Burke Racing scores an Owner of the Year hat trick

by Debbie Little

Officially, the members of Burke Racing Stable LLC, are listed as Sylvia Burke and Weaver Bruscemi LLC (Mark Weaver and Mike Bruscemi).

But the now three-time Norman Woolworth Owners of the Year said this honor reflects their entire team’s effort.

“It’s everybody,” Burke said. “It’s a Burke brigade. That’s everybody that works for us and all our owners and our grooms and drivers, everybody.”

Weaver said that around 2004, he became friends with trainer Ronnie Burke, who was still working for his dad, Mickey Burke, at the time, and eventually it turned into Weaver Bruscemi becoming part of Burke Racing.

“At some point, it just kind of naturally happened that any horse that they owned we owned, and vice versa,” Weaver said. “My relationship initially was with Ronnie, not necessarily Mickey and Sylvia, but obviously, over the years, I got to love both of them. And I probably talk to Sylvia as much as any person, multiple times a day as far as bookkeeping and new purchases. I mean, she is the glue that holds the whole thing together without a doubt.”

Sylvia said the Burke Racing partnership with Weaver Bruscemi has been “absolutely great,” and that she does indeed speak with Weaver every day.

“It could be 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock at night, and he says, ‘What are you doing?’ And I say, ‘You know what I’m doing, I’m working,’” Sylvia said with a laugh.

As happy as he is to be honored again, it’s not the award that Weaver thought they would win for 2024. Burke Racing was in the running for both Owner and Breeder of the Year. They won the Owner award by one vote over Harvey Fried’s Patricia Stable, but lost Breeder to Hanover Shoe Farms.

“I kind of don’t feel like we should have been the winner, to be honest,” Weaver said of being named Owner of the Year. “I think the other stable, Patricia Stable, should have. With what they were able to accomplish with a fraction of the horses that we had; I think they were probably more deserving.

“But at the same time, I think the reverse applies to the Breeder of the Year. We won two Breeders Crowns as owners, but we also bred both of them, and I think we probably should have won Breeder of the Year. Instead, it went to Hanover, who is kind of like Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi as an owner. There’s power in numbers, and I’m sure they had a great year, just like we had a great year as owners, but I like to pull for the little guy, because I don’t think we’re ever going to breed two Dan Patch winners again, and for the Patricia Stable, it’d be hard for them to duplicate their success.”

Patricia Stable owns Dan Patch honorees Captain Albano and Sig Sauer, while Burke Racing owned and bred Breeders Crown/Dan Patch champions Louprint and My Girl EJ.

Burke Racing is also a member of the Sweet Lou Syndicate that owns Sweet Lou, who tied in the vote for the Dan Patch Pacing Sire of the Year with Bettors Delight.

“Sweet Lou has been a God,” Weaver said. “I mean, it’s just amazing what he’s done here and Down Under. He should have a book written on him, to be honest; just like what he’s been able to do. I mean, originally, we sold a share for $20,000. That’s what a lifetime breeding was, $20,000 in 2014, I think. And one just sold [last week] online for $112,000 and that’s after they got to use it for the last 10 years… I was talking to Eric Cherry the other day. He said he doesn’t know what’s gone up more, Sweet Lou or Bitcoin, in the last five years. And it really has been so great. It was almost like having another child, you know, having him and seeing him just keep getting better and better. And so, yeah, it’s been awesome.”

Unlike when they previously won Owner of the Year in 2013 and 2018, there is an important piece missing now with Burke Brigade patriarch Mickey passing unexpectedly in May of 2024. He and Sylvia would have celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary in August last year.

“Mickey was a legend in the business,” Weaver said. “Nobody has any idea how much he did for people and horse aftercare. He was a tough man. You didn’t want to get on his bad side, but he was as giving as any person I’ve ever seen, and it’s not even close, to be honest.

“He started it off, and, yeah, he’ll always be the leader of the whole gang.”

When asked why Ronnie isn’t part of Burke Racing, Weaver said with a laugh, “Ronnie makes 5 per cent of $27 million a year, that’s enough. We kind of decided that he doesn’t need to make any more than $1.3 million. Anyone can do the math. That’s the arrangement. I mean, no one’s feeling sorry for him. He can get by on his 5 per cent.”

Burke Racing is also the Grand Circuit Owner of the Year for 2024.

“It’s been a little over 20 years,” Weaver said. “It’s so enjoyable being able to share it with good people, not just the Burkes, but all of our partners. We’ve been able to keep a pretty good group of people over the last 20 years. I guess winning kind of helps, but we don’t always win and I guess that’s kind of the icing on the cake, being able to enjoy it with a bunch of good guys; good people, I should say, because they’re not all guys.”