David Jacobson & Drawing Away Stable

David Jacobson, the son of legendary trainer Buddy Jacobson, left racing for 25 years to deal in real estate. He returned to racing in 2007 and has become a force in New York with Drawing Away Stable.

Their greatest success came with Saginaw, a gelding they claimed for $30,000 who subsequently won 14 of 18 starts, including ten stakes. Saginaw suffered a fatal injury in a race at Saratoga the day before Jacobson and Drawing Away Stable won the Grade 1 Forego with Strapping Groom, a horse they had claimed for $35,000 three months earlier.

Jacobson watched Strapping Groom defeat Jackson Bend and Justin Phillip in the Forego Stakes on TV from Aqueduct. He had shipped most of his horses from Saratoga back to Aqueduct that morning. Of his 24 hours of tragedy and triumph at Saratoga, he said a few days later, “I just tried to stay professional about Saginaw. Now I’m starting to feel emotional. We kind of got used to him. We thought he’d be around forever.”