Kaleem Shah

The son of one of India’s top trainers, Kaleem Shah was instructed by his father, Majeed, not to follow him into racing despite the fact that Kaleem loved going to the track. “My dad kept us out of the racetrack life,” Kaleem Shah told Jay Hovdey of the Daily Racing Form in a January 5, 2012, story. “He wanted me to concentrate on my studies, and he made it absolutely clear to us that he never wanted us in the sport as a trainer.”

His dad won the India Triple Crown twice with Bright Hanovar and Our Select. And Shah’s uncle, Saeed Shah – also a trainer – won the India Derby twice.

Shah, who was born on July 6, 1962 in Bellary, India, earned a degree in electrical engineering at Bangalore University and then moved to the United States, getting a Master’s Degree in computer engineering at Clemson University and an MBA from George Washington University.

He first worked as a software programmer at Telenet, then founded his own communications company, CalNet, in 1989, headquartered in Reston, Virginia, near where Shah lives with his wife, Lubi, and their daughter and son, Sophie and Arman. CalNet offers intelligence analysis, information technology, and language services. One of CalNet’s biggest clients is the U.S. government, which mandates that he keep much of his work confidential.

He has no restrictions on revealing his feelings about America. He became an American citizen in the early ’90s, and when he followed through on his delayed childhood dreams and became a Thoroughbred owner, he designed his silks in red, white, and blue.

Shah began racing in Maryland with trainers Jim Murphy and Dale Capuano; then, after his company opened a division in California, with Doug O’Neill before hiring Bob Baffert. He has 30 horses with Baffert in California and 10 broodmares at Hill ’n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky, where his first top horse, Concord Point, stands. Shah bought Concord Point after he won his maiden in 2009, and the son of Tapit went on to win the $250,000 Grade 3 Iowa Derby by 81⁄2 lengths in track-record time and the $750,000 Grade 2 West Virginia Derby by a length in 2010.

Eden’s Moon, the highest-priced filly ($390,000) at the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Two-Year-Old Sale, gave Shah his first Grade 1 victory when she captured the 2012 Las Virgenes. She also won the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap and finished second in the Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks and third in both the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks and Grade 2 Indiana Oaks. 

When Declassify won the Triple Bend in his first stakes attempt, Khaleem Shah had another Grade 1 victory. Two years earlier, he told Hovdey, “If winning comes as a result of racing, all the better. 

What I truly enjoy is my red, white, and blue silks out there running.”

Dennis Cardoza & Mike Pegram

Thoroughbred owner and breeder Dennis Cardoza, who represented the 18th District of California in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 through 2012 when he retired, has a life-long love of horses. “My first exposure with horse racing was when my mom used to watch the races from the Fresno Fair,” he said in a 2011 press release. “The local dairy used to deliver milk and include a tear-off sheet for betting races. If you were able to pick a winner that day, you’d get a free carton of cottage cheese. If you picked two winners, you’d get butter or other dairy supplies for up to a year.”

He is one of a million of us who fell in love with Secretariat. “In the foyer of my home is a painting of Secretariat’s Belmont stretch run,” he said. “I remember watching the race with my mom in 1973. “I always wanted to own horses.”

Now he owns many Thoroughbreds, including broodmares and babies. He has horses with several trainers: Bob Baffert, Ron Ellis and Rene Amescua in California and Tim Keefe and Tim Tullock in Maryland.

His fondness for horses carried over into his career in the California Assembly and then in Washington whenever he dealt with racing issues.

In early August, 2011, Cardoza was named to the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, replacing Donald Valpredo, who resigned. “For my entire career, my colleagues and friends know me as a consensus builder,” he said. “If ever there was an industry that needed consensus, it is this one. It’s too grand a sport to not live up to its majestic history. My goal is to help it recapture the greatness of Thoroughbred racing.”

Hill 'N' Dale Equine Holdings & Edward McGhee

Streaming’s connections liked her chances in the Hollywood Starlet enough to supplement her for $10,000 and spend another $10,000 to start. She didn’t disappoint them.

Hill ‘N’ Dale was founded originally in Canada in 1960 by the late John Sikura Jr., the father of current owner and president of Hill ‘N’ Dale in Lexington, Kentucky, John G. Sikura. Edward McGhee is John G. Sikura’s father-in-law. Hill ‘N’ Dale Canada still operates in Aurora, Ontario, where it is owned and managed by Glenn Sikura, John G.’s brother.

