Q & A WITH BECKY ROBINSON

With Becky Robinson

Editor’s Note: Becky Robinson, the longtime executive assistant and executive secretary at the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, retired in

August after more than 15 years with the Association and more than 30 years in the thoroughbred business. The Florida Horse editor-in-chief Brock Sheridan had a chance to speak with Robinson about her time and memories at the FTBOA and plans for retirement.

FH – It’s hard to believe Becky, but after more than 15 years as a dedicated FTBOA staff member, your days in the office have come to a conclusion as you move on to an exciting and much deserved retirement. What are you looking forward to in retirement?

BR — Thank you! Yes, it is hard to believe for me, too! I’ve worked since I was 14 years old and retirement always felt like it was so far away. Although I planned for it, I didn’t really think about it much until I approached the age I had planned to retire—I don’t feel like I should be old enough to retire.

In addition to spending more time with family, I have quite a few hobbies that I enjoy. Like most people who work and take care of their own maintenance at home, I have a lot of projects waiting for me. I love to read, but I always feel guilty because there is usually something else I should be doing. I plan to get to the gym and get outside more often. I was a group fitness instructor for 17 years and completed quite a few half marathons back in the day. Not that I plan to be doing any more of those, but I do plan to get in as much activity as possible. A goal of mine is to get back

into Tai Chi, a really satisfying practice when you stick with it, something I started back in Oklahoma. In addition, I’ll be hitting the bike trails by my house, paddling the local rivers and going to the beach more often. Fishkeeping is another hobby I enjoy! Right now, I have two aquariums and plan to build an outdoor pond for my Koi that currently live in a 75-gallon tank. I also enjoy gardening and plan to become a master gardener within the next couple of years.

My mom still lives in Duncan, Oklahoma, so we’re looking forward to making a trip west. My mom is 92 and while she’s in awesome shape, she’s not getting any younger. Since [my husband] Larry and I both grew up [in Duncan], we have other family in Oklahoma and Texas to visit while we’re in the area.

Probably the thing I look forward to the most about retirement from work is that I will be able to do what I want when I want to do it. I look forward to every single day and plan to make the most of each one. Even if I choose to spend five hours binging on TV shows, I will do it with no guilt!

FH – Tell us more about your family. What brought you to Florida and the FTBOA?

BR — My husband Larry and our three sons moved to Ocala from Norman, Okla., in 1999 after I accepted a job here. All three of our sons are married to wonderful women and all live in Ocala—Scott and Kelly; Sam and Erica; and Zach and Kayleigh. We have four grandchildren—Noah (15), Ryleigh (7), Michael (7) and Lila (2).

Back in 1987, I was working for Mel Hatley at his farm in Norman when he was getting out of the horse industry. Our office was also the business office for his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas. The staff continued working for Wayne and later, when he moved his business office to California in 1991, a few of those people relocated, but I did not.

In 1998, after another of Wayne’s clients purchased Silverleaf in Summerfield [Fla.,] and renamed it Padua, the operation was relocated to Florida to the new farm and training center. At that time, I was working as the office manager of a public accounting firm. Wayne and Padua were both clients of one of the CPAs and I was offered an opportunity to rejoin the Lukas operation at Padua. As appreciative as I was, the timing was not good, and I declined at that time due to family illness.

One day early the following year, after my father-inlaw had died, Larry asked if I thought the offer might still be open to me in Florida. I asked and within a few months after making a trip to visit Summerfield and Ocala, I accepted a position and plans were confirmed to make the move after I finished up tax season. I was with Padua until after they shipped the last of the horses out in July of 2007.

FH – Give us just a partial run down on some of the responsibilities you’ve had or projects worked on during your employment with the FTBOA?

BR — As soon as the press release on Padua closing their Florida operation came out, the first call I received was from [then FTBOA CEO] Dick Hancock wanting to know what I was going to do. He said he didn’t exactly have a position for me but asked if I could send an updated resume and keep in touch. I had only met Dick a few times, but having both grown up in Oklahoma, we knew some of the same people and our kids were friends. After receiving a couple of offers both here and in Kentucky, Larry and I looked at the options and decided we would prefer to stay in Ocala. Dick contacted me again and said he was always looking for good people and although he still didn’t exactly have a position for me there were enough special projects to keep me busy, if I was interested. We reached an agreement and I started in August 2007.

Special projects at FTBOA was almost anything and everything that needed to be done around the office. I started during a time when farms and the industry were under pressure to find a solution to the muck issues because of the Springs Protection Plan. Much of my time was spent talking to farm owners and training centers to find out how many horses they had, how much manure was produced, what they did with it, etc. All the information went into a database and was used to determine how much energy could be generated by using the muck as its source. It was a huge effort and was an exercise that needed to be done in order to know if it was going to work or not.

The economy and our industry were struggling, both on

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national and local levels, and like every other business we had to cut back on staff and double up on responsibilities as we worked to be more efficient. For several years, my job included member relations, events, community outreach, facilities maintenance coordinator, part-time receptionist and executive assistant.

During that time, I was responsible for coordinating the Florida Thoroughbred Charities annual stallion season auction, the FTC annual live and silent auctions, the annual awards dinner and the annual membership cocktail party, attending community meetings, OBS Sales, Ocala-Marion County/Newbridge [Ireland] Twinning Committee, FTC scholarship committee, and maintaining Chase to the Championship points along with the daily office responsibilities, including preparing for board meetings. Then in 2011, the president of the board asked me to start attending board meetings and taking minutes, which I have done since that time.

Lonny [Powell] joined FTBOA as CEO in January 2012 and hasn’t slowed down since he arrived. He’s one of the few people I know that was born into this industry and has lived it every single day of his life. I’m always amazed by his experience and knowledge and have learned so much from working with him the past decade. In the years since Lonny arrived, he has hired several very talented and hard-working people to join the team and I have been able to concentrate on working as the executive assistant and assistant secretary. Lonny works hard and expects his team to do the same, things never get boring or routine.

