Siena Farm

Anthony Manganaro, now the chairman and co-owner of Siena Farm, graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with an engineering degree and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Public Service Degree. He now sits on the University’s Board of Trustees and is one of Northeastern’s most generous benefactors. He has endowed scholarships and is underwriting cancer research based on a novel hypothesis he has developed. Manganaro also established the Envisioning Annapolis Foundation to assist residents of that Maryland city plan for its future.

A man with many talents, Manganaro built Siena Corp., a commercial real estate business in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area; ezStorage Corp., one of the nation’s largest regional self-storage companies; and Boston Medical Corp., the nation’s leading supplier of high-quality, non-powder surgical gloves and disposable nylon underwear.

David Pope, Siena Farm’s president and co-owner, received a Bachelor of Science Degree in accounting at the University of Akron. He was the corporate manager of The Kiplinger Washington Editors, a financial advising company in Washington, D.C., before moving to Lexington, Ky. In 1996, he became the controller of Brereton and Libby Jones’ Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky.

Ignacio “Nacho” Patino, Siena’s general manager and co-owner, was born in Guanajuanto, Mexico, and moved to the United States when he was 16. He moved to Kentucky in 1985, and became a groom. That got him into the racing industry and he prospered. He began his own boarding and sales prep business, then spent 6 ½ years at Siena Farm’s Kentucky neighbor, Stonerside Farm. He joined Siena Farm in 2008 as farm manager and was promoted to general manager in less than a year. He is an avid soccer fan.

When Siena Farm was being developed, Angie Roe, a 37-year-old single mother with two daughters, and Angie’s mom, Sue, were hired to clean and organize the farm’s office and Manganaro’s home on the property. “A year into it, Angie passed away, losing her battle with cancer,” Pope told Tracy Gantz of The Blood-Horse.  “Anthony approached the family and said that we cared a lot about Angie and we wanted to honor her by naming a horse after her.”

The family was thrilled and visited the farm to see the yearling Siena named Angela Renee before she was shipped to Florida to be broken. They also took photos with the filly. When the family left, they were given a printout of the filly’s pedigree. “About an hour and a half passed and the phone rang,” Pope said. “It was Sue and she was crying.”

She had good reason. Angela Renee was foaled on Angie Roe’s birthday, March 12.   

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.