Martin Schwartz

Alterite is the latest talented European runner Martin S. “Buzzy” Schwartz has brought to North America to have great success, giving him his second consecutive victory in the Garden City following Samitar’s triumph last fall. Before their victories, Schwartz imported subsequent Grade 1 stakes winners Angara, Asi Siempre, Gorella, Stacelita, and Zagora.

Schwartz is a 68-year-old native of New Haven, Connecticut. “I used to go to the races when I was a kid,” he said. “I grew up in Connecticut and I’d go to the races in New York in the ’60s. I always found it to be a spectacular sport.”

After he graduated from Amherst College in 1967, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1968 to 1973, leaving with the rank of captain. By then, he had earned his MBA from Columbia University.

Schwartz made a fortune on Wall Street. After working several years as a financial analyst for E.F. Hutton, he took $100,000 he had saved and bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange, where he began trading stocks, stock options, and futures. In his first full year, he made $600,000. The next year, he doubled that total. He was so proficient in his profession that he was profiled in the national bestseller “Market Wizards” by Jack Schwager. Then Schwartz wrote his own book, “Pit Bull Lesson from Wall Street’s Champion Trainer,” which was published by Harper Collins in 1998.

Two years later, he purchased his first Thoroughbred, Bowman’s Band. Trained by Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, Bowman’s Band won the 2003 Meadowlands’ Cup, earned more than $1.2 million, and went on to sire champion Groupie Doll before dying as a relatively young stallion.

Now Schwartz has horses in England, France, and North America. They are trained by Mick Channon, Jean-Claude Rouget, and Chad Brown, respectively.