First Owners Conference a Success

By Lucas Marquardt

   How do we attract new owners to racing? Give those interested information, answer their questions, and expose them to the best and brightest our sport has to offer. That was the focus of yesterday’s inaugural Thoroughbred Owner Conference, which attracted a sizeable crowd to Keeneland’s sales pavilion on a rainy fall day in Lexington. The conference is being hosted by OwnerView, an information resource developed by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. 

Participants, including prospective owners and seasoned industry pros, were treated to several panel discussions, a keynote address from the legendary golfer Gary Player, and even a surprise visit from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. The recently retired Tom Durkin, track announcer extraordinaire, emceed the event. 

The day kicked off with a discussion between the heads of four of the nation’s biggest track ownership groups, Keeneland’s Bill Thomason, NYRA’s Chris Kay, Del Mar’s Joe Harper and The Stronach Group’s Mike Rogers. The men stressed the importance of tracks taking an “owners first” perspective. 

“Everything about the raceday should be special,” said Thomason, who along with his fellow panelists talked about some ways to make the Thoroughbred owner one of the stars of the show. 

A trio of prominent owners including former Kentucky Governor Brereton Jones, Starlight Stable’s Jack Wolf and Stuart Janney took the stage next for a panel entitled, “Approaches to Success,” which was moderated by The Jockey Club Tour on Fox’s Greg Wolf. (Maggi Moss, due to weather-related issues, was unable to attend.) 

All the men agreed it was imperative for new owners to take their time getting involved. Wolf said it was important to get to know trainers, bloodstock agents and other participants. 

Janney, in particular, warned about pouring money into the game and not having immediate success. “All the while, the horses are there, and they need to be fed and medicated, and people need to get paid,” he said. “It can be an unhappy experience.” 

Jones agreed, saying that early on he had to take a commercial view to the business so that he could afford to be involved. “I was quite fortunate that I was able to come up with some horses that were very marketable,” he said. “At the beginning, nobody knew who this guy Jones was from West Virginia. It was all step-by-step.” 

Durkin welcomed Beshear onstage for a quick pre-lunch address, while another surprise guest, Secretariat’s owner Penny Chenery, greeted those coming back into the pavilion at 1 p.m. 

Asked for an anecdote about the 1973 Triple Crown winner, Chenery explained that she took notes on all her horses. She remembered seeing Secretariat when he was just three days old and scrawling down, “He’s too pretty to be a good horse.” 

The crowd laughed, and Durkin quipped, “Well, you were half right.” 

Chenery offered some sage advice. “If you’re thinking about getting into ownership, hang around people who are successful,” she said. “As owners, you need to make your own observations.” 

Chenery said owners also have obligations. “Owners are ambassadors for racing,” she said. “We have the obligation to share our excitement with the fans, and if we do, they’ll become shareholders in the industry with us.” 

She also said ownership is a game of patience. “We spent 30 years in the business before we were an overnight success,” said Chenery. “We bred 680 horses and came out with two Derby winners. You’ll go through a lot of bad horses. Keep at it.” 

The first post-lunch panel included four owners and the trainers they employ: Bushwood Stable’s Brent Johnson and trainer Graham Motion; Dr. J. David Richardson and Hall of Famer Bill Mott; Dr. Chuck Kidder and Dallas Stewart; and Roger McDaniel and Joan Scott. 

The panel talked about the need for open lines of communication between owners and trainers. 

Johnson recalled an early Bushwood trainer who, after Johnson suggested an allowance race for one of his runners, said, “I wish my owners would keep their noses out of the condition books.” 

Needless to say, that partnership didn’t last long, said Johnson. 

Mott said he enjoys discussing placement and strategy with owners, “Just so long as I get a vote,” he laughed. 

Mott said the perfect owner was, “Anybody that I can speak to frankly and openly and honestly. I don’t want to have to sugar-coat anything. If they want a little sugar on it, they can go somewhere else. I only know one way to put it, and that’s how I see it. But I do want to be optimistic; I don’t try to jump to conclusions with every horse right away.” 

“Thoroughbred Auctions – Finding the Athletes” was one of the liveliest panels of the day, grouping together prominent partnership owners Aron Wellman from Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Terry Finley from West Point Thoroughbreds with Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger, veterinarian Jeffrey Berk and bloodstock agents Mike Ryan and Pete Bradley. 

