Terry Finley

Words - Bill Heller

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q&A with Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds - thoughts on racing

By Bill Heller

  While adept at deflecting credit for his successes, 57-year-old Terry Finley —a 1986 graduate of West Point—has emerged as an industry leader, currently serving as the chairman of the New York Thoroughbred Chaplaincy and on the board of the Belmont Child Care Association, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and Thoroughbred Charities of America. He was on the board of the Breeders’ Cup from 2004 through 2011, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and the Jockey Club. He was elected a member of the Jockey Club in 2019.

Terry Finley’s West Point Thoroughbreds enjoyed a stellar 2021, highlighted by Flighline’s impressive win in the Malibu Stakes (Gr. 1) on December 26.

To date, West Point Thoroughbreds has won over 950 races, including 56 graded stakes with earnings of more than $60 million. Four years removed from its Kentucky Derby victory with Always Dreaming, West Point has brought in more than 2,000 new owners to the industry. Terry’s wife Debbie and daughter Erin are key members of the company.

Has the Breeders’ Cup accurately carried out founder John Gaines’ vision?

Yes. Mr. Gaines, who I didn’t get to know unfortunately, wanted the Breeders’ Cup to be in essence our Super Bowl—to bring everybody together to promote Thoroughbred racing and spotlight horses, owners, breeders and trainers. It’s a much more focused operation with the allocation of stakes money, the “Win and You’re in” program, the shipping bonus, the international participation, the event itself. The ongoing success of the Breeders’ Cup is a grand slam for our industry.

Is there room for future growth?

I’d like to think there is. There are really sharp people of the younger generation in our business. There’s always room to get better. I do know that Drew Fleming and his staff have not sat back on their heels so far, and I certainly don’t see them doing so in the future.

Are there new markets for the Breeders’ Cup?

Yes. Would it be good to have it in New York? Yes. But they don’t just decide that in a day. I trust the people who are working on this—the people on the board. I trust the process.

What can be done to prevent further shutdowns on major tracks such as Arlington and Calder—both shut down by Churchill Downs, Inc.?

The industry can attract more breeders, owners and bettors. That’s really the one thing that we, inside the business, need to do to have any semblance of an impact: to grow our sport. I venture to say that if we were still at 36,000 foals—we’re at 19,000 now—Churchill Downs would have been less apt to sell Arlington Park. A public company’s first priority is to their shareholders. It’s disheartening to so many of us to lose racetracks. If our business continues to contract, we’ll have additional race tracks close. It’s inevitable. That’s just market equilibrium.

Should we limit stallion book sizes?

I don’t breed a lot of horses. It’s a complex issue. But if anybody thinks that the current direction of our breeding pool and breeding industry are going to put us in a better spot in 10 or 15 years, I haven’t heard any cogent explanation of why they think that would be true. You either sit on your hands as an industry, or you work for the betterment of the industry by taking action; and the Jockey Club has done exactly that.

Debbie and Terry Finley with daughter Erin

Does the industry have to rewrite what ADW pays into purse accounts?

There are irregularities in revenue sharing created by the changing landscape in our industry, each seemingly to the detriment of the purse account. It's good for every part of the industry to have equitable sharing of the revenue for each dollar bet. There’s a lot of upside if we don’t dig in our heels, on either side. Owners and trainers who lead the various local horsemen’s groups need to ensure these inequities are addressed in a fair and equitable way. 

It’s a complex situation. The market and the industry have changed. Good leaders from every facet of our industry step up when things change and make adjustments. We know it’s important for long-term viability of owning and operating racing stables. That’s at the core of the Thoroughbred industry, of owning horses, breeding horses, training horses and selling horses. It’s not just the owners that are impacted. It’s the jockeys, it’s the trainers, it’s the breeders, it’s the sales company. All are impacted by that revenue pie. Overall, I have faith that we’re all going to be able, through work and compromise, to adjust things to take into account the market decisions we face right now.

With the growth in partnerships and shared owners, would it be good for the industry to introduce a formal code of conduct for those who syndicate horses to give greater transparency for those who wish to join?

Absolutely. One was recently initiated in Europe. As long as everything’s transparent, when you buy horses at auction, people know what they’re paying for. I would be in favor. The more we discuss the areas of our industry that have gone untouched for so long, the better for all of us.

Were you in favor of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)?

