Gerson Racing

Friday: Flew to Ft. Lauderdale and arrived at 10:00 pm.   I was surprised to find that “Travel by Gerson” had arranged accommodations in the low rent district.   Three levels below Motel 6.   The hotel was sandwiched between a liquor store and a Wendy’s.   It was tough to sleep with all the gunfire right outside the window, but I shoved the dresser in front of the door and camped out.  

Saturday:   Woke up at 6:30 am in a panic.   Sean was supposed to be knocking on my door at 5:00 am.   Called Sean at 7:00 am and he told me, “yeah, we just got to the airport.”   That’s my boy!   Anyway, Sean and his better half (trainer Pete Miller)   wandered over to the hotel and after breakfast at a fairly unique Hallandale Beach restaurant, we spent the day playing horses at Gulfstream.   That part was actually pretty pleasant.   Sean did a great job on the table by the finish line, and the weather was fantastic.  

Sunday: We opted out on a second day at Gulfstream in favor of checking out horses at Ocala for the sale.   Sean had rented an SUV about twice the size of an Escalade, so we hustled up the freeway.   After an hour in the front seat, I made Pete take the “suicide seat” for the balance of the ride.   Sean got a ticket for doing triple digits, and the state trooper pulled him out of the SUV.   Not good.   Pete and I argued who would drive the rest of the way since Sean was obviously going to jail.   Unfortunately, the state trooper gave him a $1,000 fine and kicked him loose.   We made the 5 hour drive to Ocala in 3.5 hours.  

Monday:   Spent the morning with the incomparable JJ Crupi of Castledale Farms.   JJ is a super person, but quite the promoter.   My favorite JJ comment, “I just love that horse!!   Which horse are we talking about?”   Sean is buddies with Gus, one of the ranch hands, so we picked up all the inside scoop on the horses JJ was selling private.   Spent probably 2 hours watching horses breeze and looking at potential candidates for the new Gerson Racing “Young Guns” stable.   It was an amazing experience.   We spent the balance of the day (12 hours to be exact) pulling horses out of the Ocala stables so Pete could examine them.   Loads of fun, but to be honest, tons of work!   We spent the evening at the Adena Springs sale up the road.   Pete bid on four horses, but came up dry.   Plenty of guys with big wallets at the sale.   Regardless, the bar-b-q was awesome!  

Tuesday:   The day started early as we journeyed out to the McKathan Brothers farm to view more horses available for private purchase.   Beautiful 300 acre spread with a training track.   JB McKathan met us there and opened with, “you boys caught me in an embarrassing situation.   I need to sell some horses!”   JB and JJ Crupi were separated at birth.   Note to self – in addition to all the crooks in horse racing, there are quite few promoters.   Seriously, JB and JJ were great hosts and two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.   Really enjoyed speaking with them.   At 11:00 am, the gavel dropped and the horse auction was ON!   HIP 10 was a beautiful Horse Chestnut colt.   Pete liked him up to $50,000, however we were fortunate enough to pick him up for $35,000.   HIP 29, a filly named Start Jumping, was our second acquisition.   We finished the day by purchasing My Way A.P. (A.P. Valentine colt) and a Chief Seattle colt.   You can see pictures of all our horses elsewhere on this web site.   We also ran into my buddy Rich Siegel who just retired his one and only horse, Cambria Breeze.   After months of hemming and hawing, the brother took his hand off his wallet and bought into the Young Guns stable.   Another close friend of mine, Carl Redish of Florida is also in the stable with his friend Darryl.   We have a Florida bred that Sean is going to run at Gulfstream and Calder, so Rich/Carl/Darryl will get to be the big cheese when he runs.  

Wednesday:   Having secured 5 horses (we picked one up at the Barrett’s sale the week before), the second day of the sale was more R&R.   At least it was until Pete got revved up on HIP 346, a filly by Van Nistelrooy.   Bidding was frantic, then Pete made exactly one bid at $105,000 and there was stone silence.   Bang!   Sold to Gerson Racing for $105,000.   I turned to Sean and said, “did he just say one hundred THOUSAND?”   Are you kidding me?   We bought a $100,000 horse?   She better have gold plated horseshoes.   Sean’s guys from New York, who had pointed the filly out to us, started doing a jig in the barn.   They were ecstatic that we bought her.   Last, but not least, we acquired HIP 370, Whatever Wherever, a good looking colt.   Heck, they all look pretty good.   Peter Miller is not only a rock star trainer, this brother can pick horse flesh.   With the sale concluded, we headed for Orlando for the flight home.  

Sean generously put me at Southwest Airlines 30 minutes before the flight.   I ran through the airport, dived through the door as they closed it at the gate, and settled in between two women even bigger than Sean Gerson.   I had to gate check my luggage.   Thanks Sean, appreciated that buddddddy!  

Conclusion:   Much has been said on the web site about me introducing myself all week as “Mark from Las Vegas”.   I do that because we were meeting 20 guys a day, and everybody loves Las Vegas so I figure that’s a good way for them to remember me.   Therefore, Pete Miller can kindly kiss my posterior.   For Sean and Pete, these trips are routine, however for the Godfather, it was the experience of a lifetime.   I have always wanted to understand how the horse business worked, so this was a phenomenal learning experience.   Thank you to the boss (my wonderful wife Susan) for minding the business so I could get away for a few days.   And thank to Sean and Pete for including “Mark from Vegas” on the trip.  

{mosimage}