“It’s a game of experts,” opined Wellman. “And it’s important to surround yourself with experts. There are some guys that are very good at a lot of things, and some guys that are exceptional at just a few things. We like to surround ourselves with the people that are exceptional.” 

Finley said the West Point strategy involved selecting the equivalent of a fifth-round prospect in the NBA or NFL. “But a horse with the pedigree and physicality to develop into a top racehorse if they are kept sound and put into the right hands,” said Finley. “Each year, I like to think we get better, but then so do our competitors.” 

Finley said humility ultimately figures into the equation. “As I’m signing my name [on a winning auction slip], I usually think to myself, ‘I’m the only one in this pavilion who thinks this horse is worth the amount of money I just paid for him,’” he said. “That usually puts things into perspective.” 

Berk, the lone veterinarian to talk on the day, explained his role in the auction process. “I work best as a member of the team,” he said. “I don’t pretend I’m trying to buy these horses. I don’t try to be a bloodstock agent.” 

Berk continued, “I never say, ‘Buy this horse or don’t buy this horse.’ I try to say, ‘Here is the level of risk.’ I’m trying to establish value. It’s not a simple pass or fail system, or rarely is it that.” 

Ryan and Bradley said that many bloodstock agents are too reluctant to forgive flaws. 

“You try to find a horse that you like first, and then you see if you can live with his conformational faults,” Bradley said. “We tend to be too critical, and we miss some good horses because of it.” 

Ryan recalled a time in the late 1970s when he judged a Northern Dancer yearling to be too small. “I got schooled years ago,” he said. “I looked at Nureyev and said he was too small. And he turned out to be a champion.” 

Hall of Fame rider Chris McCarron, during a jockeys’ round panel that featured Richard Migliore, Donna Brothers, Pat Day and Rosie Napravnik, also talked about humility. He recalled a story about losing a mount on General Challenge after the horse’s trainer Bob Baffert took issue with McCarron’s ride in the 2000 GII San Fernando S. General Challenge, with Corey Nakatani up, went on to win the GII Strub S. and GI Santa Anita H., and McCarron vowed to never ride for Baffert again. 

“It was stupid,” said McCarron, who related a friend’s favorite line, “Be careful of the toes you step on on the way up the ladder, because they most likely belong to the same person whose derriere you’re going to have to kiss on the way down.” 

The jockeys talked about the need for owners and trainers to have confidence in their jockeys, and how that can play into a rider’s own confidence. 

“I remember a time when I was riding for trainer Pete Ferriola, who was winning everything in New York at the time,” said Migliore. “Every time I lost, he’d get a bunch of calls from jockeys’ agents, because everyone wanted to ride for him. There was a time when I was riding really bad. I mean, I couldn’t win a race.” 

Migliore continued, “One day, I got beat on three favorites. Pete asked me to come by the barn the next morning, and I thought, ‘Here it comes–I’m getting fired.’ He took me down the shedrow and showed me the 50 horses he had. He said, ‘Relax, you own 10% of all these horses. Ride them like you own 10% of them. Relax.’ I went out there that afternoon and won three races for him.” 

The conference concluded in style with an hour-long address from Gary Player, one of the greatest golfers in the history of the sport. 

A breeder in his native South Africa for over five decades and an avid horse racing fan, the 78-year-old Player regaled the crowd with stories and anecdotes about golf, family, horse breeding and even politics. 

“If you asked me whether I’d rather win the Masters or the Kentucky Derby, I’d take the Kentucky Derby,” said Player. “But then, I’ve won three Masters.” 

Player advised neophyte owners to find people they trust, and to embrace partnerships. “Because you want to have fun doing it,” he said. 

Player said that the uncertainty of the bloodstock world was one of the great things about breeding, noting that Northern Dancer was just over 15 hands tall and that Mr. Prospector was crooked. 

“I’ve been in breeding 50 years, and we all know a helluva lot about nothing,” he laughed. 

Referencing his own diminutive stature, he added, “If I’d been sold here, I’d probably have been sold for $1,000.” 

Player’s speech was heavy on inspiration, and he offered some personal platitudes. Among them, “I’ve had the attitude that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. There are too many people who think it’s the other way around.” 

A second, shorter day of panels kicks off this morning at 8:45 a.m. at the Keeneland sales pavilion. The morning session is schedule to conclude before the 1:00 p.m. first post. For more, visit www.ownerview.com.