Joined West Point TB in 2002 in 2 partnerships. Didn't know crap (still don't) about breeding and buying. Chose from a catalog...
Storm Cadet because we are Red Storm at St Johns and
Erinsouthernman because my daughters name is Erin. Go figure!
Storm Cadet, trained by Gary Contessa, ran late Aug. his initial race with Pat Day aboard at Saratoga and wins going away vs NY breds. I can't even remember the walk to the winners circle. MY first win as an owner. Big party post race in clubhouse with all the partners. Great experience I'll never forget. WPTB chooses to race him 3 weeks later at Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes. Going against Zavata, Sky Mesa, Roaring Fever, Rights Reserved and Pretty Wild. I remember driving to Saratoga by myself that day from Long Island. Got to Sar and didn't know what entrance to go in so trainer Pat Biancone saw me fumbling around and he took me in to owners boxes. Going up the escalator he asked me what race I had a horse in and I told him, and he had the race fav Zavata the #1 ranked 2yo Juvenile. He was very kind to me and wished me good luck! Big underdogs in a race won by Sky Mesa..but heck it was great to race in a Grade 1 and be in the Saratoga paddock that day with national TV audience and meeting Jeanine Edwards and all the ESPN racing crew.
Disappointed on that days outcome, many of the West Point owners met back at Sar that evening under the stars for beers and lick our wounds. Terry Finley took me aside and told me to cheer up as my next colt was racing the very next day and he was expecting a huge effort.
Well,
Erinsouthernman, trained by Rick Violette, runs a great race in open 2yo race. 8-1 ML turns into a 2-1 fav at 1st click on tote! The word got out...clockers spread the news on him. He runs away from the field in a 7f race. Now I've got 2 winners out of 2 in their maiden race and BOTH at Saratoga. YES, I did now realize how fortunate I was. Left VERY HUMBLED with tears in my eyes from Sar.
Next out was
Storm Cadet running in the Bongard Stakes at Belmont. We are race favorite, but who is entered against us. Some NY Bred-Funny Cide. Well, he crushes everybody that day and that race really set FC off on a great career!
Erinsouthernman's next race was Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont. We took third against Toccet and Ice cold beer at Reds. 3rd in a $500,000 race. Now we've got some black type here!
1 month later I'm at work and I get the phone call every owner dreads...all the person on the phone says is
Storm Cadet had a training accident and had to be put down. He's crying and now so am I.
You talk about the highs and lows of racing. That hit me hard and it lasted for months. We had him insured big but the check we got felt shi-ty to cash. Man I loved that big colt. He had sooo much potential all the trainers at Belmont said.
Now my hope is
Erin. Late Dec DRF has Erin as the 6th ranked 2 yo with a great shot in the 2003 Derby. I get a call in early Jan that a large outfit was making a bid for
Erin because all of their 2yo's had crapped out and they had no derby hopefuls. They offered us 7 figs for him. I was the only owner who voted no, so we agreed on retaining 25% ownership and selling the rest to Kentucky outfit for $650,000.
Needless to say, they trained too him hard, ran him into the ground too early in his 3yo training season & never ran in any triple crown races or Graded stakes company again, and won 2-3 times at Churchill and Turfway in allowance company. He was finally claimed away and ended his career racing at Asinoboia in Canada!
Took a year off from ownership and in 2004 joined a smaller NY partnership who I was also very successful with with 2 claimers. One gelding who we claimed for 30 ended up making more than 200G in 2 1/2 years (2005 ran 11 times and was 6 wins 3 places and 2 shows), another filly we claimed for 35 and also made more than 200G including several non graded stakes wins and ITM placings at NYRA tracks.
I left the partnership last year after having a disagreement with their management and what constituted
legitimate fees and expenses for managing partner from our owners purse share winnings. That experience really soured me on the ownership part of racing. I've stayed out as an owner this year, keeping only a small piece of a colt who just took 3rd at Colonial last week!