Al Gold (Gold Square LLC), Dr. Michael Lee and George Messina – Cyclone State
/Article by Bill Heller
Three men with ties to racing longer than four decades, Al Gold, the majority partner of Gold Square LLC, Dr. Michael Lee and George Messina, celebrated Cyclone State’s emphatic 3 ½ length victory in the $150,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct, January 4th, his third straight victory in his stakes debut. “They’re great guys,” Cyclone State’s trainer Chad Summer said. “Michael brought his wife and three girls to the track. They had a great time in Times Square. He’s a guy who just loves the game. George has a trainer in his family. We’ve got a lot of people on this horse’s back. It’s been a great ride.”
Cyclone State’s victory was the first graded stakes score for both Lee and Messina, who are related through marriage. Gold’s horses, however, have been in the national spotlight many times.
Though he grew up near Monmouth Park in New Jersey, his first visit to a racetrack came in upstate New York. His family routinely spent vacations in the Catskills at the then-famous Grossinger’s Hotel in Liberty, N.Y. and at the Concord in nearby Monticello. When he was 16, he overheard men talking about a horse they liked racing that night at Monticello Raceway. Gold went to the track that night, cashed a bet and never looked back. “A lifetime of enjoyment for me,” Gold said. “That got me addicted to it. You just walked into the place, and it was electric, Monticello. Everybody looked so happy.”
Later in his life, he frequented Monmouth Park: “I went 90 minutes before post time. I just loved it so much.”
He made his career in the family business of real estate: “I never really liked it. I needed the money to get horses and go to the track.”
He bought his first Thoroughbred in 2004. He named several of them uniquely: My Italian Rabbi, Meet the Mets, Geaux Mets, Full Court Felicia, Who Hoo That’s Me and Howard Wolowitz for a character in the TV comedy The Big Bang Theory.
But he gave his best horse a serious name, Cyberknife, because that device helped him survive prostate cancer. He learned the bad news on December 7th, 2020, his 65th birthday. A cyberknife is a robotic radiation therapy device. Despite its name, a cyberknife is part of a noninvasive procedure which delivers radiation to cancer cells without damaging other healthy issues or cells. “There’s a more accurate name for it now,” Gold said. “Fortunately my doctor caught it earlier. Cancer hit me in three more spots, but I get a blood test every three months. A shot every six months. My last tests have been clear.”
He hoped Cyberknife, a $400,000 purchase at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Selected Yearlings Showcase, would tell others that prostate cancer can be treated and is no longer a death sentence.
Trained by Brad Cox, Cyberknife gave Gold his first Gr. 1 stakes victory in the 2022 Arkansas Derby; a start in the Kentucky Derby finishing far back, and another Gr. 1 win in the Haskell. He also finished second to Epicenter in the Gr. 1 Travers and second by a head to Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish in the Gr. 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Cyberknife earned $2,137,520 with five victories, four seconds and one third in 13 career starts. Gold sold Cyberknife's breeding rights to Spendthrift Farm, and he entered stud in 2023.
Asked about his best moment in racing, Gold said, “When my kids, Dayna and Bryan (now 37 and 34), are there with my wife Holly and they are smiling and happy, like when we did the walkover for the Derby.”
Lee, his wife Jennifer, and their three children, Emma Claire, Annalise and Ellie, 20, 18 and 16, enjoyed visiting New York City and, of course, the victory in the Jerome. “Super exciting,” Lee, a 50-year-old ear, nose and throat doctor in Mobile, Alabama, said. “We watched the race from the rail in the winner’s circle. Cyclone State took over. It was exciting. The kids enjoyed the attention.”
Lee’s grandfather, Willys Rhodes, was a trainer in South Mississippi: “He had a small track and a barn. I used to go out there and train horses that would ship into the Fair Grounds. My uncles helped train a few horses. I was probably around 10. It always starts with the love of animals. The people surrounding them are super entertaining. The whole atmosphere. It’s hard to understand if you’re not in it.”
Lee and Messina have partnered on several horses: “George’s son, Trace, is an assistant for Brad Cox. I met Al through Steve Margolis. He trains for me in New Orleans. We met at the sales. Al and I both kind of hit off. Through Trace, I got to know Chad Summers. Al had some horses with Brad at the time. At Saratoga, we hung out with Chad and Al. At the Keeneland Sales, they approached us. We said Al doesn’t usually do partnerships, but we all knew each other.”
Lee’s been smiling ever since: “We’re having a great time with this horse.”
Messina has a catering service in New Orleans which started in 1961 and now does all the catering for the Fair Grounds.
“My interest in horses started when my dad had a restaurant close to Jefferson Downs,” Lee said. “Fair Grounds horsemen stopped there. Owners, too. We put up pictures. My dad owned a couple of horses. My wife’s grandfather, Willys Rhodes, was a breeder, owner and trainer, all Louisiana-breds. In 1997, we put together a group, all family members, 18 of us. We bought a horse, Skyy Me Up.”
Skyy Me Up won three of nine starts in 1997 and ’98. “We bought a couple more horses,” Messina said. “I stayed in the game.”
He had more luck as a partner on T.B. Track Star, who captured the Gr. 3 1999 Lone Star Derby.
He’s delighted that Lee is his partner: “Mike was part of Skky Me Up. Mike had a love for the horses just like I did. He did well with his medical practice. We decided to partner up. We were lucky that Al asked us to partner with him on Cyclone State. I’ve owned horses, but I’ve never been on the Derby Trail. It’s beyond my wildest imagination.”
