Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Nobals - Vince Foglia (Patricias Hope LLC)

Article by Bill Heller

Nobals’ victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint was the culmination of an incredible year for Vinnie Foglia, who races as Patricia’s Hope LLC, and his trainer/close friend Larry Rivelli. Patricia’s Hope LLC was also a partner on Two Phil’s, who sandwiched dominant Grade 3 stakes victories in the Jeff Ruby Stakes and Ohio Derby around his brave second by a length in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. “It was a hell of a year,” Foglia said.

Actually, it’s been a hell of a long friendship between Foglia and Rivelli. “I think it was the Italian thing,” Foglia said. “We hit it off immediately. It’s so cool that we’re that tight. We live in the same community. We golf together. We’re members of the same country club. We hang out together.”

They’re also native Chicagoans. “Someone told me he wanted to claim a horse,” Rivelli said. “The guy recommended me. I talked to Vinnie for five minutes. Same town. Both Italians. From then on, we were just buddies. It ended up a great friendship with him and his family. They’ve been successful. They’re the greatest people on the planet. Just great people.”

Both Vinnie, his father Vincent and his mother Patricia, have spent their lives helping people.

Vinnie’s father was the co-founder of Sage Products Inc, a medical supply company which developed and manufactured healthcare products for hospitals throughout the country in Cary, Illinois.

“My first position in health care almost 60 years ago was as a salesman for MacBick, which sold medical supplies to hospitals,” Vinnie’s father said in an online interview. “I wanted to be part of it. I am truly passionate about healthcare. It’s been my life’s work and dedication for almost 50 years. I love this industry. I know right now that someone in a hospital is benefitting from one of our products. I’ve always wanted to be part of something that matters. And what could matter more than patient safety? After all, we’re all going to be patients some day!”

When his company prospered, he began a legacy of philanthropy, one his son is proud to continue. In 1995, his father founded the Foglia Family Foundation in Chicago. Its major areas of support are education and health care. “As part of our interest in health care, we’ve always supported high-quality behavioral health treatment,” his father said. “We are aware that addiction and suicide rates are soaring and demand for treatment is growing. Much of this care is unfunded and relies on doctors. Yet even with charitable gifts, behavioral health organizations are still only able to scratch the surface of the need.” 

Foglia is rightfully proud of his father: “He is a role model. My father gets pleasure helping people who are less fortunate. That’s what I do. We have over 100 charities that we support.”

One of them, Let It Be, places kids, including children with special needs, in foster homes. “I’m on the board,” Foglia said. “I’m on a few boards, all not-for-profit.”

  Foglia began working for Sage when he was 16. “I started out sweeping with a broom,” he said. “When we sold the business to Striker Home Care Medical in 2016, that allowed us to start buying thoroughbreds.” He honored his mother by calling his stable Patricia’s Hope LLC.

Horses were always in Foglia’s head, ever since he visited Arlington Park when he was 12. “I grew up in Arlington Heights,” he said. “My high school was right down the street. I knew jockey E.T. Baird. I knew grooms and hotwalkers.”

That end of the business never appealed to Foglia. Owning horses did: “It’s as exciting as you can have competitively without breaking a sweat.”

One of his first lessons was to avoid something that guarantees sweat: “I learned that, after five or six years, don’t do the bookkeeping. It takes away the fun. You can get sticker shock.”

Not with Nobals. The five-year-old gelding by Noble Mission out of Pearly Blue by Empire Maker sold for $3,500 at the Fasig-Tipton October, 2020 Yearling Sale to owner/trainer LeLand Hayes. Nobals won his maiden debut at Presque Isle Downs by four lengths and was re-sold to Patricia’s Hope LLC and Rivelli. “After he won, someone presented the horse,” Ravelli said. “A horse has to absolutely jump off the page for me to want to buy it. It was the way he won his race.”

Nobals has been winning races all over North America ever since Foglia purchased him. In 18 career starts, he’s raced at 11 different tracks: Presque Isle Downs, Arlington Park, Churchill Downs, Delmar, Turfway Park, Woodbine, Saratoga, Keeneland, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Colonial Downs and Santa Anita. His 10 wins and three seconds helped him earn $1,453,274.”

Now Two Phils, who posted five wins, two seconds and one third in 10 starts, making $1,583,450, is standing stud at WinStar Farm for $12,500. Nobals is enjoying a well-earned rest. 

Together, Two Phils and Nobals earned $3 million. Two Phils took Foglia to his first Kentucky Derby, and the thrill of finishing second in America’s race will last a lifetime. But at Santa Anita, Nobals gave Foglia his first grade 1 stakes victory.  

“That was very cool,” Foglia said. “The goal from the start was to win a Grade 1.”

Patricia’s Hope fulfilled.

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Closing Remarks - John Harris (Harris Farms)

Article by Bill Heller

The breadth of California Racing Hall of Famer John C. Harris’ accomplishments is so vast, it’s difficult to know where to begin. “He’s probably one of the most influential horsemen in California racing as an owner and breeder, and respected by both sectors,” Bill Nader, the CEO of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, said. “He’s just an amazing man. What an impact he has had.”

His impact was celebrated last August when he was honored at the Edwin J. Gregson Charity/fundraising dinner at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, just a few miles east of Del Mar. He has served five terms as the President of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association and is a member of the Jockey Club, the California Horse Racing Board and the Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors.

His list of racing stars includes his home-bred Soviet Problem, the 1994 California-bred Horse of the Year who won 15 of her 20 career starts with three seconds, one of them by a head to Cherokee Run in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs. Harris was co-breeder and co-owner of the incredible filly with Don Valpredo, the co-founder of Country Sweet Produce in Bakersfield. Harris called Soviet Problem “the best one I’ve ever had.”

Harris’ stallions at Harris Farms have included Cee’s Tizzy, sire of two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Tiznow. Harris Farms was also part of the success story of 2014 and 2016 Horse of the Year California Chrome. Both those superstars grew up on Harris Farm and began training there.

The Harris Farm story traces back to Harris’ father, Jack, and his decision to move his farm from Texas to California in 1916. Twenty-seven years later, they established Harris Farm in California’s Central Valley, near Coalinga, a diversified company.

Thoroughbreds are just part of Harris’ story. His Harris Ranch Beef Company produces nearly 200 million pounds of beef and is California’s largest fed cattle processor. Harris Ranch Beef has been in California’s supermarkets for decades.

The Harris Ranch Restaurant alongside Interstate 5 has been a popular rest-stop for families traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco or the other direction It is one of three dine-in restaurants on the vast property of more than several thousand acres. Harris Ranch Restaurant serves as many as half a million customers each year and has won several culinary awards. 

Harris Farm produces onions, garlic, almonds, pistachios, olives, citrus fruit and asparagus and includes vineyards for producing wine.

But horses hold a sacred place in Harris’ soul, and he has bred and raced champions for several decades.

The Harris Farm Horse Division is split into two distinct ranches, 450 acres in Coalinga, from the main ranch and the remaining 140 acres located in Sanger specializing in the development of young horses and long-term lay-ups.

How has he been able to succeed in so many endeavors simultaneously?

“I try to keep all the balls in the air and not screw up things in the process,” Harris said.

Those close to him know how remarkably well he’s accomplished that.

 “We’re all amazed, too,” said Tom Wyrick, the Assistant Manager of the Harris Farm Horse Division. “He’s a very caring guy. He’s good to people.”

Harris went the extra mile naming his horses for his employees. The first was Big Jess, Harris’ first home-bred stakes winner. He won 14 of 69 career starts with 12 seconds, seven thirds and earnings of $152,312. One of Big Jess’ sons, Juan Barrera, was also named for an employee. In 45 lifetime starts, he posted 10 victories, six seconds and seven thirds, making $245,705.

Harris cares deeply about racing in California, all racing in the state. 

On the California Horse Racing Board, Harris tried to ensure the future of California’s fair racing, trying to preserve historic venues such as Ferndale. 

Harris received a Bachelor of Science Degree in animal science and agricultural business management from the University of California at Davis.

In 2008, he was inducted into the California Racing Hall of Fame.

Harris said he was in favor of a recent proposed rule to limit the number of mares a stallion serves to 140: “I think it’s a good idea, but it’s kind of academic in California. We rarely have stallions in California who breed over 140 mares. Some are over 100, but none over 140. One-hundred-forty is quite a few. We breed horses here to race. The declining mares, that’s the tip of the iceberg. The problem in California is a lot of people aren’t making a lot of money racing here, and their interest starts to wane.”

  His interest never has. 

And he’s not slowing down. In 2023, Harris Farm horses won 27 of 194 starts and earned $1,628,186, its highest total of the 2000’s.

At the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation Dinner last August, Foundation President Jenine Sahadi said, “We’re delighted to honor John, not only for the accomplishments of his Harris Farm Horse Division, one of the country’s leading racing stables and utmost influential owner/breeder operations, for which he has been inducted to the California Racing Hall of Fame. We also acknowledge his many years of distinguished service to the industry as a California Horse Racing Board Commissioner, board member of the Breeders’ Cup, Jockey Club and the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association.”

Bill Nader, who was at that dinner, said, “It was a great night.”

And it couldn’t have meant more to Harris: “Eddie was a really good friend.”  

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Richard Nicolai (Fortune Farm) – Secret Money

Article by Bill Heller

Before he began in Thoroughbred racing, Richard Nicolai was a devout harness racing fan. Born in Pleasantville, New York, north of Yonkers, he spent many nights at Yonkers Raceway and Roosevelt Raceway. “I was always a horse lover—all kinds of horses,” he said. “I owned a few saddle horses. I rode.”

After getting married, he moved to Long Island, where he began and ran a business of manufacturing light fixtures for 35 years. He spent many nights at Roosevelt Raceway, which once hosted the top level of harness racing in the country. “I was there every night,” Nicolai said. “I had dinner every night at the Cloud Casino. It was so exciting to be under the lights. I loved everything about it.”

Then he got more involved, first by jogging horses, than training them on and off for three years. He had a chance meeting with legendary driver/trainer Billy Haughton one night at Wolverine Racetrack in Michigan. “I walked up to him, and we talked about racing for hours,” Nicolai said. “I learned so much from Billy Haughton. I was just a little guy with a couple of horses, and he treated me with respect. I’ll never forget it.” 

Ten years later, he got involved with Thoroughbreds, first with partners. His second Thoroughbred, Not So Fast, won the 2000 Stymie Handicap for trainer Bruce Levine. Not So Fast would post 10 victories, eight seconds and five thirds from 38 starts, making $318,777.

When he retired in 2019, he was happily able to devote himself exclusively to his horses. “The horses take all my time,” Nicolai said. He is happy to share that time with his wife, Lynn, their 44-year-old son Adam, an oral surgeon, and his 44-year-old daughter Hope, a dentist. “My wife loves it,” he said. “She comes to the sales and to the races. The kids are always watching our horses.”

He named his stable Fortune Farm, and he was the sole owner of Sue’s Fortune, a daughter of Jump Start out of Democrat Taxes by Catienus, who’s three victories in six starts included the 2018 Gr. 2 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. She was also second by three-quarters of a length in the $139,000 Jersey Girl Stakes. She earned $221,700. “She’s a home-bred,” Nicolai said. “I still have her mother.”

His partnership with long-time friends Bob Hahn and Matt Hand reached a high point with Secret Money, a Good Samaritan filly out of Awesome Humor by Distorted Humor, which they purchased as a two-year-old in May 2022, for just $40,000. Secret Money won a lot of money when he captured the $1 million Gr. 3 Big Ass Fans Music City Stakes by one length at Kentucky Downs, September 2. Brendan Walsh is her trainer.

Hahn was euphoric, watching the race from his home in Hilton Head, South Carolina: “My wife and I were screaming. We scared the neighbors. We’d never even been in a million-dollar race.”

He thanks his grandfather for his love of racing. “I was the designated go-along to make sure that he had company,” Hahn said.  “We went to Monmouth, Aqueduct and Keystone.”

He’s delighted with his partners: “Richard and Matt are the greatest guys to work with. They’re honest as the day is long. We all had our separate ways and decided to put our heads together.”

