Tommy Town Thoroughbreds LLC

Tom and Debi Stull, who were named the 2004 Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders of the Year in California and were the leading breeders of California-breds in 2009 and 2012, operate Tommy Town Thoroughbreds LLC in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County. Tom, a manufacturing machinist, started a single tool and die shop in Santa Fe Springs more than 30 years ago. That grew into Tower Industries, which has shops in Anaheim and Ontario, Calif., and in Wisconsin. He also dabbles in real estate. Debi was an accomplished equestrian, a talent she passed on to their daughter Shelly, who competes in show jumping. They also have a son, Aaron.

Jim Wilson of Wilson Stock Farm picked out their first winner, Fa La Te Dough, who captured seven stakes and earned more than a quarter of a million dollars in the mid-1980s. After racing and breeding a few horses at their farm in Hemet, Calif., they decided to do more. “We decided to do it right,” Tom said.

They purchased D. Wayne Lukas’ former 160-acre operation, the Westerly Training Center, in 2000 and have expanded it to more than 350 acres. It’s home to nearly 400 horses, including a broodmare band of more than 50 and four stallions, all multiple stakes winners: Kafwain, Ministers Wild Cat, Old Topper and Grazen. The facility, which is run by Ranch Manager Mike Allen, has 100 stalls, a custom Equicruiser and a seven-furlong track.

In 2004, Tommy Town Thoroughbreds offered a money-back guarantee on Old Topper’s 2003 and 2004 stud fees if the stallion wasn’t the state’s freshman sire of the year. Old Topper not only finished first in the state, but also ranked 13th nationally.

One of Tommy Town Thoroughbreds’ top horses was Whatsthescript, a private purchase after the horse raced three times in Ireland. After recovering from a foot bruise, he won a pair of Grade II stakes, the American Handicap and Del Mar Mile Handicap, before finishing third in the 2008 Grade I Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Tommy Town Thoroughbreds has some 40 horses in training with Jerry Hollendorfer, John Sadler, Mike Mitchell, Peter Miller and William Morey in California, Henry Dominguez in New Mexico and Joan Reynolds in Maryland.

KMN Racing

Shortly after his spectacular debut, a seven-length maiden win at Golden Gate Fields, Oct. 19th, owners/breeders Pam and Marty Wygod sold Shared Belief to Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing and a group of partners including Alex Solis II, Jason Litt and Ken and Kim Nish, who race under Kmn Racing.

Alex Solis II is not only the son of one of the best jockeys in racing history – Alex Solis is still riding and ranks ninth in all-time earnings and 30th in all-time victories – but has an equine influence in his maternal pedigree as well. His maternal grandfather is successful trainer Bert Sonnier.

Solis II, 29, has been a success, too, as a bloodstock agent and owner after getting a Bachelor of Arts Degree in finance with a minor in pre-vet from Cal-Poly. California horseman who saw him grow up hanging out in the barns of Bruce Headley and Richard Mandella while tagging along with his dad, aren’t surprised at his success with horses. Mandella said of him in a 2009 story: “His morals certainly seem to be in the right place, which is important in the occupation he has chosen. He is persistent; he’s had good luck, and he’s very smart. He’s been around the business enough to have a good feel for what it takes to be successful. In short, he’s the kind of person you want to see do well.”

Shared Belief isn’t his first star. Lavender Sky and Daytona preceded him. Lavender Sky, who was his first purchase while a junior in college, was recommended by a friend at Three Chimneys Farm, Jason Litt. “I was working at Three Chimneys at the time,” Litt said. “He and I were chatting and I loved this filly, Lavender Sky. I called Alex thirty minutes before she went into the ring. About 15 minutes later, he called back and said we can go up to $187,000. We got her for $130,000. That was our first horse.”

Litt, 42, and Solis, 29, made their friendship into a formal partnership by starting Solis/Litt Bloodstock based in Glendale, California. Its website launched Jan. 6.

