him. “I could tell that he still had it in him.”

Tom Egan knew. Maybe Jaye Egan did too.

Patrick O’Keefe - Kentucky West Racing

Article by Bill Heller

Growing up in Ogden, Utah, Patrick O’Keefe never saw a racetrack. But it didn’t prevent him from falling in love with a horse. 

Patrick did bond with his father through railroads. “I’m a two-generation railroad worker,” he said. “My dad worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. I worked there while I was going to college at the University of Utah. Just before I graduated, he had a heart attack and died. My railroad career ended at that point. So I hooked up with a good friend, Dennis Bullock. I loved golf. We went looking for a property to build a golf course. We looked all over the country. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a lot of energy.”

Their search took them to Bear Lake, Idaho, near the southeast border of Idaho and Utah, and Patrick liked what he saw. They found the property owner and made a deal. “I gave him $10 down,” Patrick said. “I had to come up with $2,000.”

He did. They built a golf and country club, and then sold some 1,000 lots on the property. “I was pretty good at sales,” Patrick said.

On a fateful day, one of Patrick’s buddies from home, Wayne Call, paid a visit. He’d moved to the east and was back visiting family. “He lived right next to me in Ogden,” Patrick said. “His dad worked for Union Pacific.” Wayne, who had worked in bloodstock and trained a few horses, told Patrick he thought Bear Lake would be a great place to raise Thoroughbreds. Patrick told Wayne he thought it was too cold to raise horses but Wayne told him the cold kills parasites and limits disease. In Ray Paulick’s February 2022, story in the Paulick Report, Patrick said, “We have good water and several hundred acres, so I said I’d give it a try. I was dumb as a post. I had no background in racing whatever.”

So he leaned on Wayne and they took off for a nearby off-track betting facility in Evanston, Wyoming. “Wayne told me to look for a mare that’s won a lot of races that had good breeding,” Patrick said. He settled on Rita Rucker, a granddaughter of Danzig who’d won 21 races, including four stakes and earned $249,767. Her last start was in a $16,500 claimer, and Patrick got her for $7,500.

Patrick chose Kentucky West Racing—a courtesy to Wayne who once owned a hotel named Frontier West—as a stable name and bred Rita Rucker to Thunder Gulch. Patrick decided to raise the foal on his farm in Bear Lake. “My ranch is 200 acres,” he said. “We fenced a paddock. We had a little manger—a lean-to. When they unloaded Rita Rucker, she was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

Rita Rucker foaled a filly. Patrick named her Private World, fitting his farm’s secluded area. “I’d drive up to the ranch two or three times a day,” Patrick said. “She’d see me coming and start to run along the fence line. That was her. She just loved to run.”

One snowy evening, she ran away. “Lots of snow, and I came to watch her one night,” Patrick said. “The fence was broken, and she was gone. My ranch adjoins the National Forest. What happened was an elk got through the fence to go after my feed. I saddled another horse and got a lariat. She was at the top of the mountain. I worked my way up to the top of the mountain. It was snowing. It was amazing. It took me hours to get her.”

But he did. “She was just a yearling,” Patrick said. “I built a barn for her.”

When it was time to find a trainer, a friend recommended Bob Hess, Jr. Hess and Patrick quickly discovered they had a talented two-year-old filly. Private World won her first three starts, a maiden race at Del Mar, an ungraded stakes at Santa Anita and the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes at Hollywood Park.

“I’m offered a million and a half after the race,” Patrick said. He didn’t take long to say ‘no.’ “Let me tell you something, I was in love with that horse,” Patrick said. “I was in love with her from the day she was born. I just figured that this horse was going to be the start of something fantastic.”

Her next race was anything but. In the Gr. 1 Hollywood Starlet, Private World tired to finish last—11th by 20 ¼ lengths. She then finished second in a $96,000 stakes and fourth in an $83,000 stakes. She had posted three victories and one second in six starts and earned $166,058.

She never raced again. “She ran through an iron fence and broke her leg,” Patrick said. “I didn’t have any insurance. I lost her for racing, and I thought we would have to put her down.”