Nicolai said, “Bob is a breeder, as I am. He had a few good horses over the years. Matt is younger than us. He’s a very smart guy, very analytical and a great partner. We just bought two nice Street Sense fillies for $375,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sales.”

Nicolai said a lot of his success has been thanks to Travis Durr at the Travis Durr Training Center in St. Matthews, South Carolina: “He looks for yearlings for me. He starts with hundreds of horses and sends me a short list. That’s how we got Secret Money.”

Secret Money has three wins and a third from her first six starts with earnings of $740,311.

“We bought her very cheap,” Durr said. “We did the right thing by her. And it paid off. She’s a real nice filly.”

Durr said he and his wife, Ashley, who helps run the training center, have known the Nicolais, Richard and Lynn, for about 12 years: “In the past few years, he’s been doing more and more. He’s kind of stepped up and bought up, not relying just on home-breds. He’s trying to get a better horse. He’s got a lot of patience. He’s a great guy, a family guy. He’s got a lot of trust in us. We’ve gotten close to him and his wife. They’re like family.”

Nicolai now has 25 broodmares, half a dozen weanlings, four yearlings and six racehorses. “I’m a partner on another eight horses,” he said.

Walsh has done a great job with this filly. “We were looking for a good trainer with a good reputation with turf horses,” Nicolai said. “I’ve sent him several turf horses. We’ve been together for three years. I have good partners and a great trainer.”

And he loves horses as much as he ever did. “First of all, I love the competition. I got very interested in breeding and pedigrees. I study pedigrees. I have so much fun seeing how horses turn out. I enjoy that. My wife enjoys that, too.”

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Bill and Tammy Simon (WSS Racing) – Brightwork

Article by Bill Heller

Bill Simon, the former president and CEO of Walmart, quickly learned the difference between Walmart and racing. “There’s no everyday low pricing in horse racing,” he laughed.

Simon was at Walmart from 2006–2015. “Do I miss it?” he said. “I miss the people. But I don’t miss a million and a half people reporting to me. When I left Walmart, I was looking for something to share with my wife Tammy.  She grew up on a farm in North Carolina.”

Thoroughbreds seemed like a good fit. Success came surprisingly quickly.
“We’re very methodical,” Simon said. “I try to work with good people.” 

He certainly has two good people—his trainer John Ortiz and his bloodstock agent Jared Hughes. Oritz said his connection with the Simons “has been life-changing. They’re so supportive. They make me better, not only as a trainer, but also as a person.”

Ortiz knows he’s working with a remarkable person.

Born in Manchester, Connecticut, Simon graduated from the University of Connecticut, earning a Bachelor of Arts in economics and an MBA in management. While in college, he made his first trip to a racetrack, going to Saratoga Race Course.

He served in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserves for 25 years, receiving commendations for combat service in Grenada and in Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping force. At Walmart, he was instrumental in the company’s pledge to hire any returning veteran.

Before Walmart, Simon worked at several global companies including Brinker International, Diageo, Cadbury-Schweppes, PepsiCo and RJR Nabisco. He developed and launched Smirnoff Ice in the United States.

In the public sector, he was secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services, dealing with health care benefits, human resources, the Florida retirement system, facilities management and real estate from 2002 through 2004. 

From 2018–2020, he served as chair of the Defense Business Board for Defense Secretary James Mathis. He is currently a senior advisor to the investment firm KKR and is the founder and president of WSS Venture Holdings.

Because of his vast experiences, Simon felt it unnecessary to hire a top-tier trainer and is very happy he chose Ortiz and Hughes. “I’ve already done a lot of things in life,” Simon said. “I traded spreadsheets and profits and losses statements for pedigrees and Racing Forms. It starts with two years trying to figure out where we could operate in this business. We started with claimers as everybody does. Then we focused on buying young horses.”

He’s delighted he has Ortiz and Hughes on his team: “I’m learning from Johnny and Jared. I have some things to teach them, too. I know how to run a business. This is a hard business. We grow together. Jared is a good horseman. John is an incredibly intuitive horseman. We have a better chance because we’re doing the work together. A lot of it is good, hard work.”

The work has paid off. Bill and Tammy found two relatively cheap stars. Barber Road, named for a road in North Carolina, cost $15,000. He broke his maiden in a $30,000 claimer. Simon told Molly Rollins in a March 8, 2022 story in the Blood-Horse, his rationale for the drop-down after Barber Road finished a distant fourth in a maiden special weight debut: “We knew he was special, but we thought, well, you know a $15,000 weanling running in a $30,000 maiden claimer—no one is going to take him; so why not give him a really good blow against an easier crowd and get things started? And that’s what we did. You have to be brave to take a $15,000 horse running for $30,000.”

After a 6 ¼-length romp in a starter allowance, Barber Road took the Simons on the 2022 Kentucky Derby trail, finishing second in the $200,000 Lively Shively Stakes, second in the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes and second again in the Gr. 3 Southwest Stakes. He was beaten just a half-length when third in the Gr. 2 Rebel, and finished second again in the Gr. 1 Arkansas Derby.

That led him to the 2022 Gr. 1 Kentucky Derby. He rallied from far back to finish sixth. “We had a huge Kentucky Derby party,” Tammy said. “It was really a neat thing for everybody. It was great. That meant so much to me and my family.,”

Barber Road finished seventh in the Belmont Stakes and most recently was fourth in the Gr. 3 Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs, June 3. He’s made just under $800,000.

The Simons’ undefeated two-year-old filly Brightwork, who upped her record to four-for-four by winning the Gr. 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga September 3, cost $95,000 and has already earned $444,051. She’s never been the favorite in any of her starts, including a five-length romp in the Gr. 3 Adirondack Stakes before the Spinaway.

“I kind of like not being the favorite,” Tammy said. “That little filly has been amazing. To watch her come down that stretch at Saratoga—it was such an incredible feeling. Her breeders were also there with us. I turned around and every one of us was crying. It was John’s first Gr. 1 and our first Gr. 1. It was really special. She’s a diva. She knows she’s special.”

Her husband said he wasn’t too nervous before the race: “Whenever I get nervous, Johnny tells me in poker, you don’t know what other people’s hands are, but you know your hand. I loved my hand.”

After the Spinaway, he said of her half-length victory at Saratoga, “I never imagined we’d win at a place like that. Holy cow! I’m excited to see what she does next.” 

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Nick and Delora Beaver (Bell Gable Stable) – Nutella Fella

Article by Bill Heller

When Nick Beaver married Delora, he told her, “One of these days, I’d like to have a horse or two or three.” She replied, “You better make enough money to pay for it.”

He did exactly that – with her help. “When I came out of the [U.S.] Navy, I worked with a labor contractor,” Nick said. “I worked for them for about 10 years. Delora said, `Move out on your own.’ We haven’t looked back since. Now we have five companies.”

And horses. Since 2017. “I claimed a horse for $5,000 on a Thursday or a Friday,” Nick said. “By Sunday, we had three more.”

Nick Beaver grew up in racing, literally. His mother was a waitress in the clubhouse at Waterford Park, which is now Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. “I never had a dad,” Beaver said. “My mom raised four boys on her own. I was the youngest.”

In 2019, the Beavers decided to buy a pricey yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Sale. “We looked at 10 or 12 yearlings,” Beaver said. “We focused on Maryland Brando, a colt by Flatter out of the More Than Ready mare Apple Cider. “The reserve was going to be $100,000,” Beaver said. “We bought him for $250,000.”

Beaver decided he needed another trainer for such a nice horse and reached out to Gary Contessa, a successful trainer in New York who had recently left the business. “I had a bunch of claimers and barely made enough,” Contessa said. “I had enough with the Department of Labor.”

Beaver reached out to Contessa: “I asked him if he would decide what to do with this horse. Gary came down to Delaware. This horse dragged Gary back into the business. I asked him what it would take for you to train this horse. He said, `Being your private trainer.’ I asked Delora. She said, `That works.’ He became our trainer.”

Maryland Brando made a spectacular debut at Delaware Park, August 2, 2021, winning a maiden race by 11 ½ lengths. Maryland Brando then finished 10th in the Gr. 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga and a distant fifth in an allowance race in Delaware. Given a long time to recover, Maryland Brando returned in an allowance race at Laurel Park, April 14, 2022. He finished seventh by 20 lengths.

Things got worse. “One day, he got loose on the track,” Beaver said. “He ran through a fence and had to be euthanized. I cried. It was horrible. It was gut-wrenching.”

Then the Beavers went to the 2022 Keeneland September Sale. Instead of spending $250,000, they invested $12,000 to purchase Nutella Fella, a son of Runhappy out of Kristy’s Candy by Candy Ride. “He was in book six,” Beaver said. “It was really late in the sale. Nobody was bidding on him. He came out and looked good. Delora said, `Don’t go over $30,000.’ We get to $12,000. We got him. We were ecstatic. We liked Runhappy.” 

Contessa said, “He’s the spitting image of Runhappy. Looks just like his father.”

In 2023, Contessa switched from Bell Gable Stable’s private trainer to general manager with the stipulation that if one of their horses was good enough to race in New York, Contessa would train him.

“Nick grew up in a racing family,” Contessa said. “He was sleeping in the tack room. He’s a very passionate man about the game. He’s a good guy—a very smart guy.”

When Nutella Fella made his debut in a maiden race at Delaware Park on July 26, Richard Silliman was the trainer. 

And both Silliman and Contessa had a challenge. “He had no issues in the gate early in his training,” Beaver said. “One day in the gate, he freaks out. Something triggered it. He was a nutcase. He was flipping backwards before the gate. He became a nightmare. We worked with him. The Delaware gate crew tried using voice commands. They got him to walk into the gate.”

Nutella Fella’s final work before his debut revealed he had another trait—a very good one. “Our horse comes through the turn and almost collides with other horses,” Beaver said. “Then he got dirt kicked in his face. The minute that dirt hit him in the face, he became possessed. It made him mad. He took a hold of the bit. He went right past them.”

Contessa came to Delaware Park for Nutella Fella’s debut: “He was a handful in the paddock. A handful in the post parade. A handful at the gate. He did everything wrong. He broke dead last. And he won going away.”

The margin under Kevin Gomez was 2 ¼ lengths.

“Nick said, `I want you to take him to Saratoga and run in the Hopeful,’” Contessa said. “I picked him up and took him to Saratoga. He was really bad in the gate.”

A field of 10 contested the $300,000 Gr. 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga on September 4. Junior Alvarado took the mount off Nutella Fella’s impressive final work, three furlongs in :34 4/5 breezing. Bettors weren’t impressed and sent him off at 54-1.

Nutella Fella literally walked out of the starting gate. “It was the same way at Delaware,” Contessa said. “He’s pulling Junior and I said, ' We might be okay here.’ He’s 100 percent racehorse.’” 

Yeah, but he was at least seven lengths behind the horse in next-to-last on the backstretch.

Alvarado’s ride was masterful, cutting inside of horses then angling out at 45-degrees to the far outside. Nutella Fella did the rest, winning by a length and a half.

At 54-1.

“We made so much money,” Beaver said. “We bet him to win and place.” Everyone in his family made money.

“People don’t believe this horse,” Delora said. “I get it. He has to prove it. We know he’s a good horse. We’ll see if he’s the real deal.” 

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Michael Dubb – Therapist

Article by Bill Heller

Michael Dubb’s near 50-year voyage at Saratoga Race Course has been unique and complete. In 1973, at the age of 17, he slept in a van because he couldn’t afford a room to attend the races the following day. In 2021, the 65-year-old multiple leading owner in New York, who watches the races from his box seat, saw the opening of his Faith’s House, a daycare center at Saratoga Race Course for the children of backstretch workers that he built and donated so those children had an option other that sleeping in their parents’ car or spending their summers apart from their parents. Faith’s House is named for his mother.

Twenty years earlier, Dubb donated the materials and built Anna House, a daycare center at Belmont Park named for the daughter of late owner, Eugene Melnyk, who contributed $1 million to start the program. Anna House was the first program of any kind offering daycare for children of backstretch workers. Dubb has contributed renovations for both facilities.

Michael Dubb’s legacy won’t be the races he won, but the lives he changed. “It means a lot to me, more than winning races,” he said. “In racing, you need a foundation to win races. These kids needed a foundation for their lives.”

His would be a good one to emulate. 