John Sikura Jr. emigrated from Czechoslovakia as a teen and was a self-made millionaire. He bought and sold Thoroughbreds for 35 years, establishing farms in Ontario, Canada, and in Lexington in 1981 when he purchased 164 acres.

John G. Sikura took over Hill ‘N’ Dale’s Kentucky Farm when his father was killed in a car fire in 1994. Glenn became partners in the Kentucky property when it acquired North Ridge Farm in 1967 and expanded it to 950 acres. That has now expanded to 1,300 acres.

John G. was born in Ontario and played hockey collegiately and professionally in Europe before returning to North America to join the family business.

Hill ‘N’ Dale Equine Holdings is the racing division of Hill ‘N’ Dale which is a full service breeding and sales operation. There are stars galore attached to the farm, none brighter than Seattle Slew, the only undefeated Triple Crown Champion in 1977. He spent his final days at the farm in 2002 and is buried there.

Among the stallions who have stood and/or are standing at the farm include two-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Midnight Lute and undefeated 2002 Two-Year-Old Champion Vindication, who died in 2008. Candy Ride began his stallion career at Hill ‘N’ Dale before moving to Lane’s End Farm for the 2010 breeding season. The broodmares at the farm include Horse of the Year Azeri and two-time champion Silverbulletday.

Gary & Mary West

A 67-year-old native of California, Gary West became a racing fan after he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, when he was 19. There he met his wife, Mary, who had owned a horse while in high school. They had a common interest: horse racing at Ak-Sar-Ben (Nebraska spelled backwards), then one of the nation’s leading tracks. As fans at Ak-Sar-Ben, they dreamed of owning a horse one day. Now, they own more than one hundred, including 25 broodmares who are at Dell Ridge Farm in Lexington, Ky.

They have racehorses with trainers Bob Baffert, Chad Brown, Wayne Catalano, Tom Proctor, W. Bret Calhoun and Cody Autrey. The Wests had their best year ever in 2012, capturing 55 races and earning more than $3.2 million, ranking them 12th in North America owner earnings. They’ve already topped that by more than $1 million this year, and rank third in North America through late November.

Gary worked in hospital administration initially, then built one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. With Mary’s help, he has founded numerous companies, beginning with WATS Telemarketing in 1978. The West Corporation they founded in 1986 is one of the largest customer relationship management companies in the world. The Wests sold it in 2006. At the time, it had 35,000 employees and did $3.5 billion in annual sales.

The Wests have started and led several enterprises in Southern California and the Midwest, including West Development and West Partners, a private equity firm, and West Family Investments, a private hedge fund in Chicago. In Carlsbad, California, they own West Steak and Seafood, Bistro West, West Inn Hotel & Suites and West Mart.

After selling The West Corporation, they began the Gary and Mary West Foundation, which focuses on lowering the cost of health care; supporting senior wellness programs; supporting youth employment training, and supporting training programs for service dogs who help seniors and veterans. In April, 2010, they opened the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center in San Diego. They also began the West Health Institute for non-profits seeking to lower health care costs in San Diego and Omaha.

Of course, their success allowed the Wests to pursue their dreams in horse racing. They claimed their first horse, Joe Blow, for $13,500 in 1980, and he won 23 races for them before he was retired in Nebraska, where he lived to the age of 31. 

The Wests’ racing manager and bloodstock advisor is O.J. “Ben” Glass Jr., who trained their first graded stakes winner, Rockamundo, who took the Grade II 1993 Arkansas Derby at odds of 108-1. He became their first starter in the Kentucky Derby.

Their list of top horses include Dollar Bill, Power Broker, Book Review, Guilt Trip, Code West and Buddha, the 2002 morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby off his victory in the Grade I Wood Memorial. He stepped on a stone the day before the Derby, resulting in a badly-bruised foot. He was scratched from the Derby and retired.  

Westrock Stables

Fifty-one year old Scott Ford and his dad, Joe, have been partners in business and partners in horses, racing in the name of Westrock Stable. Scott succeeded his father as CEO of Alltel in 1996 and led the communication giant through several major transformations, including the acquisitions of Western Wireless Corporation and 360 Communications, which allowed Alltel to become a national wireless carrier. He led the $27 billion leveraged buyout of Alltell in 2007 and its sale to Verizon Wireless two years later.