Patrick brought her back to Bear Lake, and she slowly recovered. “I spent months with her,” he said. “I hauled in bale after bale of straw. I slept in the barn with her. I bawled my eyes out for a month. I told her as long as she’s alive, I would stay in the business.”

He meant it, and now, at the age of 80, his business is thriving with a partner, Clarke Cooper. After Private World recovered, Patrick bred her to Giant’s Causeway and was rewarded with the three-year-old speedy colt Classic Causeway, who took Patrick and Clarke on a heck of a Triple Crown ride, capturing the Gr. 3 Sam F. Davis and the Gr. 2 Tampa Bay Derby for trainer Brian Lynch.

After Classic Causeway finished 11th in both the Gr.1 Florida Derby and the Gr. 1 Kentucky Derby, Patrick and Clarke switched trainers to Kenny McPeek. In his first start for his new trainer, the Gr. 3 Ohio Derby, Classic Causeway fought on the front end before weakening to third.

McPeek thought Classic Causeway would handle turf, and he gave his new horse quite the challenge: the mile-and-a-quarter Gr. 1 Belmont Derby at Belmont Park July 9. Sent off at 26-1 under Julien Leparoux, Classic Causeway went wire-to-wire, winning by three-quarters of a length. Subsequent good races, thirds in the Gr. 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational and the Gr. 3 Jockey Club Derby Invitational, leaves his connections plenty of options in a promising future.

Private World has since foaled a colt and a filly weanling by Justify, and she’s in foal to Maximum Security. “We’re loaded; we’re loaded with potential,” Patrick said. “I didn’t take the money when I needed it. I just wanted to go on this journey and see where it takes us.”

On August 31, the journey took him to a destination he’d never envisioned growing up in Ogden, Utah. He was named the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association September Member of the Month. And he knows who to thank.

Asked what he thinks of when someone says “Private World,” he said, “I think of love.”   

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.”

Frank Di Giulio, Jr.

By Bill Heller

“Patience” and “Thoroughbred” don’t belong in the same sentence, but prominent Canadian owner, breeder and industry leader Frank Di Giulio Jr., has it ingrained. His father, a life-long racing fan, waited until he was 71 to buy his first Thoroughbred, Truganini, on April 1, 1981 at Greenwood. “He was a four-year-old, $5,000 maiden claimer,” Frank Jr. said. “He won the day he claimed him, won his next two starts and got claimed for $7,500. My dad was mad when he got claimed.”

He shouldn’t have been. Truganini never won again, losing his final 21 starts.

Five years later, Frank Jr. got his first horse at half his father’s age when he teamed with his father to claim Sacred Rite for $6,260 on October 24, 1986. The Di Giulios had to wait 5 ½ months for Sacred Rite to locate the winner’s circle at Woodbine by a head. “The first win—it was great,” Frank Jr., now 60, said. “I remember dreaming about horses when I was a kid. As a teen, looking at claimers I couldn’t afford, I always wanted to name my own horse. You can’t do that when you claim one.”

This one they claimed, Sacred Rite, mirrored Truganini’s career, losing his final 16 starts. He was claimed away from the Di Giulios for $6,250, then lost his final 12 races.

The lack of success didn’t faze Frank Sr. who had emigrated to Toronto (Canada) in 1923. “He was originally a barber, then got into real estate,” Frank Jr. said. “He loved going to the track with his buddies. That rubbed off on me. I went to the track for the first time when I was 10.”

Frank, now 60, followed his father into the property management business and became one of the most successful Canadian owners and breeders. He has served as a director of the Ontario Division of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society the last 26 years, and was named one of the “Top 25 Influencers in Canadian Thoroughbred Racing 2020,” by Canadian Thoroughbred magazine. 

Four-and-a-half decades later, Frank Jr. and his four partners in Entourage Stable purchased a yearling for $30,000. Frank Jr. had the opportunity to name this yearling, but it was one of his partners, Ed Longo, who came up with the name of Pink Lloyd, taken from the character Lloyd on the TV show “Entourage” and the rock band, Pink Lloyd.

Pink Lloyd winning the 2017 Kenora Stakes at Woodbine, a race he would go on to win again in 2018 and 2019

Pink Lloyd looked like he had a lot of talent but couldn’t make it into the starting gate. He would require a ton of patience.

