How Did I Get Here?

My Story

In May of 1973, this 15 year old was walking through the living room of our double wide trailer, my father suggested to me that I watch “this horse” who was supposed to be the greatest racehorse of all time run in the Kentucky Derby.  It was Secretariat and I sat next to my dad and we watch Secretariat win the Derby, then the Preakness and when he won the Belmont by 31 lengths it really got my attention. 

I remember my dad looking over at me with tears running down his face and telling me we had just witnessed what might be the greatest athletic achievement in our lifetime.  I was blown away and this is when the thoroughbred entered my veins never to leave again. 

The Library

I went to the library and started reading everything I could get my hands on about thoroughbred racing.  This was a rarity, me going to the library, I was at best a c- student but something grabbed hold of me that day and has never let go.  I subscribed to magazine and read them cover to cover, I purchased old stallion breeding books all the way back to the 50’s and read them cover to cover. 

Jump ahead to the early 2000’s after I had started my own company and one of my first clients had a farm in Kentucky as a side business, I walked into their corporate office and saw all the win pictures and shortly thereafter I bought 25% of a two year old. 

My next move was to purchase a mare, take advantage of all this knowledge I thought I had accumulated from books alone, bred her and the resulting foal had 14 starts and I got 12 checks. This was too easy, but luckily I did not quit my day job. 

The next year was not anywhere near as fruitful! 

Meeting Leo Tsataronis

Years later I met Leo Tsataronis who had just created G1 Goldmine.  I went to a couple of his seminars, got his personal cell phone and I believe wore him out with questions.  Leo was a great sport and never failed to take my call or answer my emails.  As stated elsewhere on this site I ended up purchasing some stallions and broodmares and began breeding in earnest. 

About two years ago, Leo contacted me and asked if I would be interested in his new software endeavor which was modeled after Federico Tesio’s philosophy on breeding.  Having read all of Tesio’s books and many books written about him, I was an easy sell. 

Testing The Software

I poured myself into the software, ran thousands of validation studies and was able to actually share some insights with Leo about some trends I spotted using his software and we became fast friends. 

Today I continue to run validation studies and I can honestly say I learn something new with every report/analysis I complete.  Those of you that have a strong passion for something will understand how often you wake in the middle of the night with a what if question, fortunately I am able to walk into my home office, type in my password, open the software and get an answer.

Only Good Matches

During this journey I made a conscious decision to only breed those mares to my stallions that are good matches.  No one in this industry has an interest in breeding 5K claimers, although it still happens a lot, no system is perfect. 

As a result my stallions have had small books, but the two and three year olds I have right now are nothing short of spectacular and I am very excited about the future.  At the time I made this decision I decided to offer the utilization of my experience and various software programs to other breeders at no cost if they bred to one of my stallions (only if a good match) and charge a minimal cost if they were out of state and wanted to look at stallions close to home.

Giving Back To The Industry

As of this writing I continue this pursuit of helping others breed the best horses possible and giving back to an industry that has given me so much pleasure over the years.  As it has been said many times, if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life and I am half lazy!