Hunter Valley Farm

Article by Bill Heller

A Mo Reay

Six days before St. Patrick’s Day, the four Irish partners of Hunter Valley Farm near Keeneland found their elusive pot of gold, not at the end of the rainbow, but in the final 10 yards of the Gr.1 Beholder Stakes. That’s where their filly A Mo Reay thrust her nose past odds-on favorite Fun to Dream, giving the Irish quartet their first Gr.1 stakes victory at Santa Anita; half a world away from the Irish National Stud in Kildare, where two of the four, Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin, met in 1991.

Hunter Valley Farm’s John Wade, A Mo Reay & jockey Flavien Prat.

“It was a surreal day,” Regan said. “When we set up the farm, the thought of having a Gr.1 was never even thought about. We were hoping to make the farm viable. We’ve been very lucky. Without my partners, it never would have happened for sure.”  

Asked if he could ever have imagined such a feat when he was a younger lad in Ireland, Adrian’s buddy Galvin said, “It was nowhere near the front of my mind.”

Certainly, their two somewhat silent partners, Tony Hegarty and John Wade, had no idea. Those two friends met in a tavern in Chicago, then became business partners, founding A & J Construction, a successful construction company in Lockport, Illinois, 30 miles southwest of Chicago. Hegarty and Wade started out as carpenter contractors and eventually switched to land developers and custom home builders. “We’re doing okay,” Wade said.

Okay enough to speculate in Thoroughbreds. “It turned out to be an amazing adventure,” Hegarty said. “We’re more or less silent partners. Fergus and Adrian pick the horses.”

They do so adeptly. “Those guys—they come up with some good ones,” Wade said.

Both Galvin and Regan credit their fathers for their equine education.

“It was part of my childhood,” Galvin said. “My father ran a small stud farm in Dublin. I have him to thank for my early grounding and the early education. He had a couple of horses in training. From the age of eight, I was by his side most of the way. I have him to thank for where I am now. He’s doing great—keeps a close eye on the U.S. My dad is 84.”

Galvin said both his parents visit the United States. “They came over last spring to Keeneland,” he said. “They really love Kentucky. There’s no place like Kentucky in the spring. Kentucky is almost my home away from home. In Ireland, everyone has some involvement. There’s a large part of our population who has connections in the horse business. They have a deep love of horses.”

They frequently pass that love on to the next generation, a tradition Galvin and his wife, Kate, who works at Godolphin, will likely instill in their four young children, Marie, 10, Harvey, 8, and twin boys Joseph and Nicholas, 6.

Adrian Regan & Flavien Prat

Galvin’s experience at Irish National Stud helped shape his future. The Stud, founded in 1918, annually offers a six-month residential course which begins every January. Its goal is “to equip learners with the knowledge, skills and competence required to perform effectively in responsible positions in the Thoroughbred industry.”

It’s where Regan and Galvin became life-long friends. Regan, too, credits his father: “I wanted to be a trainer like my father T.A. was. When I left school, I went working for him.”

Both Galvin and Regan honed their skills before deciding to buy a farm. “I’ve been lucky enough to have some great employers before we started out,” Galvin said. “First I was at Pin Oak Stud for five years. Then I ran a small operation, Newgate Farm, and did a six-year stint at Ashford. It was very invaluable to me going forward. That really sent me on the path we are on today.”

Regan spent four years at Langford Farm breaking yearlings. “I loved my time there,” he said. “It gave me a great foundation.”

Providence brought Hegarty and Wade together. “Myself and Tony became friends when we got to this country in March 1981,” Wade said. “I had just come over here in the middle of March. He came around the same time. We hung out together. We were buddies. We started our own construction business.” 

Like Galvin and Regan, Wade had a love of horses growing up in Ireland. “I loved them,” he said. “I didn’t have the funds to buy any.”

Then Wade went to Kentucky. He watched Unbridled win the 1990 Kentucky Derby—as his trainer Carl Nafzger called the stretch drive for owner Mrs. Genter—and was hooked. “That’s what probably did it,” Wade said. “I had another Irish friend who would go to Keeneland: Pat Costello. He advised me to take a run out to Lexington to see the farms. I met a bunch of my countrymen. Every now and then, some of them did syndicates. I said, “If you do it again, count me in.” Then I talked my partner, Tony, into getting involved.”

Hegarty didn’t have an early equine education in Ireland. “I’m from northwest Ireland,” he said. “Horse racing is in the other parts of Ireland. Up my way, there was no horse racing. There are no tracks.”

Yet, he was all-in joining his friends to buy and breed Thoroughbreds. Together, the four Irishmen purchased Golden Gate Stud in Versailles in 2004 and renamed it Hunter Valley Farm. In its first year of operation, its first yearling that went to auction was Scat Daddy. All he did was post five wins, including the Gr.1 Florida Derby, in nine starts, earn more than $1.3 million and become the sire of 69 stakes winners, including undefeated Triple Crown Champion Justify before dying at the age of 11. Hunter Valley Farm had sold him as a yearling for $250,000. “Unbelievable to have that quality of horse in our very first year,” Wade said.

In November 2022, the Irishmen bought three-year-old A Mo Ray for $400,000 in the Fasig-Tipton Sale. Trained by Brad Cox, she won a $97,000 stakes at the FairGrounds and the Gr.3 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

A Mo Reay and jockey Flavien Prat (#5) dug in to edge out Fun to Dream to win the Gr.1 2023 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita Park.

Cox shipped her to Santa Anita to contest the Gr.1 Beholder Stakes March 11. The filly she had to beat was Bob Baffert’s Fun to Dream, who had won four straight and six of her seven lifetime starts. She went off at odds-on, A Mo Reay was the 7-1 third choice in the field of eight.

“It was funny going back to Santa Anita,” Regan said. “I did a short stint with Bob Baffert years ago.”

In deep stretch, Baffert’s favorite was desperately trying to hold off the rallying A Mo Reay and jockey Flavien Prat. They crossed the finish line in tandem. 

Hegarty and his wife, Sheila, were watching the race from their home. “We were screaming our heads off,” he said. “You’re screaming at the TV, egging her on, egging her on. I thought she got up.”

She did. 

Wade was asked if it occurred to him that the race was six days before St. Patrick’s Day. “It did not,” he said. “But we celebrated like it was St. Patrick’s Day.”

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.”    

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

By Bill Heller

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

Dr. Joel Politi - Serengeti Empress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serengeti Empress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mitole

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

Good thing the cowboy got back into racing, right?

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

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

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

Corinne and L. William Heiligbrodt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s not bad for a cowboy.

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