“That was frustrating,” Pink Lloyd’s Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Bob Tiller said. “It was one thing after another. He came up lame as a yearling. We had to stop with him all the time. A hock. A bad shin as a three-year-old. Dead lame. We had to give him enough time to get over that. Then he had a muscle issue behind.

“I always believe in stopping with a horse when he has an issue. We knew he could run. When he worked, all he wanted to do was run by horses. He just loved chasing horses and going by them.”

Tiller dearly wanted to see this promising horse make it to the track. “I had the right owners to let me be patient. I’ve trained exclusively for the Di Giulios for 40 years. I started with his dad. They’re wonderful people. The management of this horse was outstanding.”

Waiting wasn’t easy for Frank Jr. “It was a frustrating thing,” he said. “He’d work a couple times. Something came up. Go to the farm. Come back. Nagging things, pulled muscle behind, a shin. All different things. Bob always really liked him. He didn’t run until late August in his four-year-old year. I never looked forward to a first start more than that with him.”

Man, was he worth the wait. This remarkable gelding won his first start in a sparkling 1:09 at Woodbine on the way to a three-race win streak to begin his career. Five years later, he finished his career with a three-race winning streak, taking his finale in the Gr. 2 Kennedy Road Stakes at Woodbine in 1:08 4/5. In between, he had an 11-race winning streak, which led him to be named 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year, and another five-race win streak.

“It’ll be another 100 years before you see another one like him—as good at 9 as he was at 4,” Tiller said.

Pink Lloyd had three victories, a second and a third in five starts in the Kennedy Road Stakes. He had four victories and one second in five tries in the Gr. 3 Vigil Stakes; and he posted three victories, including a track record and one second in four appearances in the Gr. 3 Jacques Cartier Stakes.

Frank Di Giulio Jr with wife Jennifer and children Luke and Olivia

His final numbers were 29 victories, including 26 stakes, three seconds and two thirds in 37 races and earnings of $1,884,584. All but his first three career starts were in stakes.

He never competed in the Breeders’ Cup, never raced in a Gr. 1 and never raced out of Canada. “He  liked it here,” Frank Jr. said. “He was kind of high strung when he was younger. He had a special stall lined in rubber because he liked to kick. There were a lot of people saying, `Run him in the U.S. and try the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. I said, `No.’ We were never really tempted. It paid off with six years of racing. It was all at the highest level.”

Along the way, Pink Lloyd was dubbed “The People’s Horse.” “I think people really liked him,” Frank Jr. said. “I do believe he had a fanbase. People did cheer for him.”

They could have cheered for his connections. “He retired sound,” Frank Jr. said. “He could have run this year.”

Frank Jr. was delighted to share Pink Lloyd’s career with his two children, 27-year-old Olivia, a teacher, and 24-year-old Luc, a financial analyst.

The Di Giulio’s decided to share Pink Lloyd’s retirement with the public, sending him to the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society in Erin, Ontario—the home of more than 50 retired Thoroughbreds. He was treated like a rock star when he arrived there December 8th. The farm’s manager, Lauren Millet-Simpson, said, “The second he walked off the trailer, he struck a pose. He's a true professional. It will be cool to work with a horse like that.”

Frank Jr. said, “It’s great for us because we’re fairly close, and it’s a good draw for them. It’s a win-win for everybody.”

Asked in early January how much he misses Pink Lloyd, Frank Jr. said, “Right now, it’s just the off-season. He wouldn’t have been running. I’ll miss him a lot more once the season starts. He was a once-in-a-lifetime.”

Thanks to his patient handling. 

Calvin Nguyen

Calvin Nguyen grew up around animals on a farm in Vietnam. “I hung around the farm with livestock, but we didn’t have any horses,” he said. He would.

During the Vietnam War, Calvin’s father—a very religious Catholic—was a high-ranking officer working with the American forces stationed in Guam. “When he realized the South [Vietnam] was losing, he captained a ship to go back and get my mom and us,” Calvin said. “That’s how he was captured. He tried to get his family out. He was in prison for 10 years.”