The van he took to Saratoga was the same one he used for his fledgling landscaping business. “I bought my first landscaper when I was 16,” he said. “I slept in the van for a couple summers at Saratoga. I was in my van at Congress Park, and I got to listen to Richard Nixon resigning that August (1974).”

In 1985, Dubb began The Beechwood Organization, which has become the largest New York developer of family and multi-family attached housing. Beechwood has built more than 10,000 homes in 80 communities in New York City, Long Island, Saratoga Springs and North Carolina. Professional Builder magazine said Beechwood ranked 54th out of 240 housing giants and number 3 in New York in 2023. Dubb’s son Steven, is now a key player in Beechwood.

Dubb, a lifelong Long Islander, has spent much of his life giving back. He built homes for Long Islanders after Superstorm Sandy. The American Cancer Society, the American Jewish Committee, Family Service League, Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corporation, Mid Island YMCA/Jewish Community Center, Suffolk YMCA/Jewish Community Center, Tilles Center and Networking Magazine have honored Dubb for his philanthropy and community service.

While he has been a partner of top Thoroughbreds Monomoy Girl, British Idiom and Uni, he’s an astute horseman who has made a ton of claims—none more impressive than Therapist.

“He’s a pleasure,” Dubb said. “I competed against this horse for many years. I tried claiming him for $25,000, but I lost the shake. They put him in for $50,000. I got him. He’s just a hard-hitting older New York-bred horse. I’m fortunate to own one.”

Exactly three weeks after Dubb lost his $25,000 claim on a shake, Dubb claimed the eight-year-old gelding for $50,000 on June 20 at Gulfstream Park when he finished third as the 2-1 favorite. Switched from Geoge Weaver to Mike Maker, Therapist won a starter allowance on synthetic by 4 ½ lengths and the Gr. 2 Pan American on turf at Gulfstream. 

Sent to Churchill Downs, Therapist was a wide eighth in the Gr. 2 Louisville Stakes. At Ellis Park, he was second by a head in a $160,000 stakes. 

In the $600,000 United Nations at Monmouth Park, July 22, Therapist won his first Gr. 1, scoring by a length and a half in the mile-and-three-eighths stakes under Javier Castellano. In his last start, Therapist finished eighth in the mile-and-a-half Kentucky Downs Turf Cup. Dubb can live with that. Therapist’s U.N. score earned $360,000—more than seven times what Dubb paid to claim him.

 Of course, all his claims weren’t as successful. 

At Anna House and Faith’s House, all the children are given the tools to be successful. “We give them confidence to compete,” Dubb said.

Dubb conceived the idea of Anna House after Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey told him that backstretch workers’ kids were sleeping in cars. “It just wasn’t right,” Dubb said. “We recognized the need for daycare. I worked with NYRA to find a location. It took about 18 months. We got Anna House built in seven weeks.”

More than 1,000 kids have passed through Anna House, which offers 365-daycare from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. There are programs for infants from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a school-age program from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Parents of the families are asked to make a “very small donation,” Joanne Adams, the Belmont Child Care Association executive director, said. “We write grants to assist us, and corporations help us.” 

 Asked of Dubb’s ongoing contributions to both Anna House and Faith’s House, Adams said, “It’s hard to imagine any of this without Michael.”

She continued, “He has a big heart. He cares about the people around him. He has shared his early life and what he did and how he worked hard to get where he is. He’s just a very caring person, exceedingly bright. He understands business, and he understands people. He’s happy when the people around him are happy.”

Dubb says of both daycare centers: “They’ve exceeded my wildest dreams, to see how incredibly happy the children are.”

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Bill Parcells - August Dawn Farm (Maple Leaf Mel)

The juiciest thrill for a Thoroughbred owner is having an undefeated young horse. You don’t know, the trainer doesn’t know, and nobody on the planet knows when that undefeated horse will stop winning as he or she climbs up in competition.

NFL Hall of Fame former New York Giants Coach Bill Parcells, who races as August Dawn Farm, knows about thrills, having won the Giants’ first two of four Super Bowl victories.

Since becoming a Thoroughbred owner in 2011, he’s had 59 victories from 353 starts and more than $4.5 million in earnings.

But he’s never had a Grade 2 victory, let alone a Grade 1, and now his undefeated New York-bred filly Maple Leaf Mel is poised to add that Grade 1 score to her resume in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga August 5th. 

Handy victories in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico and the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont Park made the New York-bred five-for-five. She’s won all five wire-to-wire.

Growing up in New Jersey, Parcells used to go to Monmouth Park with his father. Showing a tender side he might not have displayed on the Giants’ sidelines, Parcells named the filly for her young trainer, 39-year-old Melanie Giddings, who survived ovarian and endocervical cancer in 2020 and went on her own this spring after serving as an assistant for Jeremiah Englehart. Maple Leaf Mel’s 2 ½ length victory in the Victory Ride was the first with Giddings listed as her trainer.

Parcells bought her for $150,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. She is a daughter of Cross Traffic out of City Gift by City Place.

“When Bill said he was going to name her for me, I kind of thought he wasn’t serious,” Giddings said. “When it happened, it was an honor, when a guy like that names a horse for you. He loves Saratoga. He really does love the New York-bred program.”

He’ll love it even more if Maple Leaf Mel keeps winning open-company stakes. “She’s great,” Giddings said. “She’s a pleasure to be around. She does everything perfect. You can’t ask for any more. Work her fast; work her slow; work her behind horses. You wish you can find more like her.”

Giddings currently has eight horses in her barn. “When you don’t have connections, it’s a tough go,” she said. “You have to find ways to get horses.”

Parcells could use Maple Leaf Mel’s earnings to remedy that. With just under $400,000 in earnings, she is already Parcells’ fifth highest-earning horse behind Saratoga Snacks ($523,600), Play Action Pass ($480,935), Hit It Once More ($390,102) and Three Technique ($366,615). Saratoga Snacks won the 2013 Empire Classic for trainer Gary Sciacca. 

Another Parcells runner, Forty Under, won the 2018 Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes. “He’s a pleasure to train for,” Giddings said. “He likes to joke around. At the end of the day, he says, `Do whatever you like.’ He’s up at 5 a.m. every day. He goes to the gym. He goes to the barn every morning. He tells me right now I’m more popular than Taylor Swift. I said, if that’s the case, Belmont would have been packed.”

Belmont hasn’t been packed too many times. And Parcells was one of the no-shows for Maple Leaf Mel’s last glittering performance. “He’s a little superstitious,” Giddings said. “He hasn’t been there recently for her races. He was feeling a little nervous like the rest of us. He stayed here in Saratoga and watched her.”

She was sensational. “Her last race was her toughest field,” Giddings said. “It seems like she’s getting better. When Joel (Rosario) asked her, she responded. Then he wrapped up on her.”

After the race, Rosario said, “She’s very nice. She goes out there and just does her job. She was very relaxed and was never worried about someone challenging her because she was moving so well. She goes out there and shows her speed and says, `come and beat me.’”

Nobody has. And most young horses improve in their first few starts. “You hope so,” Giddings said. “You keep them happy. A happy horse runs well. I’ve done this so long for a lot of people, I feel like it’s second nature.”

Beating cancer saved and changed her life. “When you go through that kind of sickness, you may not wake up in the morning,” she said. “I’m more easy going. I want to live a life worth living.”

She’s already jump-started her training career with Maple Leaf Mel. “I didn’t really set any goals,” she said. “I’d be super happy if I can say I won a race at Saratoga. If the Test was that race, that would be something, wouldn’t it?”

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Jon Ebbert (Arcangelo)

Article by Bill Heller

Arcangelo showed Jon Ebbert life can begin just before turning 40 years old. Three days before his 40th birthday, Ebbert was standing in the Belmont Park winner’s circle after Arcangelo, his $35,000 yearling purchase, won the Belmont Stakes by a length and a half, making his trainer, Jena Antonucci, the first woman to win a Triple Crown race.

That wasn’t the only history Arcangelo made. He gave his Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, who contributed a brilliant ride, his first victory in the Belmont Stakes after 14 misses. Just five weeks earlier, Castellano ended his zero-for-15 schneid in the Kentucky Derby with Mage. In between, Hall of Famer John Velazquez won his first Preakness Stakes with National Treasure after a dozen Preakness losses.

Dabbling with Hall of Famers and winning the final leg of the Triple Crown? Really?

Ebbert, who works in real estate in Pennsylvania and races as Blue Rose Farm, was introduced to racing at the age of six by his grandmother. He and his family were picking her up to go out for dinner on the first Saturday in May and she told them she couldn’t go until she saw how her horse in the 1988 Kentucky Derby fared. Two years later, Ebbert told his parents he wanted to begin riding lessons, and the rest is history, a very slow-developing history.

Ebbert displayed remarkable patience and persistence as an owner with little success over the past 15 years. The first horse he bought, Daydreamin Boy, cost $3,700 and went zero-for-14 for him.

There were no real highlights. Before Arcangelo made his career debut last December, Ebbert was two-for-37 with earnings of $86,950 racing under his name. Racing under Blue Rose Farm, he’d been zero-for-two with earnings of $1,000.

One horse and one trainer changed all that.

Ebbert met Antonucci by chance the day before the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He told Dave Grening of the Daily Racing Form in his June 9th story that he went to the sale looking to buy a son of Classic Empire who could take him to the 2024 Breeders’ Cup. Ebbert found a son of Classic Empire, Classic Bourbon, and purchased him for $100,000. Through June 2023, Classic Bourbon is zero-for-nine with earnings of $6,170. He is also trained by Antonucci.

Fortunately for Ebbert, another yearling caught his eye, one by Arrogate out of the Tapit mare Modeling. Ebbert bought him for $35,000.

Antonucci started Classic Bourbon twice as a two-year-old on August 27th and September 18th. 

She brought Arcangelo along a bit more slowly at Gulfstream Park. He finished second in his debut December 17th, then fourth on January 14th with Jose Ortiz aboard both times. On March 18th, with Castellano in the saddle for the first time, Arcangelo won by 3 ½ lengths.

Shipped to Belmont Park, Ebbert and Antonucci asked Arcangelo to take a giant step up in the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes, the traditional prep for the Belmont Stakes, May 13th. Arcangelo gamely edged Bishops Bay by a head after a protracted head-to-head stretch battle.

That presented Ebbert with a crucial decision. He had not kept Arcangelo eligible for the Triple Crown, but he could supplement him to the Belmont Stakes for $50,000, $15,000 more than he had paid to buy him.

Ebbert didn’t blink, putting up the $50,000 for a chance to win the final leg of the Triple Crown. “He made the money; we’re going to go for it; we’ve got faith in the horse,” Ebbert told Grening.

The faith was justified. Castellano’s flawless ride gave Ebbert his greatest victory. Arcangelo is now a key contender in the widest-open three-year-old division in many years with races such as the Grade 1 Travers Stakes on the horizon. 

His grandmother would have been very proud. 

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Chase Chamberlin, Commonwealth Racing (Mage)

Article by Bill Heller

When Chase Chamberlin, a successful entrepreneur who partnered with Brian Doxtator to create the very successful, Kentucky Derby-winning Commonwealth Racing, was in the second grade in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he said he wanted to be an entrepreneur. “My uncle, John Handelsman, was an entrepreneur,” Chamberlin said. “He had a very successful leasing company.” 

Don’t read too much into it. The year before, Chamberlin wrote down orthopedic surgeon. “Another uncle was one,” he said.

In the third grade, he wanted to be a defense attorney. “I watched way too much TV,” he said.

He didn’t know then, but an even earlier passion, riding and loving horses, would ultimately land him, Doxtator and maybe 100 or more of the 382 micro-share Commonwealth partners into the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle when Mage won the 2023 Kentucky Derby. “It was very hard to process,” Chamberlin said. “It was so overwhelming. It was an out-of-body experience, completely surreal.”

But not his first. In 2022, Commonwealth’s first horse it offered on its app, Country Grammer, finished second by a half-length to Emblem Road in the $20 million Grade 1 Saudi Cup. He then won the $12 million Dubai World Cup by 1 ¾ lengths over Hot Rod Charlie. He finished second in the Saudi Cup again this year  by three-quarters of a length. Though he was seventh in the Dubai World Cup and fourth in the Grade 1 Gold Cup in his two most recent starts, he’s banked nearly $15 million. “When Country Grammer won the Dubai World Cup, I had $120 in my personal checking account,” Chamberlin said. “He’s a very special horse, an incredibly special horse.”

