by Murray Brown

There would likely be a chance that an involvement in harness racing would be pre-ordained if your first-grade classmates were ultra-talented horseman Jack Moiseyev and Barbara Dancer, daughter of Harold, Jr. (Sonny) and mother of Jennifer and Joe Bongiorno. Such was the case with the now 63-year-old Bruce Areman.

“I was born and raised in Freehold,” Areman said. “Horses were always there or in the background. Jackie Mo and I were friends as kids. I recall being at the track and jogging horses while sitting on one knee and with Jackie on the other of Jack’s dad Sid. Of course, Sid wasn’t wearing a helmet and neither were we. Back then, there was no such entity as OSHA [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration]. Such behavior today would likely get all three of us kicked off the grounds. Sid was a terrific horseman and an even more wonderful person, as was Sid’s father, Max. I remember both of them with great fondness.

“I’ve been involved with harness horses, first as a fan and later as an owner for as long as I can remember. The first horse I owned was a $4,000 claimer named Dancers Tribute. Since then, I’ve owned entire or parts of numerous horses.

“I’ve been friends with Bill Pollock for almost all of my adult life. Bill has also been a fan and frequent racegoer for as long as I’ve known him. He would ask me to help get him involved in the business. I would put him off by telling him, and firmly believing, that I would only do so when the right opportunity presented itself. I know that Bill Pollock is not the type of guy who would be satisfied with owning cheap claimers or fractional ownership in horses owned by multiple owners. 

“A year ago, last October, I was at Gaitway Farms to watch one of my horses train. I had become good friends with my trainer Andrew Harris. I had discussed the possibility of Bill becoming involved in the business with Andrew, but stressed that I felt that it should only involve the right horse. Andrew mentioned that Abuckabett Hanover, a very good horse, was being offered in the present online auction being held by Preferred Equine Marketing. He was a very good horse that would not go cheap. There was a partnership group that owned him. There were some of the partners who wouldn’t part with him unless the price was right. That evening, Oct. 29, on Bill’s birthday my wife and I, together with Bill and his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Klecko were having dinner together. Yes, the former New York Jets star Joe Klecko, who is Bill’s best friend and was best man at his wedding.

“I mentioned Abuckabett Hanover to Bill. He immediately was interested. ‘Who will we get to train him?’ he asked. He was already at the point where we owned him. That is Billy’s way. He looks at the entire picture. When others are walking, he is on the run. I told him that Andrew Harris was the only person I would consider. We set up a meeting for Monday, the day that “Bucky” was to be sold. The relationship between Andrew and Bill immediately clicked as I was sure it would. We set our sights on buying him. Bill did not set a price tag. His assumption was that we were going to buy him. Abuckabett Hanover became ours for $534,000.”

Since then, you three fellows have increased your holdings to where at this year’s Lexington and Harrisburg sales, you, in effect, blew the roof off.

“If Bill Pollock is nothing else, he is, firstly, a quick read and secondly a man with a plan. He is a true visionary. His plan was to develop a well-balanced, quality racing stable. In order to do that you would need to begin with young, well-bred horses who were to develop into the Bulldog Hanovers and Confederates of the future. Such horses are never available on the open market. You need to develop your own. We went to the [2022] Harrisburg sale with that in mind. We came out of the sale with two well-bred fillies Tandem Hanover at $510,000 and Donegal Spirit at $200,000. The results were sort of mixed. Tandem Hanover appears to be a very talented trotting filly. She won early in 1.54.2 when that was near as fast as 2-year-olds had gone. She then got sick and we thought it best to stop with her and give her time. We have high hopes for her in the coming year. Donegal Spirit won in 1.53.1f and earned some money. We also have high hopes for her as well this coming year.

“We had much more time to do our homework this year. Once the catalogs for Lexington and Harrisburg came out Andrew hit the road visiting the farms where the yearlings were domiciled. I would often tag along to help broaden my knowledge and enjoyment.”

Before any of this happened, you added to the size and certainly the quality of your racing stable by purchasing Seven Colors.

“Yes. We bought him on Hambletonian Day after he had finished second in the Cane Pace. When we first bought him, the opinion of some was, “you got robbed” to shortly thereafter, “you stole him” after his ultra-impressive win in the $300,000 Millstein Memorial. From there, we went to The Meadows to win a leg of the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes. Then the following week he won the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes final at Harrah’s Chester. Then we went to Delaware, Ohio to race in the Little Brown Jug. That race, both the elimination and the final, were both a combination of my greatest thrills and greatest disappointments of all my time in the sport. The thrill being the great way he raced. The disappointment in getting nipped after doing all the heavy lifting in both heats.”

From there, you and Andrew hit the road for the next two weeks.

“Yes. From Delaware, we went to Lexington where we visited several farms intending to look at and evaluate all of the yearlings on our list. We narrowed the list to 10. I asked Andrew how many of those would he be pleased to get? He responded, ‘Three or four.’ But Bill Pollock had other ideas. ‘We are going to try to buy them all,’ he said. ‘Can you imagine how disappointed we would be if the one or two that we didn’t get turned out to be the champions.” So, it was. We bought them all.”

From there, it was on to Harrisburg.

“Initially, our intent was to not be as aggressive in Harrisburg as we were in Lexington. Then on the morning of Day 1 at Harrisburg we spoke to Bill. He had a change of heart. ‘Just go out and try to buy the ones you like the most. You have put a lot of work into this. This might be our only chance to get these kinds of horses. Like the man from Nike says, ‘Just do it.’”

It is now said and done. You have 20 of the best-bred and best-looking yearlings in the world. Fifteen pacers and five trotters. They collectively cost around $6 million. Do you have any favorites among them?

“Of course, it’s still very early. Thankfully they are all doing as well as would be expected from them at this point. I can’t narrow it down to one. I’ll come up with two: one trotter and one pacer. The trotter is Hatfield, a full brother to T C I who I believe to be one of the greatest trotting colts I have ever seen race. [T C I’s] race in the Mohawk Million was iconic, coming back to win after making a break at the start. The pacer is the filly Treacheryinthedark, the sister to Seven Colors who we bought for a record-setting $700,000 in Lexington. In addition to her possessing an incredible pedigree, she is a fantastic individual. She is big and strong and seems to be very smart. How fast she will become remains to be seen. I was told that there were four different groups involved in the bidding on her at $500,000.”

How do you occupy your time away from your horses and your family?

“I used to own a gym in Freehold. In 2010, I went to work at Tom and Bill Pollock’s Trinity Energy, a company at the cusp of solar energy in this country. I was employee number 60 which began as a business specializing in heating and air conditioning. There are now over 3,000 of us working there. It is a company devoted to not only preserving the environment, but also to believing in giving people opportunities. I can testify to the validity of that.”

Tell us about your family.

“My wife Cathy and I have five children. Cathy is a school principal. Our three daughters are also educators. One of our sons, Matt, is involved in finance in New York. Our other son, Jake, is a professional soccer player. We are blessed to have seven wonderful grandchildren.”

How are things looking for the stable in 2024?

“As you might expect, I’m very positive. We have three potential free-for-all pacers, Abuckabett Hanover, Seven Colors and El Ray, four coming 3-year-olds and a wonderful group of future 2-year-olds. As proud as I am about the group of horses we have assembled, I am even more pleased with the camaraderie of our group, Andrew and his family, Bill and his and of course mine.”