Though he was only a child with three siblings, he felt the pressure of daily life of his family after Saigon fell, ending the war. “Vietnam was an oppressive country,” he said. “It was a Communist country, so my mom had arranged for us to get out for a better future.”

She did, but it took years.

Calvin’s mother tried to visit her husband. “She was denied many times,” Calvin said. “He was moved around a lot. She didn’t know if he was alive. Five, six years after his capture, she was allowed to visit him. He was in a labor camp. They tried to re-educate him to be a Communist.”

His father resisted.

Calvin was eight when his family came to America without Calvin’s imprisoned father. “The U.S. Catholic Church sponsored us, and we lived in Tallahassee, Florida,” Calvin said. “Then my uncle found out we had relatives in Southern California.” They settled in Anaheim.

Back in Vietnam, Calvin’s father’s health deteriorated so badly, they thought he was going to die. “They released him in 1985,” Calvin said. “He didn’t come to the U.S. for another five years.” When he did, his health returned. “Miraculously, he recovered,” Calvin said.

Calvin had seen pictures of his father, but meeting him was a whole different experience. “It was awkward,” Calvin said. “I really didn’t know him. I didn’t know who he was. I grew up in America and culturally, I was into certain things. My father was very religious. He had an interesting life. I was grateful to spend 30 years with him. He passed away a couple years ago. He was almost 80.”

Bob and Jackie and jockey Jose Valdivia Jr after winning the 2021 San Gabriel Stakes on opening day at Santa Anita Park

Calvin attended Western High School in Anaheim, and was two years ahead of classmate Tiger Woods. “I got to meet him,” Calvin said. “My best friend in high school was on the golf team. I don’t know if he remembers me. He was already a known figure.”

In Calvin’s senior year, he and a friend, Scott, wanted to go out on Friday night to see a California Angels’ game and watch one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, Nolan Ryan. “He was on his farewell tour,” Calvin said. “I was a big baseball fan,” Calvin said. “I loved Nolan Ryan.”

He had to love him from afar. The game sold out. “And back then, the Angels never sold out,” Calvin said. 

Now what? Scott said, “Let’s go to the racetrack.” Los Alamitos was just a few miles away. Calvin, who had never been to a track, was mesmerized: “I saw the horses. I saw the attention. A lot of people attended the races then. The roaring of the crowd, the disappointment when your horse lost, a lot of emotion. These majestic animals. I fell in love right there. I just fully enjoyed it. I liked all sports, boxing, basketball, football. Seeing these horses—they are so majestic in how they move.”

Owning a horse seemed highly unlikely. “I was 18. I grew up poor. But you dream.”

Calvin pursued his education, graduating from UCLA with a degree in economics and accounting. He considered becoming a doctor: “My intention was to go back to school and get my Master’s, but I never did it. I worked in insurance and in finance. I was just trying to find my way—something I was interested in.”

A single conversation changed his life. “I met a client who was buying nutrition products from Price Club and shipping it to China,” Calvin said. “I said, `You’re buying retail, and you can make money?’ He said, `Yes.’ I said, `What if I can source it out for you?’ He was buying 5,000 bottles of Vitamin C. I reached out to the manufacturer, and this guy’s volume was so high, they would deal directly with me. I was able to do that. If he was paying $10, I could get it for $6 and sell it to him for $7 or $8. Then I said, `What if we start making our products?’ We started to make products.”

Calvin founded and now serves as CEO of GMP Products, more than 25 years later. “I enjoy it, using my college tools and dealing with people,” he said. “It’s given me a good life.”

And disposable income.

Calvin, connections, and trainer Richie Baltas (far right) after Bob and Jackie’s San Gabriel win

Calvin was back at Los Alamitos, hanging out with George Baltas, whose brother Richie trains. When Calvin mentioned possibly buying a horse, George said, “You should talk to my brother.”