So was his first Thoroughbred, Katie. Chamberlin was 4 when he climbed aboard her. “She stopped to graze and I slipped down her neck and landed on my feet,” he said. “I was always fearless. I jumped right back up there. The trainer, Ken, said, `I think this is going to stick.’”

Did it ever. He became a two-time national champion in saddle seat riding, a style of English riding designed to show off the high action of various horse breeds which is prevalent in the United States, Canada and South Africa. “I’ve trained national champions, too,” Chamberlin said. “I’ve been very fortunate. It is my greatest love. I tried to quit a couple of times and I’ve been unsuccessful.”

Chamberlin, whose lone sibling Ashley is eight years older, learned to work hard from his parents. “My dad was in a paper mill; my mom owned a hair salon,” he said. “I grew up with extraordinary, hard-working Midwesterners. My mom, a type `A’, was always pushing us to try new things. I was always around adults.”

Ashley and Doxtator were very good friends. Doxtator kind of knew Chamberlin.

Both graduated from Western Michigan, Doxtator in 2004 and Chamberlin in 2012. “I had several show horses when I was choosing a college,” Chamberlin said. “My parents said `You can go to a school in-state and keep the horses or out-of-state and we’ll sell the horses.’” 

No brainer. Western Michigan is in Kalamazoo. “Western had a top sales program, out-competing the Ivy League,” he said. “It was an easy decision.”

In college, Chamberlin was the captain of Western Michigan Broncos’ equestrian team. Out of college, Chamberlin helped turn around a home health care company, then did consulting, showing and selling horses for a year before returning to business. He spent four years working in sales and video strategy for one of the world’s largest digital video studios, Epipheo.

A chance meeting with Doxtator in a Barnes and Noble store changed his career and his life. “He hadn’t seen me since I was a little boy,” Chamberlin said. “He sent me a message: `I’ve got an idea I think you will love.’”

Doxtator started his business career working as an analyst in mergers and acquisitions for Legg Mason, an investment banking firm in Baltimore. He then moved to New York to work in corporate group strategy for AIC, a tech and media holding company. Next up was a move cross country to San Francisco, where he joined a new company, Playhaven, a marketing platform for mobile app developers. “We grew Playhaven from five people and zero revenue to 200 employees and $50 million annual revenue,” Doxtator said in the Western Michigan alumni magazine. When Playhaven got sold, Doxtator helped his wife, Christy, launch a bridal business, LOHO Bride.

Then Doxtator came up with an idea. While exploring financial technology startups, he became intrigued with new regulations allowing apps to sell shares in assets. He thought that could be applied to sports, particularly horse racing. And he knew just who to call to find a partner.

In January, 2019, they launched Commonwealth, which allows investors to buy horses for as little as $50. Commonwealth is about to launch a similar platform for golf fans.

Chamberlin and Doxtator didn’t wait long to make a huge connection with WinStar Farm. Elliott Walden, president and CEO of WinStar, said on Commonwealth’s website “We are excited to enter this partnership. We have seen the micro-share space grow, and believe that offering the horses that WinStar Farm races to the public will bring excitement and energy to the sport.”

You think? Country Grammer and Mage!

At the 2019 Saratoga meet, Chamberlin had the good fortune of being introduced to Ramiro Restrepo. “We became friends,” Chamberlin said. “We talked about connections.”

In 2022, Chamberlin got a call from Restrepo, who had teamed with trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr. to purchase Mage for $290,000 – more than they had budgeted – at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Two-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale. “He said, `I’ve got this nice Good Magic colt. We’re looking for somebody to take 25 percent,’” Chamberlin said.

Chamberlin watched the video of Mage’s breeze and gallop-out. “I loved them, but I wanted to see the horse in person,” he said. “I see our horses in the flesh before we buy them. I want to have convictions on every horse we offer.”

Chamberlin went to see Mage at the Lexington Thoroughbred Training Center and decided instantly: “The moment I saw him, I said, `Done, we’ll take him!’ He’s built like a bull.”

Commonwealth offered shares of its 25 percent interest in Mage to the public on its app, and 382 people bought in for as little as $50. “It was an incredible array of people,” Chamberlin said. “Professionals, doctors, factory workers, young tech guys.”

Now all of them have a memory of a lifetime: the Kentucky Derby. “I was more emotional when I saw the reactions of my partners,” Chamberlin said. “This is what we give to people. What good is a great horse like Mage if you don’t share him with others? Sharing it with other people made it special for me.”

Actually, horses have been special to him since he was four, 29 years ago. “Horses have been great to me,” Chamberlin said. “They are my greatest passion. It’s absolutely what I love. I hope I get to do horses until the day I die.” 

Graded Stakes Winning Owners - Kris Chandler (Spirit of Makena)

Article by Bill Heller

Spirit of Makena wins the 2023 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita.

When Kris Chandler’s five-year-old horse Spirit of Makena, owned and bred by her recently-deceased husband Bruce, captured the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita, March 1st, in his stakes debut, Kris Chandler watched on TV. When trainer George Papaprodromou pointed Spirit of Makena to the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at the same track May 27th, Chandler decided to watch the race in person. “It was the first time I went to the track in four years,” Chandler said.

It was worth the wait. Spirit of Makena won the Triple Bend by a length and a quarter under Joe Bravo, making him four-for-five lifetime. “It was emotional on a lot of levels,” Chandler said. “Horse racing was his passion, and he waited a lifetime for this. He had horses for over 40 years and never had a horse like this. So it’s beyond special.”

Patience allowed Spirit of Makena to develop. A variety of issues delayed his career debut until August 5th, 2022, when he won by 2 ¼ lengths as a four-year-old. A head loss finishing second in an allowance race has been his only blemish. Working around quarter cracks, Spirit of Makena won an allowance race before tacking on a pair of graded stakes victories. 

The one with Chandler there was unforgettable. “She was very happy, very emotional,” Papaprodromou said. “She wished Bruce was there with her. I got to meet Bruce. They’re great people and he’s a nice horse. I’m grateful to train a horse like that and I would like to thank the owners for giving me a horse like that. It’s great to train for them. We are looking forward to a nice future with him.”

That future will help Chandler move on with her life after losing Bruce last October 16th, the day before their anniversary, following a four-year battle with cancer. “I met Bruce in Maui in Hawaii 26 years ago,” Chandler said. “Bruce and I did horses together. I’ve always loved horses, since I was a little kid, with my dad.”

Bruce Chandler’s family owned The Los Angeles Times and its parent, the Times Mirror Company, for decades. 

Kris Chandler got more involved with her husband’s horses over the years. “Because I paid attention to the breeding,” she said. “He named me Director of Breeding. That was his title for me. He was breeding to horses in California. I convinced Bruce to breed to Ghostzapper (in Kentucky). I said, 'This is a great sire.’ I convinced him that if you want to get a good horse, you must breed to a good horse.

Spirit of Makena’s dam, Win for M’lou by Gilded Time, was bred by the Chandlers and named for Kris’s mom. “My mom got so excited,” Chandler said. “She was going to be famous.”

Somewhat. Win for M’lou became the Chandler’s first $100,000 winner ($115,230), surpassed only by Mai Tai ($140,405). Spirit of Makena has taken the Chandlers to a new level, having already earned $347,600 in just five starts.

Unfortunately, Spirit of Makena took forever to make it to the races. And Bruce became ill. “He got sick in 2019,” Chandler said. “He wanted to keep going. Our favorite place in the world is Maui, and part of it was because he had to live there the past few years. I’ve been taking care of my husband for the last four years. His mobility got worse and he couldn’t travel. Horse racing was the only thing he could watch. It’s still emotional being without him right now.”

She’s had and still has a ton of support from her Hawaiian community. She lives on Makena Road in Makena. “Everyone in Hawaii is behind the horse,” Chandler said. “The McKenna Golf and Beach Club are like family. The general manager, Zak Fahmie, sent a letter to all the members about this horse, a once-in-a-lifetime horse. He’s kind of like a miracle horse. We didn’t think he was going to get to the racetrack. He was at the farm in California for two years. For him to be a horse like this, it’s a miracle. From being so injured to being such a great horse. It’s a great story. We took our time with him. He’s getting better. He’s just a wonderful horse, very intelligent. You can pet him.”

Spirit of Makena keeps her and her husband connected. Initially, after her husband passed, Chandler thought she was going to get out of racing. Now she has a horse who may take her to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at his home track, Santa Anita. “I’m trying to get out, but this is getting me very excited,” she said. “Having a horse like this, I kind of feel Bruce’s spirit. I think he just knows.”

Hunter Valley Farm

Article by Bill Heller

A Mo Reay

Six days before St. Patrick’s Day, the four Irish partners of Hunter Valley Farm near Keeneland found their elusive pot of gold, not at the end of the rainbow, but in the final 10 yards of the Gr.1 Beholder Stakes. That’s where their filly A Mo Reay thrust her nose past odds-on favorite Fun to Dream, giving the Irish quartet their first Gr.1 stakes victory at Santa Anita; half a world away from the Irish National Stud in Kildare, where two of the four, Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin, met in 1991.

Hunter Valley Farm’s John Wade, A Mo Reay & jockey Flavien Prat.

“It was a surreal day,” Regan said. “When we set up the farm, the thought of having a Gr.1 was never even thought about. We were hoping to make the farm viable. We’ve been very lucky. Without my partners, it never would have happened for sure.”  

Asked if he could ever have imagined such a feat when he was a younger lad in Ireland, Adrian’s buddy Galvin said, “It was nowhere near the front of my mind.”

Certainly, their two somewhat silent partners, Tony Hegarty and John Wade, had no idea. Those two friends met in a tavern in Chicago, then became business partners, founding A & J Construction, a successful construction company in Lockport, Illinois, 30 miles southwest of Chicago. Hegarty and Wade started out as carpenter contractors and eventually switched to land developers and custom home builders. “We’re doing okay,” Wade said.

Okay enough to speculate in Thoroughbreds. “It turned out to be an amazing adventure,” Hegarty said. “We’re more or less silent partners. Fergus and Adrian pick the horses.”

They do so adeptly. “Those guys—they come up with some good ones,” Wade said.

Both Galvin and Regan credit their fathers for their equine education.

“It was part of my childhood,” Galvin said. “My father ran a small stud farm in Dublin. I have him to thank for my early grounding and the early education. He had a couple of horses in training. From the age of eight, I was by his side most of the way. I have him to thank for where I am now. He’s doing great—keeps a close eye on the U.S. My dad is 84.”

Galvin said both his parents visit the United States. “They came over last spring to Keeneland,” he said. “They really love Kentucky. There’s no place like Kentucky in the spring. Kentucky is almost my home away from home. In Ireland, everyone has some involvement. There’s a large part of our population who has connections in the horse business. They have a deep love of horses.”

They frequently pass that love on to the next generation, a tradition Galvin and his wife, Kate, who works at Godolphin, will likely instill in their four young children, Marie, 10, Harvey, 8, and twin boys Joseph and Nicholas, 6.

Adrian Regan & Flavien Prat

Galvin’s experience at Irish National Stud helped shape his future. The Stud, founded in 1918, annually offers a six-month residential course which begins every January. Its goal is “to equip learners with the knowledge, skills and competence required to perform effectively in responsible positions in the Thoroughbred industry.”

It’s where Regan and Galvin became life-long friends. Regan, too, credits his father: “I wanted to be a trainer like my father T.A. was. When I left school, I went working for him.”

Both Galvin and Regan honed their skills before deciding to buy a farm. “I’ve been lucky enough to have some great employers before we started out,” Galvin said. “First I was at Pin Oak Stud for five years. Then I ran a small operation, Newgate Farm, and did a six-year stint at Ashford. It was very invaluable to me going forward. That really sent me on the path we are on today.”

Regan spent four years at Langford Farm breaking yearlings. “I loved my time there,” he said. “It gave me a great foundation.”

