Mark DeDomenico; Allen Aldrich; Lisa Hernandez; Stuart Downey

Dr. Mark DeDomenico, who campaigned champion Blind Luck, may not need another superstar, but he certainly deserves one for the contributions he continues to make to human and equine health. DeDomenico is a cardiovascular surgeon and researcher who played a vital role in the development of coronary bypass surgery; the Guided Flow Aortic Heart Valve; and the Bionit Arterial Grafts, which are used to replace damaged or artherosclerotic arteries. He is a founding member of the Hope Heart Institute in Seattle, Washington, and owns and operates the 45,000-member PRO Sports Health Club, where he continues to research metabolic disorders – including high cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes – and obesity.

His love of horses may be genetic. His father raced multiple stakes winners on the West Coast, and now the younger DeDomenico is helping horses more than his father could have envisioned. Working at his Pegasus Training and Rehabilitation Center in Richmond, Washington, with Dr. Wayne McIlwraith of Colorado State University, DeDomenico, who is Chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California Medication and Integrity Committee, is researching new treatments for equine middle and lower knee injuries, and he is also researching the use of platelet rich plasma and stem cell therapy.

As if he weren’t busy enough, he and Canadian owner Glen Todd began the Pegasus Two-Year-Old in Training Sale in Redmond two years ago. “Our whole mission here is to get some new owners into the business,” he told the Thoroughbred Daily News in an interview. “If we don’t keep getting new people into this sport to attend these sales, we’re going to end up in a tough spot.”