Calvin did, and on June 10, 1999, Calvin and Richie claimed a maiden, Freedom Crest, for $32,000. The gelding was second by a neck that day, then finished 5th, 10th, 2nd and 3rd before winning a maiden $40,000 claimer. He was on his way to 13 consecutive finishes in the money, capped by a three-length victory in the Gr. 2 San Pasqual Handicap, June 7, 2001. After Freedom Crest won the Gr. 2 Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap, Freedom Crest shipped to Belmont Park to contest the Gr. 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic. He was 13th by 33 lengths to two-time Horse of the Year Tiznow. Freedom Crest finished his career seven-for-31, eight seconds, four thirds and nearly $650,000 in earnings—not bad for a maiden $32,000 claimer.

Richie took a 4 ½ year hiatus from training on his own from 2008 through the middle of 2012. When he returned, the trainer who had Calvin’s horses, James Kasparoff, decided to take a job with Santa Anita. He’s now the stakes director there. Calvin reunited with Richie. “We got back together,” Richie said. “He’s pretty loyal, which I love about him. We got back together, and he’s spending a lot of money.”

Idol was worth his yearling purchase price of $375,000. Now five, Idol finished second by a half-length in the 2020 Gr. 2 San Antonio Stakes, then third in the Gr. 2 San Pasqual. Then, on March 7, 2021, Idol won the Gr. 1 Santa Anita Handicap by a half-length.

“It was a surreal moment,” Calvin said. “To win that type of race was an incredible feeling. I hadn’t been to a racetrack in more than a year because of COVID. That was the first weekend they allowed owners to attend. No fans. My wife and two daughters were there. They made it more special. I still can’t believe it.”

Idol was training for last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic when he strained a muscle in his butt. “We couldn’t put him like that in that kind of a race,” Calvin said. “We decided to give him time off. He started galloping two weeks ago.”

His absence was eased by Bob and Jackie—a $195,000 purchase who made an auspicious first dirt start last December 26th, capturing the Gr. 2 San Gabriel when it came off the turf. On grass, he had finished fourth, third and second in a Gr. 2 stakes and second in a Gr. 3.

Idol and Bob and Jackie are the stars of Calvin’s 12-horse stable. When asked his goals, he said, “Just to have fun, [we] try to compete at the highest level. We don’t win all the time, but it’s what I like to do. Hopefully, we have another moment like Idol winning the Big Cap. That’s what you’re in this for. It’s indescribable.”

Frank Fletcher Jr.

By Bill Heller

How can you not like owner Frank Fletcher Jr., a man who names all of his Thoroughbreds for his dog Rocket? Especially when one of them, Lady Rocket, whom he owns with Ten Strike Racing, takes off at Aqueduct December 4th, winning the Gr. 3 Go for Wand Stakes by nine lengths. That was another thrill for Frank Fletcher, whose whole life has been thrills, successes and philanthropy.

When you marry the captain of the cheerleaders, work for and with Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, and count your fraternity brother at the University of Arkansas, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as a close friend, you know you’ve done well in life. The fact that he is a major contributor to Toys for Tots, Easter Seals and the Make-A-Wish Foundation tells you all you need to know of his character.

He has prospered in restaurants, automobile dealerships, hotels and horses, frequently working like a dog to achieve success. He’s not averse to taking chances. Hell, he got into trouble with his father once for piloting his Cessna 172 plane without permission. He was 14. 

“The successful entrepreneurs are the people willing to take risks,” he said in a 2013 interview.

Maybe it’s because people took a risk with him, adopting him as a baby in Little Rock. He was raised as an only child and has spent an entire lifetime making his parents proud.

Before he was a big man in business, Frank was a big guy in the seventh grade: six-feet-four. He helped his basketball team win a state championship and also played football until the 10th grade when he had three teeth knocked out in practice.

By then, he’d already set a rigorous work pattern, working in a cotton gin after school and on weekends. He hit it off with Judy Hamm, the captain of the Pine Bluff High School cheerleading squad, when he let her borrow his car to ride in a parade. They married and have two children, Chris and Jerilynn and three grandsons, Jacob, Sam and Adam.

At the University of Arkansas, Frank joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and met Jones, who would later lead him into owning Thoroughbreds.

Fletcher served in the Army Reserves, then took two jobs, working at a bank from 8 to 5, and then at a pizza place from 5:30 to midnight.