Providence brought Hegarty and Wade together. “Myself and Tony became friends when we got to this country in March 1981,” Wade said. “I had just come over here in the middle of March. He came around the same time. We hung out together. We were buddies. We started our own construction business.” 

Like Galvin and Regan, Wade had a love of horses growing up in Ireland. “I loved them,” he said. “I didn’t have the funds to buy any.”

Then Wade went to Kentucky. He watched Unbridled win the 1990 Kentucky Derby—as his trainer Carl Nafzger called the stretch drive for owner Mrs. Genter—and was hooked. “That’s what probably did it,” Wade said. “I had another Irish friend who would go to Keeneland: Pat Costello. He advised me to take a run out to Lexington to see the farms. I met a bunch of my countrymen. Every now and then, some of them did syndicates. I said, “If you do it again, count me in.” Then I talked my partner, Tony, into getting involved.”

Hegarty didn’t have an early equine education in Ireland. “I’m from northwest Ireland,” he said. “Horse racing is in the other parts of Ireland. Up my way, there was no horse racing. There are no tracks.”

Yet, he was all-in joining his friends to buy and breed Thoroughbreds. Together, the four Irishmen purchased Golden Gate Stud in Versailles in 2004 and renamed it Hunter Valley Farm. In its first year of operation, its first yearling that went to auction was Scat Daddy. All he did was post five wins, including the Gr.1 Florida Derby, in nine starts, earn more than $1.3 million and become the sire of 69 stakes winners, including undefeated Triple Crown Champion Justify before dying at the age of 11. Hunter Valley Farm had sold him as a yearling for $250,000. “Unbelievable to have that quality of horse in our very first year,” Wade said.

In November 2022, the Irishmen bought three-year-old A Mo Ray for $400,000 in the Fasig-Tipton Sale. Trained by Brad Cox, she won a $97,000 stakes at the FairGrounds and the Gr.3 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

A Mo Reay and jockey Flavien Prat (#5) dug in to edge out Fun to Dream to win the Gr.1 2023 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita Park.

Cox shipped her to Santa Anita to contest the Gr.1 Beholder Stakes March 11. The filly she had to beat was Bob Baffert’s Fun to Dream, who had won four straight and six of her seven lifetime starts. She went off at odds-on, A Mo Reay was the 7-1 third choice in the field of eight.

“It was funny going back to Santa Anita,” Regan said. “I did a short stint with Bob Baffert years ago.”

In deep stretch, Baffert’s favorite was desperately trying to hold off the rallying A Mo Reay and jockey Flavien Prat. They crossed the finish line in tandem. 

Hegarty and his wife, Sheila, were watching the race from their home. “We were screaming our heads off,” he said. “You’re screaming at the TV, egging her on, egging her on. I thought she got up.”

She did. 

Wade was asked if it occurred to him that the race was six days before St. Patrick’s Day. “It did not,” he said. “But we celebrated like it was St. Patrick’s Day.”

John Ropes

Article by Bill Heller

John Ropes, jockey Miguel Angel Vasquez, trainer Michael Yates and connections celebrate Dorth Vader’s Davona Dale Stakes win at Gulfstream Park.

A realistic outlook and a sense of humor are mighty handy tools for breeding and racing Thoroughbreds. John Ropes is blessed with both.

“If you’re in this business to make money, you’re in the wrong business,” Ropes said. “Once you’re infected, you’re hooked. The only way out is bankruptcy.”

Ropes is the head of Ropes Associates, an international executive search firm specializing in real estate development and related financial services in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, established in 1975. He began his Thoroughbred involvement five years later and opened Rosegrove Farm in Ocala in 1985. 

He has yet had the misfortune of bankruptcy to get out of the Thoroughbred business, but last year certainly tested his resolve. “We lost seven foals for a variety of reasons,” he said. ”It was extreme bad luck. You just have to put it behind you and keep moving on.”

And then a horse like Dorth Vader changes everything, giving Ropes his first graded stakes victory by taking the Gr.2 Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park, March 4, earning enough points to get into the Kentucky Oaks. Making the victory even sweeter were her odds: 46-1 in the field of 11. “Frankly, I thought she’d win,” Ropes said. “46-1? That was crazy.”

And fun. “We’ve had some fun in it,” Ropes said. “Horse racing should be fun. It’s an exciting business. I’ve been in it way too long. I love the business. You have to.”

His love of horses traces back to riding horses during a summer spent in England. “I always liked it,” Ropes said. “My parents always went to the track on New Year’s Day every year. But you had to be 21 to get in.”

He would get into racing at a level he could never have envisioned. He bought a riding horse when he was a senior in college, and he thanked a girl who worked for him, Dana Smithers, for getting him into Thoroughbreds. “Her father, Andy Smithers, is a trainer in Canada and in Florida,” Ropes said. “She told her dad I was interested, and Andy, who was then training at Gulfstream Park, found a horse for me. His name was Half French, and he was a $15,000 claimer who hadn’t won a race in a long time. I said, `Andy, why are we buying this horse?’ He said, `Look at those feet. These are grass feet.’”

Smithers was right. 

Dorth Vader

Shipped to Canada and switched to grass, he won two allowance races and finished fifth in $50,000 stakes. Ropes got an offer for $50,000 for his horse and turned it down. “Then he broke his leg,” Ropes said. Half French returned to the races after a year, but he was never the same horse. And Ropes hadn’t waited for his return before escalating his interest in Thoroughbreds.

Ropes’ burgeoning business, Ropes Associates, allowed him to pursue his passion. Ropes earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Florida and his Master’s in Business Administration at the University of Miami. He began Ropes Associates in 1975, and he became an important business leader in Fort Lauderdale. He became a governor in the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit research and education organization for real estate developers with offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong and London. Ropes served as chairman of the ULI’s Southeast Florida/Caribbean Real Estate Opportunities Conference held in Miami in 1993 and in Puerto Rico the following two years. He is also a licensed single-engine pilot.

Half French had given him an intriguing taste of Thoroughbred success, and he didn’t wait for his recovery to buy another.

“Half French broke his leg, and I had to buy other horses,” Ropes said. “Some had success, and some had not. I started breeding some fillies, and I knew nothing about breeding. Andy helped me. And then I said, `Why don’t I buy a farm?’”

He bought Rosegrove Farm in Ocala in 1985. His timing stunk. “That was just before President Reagan changed the tax laws,” Ropes said. “The market crashed for a horse farm. It was a brutal time. But somehow we lasted through it. Life is about experience.”

Seeking another experience, Ropes began training a few horses and selling horses before deciding to concentrate on breeding. “I bought all my own mares,” Ropes said. “I had mixed success. I had to step up my game. I got an agent, Marette Farrell. We were buying very good broodmares.”

He bought a really good one, Hardcore Candy, a daughter of Yonaguska out of the Thunder Gulch mare It’s a Girl. Hardcore Candy had won eight of 40 starts on the track and earned just over $100,000,

Bred to Girvin, Hardcore Candy foaled Dorth Vader. Ropes explained the name: “My significant other for the last six years is named Dorothy Harden. She’s an attorney. She said, 'You name a horse after all your family, but you’ve never named a horse for me.’ She liked Star Wars. We came up with Dorth Vader almost instantly. When I suggested it to her, she was a little shocked, but after a while, she liked it.”

Ropes usually breeds horses for the sales, but he had the good fortune to hold on to Dorth Vader. “Everyone at the farm loved Dorth Vader,” Ropes said. “Gayle Woods said she had a beautiful body, but that she was a little offset in her right front. I knew I wouldn’t get what she was worth at the sales. Gayle was so high on her, and so was everybody else on the farm. Gayle said, `She’s more of a runner.’”

She was. Trained by Michael Yates, Dorth Vader won three of her first five starts, including a four-length victory in the Just Secret Stakes for Florida-breds and a 2 ¼-length score in the $100,000 Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. She then tired badly to finish a distant sixth in a $50,000 stakes at Tampa as the 7-5 favorite.

She was taking a mighty step up in the Gr.2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park and went off a huge price under jockey Miguel Vasquez. But she didn’t race like a hopeless longshot, disposing even-money favorite Red Carpet Ready in early stretch and powering away to a 4 ¾ length victory.

She’d given Ropes his first graded stakes. “It was a thrilling experience,” Ropes said. “Of 18,700 foals born, only 14 get into the Kentucky Oaks. She has enough points to make it, so we don’t have to do anything else. Nothing is as thrilling as winning a Gr.1 or a Gr.2 stakes. It’s excitement! It’s why we're in the business. I had never won a graded stakes before. Now I have.

Dorth Vader wins the 2023 Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Andrew Warren

Article by Bill Heller

Raise Cain

Not selling a pair of two-year-olds turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to Andrew Warren. Both Raise Cain, the emphatic winner of the Gr.3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, Warren’s first graded stakes victory, and Scoobie Quando, a trouble-plagued second in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park that same evening, are now live Kentucky Derby contenders off powerful performances hours apart. Earlier this year, Scoobie Quando gave Warren his first stakes victory, taking a $120,000 stakes at Turfway by a neck in his first career start. As if that wasn’t enough, Warren’s Wizard of Westwood finished second in the Baffle Stakes at Santa Anita the day after the Gotham and the Battaglia.

That’s quite a feat for Warren, who followed his dad into the business with the intent to buy one mare in 2019. “It’s amazing,” Warren said. “It’s hard to believe. To be in this position, it’s definitely rare and unusual—kind of a shock.”

A very happy shock for Warren and his wife, Rania and their adorable three-year-old daughter Valentina. “Having a young child at home, she likes it quite a bit,” Warren said. “She likes all animals. She loves to go to the zoo. She loves our two dogs. She likes the excitement of racing.”

Raise cain

She is the next generation of the Warren family, who have a legacy of continuing success in their Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Warren Petroleum Oil Company and a deep love of Thoroughbreds. 

“My grandfather got involved very early on,” Warren said. “He started the company. He was sort of a pioneer in the business. He wound up selling it to Gulf Oil.”

William Kelly Warren, who was born in 1897 and lived to 1990, was philanthropic. “He started a hospital—St. Francis,” Andrew said. “Now there’s a second hospital. It’s the largest healthcare system in Eastern Oklahoma. That was something he was passionate about.”

His grandfather also had a passion for horses. “He didn’t own horses, but my grandfather was a fan,” Warren said. “That’s how my dad got interested in it. They had a vacation house in La Jolla. My dad grew up going to Del Mar with his dad. He bought his first horse in 1983.”

Warren’s father William and his mom Suzanne had a slew of top horses, including 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam and City of Light, who captured three Gr.1 stakes, the 2018 Triple Bend, the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and the 2019 Pegasus World Cup.

Warren’s parents also had two Kentucky Derby starters, Knockadoon, who finished seventh in 1995, and Denis of Cork, who finished third in 2008. “We got to experience those thrills, those highs, as a family,” Andrew said. “I was 13 in 1995. It was a great time to be a kid and go to the Derby.”

He also saw other family horses who didn’t fare as well. “I saw a lot of the industry—a lot of ups and downs,” Warren said. “My takeaway was that it’s very difficult and very hard to do. The odds are not in your favor for success.”

Yet, he was intrigued about the breeding of Thoroughbreds. “I’d been to sales with my father,” Warren said. “I saw horses selling for quite a bit of money. I thought breeding was very interesting. He liked the racing and [was] not too excited about breeding.”

Specifically, he wondered who were the best mares to be bred to City of Light when he retired from racing. “He was getting some interest,” Warren said. “I thought this was intriguing. It’d be fun to breed a mare to him. I asked City of Light’s trainer, Michael McCarthy, what he thought, and said, `I think that makes sense.’”

They went to the OBS Sales and perused a list of potential mares. “We watched videos of breezes,” Warren said. “We picked one. Then we picked another. I had a lot of enjoyment of picking out the horses, the analysis of trying to find the right one. I wound up getting a colt. In 2019, I went through every sales catalog. I bought two mares in foal to City of Light. I went further down the rabbit hole.”

He had no idea. He currently has 23 horses racing.

At the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Warren purchased Raise Cain, a son of Violence out of Lemon Belle by Lemon Drop Kid, for $180,000, and Scoobie Quando, a colt by Uncle Mo, for $160,000. 

