The Blood-Horse Regionals (PDF) : Northeast Regionals

11/11/09 Northeast: Better With Backer

cdawahare — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:31:47 GMT

Over the years William Backer has discovered that things go better with racing. The retired songwriting guru, known during his professional career as the man who coined many famous slogans and jingles for Coca-Cola, including

"Things go better with Coke," is now highly regarded for an entirely different reason-his successful Thoroughbred stable. Backer remembers around 55 years ago helping a friend purchase a horse for foxhunting and seeing a small Thoroughbred weanling in its stall. On a whim he decided to buy the horse and put it into training.

"We had the horrible thing that happens to a lot of us in that we had beginner's luck and thought (horse racing) was easy," said Backer. "That was back in 1954, and I just stayed with it ever since."

Backer named his first horse Wink Proof. By Proof Coil, out of the American Flag mare American Wink, the resilient horse had an 11-year campaign and finally retired after 132 starts.

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03/28/09 Northeast Regional: Empire Leadership

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:41:30 GMT

When Delaware North announced it was ending its partnership with the New York Racing Association to install video lottery terminals at Aqueduct racecourse, the executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders sprung into action.

Noting that the end of the partnership represented yet another delay in the long-overdue effort for the Empire State’s racing and breeding industries to begin reaping the financial benefits of VLTs, NYTB executive director Jeff Cannizzo called upon Gov. David Paterson to “make the re-bidding of VLTs an administration priority.”

In his press release Cannizzo reiterated the benefits of VLTs at Aqueduct—an estimated $1 million daily to the state coffers and millions to the equine agribusiness—and pointed out that “Now, with Wall Street in meltdown, sales tax revenue at historic lows, and a state deficit of staggering proportions, the continued delay in installing VLTs is unfathomable.”

Being proactive and taking the offensive on major issues facing the New York racing and breeding industries have been priorities for newly elected NYTB president Barry R. Ostrager, and Cannizzo, who assumed his position last summer.

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03/07/09 Northeast Regional: Under Plank

Blood-Horse Staff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:43:31 GMT

The temptation—as the red-roofed foaling and broodmare barns have gone up, the white-board fencing began stretching across the perimeter, and a string of horses settled in—is to dwell on the glory days of Sagamore Farm where Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr. bred generations of champions.

Its brightest star was Native Dancer, winner of 21 of 22 races. He was nicknamed “The Gray Ghost” for his light gray coat, which turned snow-white when he stood at Sagamore as a legendary stallion. Under a stand of sugar maple trees, his grave is marked by a small, plain stone slab in a nondescript equine cemetery.

While Sagamore’s new owner pays homage to its wondrous past, Kevin Plank is also clearly focused on his vision for the future.

“The farm has the DNA of champions in its bones, but being part of building something brick by brick, that’s what inspires me more than anything,” said Plank, 37. “We
honor the legacy, but we’re all about looking forward.”

Plank knows a thing or two about building a winner. In 1996 the Maryland native launched Under Armour—a moisture-wicking, compression T-shirt business—in the
basement of his grandmother’s townhouse in Washington, D.C.

The stretchy, fast-drying garments fit like a glove, keeping athletes cool in summer and warm in winter. Recognized as a major breakthrough, the technology enabled the
company to carve out a healthy niche in a fiercely competitive sporting-goods market. Along the way Under Armour unwittingly created one of the shrewdest power
plays in fashion history.

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02/28/09 Northeast Regional: Halls of Fame

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:04:56 GMT

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Five years ago, New Jersey residents George and Lori Hall were avid Thoroughbred racing fans, scrambling to find a babysitter to watch their daughter on weekends so they could enjoy a few races at nearby Monmouth Park.
These days the Halls are seeing things from a much different point of view. Since entering the business in 2004, they have campaigned five stakes winners, and now have two Triple Crown prospects in West Side Bernie and Atomic Rain.

On many summer mornings in the early dawn at Monmouth Park, George Hall can be seen leading horses from the barn alongside trainer Kelly Breen.

With his burly frame and size 11 boots a stark contrast next to dozens of tiny exercise riders, George braves the before daylight training hours at the New Jersey Shore track to observe his stock aboard lead pony and retired stakes winner Fagan’s Legacy.

George, an investment company owner, said he isn’t surprised at the success his operation has experienced in such a short time.

“We always intended to—to the extent it would work out—create an elite stable,” he said. Hall also keeps a handful of broodmares and young horses at his Annestes Farm near Versailles, Ky. “Each year we buy a few more and try to focus on the good ones.”

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02/07/09 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional: Fit For a Hero

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:46:23 GMT

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After brief stints as a jockey agent and as an aspiring trainer, Bob Haynes has found his niche in the Thoroughbred business as an owner, certified by the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which named his Rob Ry Farm as the state’s owner of the year for 2008.

Haynes, 54, a native of Olney, Md., is a lifelong resident of the state and in his youth was attracted to racing’s gambling aspect. “I grew up closest to Laurel Park, and it got in my blood,” said Haynes.

Haynes owns East Coast Productions, a national professional fund-raising firm for police and firefighters, and also has a real estate company, Robert Michael Haynes Realty, which deals in both commercial and residential properties. Haynes and his wife, Donna, have two sons, Robert and Ryan, for whom his stable is named. His office manager at East Coast Productions is Jayne Marie Slysz, a former jockey who also partners with Haynes in his racehorses.

Haynes claimed his first horse, the hard-knocking plater Key to Riches, in the early 1980s. He remained in the claiming game with his trainer of 18 years, William H. Wolfendale III, until one day when Haynes’ accountant approached him with balance sheet in hand and said, “Look, I think it’s time for you to get out of the horse game.” Instead offinding a new accountant, Haynes bowed out of the business for a number of years, but the itch to get back in eventually won out.

“I’d say he was out of the business for 10 years or so,” said Slysz, whom Haynes offered a job to after she was too injured to continue riding horses. “One day Bob decided to geta horse, and I went in on it, and since then we’ve been partners on every horse. We’ve had a real good run.”

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12/13/2008 Northeast Regional: Name Game

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:52:48 GMT

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As the world deals with the ongoing economic crisis, Thoroughbred owner and breeder Larry Goichman can rely on an old racing adage in these tough times: no one has ever committed suicide if they have a promising 2-year-old in the barn. After all, it was that sentiment that got him into the industry in the first place.

In 1987, the economy was also experiencing turbulent times, particularly when it came to the real estate market. Goichman was a developer, and as a
result was having issues at work, but his wife, Jennifer, thought of a clever way to cheer him up.

“We had two houses that were coming on the market for a lot of money, and the market crashed and we were in deep trouble,” said Goichman, who is now
64. “We were at a wedding, and I was kind of whining. We were circulating, and my wife ran into an accountant who was setting up horse partnerships. She
said, ‘You better talk to my husband because he is kind of depressed and feeling bad about this real estate, and he’s always wanted to be involved with horses.’ ”

Goichman’s love affair with animals, and horses in particular, had begun long before that fateful encounter. He went to Cornell University to study veterinary
medicine, but somewhere along the way changed his mind and went into agricultural economics instead.

Ultimately, he went to New York University for his master’s degree and currently runs two businesses—a leasing company and a real estate company. But
even though he changed his mind about veterinary practice, Goichman still was interested in working with animals, and the accountant at the wedding provided him with an entry into the Thoroughbred industry.

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11/15/2008 Northeast Regional: Founding Fathers

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:38:57 GMT

10/18/2008 Northeast Regional: Rider Up

cdawahare — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:26:34 GMT

The Blood-Horse Northeast Regional: January Edition

cdawahare — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:04:49 GMT