Then Frank landed a job selling paint for DuPont, which led him to Sam Walton. Frank tried selling him 300 gallons of paint, and he only wanted 50. He said it was too costly. Frank called headquarters, and they agreed to let Walton have four months to pay. That did it.

Two years later, Walton made Frank a manufacturer’s representative. Like everything else in his life, he went full throttle, arriving at 5:30 a.m. and working until 9 p.m.

Everything was great until Walmart decided to deal with manufacturers directly instead of through reps. Walton suggested Frank start manufacturing products Walmart would buy, and that’s exactly what Frank did. He rented a garage and began making lamps.

His success doing that led him to getting involved with a breakfast investment club, a Hilton hotel in North Little Rock and, ultimately, car dealerships. Fletcher Auto Group now has 10 dealerships in Arkansas and Missouri.

When Jones bought the Cowboys, Frank started traveling frequently to Dallas. He said Jones convinced him to bet $2,000 to win on a Thoroughbred that Jones owned. The horse finished fourth. Frank kept the faith, bet on the horse again, and he won. “I was hooked,” he said.

Lady Rocket winning the Gr3 Go for Wand Stakes by 9 length at Aqueduct

He initially hired Bob Holthus to train his horses, and he won his first race with Boss Man Rocket in 1989. He had subsequent success with Son of Rocket, who was third in the 2001 Gr. 1 Arkansas Derby, Rocket Twentyone, who won the 2013 Gr. 3 Arlington Washington Lassie, and Frank’s Rockette, who captured three straight graded stakes in 2020: the Gr. 3 Victory Ride, Gr. 2 Prioress and Gr. 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap.   

His long list of awards includes the 2011 Sales and Marketing Executive International Arkansas Top Manager of the Year. In 2013, he was inducted into the Walton Business Hall of Fame at the University of Arkansas. Three years later, he was presented with the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

With Jerry Jones, Frank founded the Students Acquiring Knowledge through Experience program at the Sam Walton College, which provides college students with real-life, hands-on experience with businesses. It’s a head start for the students’ careers and cements Frank’s contributions to the American dream, the one he lived.    

Robert and Lawana Low AND John Sondereker

By Bill Heller

Robert and Lawana Low – Colonel Liam

Long ago in business, Robert Low found that success is much more appreciated if it follows disappointment. That’s what happened with his now massive truck company, Prime Inc., in Springfield, Mo. The business he started by buying a single dump truck when he was a 19-year-old attending the University of Missouri, prospered, tanked and recovered three years later to the point that it now has a fleet of more than 21,000 vehicles, approximately 10,000 employees, a gross revenue of $2.2 billion, and in January 2020, was recognized as one of the Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For by Carrier’s Edge/TCA for the fourth consecutive year.

“About 1980, we went flat broke,” he said. “We spent 3 ½ years in Chapter 11. We then built the business model that is successful today. I think if the success continued from the 1970s to now, I would have been spoiled, unappreciative and somewhat arrogant. I learned my lesson. I learned it well.”

With Thoroughbreds, he spent $1.2 million to purchase his gray, four-year-old colt Colonel Liam as a two-year-old-in-training in April 2019. “We thought we were buying a Derby horse,” Low said.

Instead, Colonel Liam got a late start, finishing second in a maiden race last April 14, when he was placed first on a disqualification, then a distant third on a sloppy track in an allowance race. “He was an expensive two-year-old-in-training,” Low said. “You’re disappointed.”

His trainer, Todd Pletcher, said, “He has more than what he’s showing. We’re going to give him a shot on turf in an allowance race.”

Bingo. “He was like a different horse,” Low said. “He took off. He’s very comfortable on the turf surface—how he moves.”

On January 23 at Gulfstream Park, Colonel Liam moved into a new status, taking the $1 million Gr1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational by a neck over his stable-mate in the Pletcher barn, Largent. “This is just unreal,” Low said after the race. “It’s fantastic. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

It’s a feeling he shared with his wife of 48 years, Lawana—and sweethearts since the fifth grade in Urbana, Mo. Robert lived on a farm. “She lived in town,” he said. “When I rode my horse in the Christmas parade, we flirted.”