Warren tried pinhooking both, but Raise Cain went through the sales ring unsold for $65,000, and Scoobie Quando failed to reach his reserve at $125,000. “I knew they had a lot of ability,” Warren said. “If you don’t get the price you want, you keep on going with them.”

For as far as they’ll take you, both horses have thrived under trainer Ben Colebrook, who had to sprint from Aqueduct to JFK International Airport after Raise Cain won the Gotham to get to Turfway Park that night for Scoobie Quando.

Warren watched the Gotham from home. “I was there with my mom and dad in front of a computer,” Warren said. “I was happy to get him into the race with a live chance. He came in at 30-1 on the morning line (he’d go off at 23-1).”

Raise Cain, ridden by Jose Lezcano, was far back early. “I lost track of him with the mud,” Warren said. “Then I saw him coming. I said, 'That's Raise Cain.’ He’s moving faster than the two horses in front of him. I’m thinking, `We’re going to win this! We’re going to win this! We were losing our minds.”

After not having a stakes winner in his first four years of racing, Warren had one. “After a long time wandering in the desert,” he laughed.  

Raise Cain

Bing Bush - Abbondanza Racing and Philip Shelton - Medallion Racing

Article by Bill Heller

In racing partnerships, do opposites attract? If they’re successful, who cares? 

Bing Bush’s Abbondanza Racing and Philip Shelton of Medallion Racing have been cranking out graded stakes winning fillies the last six years, including Going to Vegas, who won consecutive runnings of the Gr. 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes in 2021 and 2022. 

“Bing is great—absolutely a first-class human being, a good friend,” Shelton said. “He’s got a lot of energy. I’m low key. It’s a good partnership.”

Bush agrees: “It’s been a sensational partnership. Phil is manager of Medallion. He’s extremely knowledgeable—a wonderful partner.”

They both started in Lexington, Kentucky, before traveling different roads to reach the same destination: the winner’s circle after major stakes in California.               

Bush, an incredibly affable fellow, remembers long mornings at his family’s five-acre farm: “Every morning: getting up, eating Cheerios, feeding the horses, cleaning the stalls, feeding the chickens, (in the winter) making sure the ice was broken, changing my clothes and getting on the school bus. I was usually up by 4:30 a.m.”

Bush and his close friend Glenn Graetz rode in 4-H and the pony club, hunters and jumpers. In his senior year at Lafayette High School, he galloped Thoroughbreds for trainer John Ward. He also galloped for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. “I think the best I ever got on was Polish Navy,” Bush said.

He didn’t stay on Polish Navy for long. “I thought I had a clock in my head,” Bush said. “The first time I breezed him was the last time I breezed him. I thought I went in :37 and change at Keeneland. He went so, so easily. I’m walking him back on the outside rail. I saw Shug walking to me. He said, `What the hell are you doing? You went in :35.’” 

Bush also galloped horses for Rusty Arnold but decided to become a lawyer, attending the University of Kentucky Law School. “After my first year, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a lawyer anymore,” Bush said. “I went to San Diego to see my sister. Her boyfriend had broken up with her. She was sad. I drove to her home. In one day, my whole life turned around. I went to La Jolla. I saw the cliffs. The water was blue. The sky was blue. I’ll never forget my next thought: `Oh, my god, I’m an American. I can move here.’”

He did, and he began galloping horses at the San Luis Rey Training Center. “After about a year, I was getting on 20 horses a day,” Bush said.

It was hard labor. “I was in the jacuzzi every day,” Bush said. “I thought I had to get back to law.”

Bush did, returning to the University of Kentucky, graduated and moved to San Diego: “I think it’s very special. I can walk to Del Mar. My favorite is going to the morning workouts. I just feel so blessed.”

His law career has flourished, winning cases in California, Arizona and Kentucky. His success allowed him to start Abbondanza Racing in 2012.

In 2016, Bush partnered with Nathan McCauley.  They had immediate success with their gelding Free Rose, a horse McCauley had bred who captured the 2016 Gr. 3 La Jolla and the Gr. 2 Del Mar Derby back-to-back. In his next start, he was second by a half-length in the Gr. 2 Twilight Derby. “Free Rose put us on the map,” Bush said.

On its website, Abbondanza Racing says it is committed to three things: bringing friends to experience and admire top-level horses racing together; economic sustainability for you and everyone involved, and giving back at least 1 percent of all purse money won to charity.

Abbondanza means ‘abundance” in Italian. Bush picked the name to honor his wife Jewels, who was half-Italian. “She was the love of my life,” Bush said. “She got cancer in 2019, and passed away in May. I was devastated. In November, I had a heart attack and nearly died.”

He survived and has fallen in love again. “I majored in philosophy in college, and I got a call from my philosophy professor,” Bush said. “It turned out, he had his niece, Aseel, visiting from Washington, D.C. She’s an architect. She’s beautiful, inside and out. We spent some time together. We saw each other a couple of times. When Covid hit, I convinced her to move to San Diego, where her family is. I truly believe Jewels sent her. This heart had been shattered into pieces. She is now my fiancée. It’s special. I really had a miracle in my life.”  

In that same year, he hooked up with McCauley, Bush teamed up with Shelton, who had begun Medallion Racing as an offshoot of Taylor Made Farm. Taylor Made will always be special to Philip, he began working there as a senior in high school in Lexington and periodically at the sales for them while in college.

His father, an attorney, owned a few cheap horses, exposing Shelton to horse racing. “I liked the gambling,” he said. “We’d go to Keeneland. When I was 12 or 13, I won a couple hundred dollars at the track. I started getting the Blood-Horse. I was already hooked.”

Later, he abandoned a career as a teacher and swimming coach to launch Medallion Racing on the advice of his wife, Taylor. Her maiden name was Keene, as in Keeneland, and their three-year-old son is named Keene. “She said, if I never pursue horses full-time, I’m going to regret it,” Shelton said.

He took her sage advice and began Medallion Racing. Abbondanza Racing advertises packages for new owners as low as $500. Medallion is different. “Our goal is to bring people into the highest level of racing,” Shelton said. “We’ve had 300 starts over the last six years, and about 23 ½ percent have been in Gr. 1’s. In 2021, we had four Breeders’ Cup starters: Bella Sophia, Going to Vegas, Horologist (also co-owned with Abbondanza) and Charmaine’s Mia. (Charmaine’s Mia was third in the Turf Sprint, and Bella Sophia fourth in the Filly & Mare Sprint). Last year, we just had Going to Vegas (she was 11th and 12th in the Filly & Mare Turf in 2021 and 2022). Bing is primarily in California. Our goal is to be nation-wide.”

Or international. “We took 22 clients to Royal Ascot,” Shelton said. “We want to leverage all the resources of Taylor Made to create an unmatched experience for all our partners.”

Trips to the winner’s circle after stakes races is a good inducement, and Bush and Shelton hit it out of the ballpark with their first horse in partnership: the Irish filly Goodyearforroses. She won three straight stakes beginning with the $90,000 Robert Frankel Stakes by 5 ¼ lengths on New Year’s Eve in 2016. She added on victories in the $79,000 Astra Stakes, and the Gr. 2 Santa Anna Stakes. After finishing fifth by 1 ¾ lengths in the Gr. 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, she returned to California, finishing second by a half-length to superstar Lady Eli in the Gr. 1 Gamely Stakes. “She’s in Lady Eli’s win photo,” Bush said. “I was never prouder to finish second.”

Going to Vegas has continued the partner’s success, winning nearly a million dollars through 2022.

“We focus on fillies and mares,” Shelton said. So far, their focus has been just fine.

Tim, Mark and Linda Cohen - Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal

Article by Bill Heller

Just one month after the Cohen family lost 89-year-old patriarch Jed Cohen, Dicey Mo Chara brought them back to the winner’s circle at Santa Anita, capturing the Gr. 2 San Gabriel Stakes. It was a familiar scene. Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal were the leading owners of the 18-day Santa Anita Autumn Meet with five victories. They were also the leading owners of the 2022 Santa Anita fall and winter meets, and dead-heated for first at the 2022 Del Mar meet with Nicholas b. Alexander.

California truly lost an impactful force when Jed passed.

“The San Gabriel was our first stakes win since he died,” Jed’s son Tim said. “It was really emotional—more than I thought it would be. You miss a good business partner. When he’s your father, it’s deeper. I know Jed would be happy for everyone.”

Tim’s grandfather, Harry, would have been happy, too. Harry, who lived in Long Beach, New York, would take Jed to the track. “He was just a fun-loving guy,” Tim Cohen said. “I was maybe 15 before he passed.”

Tim said his grandfather began betting at the track with three friends, who each chipped in fifty cents to make a $2 bet. “He’d go along with other people,” Tim said.

Tim’s father graduated from NYU with a law degree, but decided he didn’t want to be a lawyer. He had uncles living in California, and ventured there, becoming a successful investment banker. “He worked his way up,” Tim said. “He had a different perspective on things. He was a salmon. If everyone goes downstream, he was going up. That’s how he made a difference in investments.”

Jed was an advisor to Walter Heller, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors from 1961–64 who was an influential advisor to President John F. Kennedy.

Jed did well enough in business to follow through on his passion for horses and pass it forward to his sons, Tim and Mark, and his daughter Linda. In 1999, they purchased the historic, beautiful and multi-faceted 6,000-acre farm Rancho Temescal in eastern Ventura County—45 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Temescal is one of the oldest neighborhoods in North Oakland. The farm was founded on September 13, 1871.

The Cohens use it not only for Thoroughbreds, but also as a vibrant fruit farm, with 100 acres of avocado trees producing a million pounds of fruit a year— 100 acres of citrus trees yielding a half-million pounds of lemons and countless rows of blackberry vines. Another part of the farm is used for movie, TV and commercial locations, which has been used in the 2022 movie Babylon starring Brad Pitt, the TV series Westworld and CSI, and boasts a guest book that Tom Cruise once signed. As if that wasn’t enough, the family owns and operates a pizza restaurant in nearby Piru. “It keeps me busy,” Tim laughed. “Every now and then, I get to go to the races.”

Tim, who is 56, switched careers nearly 25 years ago. “I used to manage luxury hotels and restaurants. Now I manage luxury horse facilities,” he told Dan Ross in his March 4, 2019 story in the Thoroughbred Daily News. “What I knew about water and dirt was don’t bring the dirt in the house, and water went well with Scotch.”

Tim elaborated: “I went to school for business, Northern Arizona, that had a hotel and restaurant program. I did that for 15 years. I worked for Hilton and the Kimpton Group.”

How happy is he now that he changed careers? “I’m extremely glad we did it,” he said.” I always enjoy new tasks, new adventures. This was an opportunity to do something significant. It worked out well.”

And he got to see Tom Cruise, who was filming a movie, and Brad Pitt. “Our staff is always with them,” Tim said. “It’s a little disruptive. I always say it’s like your mother-in-law. You’re glad they came, but you’re happier when they leave. It can be a lot of work.”

Hard work never deterred his dad. “He ran hard,” Tim said. “He enjoyed his life. He was passionate. He was loyal.”

Then he got tired after battling diseases in his final years. “Most people would have given up years earlier,” Tim said. “His will kept him going longer than most. He was a fighter. He eventually wore out.”  

Riley Cofer was Jed’s first trainer. “He was his trainer for a long time,” Tim said. “Then Darrel Vienna. When Darrell retired (in June, 2016), I basically stepped in and took over the management and acquisition for horses.”

When Jed passed on November 27, Vienna shared his thoughts with Thoroughbred Daily News: “He was the perfect owner. If a horse needed rest, he absolutely was, `Let’s do the best by the horse.’ After I retired from training, we kept in close contact. We spoke regularly about life and politics. I’ll miss having access to his wisdom and his kindness. He was an exceptional listener. He was always paying attention. He was just a unique, extraordinary person. He’s a big loss to horse racing but an even bigger loss to anyone who knew him.”

Dicey Mo Chara’s trainer Leonard Powell was touched by Jed, too: “Jed Cohen was a patriarch. Jed always gave you confidence you were doing the right thing. He was always pushing you to do better. His trust was very satisfying. We really felt like we were working as a team. Tim and his family are continuing what Jed was doing. They love the game, and, hopefully, we have continued success.”