Litt, whose dad Howard was a fan, owner and breeder, graduated with a BA in human biodynamics at Cal-Berkeley and a Master’s in exercise physiology and cardiac rehabilitation at Wake Forest.  He changed his life when he moved to Kentucky to work at Taylor Made Farm. After spending two years working as a veterinarian assistant, he worked in bloodstock for seven years at Three Chimneys before going out on his own.

Kmn Racing is a new player in racing, a highly successful one, with Kevin and Kim Nish. “They are a client of ours,” Litt said. “They’ve only been in the business for two years.” In those two years, they’ve been partners on Mizdirection and Shared Belief. Litt recommended both horses to them and to Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing.

Now, Litt and his partners have a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender in Shared Belief, whom they hope will have a lengthy racing career as a gelding. “We thought he was a nice horse,” Litt said. “It is pretty exciting.” 

Larry & Marianne Williams

For relative newcomers to Thoroughbred racing, Larry and Marianne Williams have done remarkably well from their Tree Top Ranches near Boise, Idaho, in just 13 years. “They started from scratch,” said Dan Kiser, a former trainer at Les Bois Park who became Tree Top’s Equine Manager. “Mr. Williams is a real upbeat, nice person. He treats people nicely and good things seem to happen for him.”

Both Larry and Marianne are from the tiny town of Midvale, Idaho. They married there and moved their young family from Midvale to Boise in 1966. They have three children: Cris, Cory, and Cari. Larry became founder and president of the Idaho Timber Company, and its success allowed the Williams to dive into Thoroughbred racing.

“My family owned Quarter Horses, but they were mostly ranch stock, horses you worked cattle with,” Larry told Debra Ginsburg in her November, 2004, story in California Thoroughbred. “I don’t think I went to more than two races in my entire life before we became Thoroughbred owners ourselves.”

Initially, they contemplated investing in Quarter Horses. A trip to Kentucky convinced them to go with Thoroughbreds instead. They were smart enough to solicit advice from people who have known success in the business, including bloodstock agent Tim McMurry of Fleetwood Bloodstock, trainers Jerry Dutton and Cliff Sise Jr., and Idaho breeders Donnie and Judy McFadden. “They have all been instrumental in leading us down the right path,” Larry told Ginsburg.

McMurry selected the Williams’ first purchase, a yearling filly by Dehere at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2000. The Williams paid $35,000 for her, named her Tamarack Bay, and watched with delight as she earned $210,000. She then produced four winners, including Tamarando, from her first four starters.

Three years before they bought Tamarack Bay, the Williams purchased 700 acres in Parma, Idaho, and built Tree Top Ranch. They keep about 20 mares at Tree Top and send eight mares to Kentucky. The Kentucky foals are pointed to the sales. The Idaho mares are bred to California stallions and race as homebreds hoping to cash in on the rich California breeding program. About a month before the Idaho mares are to foal, they are sent to California to have their babies and then be bred back.

Longtime supporters of Boise State University, the Williams have contributed generously to the college’s academic and athletic initiatives including the expansion of the Boise University Broncos Football Stadium. In 2005, the Williams donated a 72-acre park to the City of Boise, which was named Marianne Williams Park. Many times, the Williams donate to good causes anonymously.

They were pretty anonymous in Thoroughbred racing, but that seems to be changing every day. Tamarando’s half-length win in the Del Mar Futurity has really put their names out there.

Steve Beneto

Steve Beneto, a 74-year-old member of the California Horse Racing Board who was inducted into the California State Fair Rodeo Hall of Fame, has a fascinating background. He was making a living vanning horses in 1966 when he purchased his first horse, who won his first race. “That got me hooked,” he said. “I got the bug.”

In 1973, Beneto purchased an A&W Root Beer franchise and an adjacent gas station. When the national gas crisis hit, his suppliers cut him off. So he purchased an old truck at an auction and began hauling gas himself. That single truck evolved into Beneto Tank Lines, a $72 million business with 250 trucks based at 18 terminals. In 2003, he sold his company to Kenan Advantage Group. Because he was traveling so much to his terminals, he purchased his own airplane. That grew into Beneto Inc. Jet Sales and Leasing, with offices near his home in Sacramento and in Dallas, Texas. “I usually get straight to the point real fast and solve the problem,” Beneto said. “You’ve got to work through the issues and stay on top of things until you get what you want.”