Scott is a former chairman of the Little Rock, Arkansas, branch of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, a former board member and chairman of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, and a former director of Tyson Foods, Inc. He serves on the boards of the Arkansas Research Alliance and King’s College in New York City.

Currently, he is partners in Westrock Capital Partners LLC and Westrock Coffee Holdings, which is the official coffee supplier of his hometown track, Oaklawn Park, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Scott was born and still resides in Little Rock. He and his wife have three children.

The Ford family began their involvement in horseracing with Quarter Horses before switching to Thoroughbreds. They became partners in three horses with Dogwood Stable in the mid-2000s before beginning their own stable with the help of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas in 2008. They currently have 35 horses with Lukas and another Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

The Fords had considerable success before Secret Compass won the Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita by a head in September. Westrock’s Hamazing Destiny (owned with Barry Butzow) didn’t win his first stakes until the age of six but still earned more than $850,000 thanks to five victories, seven seconds, and five thirds in 33 starts. Their other top horses include Tidal Pool, who made nearly $400,000 off five wins in 24 starts, and Grade 3 stakes winner Decelerator, who was five-for-21 and earned more than $360,000.

Bernie Schiappa

Bernie Schiappa is a 68-year-old native of Plainview, New Jersey, who got involved in harness racing before switching to Thoroughbreds. He retired as general manager of Fletcher Jones Imports, a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Las Vegas, in 2010, which gave him more time to concentrate on Thoroughbreds. He owns 25 and manages another 150 for Mercedes Stable. Schiappa’s horses race in the orange and blue silks of his favorite basketball team, the New York Knicks.

Schiappa was a partner with the late Terry Lanni, a lifelong friend who was Chairman of the Board and CEO of MGM Mirage, in 1999 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Silic, who was also owned by Ken Poslosky, and with Game On Dude.

Game On Dude’s victory in the 2011 Santa Anita Handicap is cherished by Schiappa. The gelding won by a nose under Chantal Sutherland, then had to sweat out an inquiry that seemed to last forever. “That was a 15-minute inquiry,” Schiappa said. “I was fairly comfortable that the results would stay the same.” And when it did? “It was a relief,” Schiappa said. “It was special for Terry, because he was getting sick then.” Lanni passed away a little more than four months later.

When Game On Dude won this year’s Pacific Classic, Schiappa and baseball legend Joe Torre walked Game On Dude into the Del Mar winner’s circle. Torre got involved in Thoroughbred racing when he was managing the New York Yankees, and one of his coaches, Don Zimmer, took him to the track. Torre subsequently owned several horses with late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel.

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman

How do three guys, one from Fort Knox, Kentucky; one from Kansas City, Missouri, and another from Springfield, Georgia, become partners on Thoroughbreds? By attending a birthday party in Mexico.

The party was for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s brother Billy in 1999. “We really hit it off,” said Pegram, whose colt Real Quiet, had won the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness before losing the lead in the final strides of the Belmont Stakes, missing the Triple Crown by a nose.

Watson and Weitman, who both own car dealerships in Tucson, Arizona, had raced their own horses, too. “I had horses with Bobby,” Weitman said. “Karl wasn’t with Bobby, but he had a horse or two. So we got a couple horses together.”

Pegram made it a threesome.

Weitman and Watson were in Chicago, watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and rooting for Arizona to beat Illinois when Baffert called, telling them he wanted the new trio to buy their first horse, Midnight Lute, a son of Real Quiet. All Midnight Lute did was win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Sprints and one Eclipse Award as Champion Sprinter.

That’s one hell of way to start a partnership. Horses like Lookin At Lucky, Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in 2009 and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt of 2010, have followed. “When Looking At Lucky won the Preakness, somebody said the three of us were lucky,” Pegram said. “I was lucky to get into a partnership like this. Those guys have been the greatest partnership. Winning with them makes it so much more enjoyable.”

The trio, 61-year-old Pegram, 62-year-old Watson and 70-year-old Weitman, have expanded their partnership to include yearlings and broodmares. “I’ve had more fun with my two partners than if I was by myself,” Weitman said. “I don’t think we’ve had a cross word ever.”