The Cohens use five trainers to handle their 65 horses: Powell, Jeff Mullens, Mark Glatt, Phil D’Amato and Michael McCarthy.

Tim will carry on his father’s legacy. “I love it,” he said. “It’s been a wonderful bonding experience. We’ll carry on in some form.”

The bar has been set really high. Their top horses include newly turned three-year-old Packs a Wahlop, who won the Gr. 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf and the Gr. 3 Zuma Beach Stakes by 2 ¾ lengths on October 9. Previously, they have campaigned Gr. 1 winners Janet, River Boyne and two-time Gr. 1 winner Dr. Schivel.

Tim was asked what his grandfather might think of all their success and their spectacular Rancho Temecula: “I think he would shake his head and wouldn’t believe it.”    

Patrick O’Keefe - Kentucky West Racing

Article by Bill Heller

Growing up in Ogden, Utah, Patrick O’Keefe never saw a racetrack. But it didn’t prevent him from falling in love with a horse. 

Patrick did bond with his father through railroads. “I’m a two-generation railroad worker,” he said. “My dad worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. I worked there while I was going to college at the University of Utah. Just before I graduated, he had a heart attack and died. My railroad career ended at that point. So I hooked up with a good friend, Dennis Bullock. I loved golf. We went looking for a property to build a golf course. We looked all over the country. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a lot of energy.”

Their search took them to Bear Lake, Idaho, near the southeast border of Idaho and Utah, and Patrick liked what he saw. They found the property owner and made a deal. “I gave him $10 down,” Patrick said. “I had to come up with $2,000.”

He did. They built a golf and country club, and then sold some 1,000 lots on the property. “I was pretty good at sales,” Patrick said.

On a fateful day, one of Patrick’s buddies from home, Wayne Call, paid a visit. He’d moved to the east and was back visiting family. “He lived right next to me in Ogden,” Patrick said. “His dad worked for Union Pacific.” Wayne, who had worked in bloodstock and trained a few horses, told Patrick he thought Bear Lake would be a great place to raise Thoroughbreds. Patrick told Wayne he thought it was too cold to raise horses but Wayne told him the cold kills parasites and limits disease. In Ray Paulick’s February 2022, story in the Paulick Report, Patrick said, “We have good water and several hundred acres, so I said I’d give it a try. I was dumb as a post. I had no background in racing whatever.”

So he leaned on Wayne and they took off for a nearby off-track betting facility in Evanston, Wyoming. “Wayne told me to look for a mare that’s won a lot of races that had good breeding,” Patrick said. He settled on Rita Rucker, a granddaughter of Danzig who’d won 21 races, including four stakes and earned $249,767. Her last start was in a $16,500 claimer, and Patrick got her for $7,500.

Patrick chose Kentucky West Racing—a courtesy to Wayne who once owned a hotel named Frontier West—as a stable name and bred Rita Rucker to Thunder Gulch. Patrick decided to raise the foal on his farm in Bear Lake. “My ranch is 200 acres,” he said. “We fenced a paddock. We had a little manger—a lean-to. When they unloaded Rita Rucker, she was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

Rita Rucker foaled a filly. Patrick named her Private World, fitting his farm’s secluded area. “I’d drive up to the ranch two or three times a day,” Patrick said. “She’d see me coming and start to run along the fence line. That was her. She just loved to run.”

One snowy evening, she ran away. “Lots of snow, and I came to watch her one night,” Patrick said. “The fence was broken, and she was gone. My ranch adjoins the National Forest. What happened was an elk got through the fence to go after my feed. I saddled another horse and got a lariat. She was at the top of the mountain. I worked my way up to the top of the mountain. It was snowing. It was amazing. It took me hours to get her.”

But he did. “She was just a yearling,” Patrick said. “I built a barn for her.”

When it was time to find a trainer, a friend recommended Bob Hess, Jr. Hess and Patrick quickly discovered they had a talented two-year-old filly. Private World won her first three starts, a maiden race at Del Mar, an ungraded stakes at Santa Anita and the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes at Hollywood Park.

“I’m offered a million and a half after the race,” Patrick said. He didn’t take long to say ‘no.’ “Let me tell you something, I was in love with that horse,” Patrick said. “I was in love with her from the day she was born. I just figured that this horse was going to be the start of something fantastic.”

Her next race was anything but. In the Gr. 1 Hollywood Starlet, Private World tired to finish last—11th by 20 ¼ lengths. She then finished second in a $96,000 stakes and fourth in an $83,000 stakes. She had posted three victories and one second in six starts and earned $166,058.

She never raced again. “She ran through an iron fence and broke her leg,” Patrick said. “I didn’t have any insurance. I lost her for racing, and I thought we would have to put her down.”

Patrick brought her back to Bear Lake, and she slowly recovered. “I spent months with her,” he said. “I hauled in bale after bale of straw. I slept in the barn with her. I bawled my eyes out for a month. I told her as long as she’s alive, I would stay in the business.”

He meant it, and now, at the age of 80, his business is thriving with a partner, Clarke Cooper. After Private World recovered, Patrick bred her to Giant’s Causeway and was rewarded with the three-year-old speedy colt Classic Causeway, who took Patrick and Clarke on a heck of a Triple Crown ride, capturing the Gr. 3 Sam F. Davis and the Gr. 2 Tampa Bay Derby for trainer Brian Lynch.

After Classic Causeway finished 11th in both the Gr.1 Florida Derby and the Gr. 1 Kentucky Derby, Patrick and Clarke switched trainers to Kenny McPeek. In his first start for his new trainer, the Gr. 3 Ohio Derby, Classic Causeway fought on the front end before weakening to third.

McPeek thought Classic Causeway would handle turf, and he gave his new horse quite the challenge: the mile-and-a-quarter Gr. 1 Belmont Derby at Belmont Park July 9. Sent off at 26-1 under Julien Leparoux, Classic Causeway went wire-to-wire, winning by three-quarters of a length. Subsequent good races, thirds in the Gr. 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational and the Gr. 3 Jockey Club Derby Invitational, leaves his connections plenty of options in a promising future.

Private World has since foaled a colt and a filly weanling by Justify, and she’s in foal to Maximum Security. “We’re loaded; we’re loaded with potential,” Patrick said. “I didn’t take the money when I needed it. I just wanted to go on this journey and see where it takes us.”

On August 31, the journey took him to a destination he’d never envisioned growing up in Ogden, Utah. He was named the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association September Member of the Month. And he knows who to thank.

Asked what he thinks of when someone says “Private World,” he said, “I think of love.”   

Donato Lanni - X-Men Racing

Article by Bill Heller

Thoroughbred bloodstock agent Donato Lanni cherished trips to the racetrack with his father, Giuseppe, who grew up in Italy and settled in Montreal, making a career as a construction contractor. He did well enough to pursue his passion. “My dad had a love and a desire for horses and horse racing,” Donato said. “He had some claiming horses.”

They were harness horses and Donato and his father shared evenings at Blue Bonnets Racetrack. “I grew up around it,” Donato said. ”As a kid, there’s something inside you that gets alerted. You catch the bug. I don’t think that’s a myth. I was eight or nine.

“Summertime, I got more involved. I spent all my time at Blue Bonnets going to the barn. I became a groom when I was 13 or 14. There I got to meet some really cool guys—some of the most legendary guys in harness racing: Andre LaChance, Sylvan Filion and Duncan MacTavish. Andre never talked and was not very pleasant to be around, but he was a hell of a horseman. He took a liking to me for some reason. I drove in qualifier (non-betting) races.” Donato was 16 when he bought his first horse.

Though Donato graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, he realized that he wanted to head south—far south. Taking advantage of a summer program at Concordia, Donato got a temporary visa to work in the United States, fixating on Kentucky.  

“I didn’t see a future in Canada,” he said. “I asked, `How am I going to make a living with horses?’ I thought I had to go to Kentucky and see what it was like. I left Canada, knowing I was never going back.”

But he had no connections in America. “You take a chance and go to work,” Donato said.

And when you can’t find work? Running out of money, Donato bought a tent and camped out at the Kentucky Horse Park.

He got a huge break when he met John Cashman of Castleton Farm, one of the premier harness farms in North America. “I got a job with John,” Donato said. “He was very nice to me. I became the yearling manager in 1996. I was 25. I kept working. Grind, grind. Eventually doors open and you meet people.”

He counts himself lucky for meeting and then working for John “Big Johnny” Jones, the founder of Walmac International Farm in Lexington, where such super stallions as Nureyev and Alleged stood. Jones was also the founding partner of Four Star Sales. Initially, Donato landed a job with Walmac selling stallion services. 

“If there was one person most responsible for any success that I had, it was Johnny Jones,” Donato told Murray Brown in his October 2021 story in Harness Racing Update. “Johnny was a noted bloodstock agent who ran Walmac International. It was from him that I learned my craft. He sold and bought horses. Eventually, so did I. While I was at Walmac, Johnny supported me on my first route towards becoming an American citizen.”

While with Walmac, Donato got to know Thoroughbred owner and movie theater magnate George Krikorian. He told Donato to let him know if one yearling caught his eye at any of the sales. One did—Starrer. She sold for $35,000 and won multiple Gr. 1 stakes on the way to becoming Donato’s first millionaire. In an article in Blood-Horse magazine, Krikorian said of Donato, “I don’t know anyone who had a better eye for horses than he does.”

Eventually, Donato worked for John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm as director of Bloodstock Services, and became friends with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. “I met Bob 20 years ago at a sales,” Donato said. “He took me around and showed me what to look for. We’re still pretty close. I learned my craft through Bob Baffert. He’s a great horseman. He’s the best.”

Donato has paid Baffert back by selecting two Horses of the Year: Arrogate (2016) and Authentic (2020).

In 2006, Donato reconnected with Canadian horsemen, specifically trainer Kevin Attard. Attard trained Leonnatus Anteas, a yearling colt Donato picked out for Nob Hill Farm. The following year, Leonnatus Anteas won all three of his starts and was named Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. “That was the start of our relationship together,” Kevin said. “He sent me a couple horses over the years. For me to be associated with him has been a boost to my career. He respects me as a trainer.”

A few years back, Donato decided to start a new team. He convinced several Canadian horse owners and hockey fans to form X-Men Racing and then partnered with SF Racing and Madaket Stables. Lanni nicknamed the partnership “The Avengers. We put a fund together and bought a dozen horses,” Donato told Murray Brown in his story. “They’re all guys that are in the horse business—some of them with Standardbreds. But what they all have in common, besides being friends with me, is that they’re all lucky.”

One of the original dozen X-Men Racing horses was Moira. All the filly did in August was defeat colts while taking the $1 million Gr. 1 Queen’s Plate by seven lengths in track-record time. Less than a month later, their two-year-old filly Last Call won the Gr. 1 Natalma. 

Through all the ups and downs, all the twists and turns of his colorful career, he never lost that feeling he first experienced when he went to the track with his father. “They’re majestic animals,” Donato said. “They’re beautiful to look at. You go work with them; it’s very challenging and it’s fun. We got started because we love the horse.”

Dr. Robert and Laura Vukovich

Article by Bill Heller

Going to the track with your father is a powerful experience for a little boy—a treasured memory. “I grew up on the Jersey shore, and my dad used to take me out to Monmouth Park,” Dr. Robert Vukovich of WellSpring Stables said. “I was probably nine or 10. He taught me how to read the Racing Form, and sometimes he would place a bet for me. I’ve always loved horses and horse people. I decided if I ever had the chance, I would try to get involved somehow.”

Seven decades later, he is involved up to his gills and wouldn’t want it any other way. The fact that he can share it with his wife Laura makes it even more special. “She’s been there every step of the way,” he said.

Why did he wait until the 1990s to get involved in Thoroughbred racing? “College and my pharmaceutical career got in the way,” he joked. “I started in pharmaceutical research.”

He eventually developed his own company, Robert’s Pharmaceutical, and sold it to a large United Kingdom company in the late 1990s. That allowed him to return to horses.

Asked if he ever misses his pharmaceutical career, Robert said, “No. I don’t miss all the pressures. I don’t miss all the deadlines and the regulatory commissions.”

That didn’t prevent him from being successful in his industry. “He came from nothing and has worked very hard,” Laura, a native of Brooklyn with no prior history with horses, said. “We both did. He’s just a warm, caring person even to his horses. He says, `You only go around once—no rehearsal.’”