She loved horses, too. “They’re wonderful owners,” Pletcher said. “They love the sport, and they love their horses.”

Robert not only grew up with horses on his family’s farm, but he’d accompany his parents—both racing fans—on trips to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. He’d ride his horses against neighboring farms’ kids “on hard-gravel roads. Asked if he was a rider, he replied, “I was more of a cowboy.”

In college, he took a mighty risk buying a dump truck, which led to an open-road truck, then other trucks—lots of other trucks. “You have to do it when you’re young and dumb,” he said. “In my case, it was really a lot of luck involved, a lot of hard work involved.”

When the prime interest shot higher, he was suddenly in trouble. “I made a million dollars in 1979, and I went into bankruptcy in 1980,” he said.

He is so thankful that Lawana helped him through that rough period of his life. “God bless her,” he said. “My wife has stuck with me through thick and thin.”

When his business returned healthier than ever, Robert and Lawanda went after their dreams. “We bought just a couple of mares at first, because we always had a dream of having a breeding farm,” he said. Now, the Lows have a 330-acre farm, home to dozens of their horses.

His first star was Capote Belle, an incredibly quick filly who won the Gr1 Test Stakes at Saratoga in 1996, for trainer Daniel Peitz and jockey John Velazquez. “We were over the moon,” Robert said. “An historic track. We’re country folks. We had our friends with us. We closed down a few places that night. I think it was Johnny V’s first Gr1 win at Saratoga.”

Capote Belle finished nine-for-22 with more than $600,000 in purses.

With Todd Pletcher as their trainer, the Lows had another highlight when their Magnum Moon won the Gr2 Rebel Stakes and the Gr1 Arkansas Derby in 2018, making him four-for-four in his career. “That was the thrill of our lives because Oaklawn has been a part of our lives for so long,” Robert said. “It’s not Saratoga, but it’s got a lot of ambiance.”

Magnum Moon’s next start was his last. He finished 19th in the Kentucky Derby, and he was retired after suffering an injury while training at Belmont Park in June 2018. The following October, he had to be euthanized after battling laminitis.

The Lows have another outstanding runner trained by Pletcher: Sweet Melania, a four-year-old filly who has won three of nine starts, including a Gr2 and a Gr3 stakes, with two seconds, three thirds and earnings topping $400,000. Just as Colonel Liam did, Sweet Melania made her first two starts on dirt, finishing third twice. On turf, she turned into a star. “We’re looking forward to her return,” Robert said.

Irad Ortiz Jr. and Colonel Liam after winning the 2021 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational.

Colonel Liam’s improvement on grass was striking. He won his grass debut—a maiden race at Saratoga—by 2 ¾ lengths. His next start was in the $500,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational last August 15. He had a brutal trip, getting “bumped hard at the break and pinched,” according to his comment line in the Daily Racing Form, then rallied strongly to finish fourth, losing by just three-quarters of a length.

“He had trouble,” Robert said. “He got bumped very hard at the start. Then he was behind a lot of horses. But he only got beat by three-quarters of a length. With a little luck, he would have won that race.”

Pletcher decided to give Colonel Liam a break and point to the Pegasus Turf. In his four-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park in the $75,000 Tropical Park Derby on December 30, he won going away by 2 ¼ lengths. In the Pegasus, he went off the favorite, and he delivered.

He is the star of the Lows’ stable, which numbers about 60 including 16 broodmares, 14 yearlings, 19 juveniles and 12 horses with Pletcher, Peitz and Steve Margolis.

”I am living the dream,” Robert said. “For a small-farm kid, it’s been quite a ride. I’ve been very fortunate.”

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John Sondereker – Kiss Today Goodbye

Sixty years ago, John Sondereker got a taste of the tantalizing possibilities racing can offer. He was 18 and in his third year working for trainer Jerry Caruso at Ascot Park, a small track in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Because Caruso knew Ohio-based Jack and Katherine Price—the trainer, owner and breeder of Carry Back—Sondereker was able to tag along with Caruso’s foreman to see the 1961 Kentucky Derby. “I went down in a pick-up truck,” Sondereker said. “That was my first Derby.”

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