Bobo’s ‘Investments’ Continue to Pay Off
by Brian DiDonato
Secure Investments is the perfect name for Tami Bobo’s operation, which will offer seven juveniles during Tuesday and Wednesday’s OBS March Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
“I had my daughter at a young age, and I had to make a living,” explained the Ocala-based horsewoman. “I did what I had to do to making a living. I trained Arabians, I rode horses for people, I would save my money and go to the local auction barn and buy everyone’s rejects. That’s what I did–I bought [Quarter] horses for $200-$500 and I’d turn them for a modest profit. I saved my money and I was able to buy a better quality of horse through the years. In my late 20’s, I started being able to buy some pretty high-end, classy Quarter Horses. Long story short, I started having huge success showing them at places like the Quarter Horse Congress.”
Bobo, whose entrepreneurial spirit trumped her self-admitted lack of technological expertise, also bought and sold horse-related domain names, developing equine information centers for various locales.
In 2010, she met her business partner, and made her first foray into the Thoroughbred business when she joined him at that year’s Keeneland September sale. Insisting that she invest her own money alongside her partner’s, Bobo selected a group of horses that included eventual GI Florida Derby hero Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy). The son of MGISW Take Charge Lady (Dehere) was purchased privately after he RNA’d for $80,000. Bobo broke and trained him and then kept a piece of him during his racing career after selling to Chuck and Maribeth Sandford.
“I didn’t have a clue about the Thoroughbred industry,” she recalled. “I didn’t know if I was supposed to gallop them one mile or an eighth of a mile. I had no idea. So, basically, I let the horses dictate to me what we needed to do and I’d call my partner occasionally and ask questions.”
Clearly Bobo figured the Thoroughbreds out quickly. In her short time in the business, she has had a hand in a number of additional stand-out runners including graded stakes winners Rydilluc (Medaglia d’Oro), Mucho Mas Macho (Macho Uno), Sheza Smoke Show (Wilko); last year’s stakes-winning, Grade III-placed juvenile Hashtag Bourbon (Super Saver); the GSP $75,000 KEESEP yearling to $500,000 FTFMAR ‘13 pinhook Almost Famous (Unbridled’s Song); and last month’s good-looking Gulfstream maiden breaker Tapitry (Tapit).
Bobo enjoyed her greatest score to date with a Smart Strike–My Miss Storm Cat colt who she purchased privately after he RNA’d at Keeneland September for $325,000 and sold to Live Oak Plantation for $800,000 at the Mar. 4 Fasig-Tipton Florida sale.
“It was an amazing feeling,” said Bobo, who is based at the Eclipse Training Center. “For me, I appreciate the buyers who have bought my horses. I feel like without the right buyers at the end of the deal–after all my training, I can only bring them so far. They have to go on from there.”
Bobo seems to have a knack for selecting well-bred yearlings who fall through the cracks due to perceived physical shortcomings.
“I look for pedigree and balance first and foremost,” she noted. “I want a proven, producing sire and I want some substance in the pedigree. As far as conformation, balance is key… I want balance in all my horses, regardless of whether they’re upright or a little sickle-hocked or a little cow-hocked–those are obstacles that with certain types of training can be overcome. I think my Quarter Horse background has really helped me because I’ve bought some horses with different issues that a lot of people have passed on. I think in an assembly line training operation, those horses would fall through the cracks. But when you only train 14 of them and you’re hands-on daily, you can set up a program for each individual horse to succeed.”
Bobo said she generally has about 14 horses in her program, but her 2015 class of juveniles is 22-head strong–the most she’s ever had.
Among Secure Investments’s offerings at OBS is a Tapit colt (hip 169) out of the multiple Grade II-winning and Grade I-placed millionaire Gotta Have Her (Royal Academy). The grey was a $160,000 Keeneland September yearling and breezed in :10 2/5. “He’s a spectacular colt, my Tapit,” Bobo said.
Secure Investments also consigns a son of Smart Strike catalogued as hip 178. The $55,000 KEESEP buy is a half to MGSW Lead Story (Editor’s Note) and two additional stakes winners and hails from the family of Grade I winners Unbridled Elaine, Glitter Woman and Political Force. He covered a furlong in :10 1/5 without blinkers.
“If I was going to say I have another horse who’s going to step up and be the real deal 2-year-old and get out there and run early, this colt absolutely can,” Bobo said. “He’s a sensational colt–and not because I just sold a Smart Strike. This truly is an exceptional colt.”
Bobo will also send a Bernardini colt into the ring as hip 118. Out of a stakes-winning, graded stakes-placed half to GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Turf winner Perfect Shirl (Perfect Soul {Ire}) and GISW Shakespeare (Theatrical {Ire}), the :10 2/5breezer was a $75,000 September purchase.
“He kind of came down the lane a little green when he saw all those people in the stands,” Bobo said of his under-tack show performance. “That’s just not something we can prepare these horses for. When we breeze them at home and prep them, we don’t have crowds of people and cameras… So unfortunately, he wasn’t able to debut himself as I was hoping he could, but he’s a phenomenal colt and a phenomenal mover.”
With a focus on Classic pedigrees and sturdier athletes, Bobo’s juveniles rarely burn up the track on preview day, but buyers have no trouble finding them.
“I think the horsemen are going to find my horses,” she said. “Year after year, I’ve noticed that I’m not the bullet work–I’ve never been the bullet work. My horses are 100% what they are, and that’s exactly what they are. I’m never the bullet work at the sale, but my horses go on and they run, and they run and they run.”