He’s never been happier than he is now with horses. “I wake up in the morning, and I think of horses,” he said. “I talk to people all day about horses, and sometimes I even dream about them—horses like Leave No Trace. Could this be really happening? Did we win the Spinaway?” They did.

In 1999, the Vokoviches bought a horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey, where they now also live. “We started with 100 acres and added pieces,” Robert said. “We currently have 168 acres. Laura names most of our horses.”

She named their two-year-old filly star Leave No Trace after a movie she watched some time ago. “I didn’t see the whole movie,” she said. “It was about a father and a daughter and some tragedy.”

Their horse operation has been the complete opposite. They began breeding horses and then started buying them at auctions and racing them. “Over time, I got to appreciate that I could do better than breeding by carefully selecting horses at auctions,” Robert said. “We now buy most of our bloodstock.”

His initial success came with the help of late trainer Dominick Galluscio, who saddled Organizer and Dr. Vee’s Magic to consecutive victories in the rich Empire Classic for New York-breds in 2006 and 2007. “He was a great trainer and a friend,” Robert said.

Now he uses Phil Serpe and Jim Ryerson as his trainers. “After Dominick passed, I asked Jim Ryerson if he’d take a few horses,” Robert said. “He did. I asked him who would be useful to me as a trainer who races in New York and Florida, and he nominated Phil Serpe. Phil and I have been doing business for seven years. We train our horses in the winter down in Florida and bring them up in the springtime and decide whether to send them to Jim or Phil.”

Robert and Laura now have 15 horses in training, including eight yearlings and five weanlings. They have never done better than the last two years. In 2021, Safe Conduct won the Queen’s Plate. Unfortunately, Peter and Laura weren’t there at Woodbine. “We couldn’t get up there to watch in because of Covid,” Robert said. “We had a bunch of people here. When he crossed the finish line, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it. It was remarkable.” More recently he finished second in the Gr. 3 Monmouth Stakes. “He’s still a special horse,” Robert said. 

So is Leave No Trace, who followed a 2 ¼ length debut in a restricted maiden debut at Saratoga by capturing the Gr. 1 Spinaway there at 14-1. Serpe trains both Safe Conduct and Leave No Trace. Robert and Laura purchased Safe Conduct for $45,000 as a yearling at the Keeneland November Sale and Leave No Trace for $40,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Fall Sale. Combined, they have earned more than $900,000 with a lot of racing still ahead of them.

But, again, Robert and Laura weren’t at the track when Leave No Trace won the Spinaway. “We were in Switzerland when she won the Spinaway,” Laura said. “We watched it on the telephone. It was around midnight. My husband went bananas. We were very proud. Now Phil is asking us not to be there in her future races. He said he’d buy us cruise tickets.”

Regardless, Robert and Laura are embracing the ride. “To see a little baby grow up and become a rockstar in horse racing, it’s very fulfilling.” Robert said.

Actually, they enjoy every horse they have, regardless of their performances. “Horses are very honest,” Robert said. “They’re the best employees you can have. They just give you all they have, and they never question it. Mother Nature created these animals so beautiful, so powerful and, for most cases, very gentle around you. You sit and watch them in awe. They always give you their best. They give you everything they’ve got. You can’t ask for more. I’m going to be 80. The horses keep me young.”

Stacy and Robert Mitchell

Words - Bill Heller

With a dollar and a dream, Stacy, a critical-care nurse, and Robert Mitchell, a surgeon, became horse owners. With a willingness to learn, they became Thoroughbred breeders after purchasing 92-acre Briland Farm in Lexington. And with patience and a commitment to race only home-breds, they created a niche—one made so much sweeter when their three-year-old filly Secret Oath took them to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs by taking their first Gr. 1 stakes, the Kentucky Oaks, rather easily by two lengths under Luis Saez.

“They do it all themselves—pretty much a ‘mom-and-pop’ operation with just a few horses,” their Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “To have that kind of success is phenomenal. They’re very protective of their horses. Stacy foals out most of them herself. We’ve had a great relationship.”

Along the way, Stacy and Robert learned the ups and downs of racing. “The Thoroughbred industry can be as high as possible and the lowest of lows with foals dying,” Stacy said. “You just never know. Every time you get a good one, you say, `This is the one.’”

She was right with Secret Oath. “This was the one!” Stacy said. “It’s been exciting. Very satisfying.”

She’s certainly satisfied with her legendary trainer. “He’s great,” Stacy said. “He’s just classy. We can call him anytime. My husband talks to Wayne on the way to work every day. They both start their day at 3 a.m. He sees all his patients before they operate.”

Stacy and Robert met in the intensive care unit.

Born in western Kentucky, Stacy said, “I never had a horse. I always wanted a horse.”

Turns out, Robert did, too.

After they were gifted an older Quarter Horse, their realtor told them that horses usually like companions. The Mitchells found someone with a young mare with a decent pedigree. The man offered to give them the mare. “My husband didn’t want it for free,” Stacy said. “He did it for $1. That made it a two-way transaction.”

The Mitchells bred that mare, Chao Praya, to Level Sands and got Level Playingfield, who won nine of 49 starts and earned $664,822.

Upping  the ante, they bred Chao Praya to Empire Maker. They were rewarded with another star—Gr. 3 stakes winner Imposing Grace, who won five of 26 starts and made $326,743. 

The Mitchells then purchased Rockford Peach, who was in foal to Running Stag, for $36,000. She produced Absinthe Minded, a multiple-stakes winner who earned more than $600,000. She is the dam of Secret Oath. She was also the last Thoroughbred the Mitchells bought.

“The bottom line is we’ve never bought a race horse,” Robert told Meredith Daugherty in her February 23, 2022, story in the Paulick Report. “Every horse we’ve ever raced was born on our farm. We haven’t bought any Thoroughbred for over 20 years.”

How have they succeeded with only home-breds? “Luck—a lot of luck,” Stacy said. And a lot of work. “We went to so many clinics,” Stacy said. We became sponges for information. We read breeding books.”

Having a great trainer certainly helped, especially when their best horse, Secret Oath, showed a ton of potential. After breaking her maiden in her second start, she finished fifth in the Gr. 2 Golden Rod Stakes before winning three straight, an allowance by 9 ¼ lengths, the Martha Washington Stakes by 7 ½ and the Gr. 3 Honeybee by 7 ½.

That prompted a shot against colts in the Arkansas Derby, and she made a powerful rally in early stretch before tiring to third as the 7-5 favorite under Luis Contreras. “I thought she was going to be second, but she got tired because she made that big move,” Stacy said.

Lukas made a jockey switch to Saez for the Oaks, and he contributed a fine ride. “You’re nervous all day,” Stacy said. “You see them going to the gate. When she made the move, I just hoped it was a timed ride and she wouldn’t get tired. I was yelling, `Hang on, hang on.’ The rest of it was a blur. She didn’t want the lilies. I got the flowers.”

Secret Oath then finished fourth against colts in the Gr. 1 Preakness and is being prepped for a summer campaign, possibly starting in the Gr. 1 Coaching Club and/or Alabama. Stacy missed the Preakness. “My husband was there,” she said. “I was here foaling mares. I think she made a good run. I’m just happy that she finished in the top half and came out of it healthy.”

Health is very important to Stacy: “I don’t think I could do horses if I wasn’t a nurse. Keep the broodmares healthy. I’m able to do a lot of it myself.”

Stacy and Robert’s 22-year-old daughter Jessica is a registered nurse, hoping to go to grad school. Jessica’s younger sister Hannah is hoping to go to nursing school.

Asked if she’s proud of her daughters, Stacy said, “Oh, yeah. Being a mom is the best job I ever had. I couldn’t be prouder of my daughters.”   

And Secret Oath, the ultimate home-bred who will eventually become a broodmare, one with quite a resumé.

“We’ve been breeding since 2000,” Stacy said. “You always hope you have a Derby or Oaks winner.”

Now they do.

Fitri and Jim Hay

Words - Bill Heller

To racing’s “Golden Couple,” frequent fliers Fitri and Jim Hay, the United States is just one of many locales where their horses have had great success. They’ve won in England, France, America and Dubai—the base of Jim’s company JMH Group and where the couple now resides. “They’re racing enthusiasts,” Alex Cole, the Hays racing manager for the last 17 years, said. “It’s something they enjoy a great amount.”

Visiting the winner’s circle after graded and group stakes can do that to you. Their tremendous turf horse Cape Blanco (they owned 50 percent of the horse in partnership with Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor) captured the Dante Stakes, the Irish Derby and the Irish Champion Stakes and was named the 2010 Irish Three-Year-Old Colt of the Year. The Hays had 27 winners in 2010, their highest total ever.

In 2011, trainer Aidan O’Brien sent Cape Blanco to the United States, and he quickly added to the Hays’ resume. After sweeping the Gr. 1 Man o’ War Stakes, Arlington Million and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, Cape Blanco was named the 2011 Eclipse Champion Male Turf Horse.

That same year, the Hays purchased a 50-percent share of four-time Gp. 1 winner Fame and Glory. His victory in the 2011 Ascot Gold Cup culminated an unforgettable day for the Hays. “Some days can be beyond fable,” Fitri told Catherine McQueen in her December 26, 2019, story in Ccercle, a luxury magazine. “We were guests of the Queen [Elizabeth} for lunch at Windsor Castle. Much to our surprise, this was followed by being included in the royal procession down the track in one of the queen’s carriages—an unbelievable experience!”

The success of Cape Blanco and Fame and Glory helped the Hays purchase Birch Grove, the former mansion of Prime Minister Harold MacMillian. The property includes a private golf course.

Jim was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and Fitri in Jambi, Sumatra. They met in Jakarta, Indonesia, and married on August 25, 1996. They have two daughters, Jasmine and Catriona, who both enjoyed considerable academic success.  

Horse racing has always added up for Jim, whose grandmother taught him addition by watching televised races and making pretend bets. “He was hooked after that,” Alex said.

Jim studied at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, earning a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in applied chemistry. In 1975, he joined British Petroleum (BP) as an engineer and worked his way up to a senior executive.

After his 27-year run at BP, Jim founded the JMH Group, a private business with two divisions—one dealing with construction, the second with lifestyle and fashion. He also acquired Fosroc, a construction solutions firm.

He’d been increasingly attracted to Thoroughbred racing, and after he and Fitri moved to the United Kingdom in 1998, he began spending so much time at racetracks and sales that Fitri felt like a racing widow. So she took the plunge and fell in love with racing, too.

Together, they began buying horses to build a stable in 2001. They didn’t have their first winner, Baratjea Dream, until 2004, then progressed rapidly. In 2010, they had a breakthrough with Cape Blanco.

In the U.S., their horse—in partnership with Smith, Magnier and Tabor—Deauville, won the 2016 Belmont Derby at Belmont Park. 

More recently, Highland Chief, owned completely by Fitri, captured the 2022 Gr. 1 Man o’ War in his second start for trainer Graham Motion at Belmont Park. 

Paul Cole (Alex’s father) and Oliver (Alex’s brother) had been training Highland Chief in Great Britain. Four weeks after the Man o’ War, Highland Chief raced in the Gr. 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont, finishing a solid fourth.

More and more, the Hays have been shipping their top horses to the United States. “The way things are in Great Britain, they send them to the U.S. for prize money,” their racing manager Alex said. 

The Hays spend their racing year at Newbury, Newmarket, York, Dante, Royal Ascot, Sandown, Newmarket again, Goodwood, Longchamp, Deauville and Dubai. Away from the track, they enjoy hunting, shooting, fishing, golf, rugby and soccer.

They have shared their success. The JMH Group was a major donor in the establishment of the Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science at Jim’s alma mater, Strathclyde. The Group also supports various charities in the Middle East and in India including disaster relief. Fitri has supported various projects to help and educate street children in Indonesia.

Asked why she enjoys racing, she told McQueen in her article, “There are several aspects that cannot be defined in monetary terms. There is firstly the enormous thrill of owning a horse that wins a race. That applies to all races. The thrill is magnified when it happens in a big race. The thrill is further magnified when the horse has been bred by us.”

All made possible by not becoming a racing widow.