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TRACKSIDE n Continued from page 79 to handicap. It really became something we do together. Our kids are young. We want to do it as a family adventure in a couple of years. We joined a club in Woodbine.” And they went to the first conference. “It was great,” Marnie said. “It did exactly what we wanted it to do: meet people who are currently in the industry to find out more information without making mistakes. To have all those people in one place, it was worth the money. There’s so much to learn: breeding, handicapping. We found it very helpful. That conference made us want to learn more about it. We want to see additional tracks, keep on spreading our wings. Saratoga is on our short list. We will probably do partnerships. We want to do it with another couple.” There was another aspect of the conference Marnie and Chris enjoyed. “I was starstruck,” she said. “I was able to sit behind and talk to Penny Chenery for two days. I had cocktails with Barbara Banke. I talked with Gary Player several times. I got a picture with him. Contrary to popular belief, the people in horseracing are like you and I. This isn’t a dying sport. Anybody can be an owner. You don’t have to have millions of dollars. They really wowed us. The other thing we really enjoyed was the cap on the number of participants [300]. We were able to mingle more. We really liked that it was small and intimate. We made some great connections.” Chris was blown away, too. “Oh, man, it was inspiring,” he said. “With the Gary Player keynote speech, it was more of a life lesson listening to him talk. That was great. I wanted to learn a little more about how much I want to get involved in Thoroughbred ownership. I learned quite a bit. It threw some dollars and cents into it. You leave with realistic numbers thrown at you. It’s something I can get involved in. The overall thrill and excitement is second to none.” And he and Marnie are still reaping benefits from attending the conference. “I still have people getting in touch with me from it,” Chris said. “We made some really good
Last year’s keynote speaker Gary Player
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Tom Durkin
contacts. Gary hooked us up with Woodbine. Pete Bradley, he’s more than happy to text me. If I text him, he responds right away.” Will they make the jump into ownership? Marnie said, “It’s not a question of ‘if’ for us,” Marnie said. “It’s a question of ‘when.’ It is something we’ll do.” How do you put a price on that? More importantly, how do you make the second conference even better? The agenda is already set. Tom Durkin will return to be the emcee at the first morning conference, Tuesday, Jan. 12th, to be followed by action videos of winning horses and their owners and a welcome by Frank Stronach. A panel discussion providing an overview of ownership will feature panelists speaking about concierge, accounting, advisors/ agents, legal matters and, of course, owning Thoroughbreds. The next panel about buying horses will feature three owners: Laurie Wolf, Maggi Moss and Robert LaPenta. A jockey panel, hosted by former jockey/TV analyst Richard Migliore, features Hall of Famers Jerry Bailey and John Velazquez, jockey Joe Bravo and former jockey/TV analyst Donna Brothers. Lunch and breakout sessions fill the afternoon. That first evening, a cocktail
reception previews the Gala Dinner. Wednesday’s activities begin with morning workouts at Gulfstream Park with trainers discussing their daily plans for their horses. Jim Rome, the host of sports shows on radio and TV and an incredibly successful new owner, will deliver the Keynote Address later that morning. Rome, as a member of Jungle Racing LLC, has already had two super horses, two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Mizdirection and Shared Belief, the Two-Year-Old Male Eclipse Champion of 2013 whose 10 victories in 12 starts include five Grade 1 stakes. Next up is a panel of successful owners which includes Ken Ramsey and Don Little, Jr. That panel is followed by a presentation about daily care and after-care for horses. George Bolton will be on that panel. Following that is a presentation of all the people who are involved daily with a Thoroughbred including a presentation from Gulfstream Park President Tim Ritvo. Following him will be a trainer, groom, exercise rider, jockey, jockey agent, blacksmith, veterinarian, dentist, chiropractor, pony rider, hotwalker, identifier, member of the gate crew, entry clerk and racing secretary. That afternoon features a lunch sponsored by Gulfstream Park and a day of racing. On Thursday morning, there’s a 3 ½-hour tour of the Miami area. The following evening, an Eclipse Awards Eve Party concludes the conference. Attendees can purchase tickets for the Eclipse Awards the next night. If the second conference is as successful as the first, Thoroughbred OwnerView’s Gary Falter’s job isn’t over; rather, it will continue. “We want owners coming into this business with their eyes wide open,” he said. “We want to give owners access to information. I went looking for a list of syndicates, and there wasn’t one.” So Falter put one together and made that list available online. “We get a lot of traffic at the website,” he said. “We’ve had over a million page views. We know there’s more to do to encourage ownership.”