FH – Can you name a few of your favorite Florida-breds?

BR — I have many favorite Florida-breds but a few stand out because of their significance in Florida history, including Needles, Carry Back, Dr. Fager, Susan’s Girl, Affirmed, Unbridled and Skip Away. And some of my favorite more recent Florida-breds include Awesome Feather, Starship Jubilee, Medina Spirit and Pappacap.

A few of my personal favorite Florida-breds have been Twilight Ridge, Silver Charm, The Green Monkey and Miss Adara.

When I worked at the farm in Norman, we hung a big picture of Twilight Ridge winning the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies above my desk and I thought she was beautiful. A couple of years later, she arrived at the farm and was in the barn right outside my office, so I would see her every morning, along with the other mares in the barn at that time including my favorite Oklahoma-bred, Lady’s Secret. I always really liked Silver Charm when he was racing and then I moved to Florida and met the Dudleys. I liked him even more after meeting the family that owned the farm where he was born and helped raise him. In 2019, I had the opportunity to go visit him at Old Friends while in Lexington. I first saw Magical Masquerade’s foal a few hours after he was born in 2004. Magical Masquerade was one of my favorite Padua mares on the farm. Although there wasn’t much to follow as the colt grew up, but The Green Monkey had an interesting sale story. Miss Adara, aka Khaleesi, a big black off-the-track Florida-bred filly was adopted by my daughter-in-law and son when they bought their farm. The trainer delivered her the day they moved in and she became a member of the family. She’s the one in the Farm City Week contest-winning photo that I took a few years ago with my grandson holding a feed bucket up for her! FH – After 15 years, what has it been like to work at the FTBOA and dealing with members, othBecky and Silver Charm at Old Friends n T. Gantt Photo er staffers, board members and a myriad of others? BR – Honestly, the time has flown by. When I came to work at FTBOA, I thought I basically knew what they did. But I really had no idea what all goes into what they do. I already knew many of the members/breeders since I had been sending out breeding contracts and booking mares the previous six years at Padua. It has been a wonderful experience to have had the opportunity to get to know and work with our board of directors who graciously give their time and support, and the staff and advisors at FTBOA are some of the best I have ever worked with, period, ever!

FH – Tell us some of your fondest memories and perhaps what you are most proud of in terms of FTBOA achievements.

BR – I have so many fond memories looking back it’s hard to name only a few. Over the years, I had some great times on Florida-bred signature race-day trips to Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream Park with other staff and members.

When I first started at the FTBOA, the board room was never used except for board meetings and official board business. For several years, even when it was not in use, I never entered the room without getting permission first. The first time I was asked to come into a board meeting (years before I started attending the board meetings to take minutes), I had no idea why and really thought I must be in trouble. As it turned out, they asked Dick to have me come in because the board wanted to tell me know how much they appreciated the great job I had done in organizing a successful event on short notice. I don’t know how many boards do that. But I was impressed and it meant a great deal to me when I was simply doing my job.

Probably one of my favorite memories came about in the summer of 2015 after the general manager at Calder [Race Course] called and asked me if I thought FTBOA would like to have any of the memorabilia from Calder before the grandstands were demolished. He said they had already gotten rid of most everything and what was left was not of value to most people, though some of the items were historical to racing and he hated to see it hauled off to the dump.

After talking to Lonny, we decided that I would get Tammy [Gantt] and we could plan a trip to see what was there, but it had to be the next week. Tammy and I decided to rent a van instead of a car for the trip.

We literally spent two entire days looking through what was left in the abandoned grandstand with no air conditioning in the middle of summer.

What was left at Calder was not of value to most people, but for Tammy and for me it was like opening a time capsule of racing history. We left completely exhausted and had not even thought about taking a break for lunch. We ate dinner while we made plans for the next day, which included renting a moving truck to get all the priceless treasures back to the office. I will never forget

that trip and all the history we saved. At times our individual jobs can be thankless, but together the FTBOA/FEC staff always works hard and strives to do the best for our members, breeders and industry. So, it’s always nice to be recognized as a group for our achievements. A couple of fond memories for those accomplishments include being honored as the 2015 Association of the Year by the Florida Society of Association Executives and as the 2015 Nonprofit Business of the Year by the Ocala-Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership at their awards of excellence program. Those awards carry special meaning when you realize that others think we are the best when compared to other associations in those categories. FH – Every one of your co-workers at FTBOA and FEC have appreciated you and will definitely miss you and congratulate you on your well-deserved retirement. Would you like to say a few words about your replacement, Elaine Ansbacher, FTBOA’s new executive assistant and office manager whom you actually recommended to Lonny? Also, please feel free to say anything else we may have not covered. BR — When I realized that retirement could be in my not-too-distant future, I knew that I wanted to help find and transition someone to fill my spot. I had been thinking about it for a few months and was creating a mental short list of people I thought might be a good fit and Elaine came to mind. She had previously worked at one of the larger farms and although I did not personally know her, she was one Grandson Michael Robinson and retired Thoroughbred Khaleesi of my main contacts when conducting business there. Everything aligned and Elaine started working at the FTBOA the first of June. She is already doing a great job and I have a great new friend. I will always be grateful to Lonny for keeping me around after he inherited me with his new job. I like to think it has worked out for all of us. I’m grateful for the many opportunities that have been provided to me during my career journey in this business that have brought me in contact with so many wonderful people and the great friendships developed along the way. But there is a beginning and end to everything. So now, with mixed emotions, it’s time to pass the torch and to transition into retirement—It’s been a great trip, I will miss you all but will see you down the road! TFH