Longtime horseman Robbie Siegelman believes charity begins in the barn
by Murray Brown
Robbie Siegelman has been involved with horses all of his adult life — mostly as a trainer of standardbreds, but in recent years those of all breeds and types. Currently, his stable is home to 27 horses with the youngest being 16 years old. How did this all evolve one might ask?
“I was born, raised and still live in Roslyn, NY, about a 10-minute drive from Roosevelt Raceway,” Siegelman said. “I was one of the lucky guys. I lived through the best years of Roosevelt and Yonkers and then those of The Meadowlands. I am now a volunteer with three different equine charity groups. I still have an interest in harness racing. I manage the horses of Barry and Jeff Rubenstein who I’ve been with in different capacities for over 40 years. I doubt that there is a longer association in the sport than that which I’ve had with those guys. They’ve not only been great clients, but they’ve been the best friends a person could have.”
How did this evolve? How did horses become such a huge factor in your life?
“I was in the ninth grade here in Roslyn. A man by the name of Nunzio Ceriello owned a service station in the town. I wanted to earn a few bucks. I went to work for him part time, pumping gas and doing odd jobs around the station. We developed a friendship. Nunzio owned some horses with Tony Abbatiello as his trainer. He would often take me to lunch with him at Tally Ho Farms, then we’d stop by Roosevelt Raceway to spend some time with his horses. Through Nunzio I met Tony and his brother Carmine. Tony was to become the person from whom I learned more about horses and horsepeople than any other. I got some jobs grooming with John Paton and Tommy Giamenco. After high school, I went to college in Florida – more to play soccer than to educate myself. I came back to Long Island and got a job grooming for Tony. Talk about a guy being lucky. Tony was a great horse trainer and his younger brother Carmine was the best driver, on the best racing circuit in the world. If a person didn’t learn from being in that school, then he was incapable of learning. We did extremely well. After about three years with Tony, in 1982 I went out on my own.”
What motivated you from leaving what you describe as a perfect job?
“Probably two main reasons. The first was, it was time. There comes a time when most people decide that they want to captain their own ship. The second was probably the makeup of Tony’s stable. It was great. Tony and his horses were terrific. But they were almost entirely overnight horses with a good many claimers among them. I didn’t particularly like the claiming game. Early on I welcomed the challenge of buying yearlings and trying to develop my own stars.”
Haven’t you been with Barry and Jeff Rubenstein almost from the first when you went on your own?
“I met Barry and Jeff; we seemed to hit it off from the start. We’ve been together ever since — through the good times and some not so good times. They’ve been the best and most loyal owners a guy could have. Another early owner was Gordie Freeman a close friend of the Rubensteins. They had confidence in me. I’ve tried to repay that confidence in the best way I could. The first time I went yearling shopping I went to Lexington with Dr. Bernard Brennan. If there has ever been a better or more knowledgeable equine veterinarian than Dr. Brennan, I haven’t known that person. We did reasonably well, especially for a small stable. Then disaster struck. I hate even thinking of it. After Roosevelt shut down, we moved to Gaitway Farms. We were having maybe our best year ever when a fire destroyed almost our entire stable. Among the horses we lost were both the champion New Jersey and New York 3-year-old pacers. I never thought we could recover, but somehow, we did. The guys were great. Thery stuck with me. Fortunately, the yearlings in the stable were in another barn. One was Cheyenne Rei who became a major stakes winner and went on to earn over $700,000 for the stable.”
Where does Cheyenne, the name that many of the Rubenstein horses carry, come from?
“The ownership of the horses bred or owned by the guys carried that name the Cheyenne Gang. Barry Rubenstein is a high-tech guru. Barry’s first plane was a Cheyenne; the company he founded was Cheyenne Software, thus the name of the horses. Subsequently the software company was sold to Computer Associates here on Long Island.”
Even though you dip your toe into the standardbred world occasionally, your work with horses today is mostly involved with equine charities. Please tell us how that came about?
“I suppose that it started when I was racing at The Meadowlands. I’d leave Roslyn early in the morning and often, especially when we were racing in the evening, wouldn’t return home until late at night. We’d train in the morning. That left a large void of several hours with little or nothing to do in the afternoon. Together with Chris McErlean at The Meadowlands and with the help of Steve Wolf and the Harness Horse Youth Foundation, we developed a program called Horses Helping People. We introduced a group of inner-city kids to horses and the horse business. The kids would spend time at the stable with the horses and learning different aspects of the business. Sometime later the program expanded with the help of George Zofinger, then the CEO of the Authority to add another aspect to it. We began a program called Horses with Hearts aimed at kids who were cancer patients at the Hackensack Hospital. This allowed those kids to not only interact with the horses but also allowed them access to the entire the entire Meadowlands Complex. We got the kids into to the sports and entertainment venues taking place throughout The Meadowlands. I not only was playing a small part in doing something good for people who needed and appreciated the help, but I loved doing it.”
The original program has now morphed into Horse Ability, a program where you help handicapped kids, sick kids, kids with autism and military kids.
“We have 27 horses resident on 20 acres or so in the midst of the State University of New York [SUNY] campus in Westbury. The program is administered by a board and is funded by donations. I’m not a board member. I’m a volunteer worker. But I’m there five days a week – Monday through Friday. Because of the nature and possible fragility of the kids, it’s important that the horses are docile and easy to work with and be around. That’s part of the reason why our equine herd is made up of geriatrics. On Saturdays I drive out east on the Island and volunteer at Warrior Ranch, a program that works with military veterans and their families. Many of these folks are damaged, both emotionally and physically. I should mention that Jeff Gural and Jason Settlemoir at The Meadowlands have been most kind in helping and hosting these people who have done so much for America.
“Another equine charity with which I am involved is a group of military vets from Illinois called Brave Hearts.”
Your son Max has taken the equine charity aspect to the next generation.
“He is really good at marketing. He was working with a firm called Out Front Media, one of the largest producers of billboards in the country. Then COVID came along. He was prevented from going to work, necessitating his remaining at home. To keep him occupied, he began making very limited amounts of harness racing memorabilia, mostly hats and T shirts carrying the Siegelman Stables logo for family members and some of us involved with the stable. Some of his friends saw then and wanted some for themselves. ‘I can sell this stuff,’ he told me.
“The business has grown to the point where the two most iconic sports figures in New York City, Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, wear Siegelman Stable hats. The best part from my vantage, other than my pleasure at his success, is that a percentage of all that he sells goes to equine charities.”