When I started out, when I first learned of it, I wasn’t in favor of federal involvement in our game for any number of reasons. The more I learned and the more I got into it, I realized that for decades now, there have been a strong group of people who benefit from the ill-conceived and a patchwork of different regulations in the 38 states that are running racing in the United States. I looked and saw the same people say “Trust us, give us a little more time, I’ve got this. I’m the smartest person in the world. All you have to do is ask me.” I realized that in so many years, back in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, they’re saying the same thing they’re saying now. 

I started to see more smoke and mirrors. It just hit me one day that we need a new system. It was probably around the time the Jockey Club took up the pursuit of federal legislation. It started with Arthur and Stacy Hancock saying we’re dealing with the Wild West when it comes to medication. You basically just stand there. I am not unique. There are a lot of people for a lot of years who are all in, putting everything they have into the racing business. We’re so far in; we’re not going to do anything else.

There had to be a better way. 

That view came from my association with the horsemen groups. There are people who weren’t elected, who were making a lot of money and had not or were not involved in owning or breeding horses, and really had commandeered the voice of people who had true skin in the game. 

As I went along, it became more and more clear to me that the progress was only going to happen if that message became accepted by a wider faction. I have a national organization (West Point). Our business would be on a better road with a national authority to address the integrity and the safety side of things.

Very few of the trainers that I’ve talked to were totally against it. 

How bad has it been with different rules, involving, medication, use of the whip, rules for disqualifications?

Let me say this. The other thing that gave me confidence in HISA was I learned about the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA). Just to have a federal law passed to create a new authority from scratch would be uber, uber concerning. Then you realize we’re not the first industry or sport to have undergone this process. One, in particular, was cycling. There are parallels there. The USADA has a model that’s tried and been tested. That’s what allayed the fears that I had initially with the federal government coming in. It’s not the federal government—it’s federal oversight. Cycling, martial arts, the  Olympics—we’re not the only ones who had this done. They’re not creating the structure from scratch. They have learned from the other programs, especially cycling.

There is a level of independence we haven’t had before. It’s like we hit a Triple Crown. We got the law passed—that was the Derby. The Preakness was putting in the structure and the rules of the authority. The Belmont will be the execution and the refinement, putting it out and hitting the go button.

Can the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act improve public perception?

It will improve. Undoubtedly. I think people—and we talk to a lot of people who want to get in the game just in the past two months—are very clear that our industry wants to change, and we’ve taken action to change our sport. I would hope that I’m not the only one who’s seen a benefit from people knowing the jig is up with the people who blatantly cheat in our industry. When they see you’re trying and you’re taking bold, definitive steps, they’ll give you the benefit of doubt. They don’t want to hear people saying the same thing for decades, and it hasn’t worked. They know it. Sophisticated investors—the people we want to attract as owners and breeders—know it. Those types of things that would be good to promote: wealthy people who have been successful in their business. They know. People knew we weren’t authentic before. That changed very quickly with HISA.

What was the impact of having high-profile trainers who have had medication violations in our biggest races?

As an owner, I get sick to my stomach thinking of how long “those guys” on the backside have been peddling their latest “hop.” I simply can’t fathom how tough it’s been to have trained horses the right way over many years and know that races and money have been stolen from us.

Are you optimistic about racing’s future?

Yes, I’m very bullish on racing’s future. We all love the industry. It’s our time. Most states have stated publicly that they want to cooperate and want to participate. That’s a good sign. I know it’s not going to be easy. Some aren’t on board, but the train is rolling. Work is being done on this.

There are people who aren't in favor of this. Once it passed, they rallied behind it. That’s a good thing. It’s very gratifying to see the depth and the breadth of the support of this. Hopefully, that support is authentic. It’s just not words, but it’s deeds to support this. It’s easier to say you support it, but we need it to be true and authentic. I look at the HBPA. I don’t understand their position. They haven’t supported the initiative. If you can get through the criticism, ask them what their plan is. How would they attack the integrity problem in racing? I haven’t seen anything that could be called a program. It’s important for you to say not what you’re against, but what you’re for. I’m a member of the HPBA in many states. I’m disappointed with how they dealt with this. 

Realistically, five years from now, where is racing headed?

I truly believe we’re in a much better place because we will have the entrenchment of HISA in our business and our backstretches and our sales. They’ll be independent, [have] oversight, much more and safer racing. The big events in our business will be bigger and more exciting to people. That’s my true belief. In five years, 10 years, we’ll look back at July 1, 2022—people will look back and say that’s when we turned the corner. Very similar to cycling, pre-Lance and post-Lance (Armstrong). I think we’ll have the same thing, pre-HISA and post-HISA. We can make it better.