A board meeting at Del Mar prevented Beneto from going to Saratoga to see the Test, so he called up his friend George Hearst, who owns the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York. “He called me up and asked if I could represent him this weekend,” Hearst said. “I said, ‘I will if she can run.’”

She can, and she did. “She’s a killer of a horse,” Hearst said.

Dr George Todaro & Jerry Hollendorfer

Born in Seattle, Washington, on July 1, 1937, Dr. George Todaro is a professor at the University of Washington who has worked with the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Health. His research has led to innovations in the treatment of cancer and cystic fibrosis. He is also the founder of several biotechnological companies, including Targeted Growth, a Seattle-based company focused on improving the quality of agricultural products, such as biodiesel fuels.

Todaro’s involvement with Thoroughbreds was literally a gift. For Christmas in 1991, his wife gave him a ten percent interest in a Washington-bred yearling named It May Freeze. Todaro was smitten, so much that became was an investor in Emerald Downs, which opened in Auburn, Washington, in 1996. One of his most successful horses was multiple stakes winner Trickey Trevor, who earned more than $700,000.

Todaro is partners with Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer on Lady of Fifty, who overcame a six-wide trip under Corey Nakatani to win the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes by a length and a half. Most of Todaro’s 70 horses in training are owned in partnership with Hollendorfer. Todaro also has horses with three other trainers and owns several broodmares in California and Kentucky.

Hollendorfer, a 72-year-old Hall of Fame trainer, used to bet on races with his teenage buddies at Acton Park, a now-defunct track not far from Hollendorfer’s hometown of Akron, Ohio. When he went to visit friends in San Francisco in his early 20s, he talked his way onto the backstretch at Bay Meadows and convinced trainer Jerry Dutton to give him a job. Later, Hollendorfer worked for Jerry Fanning. “I got to work for a couple of good guys,” Hollendorfer said. “Most of what I do today, I learned from them.” While he was working with Fanning at Hollywood Park, he met his future wife Janet, who was working for trainer Mel Stute.

In his first six years as a trainer, Hollendorfer won 59 races. Now he is the third leading trainer in racing history. By the time you read this, he’ll have won his 6,500th race.

Jerry Hollendorfer & Kim and Jerry Lloyd

So Kim Lloyd, a former trainer who is now general manager of Barretts Equine Sales and Fairplex Park, was down in Louisiana, scouting yearlings for the next sale. “Jeff Hebert was showing me eight or nine yearlings, and he said he had this horse who had just won a maiden $20,000 at Delta Downs,” Lloyd said. “He said he was as green as can be. So they walk this horse out. I’ve never seen a horse look as well, a picture of health. I said, `This horse is awesome.’”

So Lloyd makes a phone call to a proposed partner and makes a deal to buy that horse, Sahara Sky. “This guy was supposed to send Jeff the money, and Jeff called me and said he never sent the money,” Lloyd said. “I went to the track and ran into Dan Ward, Jerry Hollendorfer’s assistant. I said, `This is a damn shame. We’re going to lose this horse.’ He went back and he told Jerry how much I loved this horse. And he bought him.”

Hollendorfer said, “I value Kim’s opinion. Kim looks at a lot of horses.”

Kim had hit a home run. “The first time he ran, he won big in the slop,” Lloyd said. “He’s really good looking. He just carries himself. He walks like a panther.”

While Lloyd trained and continues to work and live in Southern California, the one stakes race he coveted was the Met Mile, because many years earlier he had seen Forego make one of his legendary late-runs to win one of his two consecutive Met Miles. Now Sahara Sky can be added to the list of Met Mile winners.

Standing in the winner’s circle, Lloyd’s cell phone lights up. “I had never heard from the guy that was supposed to send the money and never did,” Lloyd said. “It was him. He said, `I really screwed up, didn’t I?’ I said, `You sure did.’”